Hertzberg rephrased what he termed the "perennial question" of "how do you motivate employees to "how do you install a generator for an employee? This comes from the battery charging analogy above. Hertzberg undertook his
studies of employees - accountants and engineers in the main, in the
Pittsburgh areas in the USA. His study has been replicated over 16 times in var ying environments, some in the Communist countries. The following are some of the findings and postulates.
(a) One of the most important and distinguishing finding of Hertzberg's was that "....the factors involved in producing job satisfaction (and motivation) are separate and distinct from the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction". Hertzberg then says that "since separate factors need
to be considered, depending on whether job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction is being examined, it follows that these two feelings
are not opposite of each other". According to him, the following are the opposites one of the other.
Words/phrases opposites
(i) Job satisfaction no job satisfaction
(ii) Job dissatisfaction no job dissatisfaction
From this "construct", it follows that something that is not satisfying does not mean it is dissatisfying and vice-versa What this means is that satisfaction
and dissatisfaction are addressing two different needs of man. One set of needs stems from "his animal nature - the built-in drive to avoid pain from
the environment, plus all the learned drives which become conditioned to the basic biological needs. For example, hunger, a basic biological drive, makes it necessar y to earn money, and then money becomes a specific drive". The
other set of needs, Hertzberg says "...relates to that unique human characteristic, the ability to achieve any, through achievement, to experience
psychological growth. The stimuli for these are the job content whilst the stimuli for the former are found in the job environment.
He then sets out the growth or motivator factors that are also intrinsic to the
job as: "achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility, and growth or advancement" what this means is that if an employee sees in his job an opportunity for all these factors, he will have
satisfaction and the motivation to work.
On the other hand, the dissatisfaction avoidance, what Hertzberg calls
hygiene factors and which are extrinsic to the job, include: "company policy and administration. supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary, status and security".
What this means is that however good and however appealing these factors are to the employee, they cannot lead to satisfaction that will motivate him to work. The best they can do is to lead to a situation of "no dissatisfaction".
Peter Blunt states Hertzberg's theory "no dissatisfaction". You will understand it easier. He says that Hertzberg's theory consists of two general
propositions as follows:
(1) Individual motivation at work is a function of the intrinsic characteristics of the job which include:
(a) Achievement, (b) Recognition,
(c) Work itself, (d) Responsibility (e) Advancement
(f) Personal development. These factors are referred to as motivators"
On the other hand, the second proposition is:
(2) Dissatisfaction at work is a function of a set of job conditions called hygiene
factors. When operating to a sufficient degree, these factors prevent dissatisfaction, but they cannot act as motivators. Such factors include:
(a) Salary
(b) Job security (c) Working conditions
(d) Personal life
(e) Relationship with supervisors
(f) Relationship with fellow workers and subordinates (g) Company policies
(h) Fringe benefits.
Peter Blunt says, inputting the theory down in its totality that, "The theory
assets, then, that no matter how high a worker is paid or how good his working environment may be, this type of factor alone will not be sufficient
to induce high levels of motivation or satisfaction. By the same token,
irrespective of how interesting or how challenging a job might be (i.e
intrinsically motivating), there will be dissatisfaction if pay or working
conditions are inadequate". We will add here that such dissatisfaction notwithstanding, the employee stays motivated and performs.
Exercise 1.2 List out the motivators and hygiene factors and explain how 3 each of motivators and hygiene factors (in practice) motivate or fail to do so.
4.0 Conclusion
This unit has examined Hertzberg’s of theory of motivation. Here you have seen his ideas which he calls KITA and how they are classified and operate.
Also, deviating from the common use of words, Hertzberg has differentiated motivators from non-motivators, under what is popularly referred to as his two-factor theory.
5.0 Sum mary
Unit 17 has dealt with two sets of thought of Hertzberg's. The most common is his two factor theory of motivation. The KITA ideas are fairly uncommon but they present some real life problems and provide their solutions.