The Basics of Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
Herzberg’s two-factor theory is a psychosocial concept on occupational motivations created in the 1960s by psychologist Frederick Herzberg. Herzberg’s theory classified workplace demands into 2 classifications: motivational elements that provide workers with a feeling of fulfillment and hygienic variables that establish the fundamental degree of consistency and employment assurance (Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl and Maude 2017). The purpose of this study is to explore the implementation of the two-factor theory in the job amongst workers. Managers conduct a wide range of activities such as scheduling, hiring, and organizing; nevertheless, providing impulses to workers is a vital element of their competencies and talents. At this time, Herzberg’s two-factor theory has shown to be a productive field of corporate administration, and it is critical to demonstrate how managers may profit from it (Alfayad and Arif 2017).
According to Herzberg, the existence of motivators assured worker contentment, whereas work discontent resulted from an absence of hygienic aspects. According to the two-factor concept of motivation, work happiness and discontent are two distinct groups with distinct contributory variables. According to Herzberg’s motivation-cleanliness theory, in an attempt to guarantee workplace coherence, managers must boost worker motivation elements while concurrently enhancing occupational hygiene (Hur 2018). Herzberg based his two-factor approach on psychologist Abraham Maslow’s pre-existing notion of motivation and requirements. Maslow’s pyramid of requirements categorizes the desires that humans try to satisfy. Maslow believed that humans must first address their most basic needs before striving to satisfy higher-level desires. For application in the workplace, Frederick Herzberg adapted certain components of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (Alfayad and Arif 2017).
In respect of production and overall worker satisfaction, the difference between low and high motivation in the workplace may be substantial. As per Herzberg, what motivates individuals to perform often has to do with presenting them with a greater sense of mission and importance in their current employment (Ziar et al. 2016). Some of the motivational aspects that might boost job motivation are as follows: (a) Acknowledging employees for their efforts is a key part of increasing workplace satisfaction. According to motivation theory, when employees are recognized and awarded for a service effectively performed, their productivity rises; (b) Providing employees more independence and obligation inside a company is a key component of Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory. Employees are more willing to feel accomplished and motivated when they sense they have an important job with a significant level of independence (Bawa 2017); (c) To the greatest extent possible, businesses should try to give significant activities to their employees and support them in realizing how their efforts contribute to a larger result. Many vocations need some meaningless, boring labor, but the more organizations that can give employees the idea that their activities are worthwhile, the more encouraged they will be to perform (Alfayad and Arif 2017).
There are numerous approaches to modifying business strategy to incorporate Herzberg’s concepts and implementing new policies that promote organizational cleanliness and motivation. The following are a few examples: (a) Enhance worker independence. Workers will have a greater sense of success at work if they believe they are accountable and self-sufficient. Independence is a powerful motivator, and the more a company can empower its employees to accept the ethical responsibilities of their jobs, the more committed the workers will be; (b) Sharing review is important in an organization (Chiat and Panatik 2019). It is vital to deliver meaningful and helpful reviews to employees for them to understand how they are functioning. If a manager has made the effort to build trustworthy affiliative connections in the firm, providing critical feedback or praise to peers should be a very straightforward action. Offering employees feedback on where they may grow is an important part of increasing their drive. (c) Improve working conditions. is another factor. Maintaining a clean, safe, and visually appealing environment is one of the simplest ways to improve occupational hygiene. Whilst security is an obvious need, firms may disregard the architecture of a workplace on occasion. Managers must ensure that the workplace is well-lit and stylishly furnished to promote occupational hygiene (Khanna 2017); (d) Employees should be polled. A survey is a wonderful way to learn about what motivates employees. Following up with a group will focus on providing managers a sense of what they want to grow and which work traits they like above all others. (e) It is vital to consider the overall picture of employee well-being. Managers, as per Herzberg’s two-factor theory, cannot choose between motivation and cleanliness, but must instead strive to improve both. Managers can change organizational rules to increase employee happiness and so prevent both low motivation and bad hygiene. When it comes to occupational issues, worker happiness entails firms attending to a wide variety of needs in both the cleanliness and motivation sectors (Sanjeev and Surya 2016).
Applying the Two-Factor Theory in the Workplace
However, one must not overlook the significance of hygienic elements such as wage, job stability, working conditions, corporate administrative practices, and so on. The manager is responsible for ensuring that each employee is adequately compensated for his or her efforts (Alfayad and Arif 2017). Secondly, the manager must ensure that no individual in the workforce feels uncomfortable regarding his or her status in the firm because This is one of the factors that might lead to discontent and even prompt employees to seek other jobs. Lastly, the manager should guarantee that each employee is allocated a task that is closely matched to his or her abilities, as this is an important part of working conditions. In general, hygiene factors do not provide a big benefit to employees, but they are crucial for reducing employee discontent (Bawa 2017).
