The Psychology of Motivation
When it comes to taking care of our health, there are a few things we can all do to keep ourselves healthy and sharp: we can schedule annual check-ups with the doctor, incorporate more greens into our diet, and take time to move throughout the week. However, it gets a bit trickier on the psychological side when we make plans to keep healthy. It becomes even more complicated when we incorporate this into our work-life.
On this note, we are excited to introduce this new content series in the name of occupational health and employee wellness: this is your Check-Up from Riverway Business Services! We will be focusing on motivation, communication and feedback, and work-life balance between now and March.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MOTIVATION
Motivation has been racking the brains of psychologists, teachers, coaches, and managers long enough to develop multiple theories regarding the topic, particularly in the workplace. We will be focusing on the top two: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation.
Maslow suggests that there are 5 levels to human needs, demonstrated in the attached chart. To explain, consider this: if an individual cannot satisfy their physiological needs (food, water, shelter, etc.), do you think they will be very motivated to meet their higher-level needs, such as love and belonging or esteem? I don’t know about you, but when I am even slightly hungry, many things go out the window until I can get a snack. Can you imagine what this is like for someone who does not have reliable access to satisfy the most basic of our human needs? The main criticisms of this theory come down to individual psychology and circumstances. However, if taken with a grain of salt, this theory is a great place to start when trying to motivate our employees.
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory is in the same vein, but a little different. Factors that contribute to job satisfaction are referred to as “hygiene factors.” Things that contribute to higher levels of internal drive are referred to as motivating factors. The easiest way to explain this is to refer to the Maslow pyramid: Physiological, Safety, and Love needs are “hygienic factors,” translated to company policies, salary, and supervision. Motivating factors speak to the top of the pyramid, such as achievement, recognition, and responsibility.
Herzberg suggests that it is not enough to have satisfied employees. Satisfied employees do not equate to motivated employees. To get to the heart of employee motivation, he suggests that all satisfaction factors must be met first. Additionally, he offers that while hygiene factors are not enough to motivate employees, they are enough to demotivate employees if they are not present.
Many problems with this come down to, again, individual psychology and circumstances, but this theory drives home the fact that motivation is much more complicated than making employees happy.
CONCLUSION
If you’ve made it this far and are wondering, “Okay, so what’s the answer? How do we motivate ourselves and our employees?” I have some bad news… there is no one answer to the dilemma of motivation, mainly because humans are diverse in a million different ways. However, this foundation will be used to introduce and explain some useful tips that can be used with yourself and your team in your next Organizational Check-Up from Riverway Business Services on Thursday, February 18th.
Further Reading:
Motivation Theories: Top 8 Theories of Motivation – Explained!