McClelland's needs theory and employee motivation in organizations

Motivation and Employee Engagement

Motivation and Employment Engagement

Relationship between Motivation of Followers and Motivation Theories

McClelland's needs Based theory identifies three distinct needs and explains how these needs may be able to motivate employees to improved performance at the workplace. The three needs consist of the need for achievement, the need for power, and the need for affiliation. Employees possess each of these needs at varying levels depending on their personality and innate drives. Employees who have a high need for achievement are motivated by the opportunity to prove themselves to be better than their peers by meeting or surpassing performance standards. They are willing to assume personal responsibility for solving problems and making decisions. These employees can be motivated by specifying performance standards, delegating responsibility for the outcome to them, and by giving them ongoing feedback on their performance. Employees with a high need for power are motivated by opportunities that allow them to assume power and control over the behavior of others. High-performing managers are usually high on the need for power. These employees may be motivated by offering incentives like prestige and status symbols, impressive titles and material symbols of power, e.g. separate office or a larger desk. Employees with high needs for affiliation are motivated by opportunities to be around people with whom they have positive relationships. They can be motivated by incentives such as admission to an attractive reference group or clique at the workplace (Robbins, 1996).

Expectancy theory states that employees' motivation levels depend on four factors and the strength of the relationships between them -- effort, performance, reward and personal goals. A strong effort-performance relationship assures employees that certain amount of effort will improve their work performance and appraisal positively and will not be ignored by their manager. Secondly, a strong performance-reward relationship means that the improvement in performance will certainly result in specific rewards being provided. This can be increased if the criterion for receiving certain pay raise or promotion is specified at the beginning of the year for employees. Third, the strength of the reward-personal goal relationship describes the compatibility of the specified reward with the personal goals of the employee. This relationship can be strengthened by discussing the rewards desired by the employee at the beginning of the goal-setting process for the next year (Robbins, 1996).

According to the equity theory, employees are not only motivated by the absolute size of their reward, but the relative size as well. They want to be sure that their rewards are fair in the given context. They compare the input-output ration between effort and reward of their own with that of their colleagues and friends. They want to be sure that what they are getting fin return for the amount of effort they have put in is fair in relation to what their colleagues are getting for the amount of effort they put into their work. If a sense of inequity is experienced, employees may alter their perceptions of input or output. Alternatively, they may seek to leave the organization for a more equitable situation. Employee motivation levels can be increased by making sure that employee perceptions about their input and output are fair and objective (Robbins, 1996).

Hertzberg's two factor theories distinguish between factors that create job satisfaction (motivator factors) and those that create job dissatisfaction (hygiene factors). Understanding this difference is important because it prevents managers from mistakenly adjusting hygiene factors under the impression that it will improve job satisfaction. In reality, improving hygiene factors such as pay levels, status and working conditions reduces job dissatisfaction without improving job satisfaction. Job satisfaction and hence motivation can be increased by providing opportunities for achievement, recognition, growth and advancement (Robbins, 1996).

Best Practices from Contemporary Research

Contemporary research in the field of motivation and leadership shows that transformational leadership is expected to play an important role in improving the motivation levels of employees in private and public sector organizations. According to a study by Wright, Moynihan & Pandey (2012), transformational leadership exercised by leaders in public sector organizations can enable employees to increase their motivational levels. This in turn helps to create mission valence and to make organizational goals and objectives attractive for employees. This leads to an improvement in organizational performance and success. Motivation in public sector organization is has different dynamics because the employees cannot be motivated by profit factors, but by the service aspect of the organization. Hence, transformational leadership has significant application in improving motivation and job satisfaction levels of employees in public sector organizations.

Another study by Cheng & Robertson (2006) describes how leaders may use motivational techniques at a service organization in Singapore. They describe that employees in service organizations can be motivated by appealing to values that do not necessarily translate into monetary concerns. Leaders can motivate employees by offering other incentives such as praise and recognition from managers, positive stroking behaviors and attention from supervisors. These behaviors can increase levels of job satisfaction and motivation among employees in service organizations. They also stress that managers and leaders should be careful not to overplay the importance of such behaviors as incentives to gain compliance. They should act ethically and use such incentives judiciously to avoid diminishing their value. Employees are quick to perceive when their needs are being exploited and this may lead to a drop in employee morale instead of improving it.

Despite the popularity of transformational leadership in areas of employee motivation, the effectiveness of older concepts such as laissez faire and transactional leadership is still prevalent. A study by Chaudhry & Javed (2012) shows that in the banking sector of Pakistan transactional leadership is more effective than transformational leadership. The popularity of transformational leadership in western societies is dependent on high levels of individualism among the employees. However, in collectivist societies, the employer-employee social contract is based on the exchange of concrete rewards such as adequate working hours and specified remuneration. In such an environment, it is seen that transactional leadership styles along with supervision and involvement of managers in the work of their subordinates has a greater positive impact on employee motivation levels than transformational leadership the emphasizes leadership from a distance by appealing to values and clarifying the broad mission of the organization.

Bassford, Offermann, & Wirtz (2012) have discussed the varying effects on motivation levels of employees of the support demonstrated by direct supervisors and senior management. Their studies show that employees tend to experience higher levels of motivation when positive support is demonstrated by senior managers. Increase in motivational levels is also experienced by the support shown by direct supervisors, but the magnitude is smaller than that resulting from senior management supportive behavior. The likely explanation for this is that interaction with senior managers is rare as compared with interaction with direct supervisors. This creates an increased perceived value for support from senior managers. Moreover, the effect of motivation from these two sources is independent of the effect of one another so that motivation derived through support from senior management does not have an effect on the motivation levels experienced as a result of direct supervisor support and encouragement.