Frederick Herzberg Motivation And Motivation Analysis

2.2.4. MOTIVATION-HYGIENE THEORY

Frederick Herzberg studied the factors in the work environment that caused satisfaction and dissatisfaction among the workers. He interviewed hundreds of workers about times when they were highly motivated to work and other times when they were dissatisfied and unmotivated at work. He found that the factors causing job satisfaction were different from those causing job dissatisfaction and they cannot be treated as opposites of one another (Herzberg, 1966). Herzberg argued that two entirely separate dimensions contribute to an employee’s behavior at work: hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors refer to the presence or absence of job dissatisfies. When hygiene factors are reduced, work is dissatisfying.

There is the criticism that the sample size is small and the theory applies to only middle management professionals. However, numerous replication studies have been conducted to check the validity of the original results. In most of the cases, the results were similar to the results obtained by Herzberg and they indicated that motivators are the primary cause of job satisfaction (Ratzburg, 2004). Another criticism is that the result of the study was two-factor because when things are going well, people tend to take credit for satisfaction but when they don’t go well they blame failure on their environment (Imperial, 2004). Also, the assumption that practically every employee will respond positively to a job with high motivating factors may not be universally true. Herzberg’s theory is considered to be valid for employees whose lower order needs are satisfied (Ratzburg, 2004). Motivation-hygiene theory has important implications for this project study. It constitutes a good framework for the validity of the argument that non-monetary incentives can be as effective as monetary incentives in the motivation of personnel. Herzberg points out that what really motivate employees are the assignment of challenging jobs, achievement, work itself, recognition, responsibility, opportunities for growth in the job. They have the power to motivate employees intrinsically. As an external factor, monetary incentives may prevent job dissatisfaction but do not necessarily motivate employees. Likewise, job-related non-monetary incentives such as job with variety of tasks and responsibilities, meaningful work, autonomy, participation in decision making, growth opportunities etc. and social non-monetary incentives such as appreciation for a good work address what Herzberg referred in his theory as “motivators”. These non-monetary incentives are expected to motivate employees intrinsically. Thus, Herzberg’s theory offers insights to support the view that job-related