Understanding motivation is essential in managing people effectively. This section explores three key theories that explain how and why employees are motivated.
Taylor’s Scientific Management
Frederick Winslow Taylor was one of the earliest theorists to focus on motivation in the workplace. He developed the Scientific Management approach in the early 20th century based on the idea that productivity could be maximised by optimising work methods and incentivising employees financially.
Core Assumptions
Taylor believed that:
Workers are primarily motivated by money, and their main goal at work is to earn as much as possible.
Work processes should be simplified and standardised so that each task is completed in the most efficient manner.
Managers should plan and instruct, while workers carry out tasks exactly as designed.
A division of labour makes employees more productive by allowing them to specialise in a specific task.
A piece-rate pay system, where workers are paid according to their output (for example, £1 per unit produced), would incentivise them to work faster and produce more.
Key Features
Taylor’s system aimed to apply scientific methods to job roles:
Time-and-motion studies were conducted to find the most efficient ways of working.
Strict task allocation: Each employee was given a narrowly defined task to prevent wasted time and effort.
Financial incentives were central—employees who produced more received higher wages.
Employees were expected to follow instructions exactly, with little autonomy or input into how work was carried out.
Application in the Workplace
Taylor’s methods were widely used in manufacturing environments, particularly in assembly lines. A classic example is Ford Motor Company, which used scientific management principles to mass-produce vehicles quickly and cost-effectively. Each worker had a specific task and was rewarded based on output.
Criticisms and Limitations
Although revolutionary at the time, Taylor’s theory has faced significant criticism:
Ignores social and psychological needs: Taylor saw workers as economic beings, neglecting motivation through teamwork, creativity or purpose.
Monotony and dissatisfaction: Specialisation often leads to repetitive, dull tasks, reducing job satisfaction.
Lack of adaptability: In modern workplaces where flexibility, innovation and problem-solving are required, Taylor’s rigid system is largely unsuitable.
Limited employee development: By discouraging initiative and collaboration, Taylor’s methods can hinder growth and morale.
Short-term productivity at the expense of long-term engagement.
Despite this, some elements of Taylor’s approach (such as linking performance to pay) still exist today in commission-based roles or productivity bonuses.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
In contrast to Taylor, Abraham Maslow proposed a more psychological approach to understanding human motivation. His Hierarchy of Needs is a five-tier model that suggests people are motivated to fulfil basic needs before progressing to more advanced levels of personal growth.
The Five Levels of Needs
Maslow’s model is shaped like a pyramid, with needs progressing from the most basic at the bottom to the most complex at the top:
Physiological Needs: These are essential for survival, including food, water, rest, and warmth. In the workplace, this translates to basic pay to afford living costs and suitable working conditions.
Safety Needs: Protection from danger, stability, and security. This includes job security, health and safety, and consistent income.
Social Needs: A sense of belonging and relationships with others. Examples include teamwork, social interactions, and workplace friendships.
Esteem Needs: Respect, recognition, and self-worth. This includes praise, promotions, and increased responsibilities.
Self-Actualisation: Reaching one’s full potential and experiencing personal growth. This is met through challenging work, creativity, and autonomy.
Application to the Workplace
Maslow’s theory suggests that businesses should consider the whole person when designing motivation strategies.
For example, providing job security and a safe environment meets safety needs.
Encouraging a team culture and collaboration helps fulfil social needs.
Recognition schemes and performance appraisals cater to esteem.
Offering training, development, and challenging projects encourages self-actualisation.
Maslow’s model helps explain why the same incentive might not motivate everyone—an employee struggling financially may prioritise pay, while another might seek personal development.
Limitations
Despite its widespread popularity, Maslow’s theory has several drawbacks:
Hierarchy may not apply universally: Different individuals may prioritise needs in different orders.
Difficult to measure: It’s hard to objectively assess where an individual is on the hierarchy.
Context-dependent: Cultural, economic and personal factors influence motivation, making the model hard to generalise.
Workplace limitations: Employers cannot always meet self-actualisation needs or guarantee personal fulfilment.
