Motivational Theories

Hierarchy of needs was developed by Abraham Maslow. It is based on employee satisfaction.

According to him different people depending upon time and condition. People tend to get
satisfied when they accomplish need. People have their needs aligned in a hierarchy and they get
satisfied when they achieve in order. Once they satisfy their basic needs i.e. physiological needs
like air, food, water, sleep, warmth etc. they move to next level in the hierarchy which is clothing
and shelter, personal safety and security. The next two levels in the hierarchy are based on social
and esteem needs. The last stage in the hierarchy is self-actualization need. It lies on the top of
the hierarchy. This is the final stage in human satisfaction according to Maslow.
In 1960 McGregor came with a new idea of good and bad management which have good
impact on employee motivation. He gave two theories X and Y depending the attitude they have
towards the employees. Theory X says that managers consider that their employees are lazy and
they lack ambition. They work only for money and you cannot trust them. Also they believe that
employees lack responsibility and are not creative which means they cannot solve any
difficulties for this they require constant supervision and control by the managers. On the other
hand Theory Y says managers trust their employees. They love working and are responsible and
try to contribute to their work. Also they are capable enough to solve complex problems.
In 1966 Fredrick Herzberg introduced two factor theory. This theory was based on hygiene
factors. According to this theory, there are some factors which are related to hygiene which
sometimes demotivates the workforce. This affects the productivity of the workforce. These
dissatisfies are status, job security, wages, salary, fringe benefits, company policies and
supervisory practices etc. He recommend high motivator factors and hygiene factors which
boosts their morale and motivation but it was very hard to find the situation.
In 1967, David McClelland introduced the theory of needs. According to him there only three
basic needs which acts as a motivator for the employees. These needs are classified into
achievement, affiliation and power. In short he called them N-ach, N-aff and N-pow.

Group incentives are incentives paid to group of employees. But now there can arise a question
why should be groups and not individuals rewarded. There can be more than one answer but all
of them are really easy to get. The basic idea is that not all the employees can be remunerated
following the individual incentive plans. If this situation occurs group incentives plans are
implemented instead. Group incentives are used when it is difficult to measure each individual
employee output, and/or when team work is important. Nevertheless sometimes output is
measurable but impractical or too costly to measure. Simply the performance of unit consisting
of more employees or the whole company matters and is the reason of pay increase or bonuses.
Nowadays there are many group plans used in the real practise but generally their basements are
almost the same in all types of these plans. Most of the group plans are based on a monetary
performance standard. a group incentive plan can help foster relationships between staff
members, encouraging them to find ways to work together in a collective environment in order to
achieve group goals. The approach can build a stronger team, encourage brainstorming and
create a vested sense of project ownership across the board. Staffers know they each must pull
their own weight in order for the team to be successful, which can prevent slacking or
underperformance. Encouragement and even some degree of positive peer pressure can help
ensure

everyone's

strengths

are

utilized

toward

achieving

stated

objectives.