Management and Organisations

1. Compare and contrast the motivational theories of Maslow and Mc Clelland with specific reference to people’s motivation at work. As a manager. How might you use these theories to motivate your workforce?

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was important during the 1950s and 1960s. Abraham Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of human needs provided one major basis for this school of thought.
Higher order needs:
– Self-actualization needs to reach one’s full potential
– Self-esteem needs for recognition and a belief in one’s self
– Social acceptance needs to be able to form satisfactory affective and support relations
Lower order needs:
– Safety and security needs to feel safe and free of fear
– Basic physiological needs for food, warmth and shelter clothing
According to Maslow, people are motivated by unsatisfied needs a person is never completely satisfied on any need level but a reasonable amount of gratification with basic needs must be felt before he or she proceeds up the hierarchy. Maslow argue with growing economic security and affluence in society generally and rising educational levels, the workforce would increasingly be motivated only by the higher order needs of self-esteem and self-actualization.

However, David McClelland (1961) proposed a different view of motivation-one that included not only personality factors but social influence as well. Mc Clelland did not subscribe to the view people had a hierarchy of needs but rather that needs varied based on the importance individuals attached to them. Mc Clelland and Burnham 1976 identified three basic needs of individuals need to achieve, need for power and need to affiliate.

Need for achievement, the need to achieve is most closely related to business success. Mc Clelland believed that the need for achievement and the associated learning that supports this is established early in life and is not easily changed. Ironically, McClelland noted that families who sought to instill self-control, high standards and independence were setting patterns for high need achievement (Fincham and Rhodes 1992:73). Mc Clelland argued that high achievers set their own goals are selective about the goals they pursue tend to be independent in the choices they make and realistic about the likely success of these choices. High achievers seek immediate feedback. High achievers tend to seek careers in business and related areas but do not necessarily make good managers because they tend to feel that they are the most competent person and will be reluctant to delegate. Mc Clelland’s work his attempt to show that the general level of achievement in individuals was linked with economic and technological growth in society (Finchman and Rhodes 1992:73). Again, this emphasized a social dimensions in explaining needs rather than seeing them as purely behavioral and innate.

Need for power, According to McClelland and David Burnham (1976) it was possible to see how each of the three variables affected management’s performance. Mc Clelland and Richard Boyatzis found that effective or successful managers had a higher need for power than a need for affinity. In short, they enjoy the exercise of power more than they enjoy being liked by colleagues or subordinates (Fincham and Rhodes 1992:83). Negative power was used to dominate or exert undue influence over other and was the basis of corrupt and unsocialized forms of behavior such as using force to dominate subordinates. In contrast, positive or socialize use of power was associated with healthy competition, persuasion and interpersonal influence. The person who had a positive need for power was likely to excite and ispire followers to achieve higher goals and outcomes (Petzall).

Need for affiliation, Mc Clelland is important however to balance the exercise need for power in its negative form. Mc Clelland believed that there was only a moderate need for affiliation because of all the unpopular decisions a manager has to make. This might not hold true across all cultural groupings for example Japanese managers have had a strong need for affiliation encouraged in the workplace. Mc Clelland claimed the needs especialy the need for achievement can be learned but many others would reject this view, especially those psychoanalysts who believe that personality traits are established in childhood and are difficult to change ( Petzall et al 1991:64). Nor does Mc Clelland’s theory recognize the importance of individual differences such as gender or age in defining various needs.
Nevertheless, one popular theory was that women who want to achieve also acquire a fear of success. Mc Clelland’s theory at least supports early views that women’s failure to achieve was least as much explained by social factors as by individual ( Wilson 1995:297-301). However, Mc Cleland gave only a crude indication of the factors important for high performance because his approach ignored a range of other factors that might also contribute to success for example adequate resources to do the job or mentoring.

Equity theory, James Adams argued that the motivational effect of a reward was affected by how much it was felt to be fair by the individual. This effectively introduced both values and social relativities into the motivational equation. For example if a worker was paid too little relative to others for the work done and they perceived this as fair, they could attempt to achieve an increase by increasing their inputs. If they perceived it as unfair and felt demotivated they might choose to decrease their inputs to depress the amount of efforts. As a last resort, the comparison other could be changed, or a comparison could be made with the previous job the worker held which is offer worse rather than better but not always so. Benevolent were found to have it have a higher tolerance for negative inequity and would put up with lower pay than their fellows for longer, example they work harder, have been here longer are better, need the money more than me. All three forms of justice are positively correlated with job satisfaction as well as organization commitment, organizational citizenship and trust. All three are negatively associated with withdrawal and turnover about the workplace that are lack of satisfaction.

Expectancy theory, the concepts are
E xpectancy, perceived probability that effort will result in good performance (0-1) eg High E : Many hours of library research will lead to a high essay mark
I nstrumentality, perceived probability that good performance will lead to valued rewards (0-1) eg High I : A high essay mark will contribute to getting a 2.1 degree
V alence, perceived value of an individual has for a particular outcome (positive, negative or neutral ) eg High V : You are keen to get a high essay grade.

Porter and Lawler’s expectancy model
1. Value of reward
2. Perceived effort-reward probability
3. Effort
4. Abilities and traits
5. Role perceptions
6. Performance (accomplishment)
7a. Intrinsic rewards
7b. Extrinsic rewards
8. Perceived equitable rewards
9. Satisfaction

Goal Theory,
-Motivation is driven primarily by the goals or objectives that individuals set for themselves Locke (1968).
-A goal is the driving force itself in work performance.
-Challenging but achievable goals-encourage us to try harder
-Specific goals- set in measurable terns, avoid confusion are easier to achieve
-Participation in goal setting- increase goal commitment
-Knowledge of results- timely feedback is essential for goal achievement.

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