Page 373 - Business Principles and Management

Unit 4

14.2 Motivation and Change Management

Goals Terms
• Describe the main points of three • achievement need • hygiene factors
theories of motivation. • affiliation need • motivators
• Identify the steps managers should • power need
follow when implementing change.

Motivation Theories

Think of the days when you are excited to get up and go to school or work. You
enjoy the day and work hard. Time seems to move faster than usual. Compare
that to the days when it is impossible to get up and you dread going to work
or school. The day seems to go on forever, and you don’t seem to be able to
get anything done.
In the same way, you probably can identify teachers, coaches, or business-
people for whom you enjoy working and who seem to be able to encourage
your best work. You also know others whom you would prefer to avoid and
for whom it is a struggle to perform well. What causes the differences?
You learned earlier that internal and external factors motivate people to
act in certain ways. Psychologists have developed theories about what factors
motivate people to behave as they do. Figure 14-2 summarizes these theories.
Managers can influence employees to behave in ways that help achieve com-
pany goals by influencing these motivational factors.

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
Abraham Maslow described motivation in terms of a hierarchy of needs. The
lowest level is physiological needs, followed by security, social, esteem, and
self-actualization needs. Physiological needs are things required to sustain life,
such as food and shelter. Security needs involve making sure you and those you
care about are safe and free from harm. Social needs include the need to belong,
to interact with others, to have friends, and to love and be loved. The need for
esteem includes the need for recognition and respect from others. Finally, self-
actualization is the need to grow emotionally and intellectually, to be creative,
and to achieve your full potential.
According to the theory, people seek to satisfy these needs in order, from
lowest to highest. Not until they fulfill the lowest needs on the hierarchy will
the next level of needs motivate their behavior. For example, starving people
will be more motivated to find food than to be concerned about friendships.
But once people have satisfied their physiological and security needs, then the
need for social interaction will motivate their behavior. Applying Maslow’s
hierarchy, managers can influence employee behavior by recognizing the levels
of the hierarchy that are motivating an employee’s behavior and then try to
use things such as job assignments, praise and support, and financial rewards
to meet those needs.

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