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This theory explains that everyone is motivated to satisfy five basic needs. These
needs are arranged in a hierarchy. We satisfy the lower needs first. As each need
is met, we satisfy the next level need until we have met all five needs.
a) Physiological needs
b) Security needs
c) Belongingness needs
d) Esteem needs
e) Self-actualization needs
This theory is still relevant today to understand human motivation and personal
development in workplace environments and business management.
The idea is that people have basic needs in life and, if they don’t meet these
needs, it’s hard to move up the pyramid. So when individuals have met their most
basic needs (food, drink, sleep, shelter, etc.), they try to fulfill their “higher” needs
and get a transformative self-actualization. This desire to meet individual needs is
what motivates people in life.
This theory can be applied to the KBA Global Pvt. LTD. We will analyze how
motivation helps individuals and companies alike to meet their most basic needs
and try to move up the pyramid, as they are concerned with trying to reach
further goals, more elevated needs.
A. Physiological needs
The most basic needs KBA Global can offer their employees are found at
the base of the pyramid. These are basic salaries, lunch break, rest breaks,
good working environment. KBA Global has been providing comfortable
working condition (AC room), reasonable working hours (10 AM – 5 PM),
necessary breaks to eat/drink, use the bathroom to its employees.
B. Security needs:
KBA Global has been taking care of employees security needs
By providing safe working conditions (CCTV system, AC room), paid sick
leaves etc.
C. Belongingness needs:
KBA Global has created an environment of team sprits and sense of
community through team based work. They are promoting a good work-life
balance. All the employees have right to participate in decision making.
D. Esteem needs:
It refers to the need for self-esteem and respect, with self-respect being
slightly more important than gaining respect and admiration from
others. KBA account for the esteem needs of their employees by offering
praise and recognition when the employee does well, and offering
promotions and additional responsibility to reflect their belief that they are
a valued employee.
E. Self-actualization needs:
It describe a person's need to reach his or her full potential. The need to
become what one is capable of is something that is highly personal.
Because this need is individualized, KBA can account for this need by
providing challenging work, inviting employees to participate in decision-
making and giving them flexibility and autonomy in their jobs.
Five important Limitations about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory:
At stage 4 and stage 5 (Esteem Needs and Self-Actualization Needs), the theory
is of questionable relevance to individuals that are driven by extrinsic rewards.
The reason being that it is not common nowadays for people to be unhappy about
their co-workers and bosses, yet can still maintain high and consistent
performances as they are being promised a promotion, higher pay, or a lavish
vacation which the company will pay for.
So an individual might be stuck at the third stage (Belongingness needs) for having
a bad relationship overall with his/her peers, but is motivated by the unlisted
motivator, which is money.
There will be some difficulty for managers in deciding which need level employees
are on, and this might curb the motivation of employees at the workplace.
Take for example a particular employee that is moving from stage 3 (Belongingness
needs) to Stage 4 (Esteem Needs). In simpler words, said employee feels the need
for his contributions to be accepted by someone within the company.
If the manager of the company does not give sufficient appraisal towards his efforts
soon, then the employee’s efforts motivation will go into decline. Because
different managers view efforts subjectively, it might be that his best effort was
perceived as insufficient and motivation goes down.
This is often due to the fact that different individuals are driven to satisfy
different needs at a certain time.
To illustrate, let’s take a certain employee which find himself hard to be accepted
by others, but presents very innovative ideas that makes the manager favoring him
and appraising him more than anyone else within the company.
Based on Maslow’s theory, the employee is at stage 4 of the chart (Esteem Needs)
and should focus on doing more things that pleases his boss so he can move up to
stage 5 (Self-Actualization Needs).
However in reality, the employee has a strong urge to fulfil stage 3 in his hierarchy
of needs (Belongingness needs) and it is possible that he might put in less effort at
work in order to fulfil the unsatisfied motivator of his.
The point of this illustration is that in the real world, the needs aren’t fulfilled in
chronological order, as people will make the effort eventually to satisfy latent
needs in the hierarchy.
Hygiene Factors:
Hygiene factors are those that need to be addressed by a business in such a way
that they would not result to the employee’s unpleasant experiences and feelings
at work. The satisfaction of hygiene factors motivates employees in their work.
