4 Theories Of Motivation

Scientific management

He believed in a “fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”

He also believed that employee would do the minimum amount of work if not supervised

He carried out time and motion studies

The main form of motivation is high wages, higher wages equalled higher output

A manager's job is to tell employees what to do

A worker's job is to do what they are told and get paid accordingly

Human relations theory

Mayo based his assumptions on research undertaken with workers at the Hawthorne factory of the Western Electric Company in Chicago

He changed the working conditions such as break times and duration of the ladies who worked in the relay assembly room at the factory

Found that just by being studied - the employee’s levels of motivation increased

Working in teams was more important than money

Non-financial motivators were the most important

Boring and repetitive work can be a demotivator

Hierarchy of needs

Maslow’s theory was that we all have a pyramid of needs.

2 Factor Theory

We start by meeting our needs at the bottom for example; food, water, shelter

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We then look for teamwork and a social job

We then look for a secure job to meet our safety needs

Frederick Hertzberg worked in the 1960s, his theories are still studied today.

He interviewed accountants and engineers to find out what motivated them

His theory was that employees have motivating factors; interesting work, recognition and personal achievement, responsibility and scope to develop

He also found that there were hygiene factors which if not met would dissatisfy the employees, but if they were met did not motivate them any more than they were already. These were; good working conditions, pay, relationships with other employees

We then look for responsibility and promotion

Then when all these needs are met we start to self actualise, which is where we reach our potential