Conclusion
This paper demonstrates why Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory may be very useful to managers. Their primary responsibility is to enhance the first category of elements that are commonly referred to as motivating components. According to Herzberg’s motivation-cleanliness theory, in an attempt to guarantee organizational balance, managers should boost employees’ motivation elements while concurrently enhancing organizational hygiene. The key point is that a manager should understand which factors give the greatest strong stimulant to workers. In certain circumstances, it may be the chance to exhibit one’s unique abilities without limitations, whilst others may cherish acknowledgment and development. Aspects related to hygiene appear to have a comparable influence on job satisfaction or discontent.
Work satisfaction, according to the concept of organizational behavior, is the experience of internal fulfillment and pleasure gained while carrying out a certain activity (Taheri, Miah and Kamaruzzaman 2020). One of the most important goals of corporate administration is to assure the happiness of its employees. Job and workplace circumstances can have an impact on job satisfaction in today’s businesses. Employees that are pleased with their jobs will have more possibilities to express their feelings to customers, resulting in higher organizational profitability (Rajput, Singhal and Tiwari 2016). Job satisfaction is an emotional reaction to work that results from the resident evaluating actual discoveries to those that are desired, anticipated, and warranted. Employment satisfaction alludes to a person’s positive feelings about his or her job and its particular context. This paper aims to discuss why it’s important for an organization to ensure good levels of job satisfaction amongst employees.
Worker’s work satisfaction has piqued the interest of many scholars and professionals who incorporate studies, with a particular focus on identifying why some employees are more satisfied with their jobs than others (Stankovska et al. 2017). Job-provided advancement possibilities are highly associated with professional happiness, which is associated with civic actions such as relational assisting, individual business, and devoted triumphalism. Job satisfaction can be referred to as the degree of fulfillment an individual gets from job rewards, particularly when it incorporates rewards that feed the worker’s internal desire. Worker satisfaction is believed to be attainable when people are content with specific aspects of their workplace, such as managerial approach, workplace environment, and collaborative engagement. In contemporary businesses, fostering cognitive autonomy, work happiness, and organizational engagement behavior can improve corporate effectiveness (Hanaysha and Tahir 2016).
Enhancing Motivating Elements for Better Employee Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is among the most essential factors in a working-age individual’s enthusiasm, productivity, and job involvement. In today’s working environment, job satisfaction is linked to both interpersonal and emotional factors. Job happiness is determined by a variety of variables, including wage, advancement prospects, supplementary perks, financial security, relationships with colleagues and managers, and interaction within the enterprise. Job satisfaction may result in budget savings by lowering absenteeism, job mistakes, workplace disputes, and attrition. Knowing the components associated with job satisfaction is critical to enhancing workers’ quality and profitability since employment is a significant portion of individuals’ existence and most individuals devote a major portion of their professional life to the workplace (Jalagat 2016).
It is critical to offer workers a workplace atmosphere that promotes their entire growth. They require a clean and comfortable setting that appeals to both individual pleasures and enables accomplishing a decent job (Stankovska et al. 2017). As previously said, individuals devote a significant portion of their lives to the workplace. As a result, possessing a nice and helpful atmosphere might contribute to greater job satisfaction. Workers are frequently discouraged and unsatisfied with their occupations as a result of unjust rules and practices at their workplace. As a result, corporations must establish a balanced and equitable structure in respect of procedures and rules to avoid prejudice and dissatisfaction (Stankovska et al. 2017).
It is true that organizations that implement the proper methods for promoting people foster a mindset of respect, commitment, and values throughout the firm. When an individual receives a genuine promotion that is typically focused on his accurate appraisal, he receives some form of acknowledgment, which boosts his job happiness (Al-dalahmeh, Khalaf and Obeidat 2018). Compassion may be demonstrated in a variety of forms, but in practice, it includes professional growth, mature conduct, being considered properly, and getting recognized for a task effectively accomplished. When individuals believe that the company for which they operate values them and makes steps to better their career and life, they are happier, which leads to increased levels of satisfaction. This personnel grows more passionate and devoted as a result (Ocen, Francis and Angundaru 2017).
Workers who are happier in their jobs are more prone to be courteous and nice to their coworkers. This promotes collaboration by increasing communication and ideas exchange. Furthermore, research has demonstrated that worker job contentment may result in a healthier and more secure workplace setting with fewer unfavorable disputes that might normally impair the efficient operation of the business. Many companies have long struggled with high turnover rates. It leads to the waste of ambitions and abilities, as well as significant financial losses due to increased expenditures. Managers must design measures to increase work happiness to keep skilled employees in their firms (Rajput, Singhal and Tiwari 2016).
