Question

How do you evaluate ERG Alderfer’s Theory and Maslow’s Theory of motivation. Explain the strengths and Weakness of the theories.

Answer 1

Motivation can be defined as “the psychological forces within a person that determine the direction of a person’s behavior in an organization, a person’s level of efforts and a person’s level of persistence in the face of obstacles”. In simple words, the driving force behind an action of individual is called motivation. Over the years management scholars have presented different view regarding motivation, in fact according to George and Jones, over 140 definitions of have been provided, and noted scholars of work motivation have said that trying to define motivation often gives them a sever stomachache.

In this paper efforts will be made to clarify two theories of motivation. First we are going to explore the well known Maslow’s Theory of Motivation and then we will discuss the theory of motivation.

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs theory:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the most cited theory of motivation. According to Maslow human needs can be grouped into five hierarchical needs that are depicted in part 1.

Part 1- Maslow Hierarchy of Need

Maslow’s divide human needs into five distinct levels including: self-actualization and esteem at the top of the heirarchy, to social, safety, and physiological at the bottom. Maslow call the first two mentioned needs (self-actualization and esteem) as higher order needs and the last three mentioned needs (physiological, safety, and social needs) lower order needs. Once the lower order needs are satisfied by an individual giving more of the same will have no effect on his motivation. Individual then advance up the hierarchy to another and that need serves as a motivation factor. Consequently, in order to motivate employee and bring about positive change in their behavior, manager must direct concentration to the next higher level need that seeks satisfaction.

Maslow is of the opinion that these needs can be arranged in a hierarchy in a hierarchy of importance, with the most basic or compelling need physiological needs (need for foods, shelter, clothes etc) at the bottom. In order to move up to the next category the proceedings needs must be satisfied first (George & Jones, 2008). For example safety needs must be satisfied before the social needs.

According to Maslow’s theory, unsatisfied needs are the prime motivators of behavior. Once a level of need is satisfied, it no longer motivates the individual to motivate him, so the organization must then focus on the next level of needs in order to motivate the individual. Organizations around the world have successfully used the Maslow theory for motivating its workforce by identifying the current needs category of the workers and then designing its pay package that are targeted towards the satisfaction of that end.

Maslow’s hierarchy of need was very popular around the world. Its popularity was due to the fact that organization is able to implement the theory with relative ease. However, researchers around the world have criticized the Maslow hierarchy of needs due to the following reasons.

Empirical research did not support Maslow’s view. Researchers are of the view that in the real world there is no rigid hierarchy of human needs and it operates in a flexible hierarchy.

Employee in the real world does not satisfy their higher level needs in the work situation alone. Most of the upper level needs are satisfied by employee in other work setting. Therefore manager not only need to know employee behavior at work but also need to have complete understanding of employee’s private and social life.

Employees have different preferences in satisfying their needs, based on the culture to which the employee belongs. For one employee the source of motivation may be physiological needs, while for his pear the motivation may be provided by social needs.

Some rewards satisfy more than one need at time. For example Bonus or high salary paid to a particular employee may satisfy both lower and upper level needs.

According to Maslow, satisfaction is the main motivational outcome of behavior. However job satisfaction is only one pillar of work performance and it may not lead to improved work performance.

Despite the above cited criticisms, and limitations, Maslow theory has had a momentous impact towards management understanding of motivation and in the appropriate designing of the company to meet employee needs. The theory is a suitable structure for screening the different needs and outlook that employees have and the different motivating factors that might be useful to people at different levels.

ERG Theory

Clayton Alderfer revised Maslow’s hierarchy theory is known as ERG Theory. According to Alderfer human needs can be grouped into three groups called existence, relatedness and growth needs. ERG Theory has been depicted in Part 2 below:

Part 2: ERG Theory

As the above Figure shows, Alderfer have divided human needs into three distinct categories called need for existence, need for relatedness and need for growth. These three needs are as follow:

The existence Needs:

Over here material existence requirements are mentioned. This group is the same as what has been called by Maslow physiological and safety needs. In an organizational context the existence needs are satisfied by money earned in a job and spending them to obtain foods, clothing, shelter etc.

Relatedness Needs:

An employee desire to maintain important interpersonal relationships with pears, superiors and subordinates in work context can be termed as relatedness needs. Relatedness for an employee in an organization context includes the need to interact with peers, receive recognition from the organization in the form of praise and awards, and feeling secure around people. Organization satisfies employee relatedness by creating a work environment that supports relationship between various levels and department by promoting hormone and collaboration. Organizations also create the relatedness when it gives rewards, bonus etc to those employees who have achieve their target.

Growth needs:

These need correlate with Maslow’s fourth and fifth levels of needs. These needs seeks to fulfill an employee desires to by giving them an opportunity to complete the allotted in a creative and productive manners, thereby build and enhance an employee’s self-esteem through personal recognition and achievements. By empowering employee the freedom to take some risks, the organization not only benefit by availing an opportunity of more profit but also employee management and leadership skills are polished.

Differences to the Maslow Theory of Motivation

Alderfer have refined the Maslow theory and make it more practical by collapsing Maslow five hierarchical needs into three needs and having no hierarchy.

