Chapter 6: Leading

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Maslow created a theory based on his assumption of human needs known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that are classified according to hierarchical structure of importance from lowest to highest. It states that the lower the hierarchy of needs, the greater the need for satisfaction.

a. Physiological Needs refer to the humans’ basic necessities such as food, clothing, sleep.

b. Safety Needs refer to human needs for safety and protection from any danger whether in physical or psychological form.

c. Social Needs refer to the needs of an individual to feel the sense of belongingness to a certain group and the need for affection. Man as a social being, prefer to work to interact with other people.

d. Esteem Needs pertains to the human needs for self-respect, self-fulfillment and become the best according to one’s capability. Fulfilling this need makes an individual more self-confident in expressing himself.

e. Self-actualization is the last final need in Maslow’s hierarchy. This is achieved when all of the four needs have already been satisfied. This is the level where an individual actually realizes his full potential and what he can do.

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X and Theory Y were first explained by McGregor in his book, "The Human Side of Enterprise," and they refer to two styles of management – authoritarian (Theory X) and participative (Theory Y).

Douglas McGregor proposed that managers tend to hold two assumptions when it comes to the nature of people at work. Theory X pertains to the negative view of a worker towards work, while Theory Y refers to the positive view of workers.

Theory X: is a negative view of workers which assumes that workers have little ambition, dislike work, and avoid responsibilities; they need to be closely monitored or controlled in order for them to work effectively.

Theory Y: is a positive view of workers which assumes that employees enjoy work, seek out and accept responsibility, and are self-directed.

Managers must be guided by Theory Y, so McGregor proposed that they must give employees a chance to participate in decision-making, assign them challenging jobs to exercise their responsibility in handling complex situations, and allow them to have good work relations with others, which would enhance their motivation.

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

was proposed by Frederick Herzberg; This theory is also known as the Motivation-Hygiene Theory

which states that intrinsic factors (achievement, recognition, growth, and responsibility) are associated with job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors (company policy, salary, security, and supervision) are associated with job dissatisfaction. Intrinsic factors are the motivators while the extrinsic factors are called hygiene factors.

Managers were advised to emphasize motivators in order to motivate their subordinates. Employees who showed job satisfaction are more motivated and productive. This theory enjoyed popularity from the middle of the 1960s to the early 1980s.

McClelland’s Three Need Theory

was proposed by David McClelland and states that individuals have three needs that serve as motivators at work.

The three needs McClelland referred to are: the need for achievement (nAch), the need for power (nPow), and the need for affiliation (nAff).

Managers are advised to be observant of these needs among their subordinates so that they could be given job assignments that would satisfy their highest needs, if possible. In doing so, they may be more motivated to work well.

The theory states that there are needs that serves as motivators in a workplace:

Need for Achievement (nAch) is the drive to excel and drive to succeed. People with this kind of need seek situations where they can take responsibility in finding solutions to the problem and receive positive feedbacks from the management.

Need for Power (nPow) is the desire to become influential and to have an impact. People in high nPow enjoys being in charge of tasks and prefer to work in a competitive environment.

Need for Affiliation (nAff) is the desire to be liked and accepted. The need to feel sense of belongingness is high and people with this need prefer to work in a cooperative environment rather than competitive.

Alderfer’s ERG Theory

Clayton Alderfer’s ERG Theory set of core needs explains behavior. From Maslow’s Five Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Alderfer condensed it into three parts abbreviated as ERG that stands for Existence needs, Relatedness needs and Growth needs. How these needs are associated with each other is similar to Maslow’s.

Existence needs concern our basic material requirements for living, which include what Maslow categorized as physiological needs such as air, sleep, food, water, clothing, sex and shelter and safety-related needs such as health, secure employment, and property.

Relatedness needs have to do with the importance of maintaining interpersonal relationships. These needs are based on social interactions with others and are aligned with Maslow’s levels of love/belonging-related needs such as friendship, family, and sexual intimacy and esteem-related needs such as gaining the respect of others.

Growth needs describe our intrinsic desire for personal development. These needs are aligned with the other part of Maslow’s esteem-related needs such as self-esteem, self-confidence, and achievement, and self-actualization needs such as morality, creativity, problem-solving, and discovery.

Modern Theories of Motivation

Modern Theories of Motivation are process theories that focus on the notion that motivation is a function of employees’ perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs. Among these are:

Goal Setting Theory – a theory stating that specific goals motivate performance and that more difficult goals, when accepted by employees, result in greater motivation to perform well, as compared to easy goals.

Managers are advised to set goals for their subordinates as this is a major source of job motivation. Doing well also helps increase their

motivation.

Reinforcement Theory – a theory which states that behavior is a function of its consequences. If the result or consequences that immediately follow a behavior is good, then there is a probability that the individual will be motivated to repeat the behavior. Using this theory, managers can motivate employees’ positive behavior by using positive reinforcement for actions that help

the company achieve its goal.

Job Design Theory – a theory which states that employees are motivated to work well by combining tasks to form complete jobs.

Managers are advised to design jobs that will meet the requirements of the ever-changing environment, the firm’s technology, and the workers’ skills, abilities, and preferences. In doing so, employees are motivated to perform well. Examples are: job enlargement—the horizontal expansion of a job by increasing job scope; job enrichment—the increasing of job depth by empowering employees to assume some tasks usually done by their managers; and job characteristics model—where employees are motivated to perform well because the task assigned to them have the five core job dimensions that serve as motivators.

Equity Theory – a theory developed by J. Stacey Adams which states that employees assess job outcomes in relation to what they put into it and then compare these with their co-workers. If the employee perceives that his job is equitable in comparison to

those of his coworkers, there is no problem. However, if the opposite is true, this will become a demotivator to his or her job performance. Managers must see to it that they exercise fairness or equity in their company.

Expectancy Theory – states that an individual tends to act in a certain way, based on the expectation that the act will be followed by an outcome which may be attractive or unattractive to him or her. Managers are advised to understand an employee’s goal so that he or she would be able to link the rewards or outcomes to be offered with the said goals.

Definition of Terms

Motivation – refers to psychological processes that arouse and direct goal-directed behavior

Theory – a body of fundamental principles verifiable by experiment or observation