Accomplishment and responsibilities, as per Herzberg’s theory, are two significant motivating variables that may be employed to enhance job satisfaction at the workplace (Al-dalahmeh, Khalaf and Obeidat 2018). Managers must create explicit and attainable objectives for their personnel in this setting. This will serve to offer workers a feeling of accomplishment upon accomplishing tasks, which may lead to increased satisfaction. Additionally, businesses must inspire and enable their staff to embark on additional responsibilities. Such tactics do serve to increase worker satisfaction and enable them to be more devoted, dedicated, and have occupancy values in their employment. Various researches have been carried out to examine the link between customers and worker happiness (Zablah et al. 2016). Several of them have found a link between worker satisfaction, client gratification, and profitability (Kurdi, Alshurideh and Alnaser 2020).
Improving Occupational Hygiene
Conclusion
Job satisfaction is growing progressively crucial in the working apace. Employers are beginning to realize that the more “successful and satisfied” their workers are, the healthier their views about employment, the greater their commitment, and the improved their productivity. Employee gratification in every line of employment is heavily influenced by the workplace surroundings. The occupation directly, the remuneration and the opportunity for advancement are just a few of the aspects that influence work contentment. Several types of research have been conducted in the earlier days to measure the influence of worker inspiration and work satisfaction on production and profitability. A few of these researchers have discovered a favorable association between work happiness and work productivity, leading to the conclusion that pleased workers operate much more effectively than dissatisfied workers.
References
Al-dalahmeh, M., Khalaf, R. and Obeidat, B., 2018. The effect of employee engagement on organizational performance via the mediating role of job satisfaction: The case of IT employees in Jordanian banking sector. Modern Applied Science, 12(6), pp.17-43.
Alfayad, Z. and Arif, L.S.M., 2017. Employee voice and job satisfaction: An application of Herzberg two-factor theory. International Review of Management and Marketing, 7(1), pp.150-156.
Alshmemri, M., Shahwan-Akl, L. and Maude, P., 2017. Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Life Science Journal, 14(5), pp.12-16.
Bawa, M.A., 2017. Employee motivation and productivity: a review of literature and implications for management practice. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 12, pp.662-673.
Chiat, L.C. and Panatik, S.A., 2019. Perceptions of employee turnover intention by Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory: A systematic literature review. Journal of Research in Psychology, 1(2), pp.10-15.
Hanaysha, J. and Tahir, P.R., 2016. Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee training on job satisfaction. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 219, pp.272-282.
Hur, Y., 2018. Testing Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation in the public sector: is it applicable to public managers?. Public Organization Review, 18(3), pp.329-343.
Jalagat, R., 2016. Job performance, job satisfaction, and motivation: A critical review of their relationship. International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics, 5(6), pp.36-42.
Khanna, V., 2017. Measuring job satisfaction of academicians using Herzberg theory. Delhi Business Review, 18(2), pp.75-86.
Kurdi, B., Alshurideh, M. and Alnaser, A., 2020. The impact of employee satisfaction on customer satisfaction: Theoretical and empirical underpinning. Management Science Letters, 10(15), pp.3561-3570.
Ocen, E., Francis, K. and Angundaru, G., 2017. The role of training in building employee commitment: the mediating effect of job satisfaction. European Journal of Training and Development.
Rajput, S., Singhal, M. and Tiwari, S., 2016. Job satisfaction and employee loyalty: A study of academicians. Asian Journal of Management, 7(2), pp.105-109.
Sanjeev, M.A. and Surya, A.V., 2016. Two factor theory of motivation and satisfaction: An empirical verification. Annals of Data Science, 3(2), pp.155-173.
Stankovska, G., Angelkoska, S., Osmani, F. and Grncarovska, S.P., 2017. Job Motivation and Job Satisfaction among Academic Staff in Higher Education. Bulgarian Comparative Education Society.
Taheri, R.H., Miah, M.S. and Kamaruzzaman, M., 2020. Impact of working environment on job satisfaction. European Journal of Business and Management Research, 5(6).
Zablah, A.R., Carlson, B.D., Donavan, D.T., Maxham III, J.G. and Brown, T.J., 2016. A cross-lagged test of the association between customer satisfaction and employee job satisfaction in a relational context. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(5), p.743.
Ziar, S., Momtazmanesh, N., Ahmadi, S., Abdi, A.R. and Ahmadi, F., 2016. Effective Factors in Job Motivation of Faculty Members of Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences Based on Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation in 1394. Journal of Medical Education Development, 9(23), pp.20-30.