The Herzberg Motivation Theory
In 1959 Frederick Herzberg conducted an experiment to understand employee motivation and satisfaction. He created two factors used when motivating others:
Factor One: Factors of satisfaction or motivators
Factor Two: Factors of dissatisfaction or hygiene
The first important finding was that there are some elements that ensure employees will not become dissatisfied, these are the hygiene factors.
Hygiene factors can include:
- Working conditions.
- Having the right tools and equipment.
- A safe place to work.
- Fair compensation.
- Job security.
- Good company policies.
- Positive relationships with colleagues and managers.
- Good leadership.
It is important to ensure hygiene factor are met and not overlooked, as these not only attract the best staff, but help retain them. Also hygiene factors play a large role in making sure staff are not dissatisfied of disengaged.
Herzberg also found that there were certain things to motivate employees to achieve higher performance. These are called motivating factors.
Motivating Factors include:
- Achievements.
- Opportunity for personal and professional growth.
- Recognition.
- Challenging and meaningful work.
- Increased responsibility.
It is important to not forget motivating factors as these play a huge role in driving engagement and performance.
So is having all this in place enough for it to work?
No! Next step is ensuring the leadership and management are right and you are using the right Leadership style. Each employee needs to be led differently depending on their personality. It is vital leaders adapt and tailor their style to fit to the individuals in their team as no two people will be motivated by the exact same thing. By doing this it can also help the performance management of your team.
Herzberg found that whilst hygiene factors are able to satisfy employees and stop them being demotivated, they alone will not make them more motivated. Herzberg found to motivate employees you need to ensure you are providing the motivating factors to increase performance and overall satisfaction.
So ask yourself, are you providing hygiene factors to keep employees satisfied and are you also providing motivating factors to ensure employees are more motivated?
Check out our short YouTube video on Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation:
If you are interested in leadership and management training please contact Sales Training International on +44 (0) 1704 889325 or email info@salestrainingint.com for more information.
