Lead and Manage People

 Lead and Manage People

There are numerous strategies that theorists have come up over the past decades to motivate one of the most important resources in a business, which is human resources. They say labor is a factor of production and payment for labor is wages. Wages has been motivating workers during the World War years because money was an element that was essential and was insufficient. As time passed, wages became a part of motivation. 

Hierarchy of needs brought up by Abraham Maslow would be an ideal strategy. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs demonstrated five main elements that would motivate an individual and they are (physiological, safety-security, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization), The most important thing is physiological needs which are the basic essentials necessary for any human being. Then safety both personal and job, then social needs which gives workers a sense of belonging, esteem needs which gives recognition to the workers and self-actualization needs which is self-fulfillment (Robert J. Taormina, 2013). This is usually applied to individuals.

Fredrick Herzberg came up with the two-factor theory which states that the workers need two factors to be motivated, one is hygiene factors and the other is motivating factors. Hygiene factors are things such as pay, working conditions, security, status etc. which would get workers to come to work. But workers won't be satisfied, which is why motivators or motivating factors are given to workers such as achievement, recognition, responsibilities. This is applicable both individually and as teams (Samira Alrawahi, 2020).

David Mclelland came up with the Acquired needs theory which states that workers need three things to be motivated and to give their best in work. One is Achievement, this is when the workers are encouraged or driven to achieve certain tasks that are given to them. Another is power, where certain workers are more motivated when they have more responsibilities, more authority over certain people, certain teams or even certain tasks. Another is affiliation where workers would be motivated when they get to associate people and build relationships with people. This can be applied mostly to teams, but can be applied to individuals as well for personal improvement (Gordon, 2021).

The reason why the above strategies were chosen to be discussed is because, in a dynamic world like today, money and fringe benefits alone won’t motivate workers. All the things mentioned above, power, responsibility, recognition etc. is something that workers would like to have and wants to have and thereby can motivate them.

References

EPM, 2009. Expert Program Management. [Online]
Available at: https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/04/herzbergs-two-factor-theory/
[Accessed 5 November 2021].

Gordon, J., 2021. The Business Professor. [Online]
Available at: https://thebusinessprofessor.com/en_US/management-leadership-organizational-behavior/acquired-need-theory-definition
[Accessed 5 November 2021].

Hopper, E., 2020. ThoughtCo.. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4582571
[Accessed 4 November 2021].

iED Team, 2018. institute of Entrepreneurship Development. [Online]
Available at: https://ied.eu/project-updates/motivating-your-employees/

Robert J. Taormina, J. H. G., 2013. Maslow and the Motivation Hierarchy: Measuring Satisfaction of the Needs. The American Journal of Psychology, 126(2), p. Abstract.

Samira Alrawahi, a. S. F. S. S. A. N. A. a. M. B., 2020. The application of Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation to job satisfaction in clinical laboratories in Omani hospitals. 6(9).