Send to KindleThis is the second installment in a series on motivating your workers.
Frederick Herzberg’s (1923 – 2000) study of human behavior was driven by his experience as a member of the liberating force which arrived at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. He wanted to understand why people would do such things. His study led to development of the Motivation-Hygiene theory. In presenting this theory, Herzberg said two factors acted on workers; motivational factors and hygiene factors. Hygiene factors are things that can cause dissatisfaction, but whose removal does not cause satisfaction or motivation. Motivational factors on the other hand, do result in better performance and production. It’s important to understand the distinction between dissatisfaction and satisfaction. Herzberg said that hygiene factors could cause dissatisfaction, and fixing a hygiene factor could remove dissatisfaction, but real satisfaction could only come from actual motivational factors. What is surprising to some is the definition of motivational factors versus hygiene factors.
Hygiene factors include such things as environmental conditions, work schedules, wages and benefits, communication, etc. If there is a problem in one of these factors, the worker may be dissatisfied and unhappy. But, when the problem is fixed, it does not follow that the worker will be satisfied and motivated to produce more or be more efficient.
Motivational factors are those things that do help the worker to be more productive. Motivational factors include recognition, appreciation, a feeling of achievement, more responsibility, etc.
Do you notice something about these two factors? What Herzberg calls hygiene factors are influences from outside the person. I might offer my factory workers a punishment for not producing more, or perhaps a reward if they do produce more. In neither case am I motivating the worker. In fact, it is my own motivation that caused me to attempt to coerce the worker into increased production. To that end, I tried to manipulate the employee through the use of hygiene factors. Unfortunately, this is the method often used by leaders attempting to get things done. That isn’t to say that hygiene factors always fail to get the desired result. In this example, I may coerce the workers to produce more, but I haven’t motivated them to improve and the benefit will most likely be short term at best.
So, if you decide to motivate your employees by raising their pay, they may appreciate that. In fact they most likely will appreciate that, but your gesture really will not motivate them. For that, you need to activate their own internal motivators.
In the next installment of this series, we’ll look at what motivation really is.
What do you think? Please leave a comment. I’d really like to hear from you.
