Strengths and Weaknesses of McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory and Expectancy Theory Motivation play an important role in today’s work environment as motivated employees are more productive employees. However, the ways how we motivate the employees have to be improved from time to time as employees are being more demanding and that they are more concern about their needs than before. Motivational strategies have probably affected the most by employee concerns and values (Greiner 1986, p. 82). ‘A motivational strategy is any effort to induce employees to initiate and sustain activities that can directly or indirectly improve service productivity’ (Greiner 1986, p. 82). Motivation can have an effect on the output of your business and concerns both quantity and quality. For example, if you are in a manufacturing company, your business actually relies heavily on your production staff to make sure that quality product are being produce and being delivered to your client at the right time. However, if your production employees are lack of motivation they will be not motivated to produce the amount of product demanded, thus will be very costly. In the essay below, we will be discussing on the strength and weaknesses of McClelland’s acquired needs theory and the expectancy theory. McClelland proposed that an individual’s particular needs are obtained over time as a result of life experiences (Wood et al. p. 146). Most of these needs fall into three general categories of needs which can be class as need for achievement, affiliation or power. The strengths of the McClelland’s acquired needs theory is that it provides a clear picture for the organization and the managers to know which type of job are suitable for the employees and which types of people that can make the organizations more successful. According to the article, the authors stated that managers who have strong power of needs are more successful than those with lower power needs (Wagner & Swanson 1979, p. 66). ‘McClelland and Burnham identify two types of power managers: those who seek personal power and those who seek institutional power’ (Lyden 1976, p. 201). However, manager who seek for institutional power are more successful as they can create favorable condition at work. Wagner and Swanson (1979, p. 66) attributes the success of higher power needs people to their ability to create a greater sense of responsibility and team spirit in their organizations. This will give a clear picture for the organization on which of the employees that are suitable to be promoted and become a manager.
It 's important for employees to know that their suggestions are being listened to, and should be given ways to improve themselves accordingly. This theory expresses that when a lower need is fulfilled, it 's no longer a strong motivator and consequently the interest in the following higher need gets to be overwhelming and the individual 's consideration is turned towards fulfilling this higher
Having employees with a high level of motivation is what the company wants to see in them because it means that they are more likely to handle the pressure of the job as well as provide quality service to the customer, making the customers return. Making sure that the employees stay motivated is important because it is what is beneficial to the company as well as making the employee’s time working more satisfying. Though being motivated is a good characteristic to have, it can be hard with keeping up the fast pace to many customers while providing quality service to each of them. Similarly, dealing with some customers can be difficult which leads to an employee feeling unmotivated. After all, each employee must remain sincere to their customers at all times. This is a reason why the job can be so stressful and what can cause the employees to be unmotivated to conti...
Dick Solomon’s pursuit to motivate the waitress while dining exemplifies his negligence of formal dining etiquette, and unreasonable attempts of motivating his waitress. McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory, and the Expectancy Theory best represent Dick’s unsuccessful attempts of motivating the waitress. The Acquired Needs Theory states that “An individual’s specific needs are acquired over time and are shaped by one’s life experiences.”(NetMBA). There are three needs classified under this theory: Achievement, Affiliation, and Power. One’s motivation in particular circumstances are influenced by the three needs. Achievement stems from a desire to accomplish goals from personal effort, as results are based off of one’s efforts. Motivation is stemmed by the desire to achieve goals in the workplace. In this particular case, the waitress has a predetermined goal: to provide great service in order to receive a great tip. Dick believes that placing money on the table will incentivize the waitress, creating motivation for him to receive outstanding service. The waitress is aware that her motivation is to meet Dick’s needs, so both of them can leave at the end of the night satisfied. The need for affiliation is commonly seen in the workplace. Employees who seek affiliation adapt easily to norms in the workplace, and, at all costs, aim to avoid conflict. Furthermore, those pursuing affiliation work well in customer service. Dick is unsuccessful with avoiding conflict between him and the waitress. As seen in the video, she becomes uncomfortable and concerned with every move she makes. The waitress seeks to avoid conflict by being polite to Dick and waitressing regardless of his impolite manners. The waitress acts professional and exemplifies ...
The scenario clearly illustrates how each of the five powers are used. It is evident that they can have a powerful influence with the productivity and influence within organization. The relationships between the powers and dependencies in the scenario are excellent examples because they perfectly exemplify why and how motivational influences exist in any scenario where bases of powers and dependencies exist.
Usually, the belief is that the managers, administrators, presidents or even the supervisors, have the greatest source of power, because they are at the top of the ladder in the hierarchy of the organization. The reality is that they need
The literature generally suggests that effective leaders express their needs and motives in ways that benefit the organization. These needs or motives, are considered to be; tenacity, power, drive and work ethic (DuBrin et al. 2006). The power motive is significant, as it plays a major role in the relations taking place within the organization. Power over others is an inevitable part of leadership, but it also carries with it the risks associated with the misuse or abuse of power (Wikipedia, 2008).
Unfortunately, being inspiring to employees is not enough. These situations occur when employees face challenges in accomplishing goals. In such situations, a leader needs to exercise power and influence to push forth the desired goals. While the course identified five sources of power, I believe only three should be considered for an effective leader. The first is legitimate power (6), which is often considered the first source of power in the organizations I have worked in. The source of power comes...
