¶ … theories on motivation that relate to an employee switching from salary to commission. The Maslow "Hierarchy of Needs" theory is applicable and appropriate; Maslow believed that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs first, then they move on to other needs. He presents five levels in his hierarchy of needs and the first is "physiological needs": these are survival needs -- food, water, air to breathe and sleep. The motivation to earn more money covers the ability to buy food and to have fresh water. The second level of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs is the most applicable to the switch from salary to commission; that second on the hierarchy are "security needs" -- steady employment, access to healthcare, a safe place to live and shelter from the environment. The other needs (social, esteem, and "self-actualizing") fit into the change from salary to commission, but of those "self-actualizing" is particularly germane because it concerns "personal growth" and "fulfilling one's potential" (Cherry, 2014). Another theory of motivation that is applicable is Vroom's Expectancy Theory, which works on the assumption...

Herzberg's theory holds that factors that are motivational for people do change over a person's lifetime, but respect for the person (recognition) as a value is a top motivating factor. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are independent of one another (satisfaction doesn't necessarily raise while dissatisfaction sinks). Of the three components of Alderfer's ERG Theory ("existence, relatedness, and growth") relatedness (the need to receive recognition and to feel secure) and growth (building self-esteem by achieving at a personal level) have the most application to motivation at work vis-a-vis…