Explain four motivation theory?

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory:

Abraham Maslow's theory suggests that human needs are arranged in a hierarchical order. It is often
represented as a pyramid, with the most basic physiological needs such as food, water, and shelter at
the base, and the highest level being self-actualization, which refers to the desire to reach one's full
potential. According to this theory, people must satisfy lower-level needs before they can move on to
fulfill higher-level needs.

2. Expectancy Theory:

The Expectancy theory, proposed by Victor Vroom, suggests that an individual's motivation to perform a
task is based on the belief that the effort they put into the task will result in good performance and that
good performance will lead to a desirable outcome. This theory suggests that motivation is influenced
by three key factors: expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Expectancy is the belief that effort will
lead to good performance; instrumentality is the belief that good performance will lead to a desirable
outcome, and valence is the value that an individual places on the outcome. Psychologist Abraham
Maslow developed this theory. It places human needs into five categories ranging from basic survival
needs like food and shelter to the need for self-actualization. According to Maslow, once one need is
satisfied, an individual seeks to achieve the next level. When applied to work, the theory implies that
you the employer must understand the current need level of each employee to know what will motivate
them. A new hire who has been unemployed for an extended time will likely be driven by the need for
basic survival. On the other hand, a worker concerned with career advancement may be looking to
achieve self-actualization, so assigning higher-level tasks may be in order.

3. Carrot and Stick Approach

This traditional motivational theory, attributed to philosopher Jeremy Bentham, dates back to around
1800 during the Industrial Revolution. It breaks down motivation into two primary components:
incentives and fear. "Hygiene" factors. Factors that lead to satisfaction include achievement, recognition
and advancement, while those causing dissatisfaction include work conditions, salary and peer
relationships. In general, the theory puts forth that supervisors must be able to effectively manage
factors leading to satisfaction and dissatisfaction to successfully motivate employees. Management must
look for ways to provide job enrichment for workers.

4. Motivation Theory # 2. Herzberg’s Two Factors or Motivation-Hygiene Theory:

Frederick Herzberg of the Western Research University, Ohio, USA and his associates made a valuable
contribution to the development of a theory of motivation by indicating the way to the industry to
better performance through increased job satisfaction. Their study consisted of an intensive analysis of
the experiences and feelings of 200 engineers and accountants in eleven different companies in
Pittsburgh area, USA During the structured interview, they were asked to describe a few previous job
experiences in which they felt ‘exceptionally good’ or ‘exceptionally bad’ about their job. From the
replies received Herzberg discovered that there are some job conditions which operate primarily to
dissatisfy the employees when the conditions are absent, but their presence does not motivate them in
a strong way. Another set of job conditions operates primarily to build strong motivation and high job
satisfaction, but their absence rarely proves strongly dissatisfying. The first set of job conditions were
called by him ‘Hygiene Factors’ and the second set of job conditions ‘Motivating Factors’.

(i) Hygiene Factors: These factors are related to the work environment. According to Herzberg
the following factors are included in this category:
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(i) Company policy and administration;
(ii) Quality of technical supervision;
(iii) Interpersonal relationship with the supervisors subordinates and peers;
(iv) Salary;
(v) Job security;
(vi) Working condition;
(vii) Employee benefits;
(viii) Personal life;
(ix) Job status.
Hygiene factors do not produce any growth in the worker’s output; they only
prevent losses in the worker’s performance due to work restrictions. For this
reason, these factors are also called ‘Maintenance Factors’. These factors are
necessary to maintain a reasonable level of satisfaction in the employees. Any
increase beyond this level will not provide any satisfaction to the employees; but,
any cut below this level will dissatisfy them. As such, they are also called ‘Dis-
satisfier’. Since any increase in these factors will not affect the employee’s level of
satisfaction, these are of no use for motivating them.
(ii) Motivating Factors: These factors have a positive power to satisfy and produce high
performance. Herzberg included six factors that motivate the employees to work. These are:
(a) Achievement;
(b) Responsibility;
(c) Recognition;
(d) Advancement;
(e) Creative and challenging work;
(f) Possibility of growth and development.
Most of these factors are related to job contents. An increase in these factors will satisfy the
employees. So these factors are also called ‘Satisfiers’. However, any decrease in these
factors will not affect their level of satisfaction. Since these factors increase the level of
satisfaction in the employees, they can be used in motivating them for higher output. From
the point of view of management, the significance of Herzberg’s theory lies in the warning
that merely removing the causes of dissatisfaction will not make the workers do any better?
More particularly, more pay cannot be the basis for long range satisfaction. Better
performance can come only when positive motivation is built up through improvement in
the job content by making it more interesting, challenging, responsible and worthwhile. The
managers can work on both fronts by reducing the dissatisfaction arising out of hygiene
factors and building up the motivators for bringing employees’ satisfaction. Criticism:
Herzberg’s theory is based on the fact that most of the people are able to satisfy their lower
order needs considerably. As such, they are not motivated by any further addition of
 satisfaction of these needs. This motion is true and it has been supported by many studies
both in India and foreign countries. Herzberg’s model has been applied in the industry and
has given several new insights. One of them is job enrichment. This job enrichment applies
to improvement of jobs in such a way that they have more motivators than before. Thus,
Herzberg’s theory has solved the problems of the managers who were wondering why their
fancy personnel policies failed to motivate their employees adequately. However,
Herzberg’s model is not applied in all conditions. It has the following weaknesses:

1. Firstly, according to this theory, it is assumed that there is a high correlation between the employees’
satisfaction and productivity. Herzberg bothers too much about satisfaction of the workers. But
although satisfaction creates good morale, it does not lead to increased productivity in all cases.

2. Secondly, there is considerable amount of mixing of maintenance and motivating factors. Therefore,
various factors relating to jobs may not be classified into maintenance and motivating factors.

3. Thirdly, situational variables have been ignored here.

4. Fourthly, this theory does not attach much importance to pay, status or inter-personal relationships—
which are held generally as important contents of satisfaction. Lastly, Herzberg’s model is ‘method-
bound’, and a number of other methods used for similar study have shown different results not
supporting his contentions. Thus, the theory has limitations in general acceptability.