The two-factor theory of motivation, developed by Frederick Herzberg, attempts to identify and explain the factors that employees find satisfying and dissatisfying about their jobs.39 The first set of factors, called motivators, are internal job factors that lead to job satisfaction and higher motivation. In the absence of motivators, employees will probably not be satisfied with their work or motivated to perform up to their potential. Some examples of motivators are the work itself, achievement, recognition, responsibility, and opportunities for advancement.

Notice that salary is not included in the motivator list. Herzberg contends that pay belongs among the second set of factors, which he calls hygiene or maintenance factors. Hygiene factors are external to the job; they are located in the work environment. The absence of a hygiene factor can lead to active dissatisfaction and demotivation and, in extreme situations, to avoidance of the work altogether. Hygiene factors include the following:

• ▪ Company policies

• ▪ Working conditions

• ▪ Job security

• ▪ Salary

• ▪ Employee benefits

• ▪ Relationships with supervisors and managers

• ▪ Relationships with coworkers

• ▪ Relationships with subordinates

According to Herzberg, if management provides the appropriate hygiene factors, employees will not be dissatisfied with their jobs, but neither will they be motivated to perform at their full potential. To motivate workers, management must provide some motivators.

Two-factor theory has two implications for job design: (1) Jobs should be designed to provide as many motivators as possible, and (2) making (external) changes in hygiene factors, such as pay or working conditions, is not likely to sustain improvements in employee motivation over the long run unless (internal) changes are also made in the work itself.

Every worker has unique needs and abilities. Work adjustment theory suggests that employees’ motivation levels and job satisfaction depend on the fit between their needs and abilities and the characteristics of the job and the organization.40 A poor fit between individual characteristics and the work environment may lead to reduced levels of motivation. Work adjustment theory proposes that:

• ▪ A job design that one employee finds challenging and motivating may not motivate another employee. For example, a mentally disabled employee may find a repetitive job at a fast-food restaurant highly motivating and challenging, but a college graduate may find the same job boring.

• ▪ Not all employees want to be involved in decision making. Employees with low needs for involvement may fit poorly on a self-managed team because they may resist managing other team members and taking responsibility for team decisions.

Goal-setting theory, developed by Edwin Locke, suggests that employees’ goals help to explain motivation and job performance.41 The reasoning is as follows: Because motivation is goal-directed behavior, goals that are clear and challenging will result in higher levels of employee motivation than goals that are ambiguous and easy.

Because it suggests that managers can increase employee motivation by managing the goal-setting process, goal-setting theory has some important implications for managers:42

• ▪ Employees will be more motivated to perform when they have clear and specific goals. A store manager whose specific goal is to “increase store profitability by 20 percent in the next six months” will exert more effort than one who is told to “do the best you can” to increase profits.

• ▪ Employees will be more motivated to accomplish difficult goals than easy goals. Of course, the goals must be attainable—otherwise the employee is likely to become frustrated. For example, an inexperienced computer programmer may promise to deliver a program in an unrealistic amount of time. The programmer’s manager may work with the programmer to establish a more realistic yet still-challenging deadline for delivering the program.

• ▪ In many (but not all) cases, goals that employees participate in creating for themselves are more motivating than goals that are simply assigned by managers. Managers may establish mutually agreed-upon goals with employees through a management by objectives (MBO) approach (discussed in Chapter 7) or by creating self-managed teams that take responsibility for establishing their own goals.

• ▪ Employees who receive frequent feedback on their progress toward reaching their goals sustain higher levels of motivation and performance than employees who receive sporadic or no feedback. For example, a restaurant manager can motivate servers to provide better service by soliciting customer feedback on service quality and then communicating this information to employees. The importance of providing feedback to employees for the improvement of their performance is discussed elsewhere in the text in the topic that covers performance appraisal (Chapter 7).

Developed by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham, job characteristics theory states that employees will be more motivated to work and more satisfied with their jobs to the extent that jobs contain certain core characteristics.43 These core job characteristics create the conditions that allow employees to experience critical psychological states that are related to beneficial work outcomes, including high work motivation. The strength of the linkage among job characteristics, psychological states, and work outcomes is determined by the intensity of the individual employee’s need for growth (that is, how important the employee considers growth and development on the job).

There are five core job characteristics that activate three critical psychological states. The core job characteristics are:44

1. Skill variety The degree to which the job requires the person to do different things and involves the use of a number of different skills, abilities, and talents.

2. Task identity The degree to which a person can do the job from beginning to end with a visible outcome.

3. Task significance The degree to which the job has a significant impact on others—both inside and outside the organization.

4. Autonomy The amount of freedom, independence, and discretion the employee has in areas such as scheduling the work, making decisions, and determining how to do the job.

5. Feedback The degree to which the job provides the employee with clear and direct information about job outcomes and performance.

The three critical psychological states affected by the core job characteristics are:45

1. Experienced meaningfulness The extent to which the employee experiences the work as important, valuable, and worthwhile.

2. Experienced responsibility The degree to which the employee feels personally responsible or accountable for the results of the work.

3. Knowledge of results The degree to which the employee understands on a regular basis how effectively he or she is performing the job.

As shown in Figure 2.3, skill variety, task identity, and task significance are all linked to experienced meaningfulness of work. Autonomy is related to experienced responsibility and feedback is related to knowledge of results.

A job with characteristics that enable an employee to experience all three critical psychological states provides internal rewards that sustain motivation.46 These rewards come from having a job where the person can learn (knowledge of results) that he or she has performed well on a task (experienced responsibility) that he or she cares about (experienced meaningfulness).47 In addition, this situation results in certain outcomes that are beneficial to the employer: high-quality performance, higher employee satisfaction, and lower turnover and absenteeism. Job characteristics theory maintains that jobs can be designed to contain the characteristics that employees find rewarding and motivating.