Hovy Do You Motivate Employees?

BEST OF HBR

INTRODUCTION

E
87 One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? 97 Pygmaiion in Management 107 Management by Whose Objectives? 117 Power Is the Great Motivator 127 Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy

ver since Elton Mayo ran his famous Hawthorne experJmentsin which factory workers'productivity rose when Mayo turned up the lights and rose higher still when heturned them hack

down-people have struggled to understand workplace motivation. It's a slippery topic. As Frederick Herzberg noted in his 1968 HBR article, "What has been unraveled [about the psychology of motivation] with any degree of assurance is small indeed."That's still true 35 years later, but we keep trying to understand motivation better because it's so central to organizational success.The irascible Herzberg believed that organizations have only limited power to motivate employees. Even though unfair salaries may demotivate people, Herzberg contends, that doesn't mean fat paychecks will charge them up. Only interesting, challenging work can do that. Managers should make sure their incentive systems function reasonably well but should concentrate on enriching the work. Herzbergmakes it sound easy to run an organization that doesn't trip up its employees at every turn, but it can be painfully difficult. The other authors in this collection suggest taking up the management challenge of helping employees bring out the best in themselves. But to inspire employees, managers, too, must be motivated. David McClelland and David Burnham together look at the difference properlymotivated managers can make to their direct reports, as does J. Sterling Livingston in his article- Harry Levinson notes that performance assessment systems, which should help motivate employees, often do the reverse because they don't take workers'needs and aspirations into account And W.Chan Kim and Ren^e Mauborgne call on organizations to earn employees' trust, and thereby motivate them to excel,by consulting them before making decisions. "Fair process,"as Kim and Mauborgne call this consultation, brings us full circle: Elton Mayo's bottom-line finding was that if managers treated workers with respect, asked for their help, and fostered their sense of community, employees would reward them with increased commitment and higher productivity. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the ones thatendure. And so we present these articles to you again, with a few editorial adjustments in keeping with the times. The ideas are as relevant today as ever.

86

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

BEST OF

HBR

1968

One More Time: Hovy Do You Motivate Employees?
by Frederick Herzberg
When Frederick Herzberg researched the sources of employee motivation during the 1950s and 1960s, he discovereda dichotomy that stills intrigues (and baffles) managers: The things that make people satisfied and motivated on the job are different in kind from the things that make them dissatisfied. Ask workers what makes them unhappy at work, and you'll hear about an annoying boss, a low salary, an uncomfortable work space, or stupid rules. Managed badly, environmental factors make people miserable, andthey can certainly be demotivating. But even if managed brilliantly, they don't motivate anybody to work much harder or smarter. People are motivated, instead, by interesting work, challenge, and increasing responsibility. These intrinsic factors answer people's deep-seated need for growth and achievement. Herzberg's work influenced a generation of scholars and managers-but his conclusions don't seemto have fully penetrated the American workplace, if the extraordinary attention still paid to compensation and incentive packages is any indication.

Forget praise. Forget punishment. Forget cash. You need to make their jobs more interesting.

How MANY ARTICLES, books,Speeches, and workshops have pleaded plaintively, "How do I get an employee to do what I want?" The psychology of motivation...