Contrarily to Maslow’s idea, that concentrate on pure hierarchy between the needs, according to Alderfer there is hierarchy between these needs, and these needs are not stepped in any way.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, one level of need will dominate an employee’s motivation more than others. For example when physiological needs are satisfied security needs will be more dominant. Unlike Maslow’s theory, Alderfer’s theory contain a frustration-regression process that take place within an employee, the failure to satisfy a elevated need causes disturbance and a falling off to the next lower need level.

The frustration-regression concept has profound impact on an organization motivation at the time of changing situation. For example, if growth opportunities are not present, employees will regress to relatedness needs, and socialize more with peers, subordinate, and superiors, which in a change circumstances can create a proliferation ground for gossip, speculation, and resistance.

Implication for Manager:

Empirical research in the area of organizational behavior has proved that ERG theory provides a workable implication for manager regarding the dynamics of human needs. Alderfer ERG theory that employee may have different needs and recognizes that the order of significance of the three categories may vary from employee to employee depending on the unique characteristics experienced by the employee and also how the personality perceives the situation. Therefore a manager should focus on the three needs of an individual employee in order to optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of the motivation. Management and leadership across the organization should recognize that employee have multiple needs that need to be satisfy simultaneously. The theory proposed by Alderfer is not rigid like the theory presented by Maslow, and human needs cluster more neatly around the three groups proposed by ERG theory. Moreover the recognition of the development of satisfaction-progression and frustration-regression provide a suppler and sensible clarification of why and how employee needs can change due to change in employee’s personal circumstances, perceptions concerning the environment, and the leader framing and communication of those situation.

Strenght and weakness of theories

Advantages of ERG:

The main advantages of the ERG theory are as follows:

(1) Alderfer’s ERG theory is more consistent with our knowledge of THEORY individual differences among people. Every individual will have different importance for different group of needs depending upon his education, family background and cultural environment.

A very qualified person will value the growth needs more than the social needs or even the existence needs. On the other hand, a person who belongs to a very poor family will rate the existence needs more important. In this context, ERG theory is more relevant as compared to the Maslow’s theory.

(2) ERG theory takes the strong points of the earlier content theories but it is less restrictive and limiting as compared to the others.

Disadvantages of the theory are as follows:

1. The ERG theory does not offer clear cut guidelines. This theory says that an individual can satisfy any of the three needs first. But how will we determine which of the three needs is more important to that person.

2. This theory is a new concept as compared to the Maslow’s theory. Alderfer’s research has indicated some degree of support for the theories but yet it is too early to pass judgment on the overall validity of the theory.

Advantages of Maslow Theory of Motivation

Simple to Understand

The biggest advantage of Maslow theory of motivation is that it is very simple to understand and even layman can understand and relate to this theory because we all go through one or other stage of needs pyramid during our lifetime. Hence as far labor is concerned his or her need will always be limited to lower level of need pyramid that is food, shelter and clothing but as far as a billionaire businessman is concerned his or her top priority will be top level of pyramid and that is self-esteem or sense of achieving all things and he or she will never think about food, shelter, clothing as these needs have been fulfilled long back.

It takes into account Human Nature

Another advantage of this theory is that it gives consideration to basic human nature that is demanding more as lower level needs are satisfied. It can be better understood with the help of an example suppose a small kid is hungry and he or she has given two options one is food and other is toys than he or she will not select toys rather he or she will eat food first and then demand the toys. Hence one can say that this nature of greed is inborn in human and Maslow’s Theory of Motivation addresses that beautifully.

Relevant in All Fields

It is relevant in almost all fields of life because whether you are home or at office you start with basic need only so at home you first priority is doing necessary arrangements so that you get food daily, then next come security of your home and once security and food aspect is taken care of you move to social affection by calling your relatives and friends at you home and then come the self-esteem when you decorate your house with expensive furniture and showpieces to show off the society.

Disadvantages of Maslow Theory of Motivation

Not all Individuals Think in the Same way

The biggest disadvantage of this theory is that not all individuals think in the same way hence for some individuals social affection and respect is more important than safety needs and that is the reason why one sees many people do grand ceremony of their children’s birthdays or marriages or purchasing expensive cars in order to show off to society before buying insurance plan for family or purchasing a house for the family as they get more satisfaction from showing off to society than fulfilling safety needs of the family.

Culture Differences

Another limitation of this theory is that there are bound to be cultural differences when this theory is applied to different nations as each nation or country has different culture so for example in countries like USA kids after certain age leave their home and parents do not have to worry about their kids future and kids also do not have to worry about their parents whereas in countries like India where joint family culture is prevalent kids and parents both have to think about each other when they are fulfilling their needs.

Difficult to Measure

It is very difficult to measure the satisfaction which one gets after satisfying each level of need as it is subjective in nature because it deals with human mind which cannot be predicted by any machine or method. Hence some people will get satisfied even after fulfilling physiological and safety needs while some people will not be satisfied by fulfilling all level of needs.

As one can see from the above that Maslow Theory of Motivation has advantages as well as disadvantages but still it is one of the most used and important theory when it comes to measurement of needs hierarchy of human beings.