The hygiene factors are:
Motivator Factors:
The two-factor theory of motivation can be used to analyze any evidence of de-
motivated employees at work inside KBA global. Applying Herzberg’s model,
these evidences may include a low level of productivity, poor quality of service,
poor employee-employer relationships, and disputes concerning pay and/or
working condition complaints. Following a thorough assessment on the hygiene
factors of the business and the motivator factors concerning employees at work,
KBA can apply three methods in which work can be rearranged:
1. Job Enlargement
2. Job Rotation
3. Job Enrichment
Existence needs- These include need for basic material necessities. In short,
it includes an individual’s physiological and physical safety needs.
Relatedness needs- These include the aspiration individuals have for
maintaining significant interpersonal relationships (be it with family, peers
or superiors), getting public fame and recognition. Maslow’s social needs
and external component of esteem needs fall under this class of need.
Growth needs- These include need for self-development and personal
growth and advancement. Maslow’s self-actualization needs and intrinsic
component of esteem needs fall under this category of need.
1. The ERG theory does not offer clear cut guidelines. This theory says that an
individual can satisfy any of the three needs first. But how will we determine
which of the three needs is more important to that person.
Theory X and Theory Y was created and developed by Douglas McGregor at the
MIT Sloan School of Management in the 1960s. It describes two very different
attitudes towards workforce motivation. McGregor felt that companies followed
either one of these approaches.
Theory X:
In this theory, management assumes that employees are inherently lazy and will
avoid work if they can. Because of this, workers need to be closely supervised and
comprehensive systems of control put in place. A hierarchical structure is needed,
with narrow span of control at each level, for effective employee management.
According to this theory employees will show little ambition without an enticing
incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.
The managers influenced by Theory X believe that everything must end in blaming
someone. They think most employees are only out for themselves and their sole
interest in the job is to earn money. They tend to blame employees in most
situations, without questioning the systems, policy, or lack of training which could
be the real cause of failures.
Theory Y:
Management influenced by this theory assumes that employees are ambitious,
self-motivated and anxious to accept greater responsibility and exercise self-
control, self-direction, autonomy and empowerment. Management believes that
employees enjoy their work. They also believe that employees have the desire to
be creative at their work place and become forward looking. There is a chance for
greater productivity by giving employees the freedom to perform to the best of
their abilities, without being bogged down by rules.
Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want
to do well at work and that there is a pool of unused creativity in the workforce.
They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation in
itself. Theory Y manager will try to remove the barriers that prevent workers from
fully actualizing themselves.
If this happens, KBA may need to take back some control to ensure that everyone
meets their team and organizational goals.
Conversely, Coercion might work better with the prospects of bigger rewards for
more, but employees might purposely try to cheat or attempt to hide the truth
itself. Also, employees might try to sabotage the efforts of each other in order to
make it easier for them to achieve the rewards.
For example, a company decides to use both theories together. So, in order to
accommodate the need of employees who are managed based on Theory X, more
employers will need to be hired and paid. The company also needs to pay and to
create a comfortable environment for employees that are self-motivated based on
a theory Y concept. It costs a small fortune for the company to cater to the different
tastes of so many employees. It is estimated that the company spending would be
high enough based on these factors alone.
Therefore, it might just be more beneficial for the company to utilize a single
theory and hire employees that can be consistently managed with that theory
alone.
4. Theory X and Theory Y makes employment harder- Previously, I’ve said that
companies should only use a single theory at once. The theory that should be used
is the one that can effectively manage all employees within the organization.
However, this in turn causes a problem during the employment process, because it
is likely that a company will reject an applicant solely because he/she is not
consistent with the theory that the company uses.
Therefore, if companies actually follow these theories closely, it will be harder for
potential candidates to get a job just because the company cannot handle their
characteristics within the workplace and may give candidates that the company
discriminates heavily upon its applicants.
5. Theory X and Theory Y work on assumptions- I think organizations should be
careful, and not rely too heavily on Theory X and Theory Y because there are a lot
of assumptions.
Nowadays, an employee from Generation X might come into the workforce from
his/her previous retirement, and Generation Y employees might be wrongly
perceived as ‘slackers’ for relying more on technology to manage their meetings
and make their jobs easier .
There are so many other factors that influence the employee behaviour within an
organization in this current era, so Theory X and Theory Y may even be slightly
obsolete.