Nonetheless, the model encourages employers to view employees as complex individuals with varying needs, rather than simply focusing on pay.
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
Frederick Herzberg introduced the Two-Factor Theory, also known as the Motivation-Hygiene Theory, in the 1950s. He conducted interviews with employees and concluded that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction arise from two separate sets of factors.
Hygiene Factors
These are extrinsic elements of the job that, if missing or inadequate, cause dissatisfaction. However, their presence does not create motivation or satisfaction on their own.
Examples include:
Salary and wages
Workplace conditions
Company policies and administration
Job security
Quality of supervision
Relationships with peers and managers
Herzberg argued that businesses must ensure hygiene factors are adequate to prevent dissatisfaction, but improving them will not necessarily increase motivation.
Motivators
These are intrinsic factors that lead to job satisfaction and motivation when present. They relate to the nature of the work itself and opportunities for growth.
Examples include:
Achievement
Recognition for accomplishment
Work that is interesting and meaningful
Increased responsibility
Opportunities for advancement
Personal growth and development
Importance of Job Design
Herzberg believed that job enrichment—the process of redesigning jobs to include more meaningful tasks—was critical for motivation.
This might involve:
Giving employees more control over how they perform their tasks.
Increasing task variety to prevent boredom.
Creating opportunities for professional development and promotion.
Allowing workers to see how their work contributes to the wider goals of the business.
Application in the Workplace
Businesses often use recognition schemes, performance reviews, and personalised development plans to enhance motivators.
Hygiene factors are addressed through competitive pay, benefits, and clear policies.
Companies such as Google and Unilever focus on job enrichment and empowerment to boost employee satisfaction and creativity.
Limitations
Although the theory has been widely applied, it is not without limitations:
Overlap between motivators and hygiene factors: For example, salary could be seen as both a motivator and hygiene factor.
Individual differences: Not all employees value the same motivators.
Some jobs are difficult to enrich: Particularly repetitive or manual roles.
Limited empirical support: Some critics argue that Herzberg’s conclusions were based on flawed methodology.
However, Herzberg’s work remains influential and is particularly relevant in roles requiring autonomy, innovation and engagement.
Comparison and Evaluation of Theories
Each of these three theories presents a different perspective on what motivates people at work. Understanding their similarities and differences helps managers make informed decisions when designing motivation strategies.
Comparison of Key Elements
Source of Motivation
Taylor: Primarily financial—employees work harder for higher pay.
Maslow: Motivation stems from fulfilling progressive human needs.
Herzberg: Motivation arises from intrinsic job satisfaction and meaningful work.
Role of Money
Taylor saw money as the main driver of effort.
Maslow viewed money as addressing lower-level needs (e.g. physiological and safety).
Herzberg considered money a hygiene factor—its absence causes dissatisfaction, but its presence alone doesn’t motivate.
Job Design
Taylor advocated simplified tasks and supervision.
Maslow implied a need for personal growth and fulfilment in job roles.
Herzberg promoted job enrichment and responsibility as keys to motivation.
Manager’s Role
In Taylor’s model, managers control and direct.
In Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theories, managers act as facilitators of motivation, helping to meet needs and design meaningful work.
Evaluation of Relevance in Modern Workplaces
Taylor
Still used in some environments: For example, piece-rate systems exist in call centres, factories and delivery services.
However, his approach is outdated for knowledge-based and service-oriented industries, where creativity, collaboration and autonomy are more valued.
Taylor’s strict control contradicts modern emphasis on employee empowerment.
Maslow
Offers a broad and adaptable framework, encouraging businesses to look beyond pay.
Particularly useful in roles that rely on long-term commitment and development.
Less effective in high-pressure roles with fewer opportunities for progression.
May be more difficult to apply in cost-sensitive or hierarchical organisations.
Herzberg
Highly applicable in modern professional environments such as tech, consulting, healthcare and education.
Helps businesses focus on improving the quality of work life, which can lead to better performance and retention.
May be harder to implement in low-skill or repetitive jobs, where intrinsic motivators are limited.
