A Beginner’s Guide to Herzberg’s Two-Factor Motivation Theory
Bradford R. GlaserThere are several different motivation theories about what drives employees to do their best work. Understanding some of the most well-known theories can help managers support their workers more efficiently while also helping the organization thrive and grow.
Herzberg's two-factor motivation theory proposes that two primary factors drive human motivation: motivators and hygiene factors.
Motivators are the factors that encourage employee job satisfaction, while hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction in the workplace, according to this theory.
Let's look at what you'll need to know about the two-factor theory and how you can apply it to your business.
- Identify major motivation factors
- Apply strategies to reduce pressure
- Model community and openness
Table of Contents
- What Is Herzberg's Two-Factor Motivation Theory?
- Who Was Herzberg?
- How to Apply the Herzberg Theory
- Benefits of Applying the Two-Factor Theory
- Drawbacks of Applying the Two-Factor Theory
- Other Popular Motivation Theories in Management
- McClelland's Need Theory
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Incentive Theory
- Competence Theory
- Expectancy Theory
- Learning What Motivates Your Employees: An Essential Task
What Is Herzberg's Two-Factor Motivation Theory?
The Herzberg theory states that certain elements in any workplace can lead to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
This theory is known by various names, including:
- Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
- Herzberg's theory
- The dual-factor theory
- The two-factor theory
Herzberg, an American psychologist, worked to understand what motivates employees and interviewed workers to find out what led to positive and negative work experiences. In developing his theory, he believed that two types of factors influenced a person's job satisfaction: motivators and hygiene factors.
1. Motivators
In Herzberg's theory, motivators are elements that give positive satisfaction. These are aspects of a job that stem from its intrinsic qualities, such as achievement, personal growth, or recognition.
Let's look at some motivators that can lead to job satisfaction:
- Recognition: Recognition can be a significant motivator for some people. On top of helping them feel appreciated and accomplished, it also encourages them to repeat the same positive actions that created the positive performance outcome. Essentially, recognition reinforces good performance.
- The work itself: A crucial motivating factor for many employees is feeling like the work that they are doing is important. When someone believes that the tasks they are engaging in are meaningful, they are much more likely to have the motivation to perform at a high level.
- Growth opportunities: Employees can also feel motivated when they know that there are chances for them to develop professionally. Not only does this give them a strong sense of accomplishment, but it also offers built-in goals for them to aim for.
- Achievement: Some individuals are motivated by feelings of achievement. When they set and achieve goals and want consistent feedback on their progress, employees are driven to succeed in their roles.
- Job Advancement opportunities: While some employees might be happy to stay in their current role, others want to know that there is a clear path they can take to progress in their careers. When these individuals know that they can work their way up, it can be a significant motivating factor in terms of productivity and performance.
You can learn more about the factors that drive employees in our guide about employee motivators.
2. Hygiene Factors
On the other hand, hygiene factors don't lead to higher motivation when they are present. Instead, they lead to dissatisfaction when they're absent.
Examples include good pay, job security, work conditions, and vacations.
- Job security: When people don't feel secure in their positions, they may be less likely to feel satisfied with their jobs. When they feel secure in their roles, they might experience a higher degree of job satisfaction.
- Salary: It's hard to feel satisfied with your job when you don't feel you're being compensated fairly for your work.
- Relationships: People who feel camaraderie with their peers are more likely to experience higher job satisfaction. This also encapsulates relationships with supervisors and subordinates.
- Physical workspace: There are a lot of different elements to a physical workspace– from the size of an office and its lighting to the furnishings and having an on-site cafeteria. If individuals don't have safe equipment to work with, a comfortable working environment, and lack the resources they need to do a good job, job satisfaction will be lower.
- Company policies: The policies a company sets for its workers should be fair and clearly communicated. At the same time, they should be on par with those of other companies in the same industry. Job satisfaction will likely be lower if policies are perceived as unfair or unclear.
- Supervision: Autonomy can be very meaningful to employees, and the feeling of being micromanaged can lower a person's job satisfaction.
- Working conditions: This element in Herzberg's theory refers to the formal terms under which staff members are hired, such as the pay rate, the length of the workday, and the contract of employment.
- Status: A person's status within a company can also affect how satisfied they feel with their job.
If you're interested in learning about other motivational theories that can be applied to the workplace, read our recent post about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Who Was Herzberg?
Frederick Irving Herzberg is best known for his Motivator-Hygiene theory, as well as a concept that stemmed from this theory known as "job enrichment." Born in 1923 in Lynn, Massachusetts, Herzberg was an American psychologist who started researching organizations in the 1950s.
By 1987, his 1968 publication entitled "One More Time, How Do You Motivate Employees" was the most requested article from the Harvard Business Review and had sold 1.2 million reprints.
Herzberg worked at the University of Utah from the 50s until he retired. Because of his research on motivation and job enrichment, Herzberg was one of the most influential figures in business management during his time.
How to Apply the Herzberg Theory
If you're interested in applying Herzberg's theory to your workplace, there are a few steps you'll want to take.
1. Analyze Your Workplace Morale
The first thing you'll want to do when applying this theory is to evaluate morale in your workplace. Take the time to observe your employees, their attitudes, and their productivity. You might find that specific elements correlate with higher productivity.
