Herzberg\'s Two Factor Theory: Applications

Herzberg's Two Factor Theory: Applications for a Telesales Workforce

In an increasingly hyper-competitive, globalized world, the topic of motivating employees has become evermore important. Maximized employee productivity is crucial to an organization's competitiveness in the marketplace, and in the end has a powerful influence on the organization's bottom line. Psychologists define motivation as "that which gives impetus to our behavior by arousing, sustaining, and directing it toward the attainment of goals" (as cited in Creech, 1995). Effective and efficient employees, who are motivated, are a boon to a business, those who are not can be the primary cause of their demise. Behavioral theorist. Frederick Herzberg, developed his Two Factor theory, outlining human motivators in the workplace. This paper will discuss this theory's application to a telesales workforce, and the positive changes they can make to increase productivity and sales revenue.

Herzberg's Two Factor Theory: Applications for a Telesales Workforce

Introduction:

In an increasingly hyper-competitive, globalized world, the topic of motivating employees has become evermore important. Maximized employee productivity is crucial to an organization's competitiveness in the marketplace, and in the end has a powerful influence on the organization's bottom line. Psychologists define motivation as "that which gives impetus to our behavior by arousing, sustaining, and directing it toward the attainment of goals" (as cited in Creech, 1995). Effective and efficient employees, who are motivated, are a boon to a business, those who are not can be the primary cause of their demise. Behavioral theorist. Frederick Herzberg, developed his Two Factor theory, outlining human motivators in the workplace. This paper will discuss this theory's application to a telesales workforce, and the positive changes they can make to increase productivity and sales revenue.

Herzberg's Two Factor Theory:

Frederick Herzberg developed his two-dimensional theory of human motivation during the mid-20th century. According to Herzberg's Two Factor theory, there are two primary factors to stimulate people to perform. In his theory, he distinguishes between extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Motivators are intrinsic rewards, while hygiene factors are extrinsic ("Motivating," n.d.).

The motivation factors deal with satisfaction and psychological growth. Hygiene factors ensure that a person is not dissatisfied with their employment situation ("Frederick," 2004). Interestingly, Herzberg discovered that "the things that make people satisfied and motivated on the job are different in kind from the things that make them dissatisfied" (Herzberg, 2003).

Motivation Factors:

Herzberg determined that motivators were elements that enhanced a person's employment position. Five of these motivators were particularly strong indicators of job satisfaction. Herzberg's motivation factors include five aspects: achievement, achievement recognition, responsibility, advancement, and growth ("Frederick," 2004). The presence of these five motivators proved to produce long-term, positive effects on job performance in employees (Gawel, 1999).

Hygiene Factors:

On the other side of Herzberg's theory, several components also make up Herzberg's hygiene factors. These include: working conditions, salary, status, security, and interpersonal relationships ("Frederick," 2004). Herzberg "concluded that such factors as company policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and salary are hygiene factors rather than motivators. According to the theory, the absence of hygiene factors can create job dissatisfaction, but their presence does not motivate or create (long-term) satisfaction." Although short-term positive results were found in Herzberg's work when hygiene factors became present, such as receiving a raise, very quickly productivity levels fell back to previous levels (Gawel, 1999). Management often uses these dissatisfiers in an effort to keep employees happy, however, in the long run, they are ineffective (Creech, 1995). Therefore, although the absence of hygiene factors can negatively affect productivity, their presence does not positively affect it.

Hygiene and Motivation Factors Combined:

Four conditions occur when hygiene and motivation factors are combined.

High Hygiene/High Motivation: This is the ideal situation where not only are employees highly motivated, but have little they can complain about. This will result in the highest productivity of the four situations.

High Hygiene/Low Motivation: In this situation, employees are not highly motivated, however, they have very few complaints about their employment. This type of situation can occur when a person is doing a thankless job, however, are being paid a generous enough salary that they stay. Productivity is not at its highest.

Low Hygiene/High Motivation: In this situation, the employee is highly motivated, however, they are dissatisfied by their employment. This may occur when a job is enjoyable and challenging, however the person's salary or work conditions are less than desired. Again, productivity is not at its highest.

Low Hygiene/Low Motivation: In this situation, employees are not motivated and are dissatisfied with their working environment. This causes serious deficiencies in productivity as well as high turnover for the organization ("Frederick," 2004).

Current Motivational Trends:

Despite the work of theorists, such as Herzberg, over the course of the last half-century, mainstream businesses have yet to utilize this knowledge to the best of their ability. Today, salary and employee benefit packages are still the key to many organization's recruitment strategies. and, still they are surprised when that very same employee, whose only attraction to the company was a dollar sign, leaves for a competitor who is offering a more lucrative package.

Again, the intense competition that organizations now face, make this 'highest bidder' type hiring practice very costly. and, it is completely unnecessary. By applying Herzberg's theory, organizations will not only attract and retain the best personnel possible, but also get the most productivity from these employees as well.

The Telesales Workforce:

An industry that has grown at a phenomenal rate over the last generation is telephone sales. With the increased technical capabilities now available, this industry has felt some of the strongest competition from global competitors. Outsourcing of telecommunications needs, to offshore organizations, is now a quite common practice. As such, telesales companies need to effectively motivate their employees, to get maximized productivity from their workforce, in order to be as competitive as possible.

By making certain that the motivation factors, such as recognitions, responsibility, advancement, and growth are met, telesales organizations can increase their employee satisfaction and increase productivity. Couple this with reducing any possible dissatisfiers, such as salary, job security, working conditions, or interpersonal relationships, and telesales companies can maximize their employee productivity, and in return, anticipate increased sales.

Conclusion:

In the end, Frederick Herzberg was able to develop a theory regarding the complicated topic of what motivates human beings. His two-dimensional theory described both intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are the key to employee motivation. Although the intrinsic factors are the only motivators of positive increases in productivity, extrinsic factors can negatively impact productivity as well, and as such need to be taken into consideration.

The telesales industry is one of the fastest growing industries recently. This, combined with globalization, has increased competition in the marketplace. For this reason, telesales organizations must get maximized productivity from their employees to not only increase sales revenue, but also to remain competitive. By utilizing Herzberg's Two Factor theory, they can accomplish this objective.

Recommendations:

There are several recommendations that can be made specific to the telesales industry, with this knowledge. First, to organizations should address the hygiene factors, as these are typically quite easy to correct. Salaries for employees should not only be competitive within the industry, but also competitive in consideration of other careers the employee could perform with the skill level. Employees must have a sense of job security, and as such, seniority-based programs, should layoffs be necessary, or interdepartmental transfers should be part of company policy.