Reflections On Human Resource Management – Analysing Differences Between Motivational Theories Within Organisations

Reflections on Human Resource Management – Analysing Differences between Motivational Theories within Organisations
Introduction
As Human Resource Management is such a vast subject I will be focusing on motivation because I feel it is one of the key elements of a successful organisation. I will need to research and discuss workplace culture, organizational strategy and management style as theyare the key elements in motivational theories. The theories I feel will be useful to analyse will be McGregor’s theory X and Y, Taylor’s scientific management, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivation and hygiene theory . McGregor’s theory X and Y focuses on implications for managers for employees of different behaviours; Taylor’s scientific management focuses on making changes inlabour to increase productivity; Maslow’s hierarchy of needs focuses on stages of achievement such as physiological needs for employees; and Herzberg’s motivation and hygiene theory focuses on, according to Gawel (1997), factors as ‘company policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and salary as hygiene factors rather than motivators’. His theory states that ‘the absence ofhygiene factors can create job dissatisfaction, but their presence does not motivate or create satisfaction’. It will be useful to compare which motivational theories are commonly associated with hard and soft models of management. Hard models of management are ones that focus on ‘quantitative, calculative and strategic aspects of managing a "head count"’ (Carol Gill, 1999), and soft models ofmanagement are ones that focus on ‘treating employees as valued assets and a source of competitive advantage’ (Carol Gill, 1999).

Discussion
When looking at McGregor’s Theory X and Y, it can be clearly seen that employees branded as “theory X” are those who avoid work where possible, have little ambition, like to be guided in the workplace, and feel they lack security. Employees branded as “theoryy” are ordinary people who can see work as rewarding and satisfying if conditions are satisfactory, they put effort into their work without having to be coerced, and they are happy to accept responsibility.

In comparison, looking at Taylor’s scientific management theory, employees are rewarded ‘according to the number of items or units of work they produce or the time they take to producethem’ (Torrington et al, 2005, P635). The main difference between this theory and McGregor’s is that Taylor believes that employees should be given incentives to work hard and motivate themselves to achieve monetary rewards, whereas in McGregor’s view he thinks that employees will either be naturally motivated and have their own incentives to succeed, or will need to be coerced in to putting an effortinto their work, and see their job more as a job than something that can be enjoyed. He doesn’t seem to entertain the idea that employers should put incentives into place to ensure that all workers will be motivated and hard – working.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that there are five needs that employees need to meet in the work place and Torrington et al (2005) expand on this bytelling us that it also focuses on how employees are able to be motivated to seek and achieve satisfaction through their jobs. There are five stages of need that Maslow outlines, beginning with meeting physiological needs (e.g. hunger), progressing to self actualisation (realising your full potential). Each level is more difficult than the previous level to achieve, with self-actualisation beingextremely difficult to achieve, so much so that only a small percentage of people actually reach this level of satisfaction.

Herzberg’s motivation and hygiene theory focuses on five main motivational factors being ‘achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and advancement’ (Herzberg et al 1959) that provide employees with long-term satisfaction. He also focused on five hygiene...