Encourages personalisation of motivation strategies, recognising that one size does not fit all.
Strategic Use of Theories
In practice, businesses may combine elements of all three theories:
Use financial incentives (Taylor) for roles where output can be measured.
Address basic and psychological needs (Maslow) to create a supportive environment.
Apply Herzberg’s motivators to enhance job design and engagement.
For example, a sales firm might use:
Commission-based pay (Taylor)
Team-building activities and progression opportunities (Maslow)
Recognition schemes and personal development (Herzberg)
Understanding these theories allows managers to tailor motivational strategies to suit the needs of their workforce, industry, and business objectives.
FAQ
Herzberg classifies pay as a hygiene factor—its absence causes dissatisfaction, but its presence doesn’t guarantee motivation. He argues that while increased pay may temporarily improve morale, it doesn’t lead to lasting job satisfaction or improved performance. Employees quickly adjust to higher wages, which then become an expectation rather than a motivator. Long-term motivation, according to Herzberg, stems from intrinsic factors like achievement, recognition, and meaningful work, not just from extrinsic rewards like salary increases.
Maslow’s theory suggests that training should address both lower and higher-level needs. At the safety level, training builds confidence and job security by improving competence. Socially, group training fosters teamwork and belonging. For esteem, offering certifications and public recognition can boost self-worth. Self-actualisation is supported by advanced training that enables personal growth and creativity. A well-designed training programme meets these layered needs, ensuring employees feel secure, valued, and challenged—leading to improved motivation and performance.
Taylor’s methods remain relevant in highly structured, output-driven roles where tasks are repetitive and efficiency is key. Examples include factory line work, fast food service, and warehouse packing, where productivity can be measured and piece-rate or performance-based pay may still apply. These jobs often involve little variation, allowing standardisation and close supervision. However, Taylor’s approach is less effective in roles requiring creativity, flexibility, or emotional intelligence, where employee autonomy and innovation are essential for success.
Job enrichment involves adding more meaningful tasks that provide challenge, autonomy, and responsibility—directly aligning with Herzberg’s motivators. It aims to increase satisfaction by making work more fulfilling. Job enlargement, on the other hand, adds more tasks at the same level of complexity, often increasing workload without improving motivation. While both expand job roles, only enrichment targets intrinsic satisfaction. Herzberg supports enrichment as it fosters achievement and recognition, whereas enlargement may only address hygiene factors like boredom.
Yes, both theories can be used complementarily. Maslow helps identify the different stages of employee needs, from basic security to self-fulfilment, while Herzberg focuses on the specific job factors that influence satisfaction and dissatisfaction. For example, a business might use Maslow to ensure foundational needs are met—like safety and belonging—then apply Herzberg’s insights to enrich roles with meaningful tasks and recognition. Using both frameworks together allows for a more comprehensive strategy that addresses both external and internal drivers of motivation.
Practice Questions
Explain one way Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory can help improve employee motivation in a technology company. (6 marks)
Herzberg’s theory distinguishes between hygiene factors and motivators. In a technology company, improving motivators such as recognition and opportunities for advancement can significantly boost motivation. For example, introducing a structured career progression path or celebrating team successes may lead to higher job satisfaction and productivity. By enriching roles—allowing developers to take ownership of projects or innovate freely—employees are likely to feel more valued and engaged. This intrinsic motivation supports Herzberg’s view that meaningful work and achievement are key to motivating staff, especially in knowledge-based roles where creativity and autonomy are critical to performance.
Analyse the limitations of using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to motivate a diverse workforce. (10 marks)
Maslow’s model assumes that all employees progress through the same hierarchy, but in reality, individuals vary in priorities. In a diverse workforce, cultural, social, and personal differences mean not everyone values the same needs in the same order. For instance, one employee may seek self-actualisation, while another prioritises safety due to financial insecurity. This makes it difficult for managers to design one-size-fits-all motivational strategies. Additionally, the model lacks clear metrics, so identifying an employee’s current need level is challenging. These limitations reduce the practical usefulness of Maslow’s theory in dynamic and varied organisational environments.
