Employee Motivation: Taylor, Mayo, Maslow, Herzberg
Taylor’s Theory of Scientific Management
Taylor proposed that workers are primarily motivated by pay. His theory of Scientific Management argued that:
- Workers do not naturally enjoy work and therefore require close supervision and control.
- Workers should receive appropriate training and tools to work as efficiently as possible on one specific task.
- Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period – piece-rate pay.
Consequently, workers are encouraged to work hard and maximize their productivity.
Taylor’s methods were widely adopted, as businesses recognized the benefits of increased productivity and lower unit costs. His approach is closely linked to an autocratic management style (where managers make all decisions and issue orders) and McGregor’s Theory X approach to workers (viewing workers as inherently lazy and avoiding responsibility).
However, workers soon disliked Taylor’s approach, finding their tasks monotonous and repetitive, feeling treated as mere human machines.
Mayo’s Human Relations Theory
Mayo believed that workers are not solely concerned with money but can be better motivated by having their social needs met at work. He concluded that workers are best motivated by:
- Better communication between managers and workers (Hawthorne workers were consulted about the experiments and had the opportunity to provide feedback).
- Greater manager involvement in employees’ working lives (Hawthorne workers responded to the increased attention they received).
- Working in groups or teams (Hawthorne workers did not previously work in teams regularly).
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow proposed a theory that there are five levels of human needs that employees need to have fulfilled at work to be motivated.
This hierarchy includes: Self-actualization, Esteem Needs, Social Needs, Safety Needs, and Physiological Needs.
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
Herzberg argued that certain factors could be introduced by a business to directly motivate employees to work harder (Motivators). He also identified factors that would de-motivate an employee if not present but would not necessarily motivate them to work harder (Hygiene factors).
Motivators are concerned with the job itself, such as how interesting the work is and the opportunities it provides for responsibility, recognition, and promotion.
Hygiene factors surround the job rather than being inherent to the job itself.
Herzberg believed that businesses should motivate employees by adopting a democratic management approach and improving the nature and content of the job. Some methods managers could use include:
- Job enlargement: Giving workers a greater variety of tasks (not necessarily more challenging) to make the work more interesting.
- Job enrichment: Giving workers a wider range of more complex, interesting, and challenging tasks surrounding a complete unit of work, providing a greater sense of achievement.
- Empowerment: Delegating more power to employees to make their own decisions over their work.