However, as the time passed by the 'Hawthorne Experiment' a research conducted by Elton Mayo in 1924, basically changed the way of thinking about the employees. the study of Elton Mayo pointed out the fact that money does not motivate employees to use their full potential, but instead it is the employee attitudes that keeps them going and linked with behaviour. As a result, this gave rise to what is known as the Human Relations approach to management which lead the managers to focus mainly on the needs of employees and thus finding ways to motivate them.
Even though the managers began to concentrate on motivating employees thereafter, this was not an easy task to do, as understanding the employees and motivating them needed careful consideration. If not so ever, then the time and money spent on motivating employees may be of no use to the organization or the employee, if the employees were motivated the wrong way.As a result, to understand the whole concept of motivation and help the managers carry out the strategy, it is important to look into the theories of motivation, which developed soon after the study of the Hawthorne Experiment.
The motivation theories developed, as a result of the researches carried out by the theorists focusing understanding what motivated employees and how they were motivated. Hence so, let us have a closer look at four of the good motivational theories that explains what motivates employees, in order to understand and do the best possible way to motivate them.
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs Theory
Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is one of the important theories that provide an insight to understand what basically motivates employees and how it should be done if the employees are to be motivated. Maslow identified five levels of needs. They are,
Self Actualization ( level 5 - highest level)
Esteem ( level 4 )
Social belonging & love needs ( level 3)
safety ( level 2 )
Physiology ( level 1 - lowest level)
These five levels of needs have to be satisfied if the employees are to be motivated. In other words, it is said that motivation is thus driven by the existence of these unsatisfied needs. Maslow pointed out the fact that, in order to motivate the employees, first of all the lower level of needs have to be met before the next higher level of needs. What he meant by this was that only once the lower level of needs have been satisfied the employee will be motivated to satisfy the next higher level of needs. For example, an is at the lowest level of the hierarchy will only be motivated by a good pay well enough to afford his basic needs rather than safety of his work area and stability of the job etc. As a result, the hierarchy of needs theory highlights the fact that employees do differ from each other, and if they are to be motivated it is thus vital to look into their needs first and then come up with the suitable motivation techniques effectively.
Hertzberg's Two Factor Theory
The Hertzberg's two factor theory is another vital theory that provides the managers with a clear understanding to how the employees could be motivated. He also pointed out the fact that motivating employees are not just possible without the presence of intrinsic factors.
Vroom's Expectancy theory
Another theory that explained what basically motivated the employees was the Expectancy theory of Victor Vroom in 1964. Actually Vroom believed that employee effort will pave the way for job performance and thus job performance will lead to rewards. In other words, he highlighted the fact that employees tend to believe that by putting effort it will lead to a good performance and likewise because of the good performance they will be rewarded. It is these rewards that motivate the employees. If the rewards are positive and welcoming , then obviously the employees will be motivated, or else if they turn out to be negative or not attractive then the chances of employees being de-motivated are very high indeed.
Adam's Equity Theory
Adam's Equity theory is a motivation theory that points out the fact that the mangers should seek a fair balance between the employees' inputs( effort, loyalty, hard work, sacrifice, etc) and their outputs ( recognition, status, salary, status etc), in order to motivate employees( Adams, 1965). He also stated that it is very vital to make the employee feel that he is treated fairly if the managers are to achieve positive outcomes and motivate the employees effectively. However, if the employees tend to feel that they have been treated unfairly meaning to say that their inputs are greater than the outputs, then they will be de-motivated.Ans this will no doubt reduce their inputs such as effort and hard work etc.
In conclusion, the tasks of the managers to motivate the employees are indeed not that easy.This is because each and every employee has got their very own needs that tend to motivate them. However, the managers need to have some sort of aknowledge that will help them to understand the employees well and think of better ways of motivating them. This is where the motivational theories come into considertaion. It is these theories that provide an explanation of how to motivate them based on what motivates them. The Hierarchy of needs theory and Hertzberg's two factor theory deals with explaining how the employees are to be motivated by way of looking into their needs. On the other hand, Adams theory also helps the managers to understand that a fair balance between inputs and outputs of employees are important. The Expectancy theory too shows that rewards tend to motivate the employees. However, overall all motivation theories do state that rewarding and recognising employees are important in order to motivate employees thus acting as the foundation to motivate employees.
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