Since everyone is different, you might find that some of your employees are motivated by different elements than others. To learn what's motivating your employees, there are several steps you can take beyond simple observation.
You can send out online employee surveys, conduct polls, or have conversations with individuals on your team to learn more about what motivates them.
2. Address Hygiene Factors
The next step is to develop a plan to address hygiene factors in your workplace. For example, you might find that there are changes you can make to the physical workplace that help reduce barriers to job satisfaction for your employees, or you might want to change some of your company policies to better meet the needs of your employees.
If you find that supervision is one of the hygiene factors that need to be addressed, you might implement training programs for your supervisors and managers that reflect Herzberg's theory.
3. Increase Motivating Factors
If you are dedicated to increasing motivation in the workplace, you'll also want to make motivating factors more prevalent.
You'll want to incorporate your employees' feedback on what motivates them to achieve the best results.
Benefits of Applying the Two-Factor Theory
There are many potential advantages to using the two-factor theory in your workplace. Increasing motivation can have a notable impact on the bottom line, which is evidenced by a Gallup finding that states that highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability.
Here are some of the benefits that can result from applying this theory:
- Encourages unity and diversity: The Herzberg theory can help managers and leaders in the organization learn more about the concerns of employees in the workplace.
- Provides deep insights: Applying Herzberg's theory gives you a much deeper understanding of your employees' mindsets toward their jobs. By learning more about the internal factors that motivate workers, you can better understand your employees and your organization as a whole.
- Identifies diverse motivation factors: This theory recognizes that many different elements can influence an employee's satisfaction or lack of satisfaction on the job. This can be useful in actually pinpointing pain points in the organization in order to solve them.
- Provides a framework for measuring success: Another positive benefit of Herzberg's theory is that it helps foster accountability-driven metrics for measuring the success of company projects and employee job satisfaction.
Drawbacks of Applying the Two-Factor Theory
There are also some potential downsides to Herzberg's theory that you'll want to consider before applying it in your workplace.
These include:
- Disconnect between performance and motivators: Job satisfaction and performance aren't always directly correlated. This means a team can perform well while still being dissatisfied with their jobs.
- Team disagreements: It isn't always easy to measure success solely based on these motivating factors, which could potentially breed conflict between managers and teams.
- Individual differences: Not everyone is driven by the same things, and there's a good chance your team is made up of individuals with different motivational factors.
- Disconnect between productivity and satisfaction: Herzberg's theory hypothesizes that workers will be more productive if they are satisfied with their jobs. However, there are additional factors that can impact productivity in addition to worker motivation.
Other Popular Motivation Theories in Management
Herzberg's theory isn't the only theory that proposes to understand what motivates employees. Let's look at a few others to help understand how complex and difficult it is to pin down the topic of employee motivation.
McClelland's Need Theory
McClelland's theory proposes that most people have three different needs: the need for affiliation, the need for achievement, and the need for power. Each of these needs in this theory relates to a specific type of person who is driven to address that need.
The need for affiliation stems from the drive to be accepted by others and to belong to a group. Understanding this theory can help managers identify workers who might flourish in a team. Individuals motivated by affiliation tend to be skilled at building meaningful relationships with coworkers, thanks to their highly developed interpersonal skills.
The need for achievement has to do with the drive to be important and successful. Individuals with this motivation might have a high standard for their work ethic and be more inclined to a competitive attitude.
Finally, the need for power has to do with the drive to make an impact on others and positively affect the workplace. These people usually enjoy delegating tasks, leading groups of people, and organizing events.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a psychological theory often applied in business contexts. It proposes that each individual has different types of needs that are organized in a hierarchy, with needs lower on the hierarchy needing to be met before the next level up is achieved.
The five levels are: physiological, safety, socialization, esteem, and self-actualization. At the base level, a person is driven to meet their basic needs for survival. At the highest level, individuals are motivated to achieve long-term, personal, or complex goals.
Incentive Theory
This theory of motivation suggests that people are motivated by recognition, reinforcement, rewards, and incentives.
Workplaces that utilize this theory might offer several incentives such as paid vacation or time off, bonuses, promotions, opportunities for growth, and praise.
Competence Theory
Another motivational theory proposes that people are motivated by the ability to display their abilities, skills, and intelligence in specific activities.
The idea is that employees who successfully demonstrate their competency in front of their peers experience increased confidence and are motivated to do a good job.
Expectancy Theory
The expectancy theory offers the idea that people are motivated to perform certain behaviors when they believe that desired outcomes will result from their actions.
This motivational theory can be applied in your workplace by offering incentives to encourage employees to perform a specific action, such as working extra hours to complete a project.
Learning What Motivates Your Employees: An Essential Task
A motivated team can increase productivity, boost innovation, reduce staff turnover, and lower absenteeism. On top of that, it can help your brand develop a strong reputation and make it easier to recruit talented new employees.
Learning what motivates your employees can be challenging, but there are many exercises and activities you can utilize to better understand what makes your team tick. Take a look at the Motivating Employees to be their Best Customizable Courseware to learn about each employee's goals and motivations.
Do you have any questions about the two-factor motivation theory or anything similar? If so, please feel free to leave us a comment down below, and we'll get back to you within a day or two! We make it a point to reply to every comment we receive, and we'd be more than happy to help you however we can!