John Terrill, an experienced professional with a unique approach to managing, was brought into to DGL International to correct the productivity issues evident in the technical services division. As a leader, his approach would require professionalism, as well as an alternative method of management to restore the lacking work ethic of the engineers. Through investigative research into well-defined leadership styles, behaviours and power types, the following case study questions are discussed below. Using Paul Hershey and Ken Blanchard’s situational leadership theory, I compare the autocratic with the democratic approaches to leadership, as well as discuss the four styles of leading: telling, selling, participative or delegating. I also address the type of power Terrill appears to possess over his followers and compare multiple options. Though Terrill proved to be a successful development to the company’s management team, the repercussions and advantages of alternative approaches are also addressed in conjunction with Robert House’s path-goal theory.
Power is central to the leadership process in the development of a manager’s self-confidence and willingness to support staff members. (Simmick & Wilkinson, 1990). The desire for power is universal. From this vantage point, power should be accepted as a natural part of any organization. Power is not evenly distributed among individuals or groups, but every individual has some degree of power.
When it is discovered that a worker can fulfill the requirements of their job, but are experiencing shortcomings in doing so, many times it is believed that worker motivation may be the root of the problem (Laird 95). What, though, is work motivation? According to Laird (2006), “motivation is a fundamental component of performance “ and “is the reason that someone chooses to do some things and chooses not to do others”. In other words, work motivation is what energizes workers to the level of output required to fulfill a task, directs their energy towards the objectives that they need to accomplish, and sustains that level of effort over a period of time (Steers et al., 2004). In essence, worker motivation is what gets the job done. Employee motivation has always been a central problem in the workplace, and, as an individual in a supervisory position, it becomes ones duty to understand and institute systems that ensure the proper motivation of your subordinates. Proper motivation of employees can ensure high productivity and successful workflow, while low worker motivation can result in absenteeism, decreased productivity rates, and turnover. A large body of research has been produced regarding motivation, and much of this research is applicable to the workplace. Due to the nature of man, motivation varies from individual to individual, and, because of this, there is no one system that is the best for ensuring worker motivation in every organizational situation, and, as a product, many theories have been created to outline what drives people to satisfactorily complete their work tasks. Throughout the course of this document, the three main types of these motivational theories will be outlined and examples of each as well...
Research has shown that motivation in an employee is an important factor which determines his performance. Motivation is the “driving force within individuals” (Mullins, 2007, p. 285). It is the concerned with finding out the reasons which shape and direct the behaviour of the individuals. The people act to achieve something so that they can satisfy some needs (Gitman and Daniel, 2008). It is important for the manager to understand this motivation of individual employees in order to inspire them and devise an appropriate set of incentives and rewards which would satisfy the needs that they have individually (Kerr, 2003). Once these needs are expected to be met in return for some specific behaviour or action, they would work more diligently to have that behaviour in them and to achieve that objective (Meyer and Hersovitch, 2001). Since it would lead to early and fuller achievement of the company objectives as the individual would work more diligently, it would lead to better organizational performance (Wiley, 1997).
In daily life, we need motivation to improve our performance in our job or in studies. Motivation is an internal force, dependent on the needs that drive a person to achieve. In the other words, motivation is a consequence of expectations of the future while satisfaction is a consequence of past events (Carr, 2005). We need to give reward to our self when we did correctly or we has achieve our target. Reward is something that we are given because we have behaved well, worked hard, or provided a service to the community. Theories of motivation can be used to explain the behavior and attitude of employees (Rowley, 1996; Weaver, 1998). The theories include content theories, based on assumptions that people have individual needs, which motivate their action. Meanwhile according to Robbins (2001), motivation is a needs-satisfying process, which means that when a person's needs are satisfied by certain factors, the person will exert superior effort toward attaining organizational goals. Schulze and Steyn (2003) affirmed that in order to understand people’s behavior at work, managers or supervisors must be aware of the concept of needs or motives which will help “move” their employees to act.Theories such as Maslow (1954), McClelland (1961), Herzberg (1966) and Alderfer (1969) are renowned for their works in this field. The intrinsic reward or also be known as motivators factors is the part of Herzberg motivation theory. Motivators are involve factors built into the job or the studies itself such as achievement, recognition, responsibility and advancement. Hygiene factors are extrinsic to the job such as interpersonal relationship, salary, supervision and company policy (Herzberg, 1966. There have two factors that are called hygiene fac...
Motivation is an important function in organizations to motivate their employees for their ability to perform well, improving their skills, increasing productivity, job satisfaction and employee extension. Employees also are not a machines that we could just program their task in their brain and they will do it automatically, they require motivation to actually do their job properly. And so, after discussing the process models of the Maslow’s “Hierarchy of needs”, Douglas McGregor theory X and Y, and also the Herzberg’s “two factor motivation hygiene theory.” understanding the ways of motivating people, the human nature, and the substance of nature. I believe that the true motivation can only come from within and also managers can actually motivate all of their employees.
Motivation, as defined in class, is the energy and commitment a person is prepared to dedicate to a task. In most of organisations, motivation is one of the most troublesome problems. Motivation is about the intensity, direction and persistence of reaching a goal. During the class, we have learned a substantial theories of motivation and many theories of motivations are used in real business. Each theory seems to have different basic values. But, they all have been analysed for one reason, recognising what motivates and increases the performance of employees. Ident...
People’s behaviour is determined by what motivates them. The aim of this essay is to discuss the essence of the motivation and psychological strengths, its evolution, a brief overview of the key theories of the employees’ motivation and behaviour analysis. The main task is to understand how motivation affects employee behaviour and to clarify the importance of motivation. In this essay I will discuss and produce definitions and examples to answer the main question of what is the driving force and how do people’s needs influence performance at work?