What Motivates Employees To Go To Work Each Morning?: Motivation and Personality

Although scientific management as a distinct theory or school of thought was obsolete by the 1930s,
most of its themes are still important parts of industrial engineering and management today. These
include analysis; synthesis; logic; rationality; empiricism; work ethic; efficiency and elimination of
waste; standardization of best practices; disdain for tradition preserved merely for its own sake or to
protect the social status of particular workers with particular skill sets; the transformation of craft
production into mass production; and knowledge transfer between workers and from workers into
tools, processes, and documentation.
What causes workers to be more productive? Researchers have asked this

question for years. In fact, pioneering work began in the 1920s as an attempt
to discover ways to increase production efficiency and then led both to the
founding of the human relations school of management, and to the
development of many of the motivational tools that are used today.
At the center of this work was Elton Mayo, a Harvard

researcher. He looked at the results of early motivation
experiments and concluded that psychological and social
factors played a larger role in productivity than physical
elements.
Maslow studied what he called exemplary people such as Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor
Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglass rather than mentally ill or neurotic people, writing that "the study
of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a
cripple philosophy."[3] Maslow studied the healthiest 1% of the college student population. [4]
Maslow's theory was fully expressed in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality.[5] The hierarchy
remains a very popular framework in sociology research, management
training[6] and secondary andhigher psychology instruction.
What motivates employees to go to

work each morning?
Many people get great satisfaction from their work and take
great pride in it; Others may view it as a burden, and
simply work to survive.
This question of motivation has been studied by

management theorists and social psychologists for
decades, in attempts to identify successful approaches to
management.
Social psychologist Douglas McGregor of MIT expounded
two contrasting theories on human motivation and
management in the 1960s: The X Theory and the Y Theory.
McGregor promoted Theory Y as the basis of good
management practice, pioneering the argument that
workers are not merely cogs in the company machinery, as
Theory X-Type organizations seemed to believe.
The theories look at how a manager's perceptions of what
motivates his or her team members affects the way he or
she behaves. By understanding how your assumptions
about employees motivation can influence your
management style, you can adapt your approach
appropriately, and so manage people more effectively.
Understanding the Theories

Your management style is strongly influenced by your
beliefs and assumptions about what motivates members of
your team: If you believe that team members dislike work,
you will tend towards an authoritarian style of
management; On the other hand, if you assume that
employees take pride in doing a good job, you will tend to
adopt a more participative style.
Comparing Theory X and Theory Y
Motivation
Theory X assumes that people dislike work; they want to

avoid it and do not want to take responsibility. Theory Y
assumes that people are self-motivated, and thrive on
responsibility.
Management Style and Control

In a Theory X organization, management is authoritarian,
and centralized control is retained, whilst in Theory Y, the
management style is participative: Management involves
employees in decision making, but retains power to
implement decisions.
Work Organization
Theory X employees tend to have specialized and often
repetitive work. In Theory Y, the work tends to be
organized around wider areas of skill or knowledge;
Employees are also encouraged to develop expertise and
make suggestions and improvements.
Rewards and Appraisals

Theory X organizations work on a carrot and stick basis,
and performance appraisal is part of the overall
mechanisms of control and remuneration. In Theory Y
organizations, appraisal is also regular and important, but
is usually a separate mechanism from organizational
controls. Theory Y organizations also give employees
frequent opportunities for promotion.
Application
Although the Theory X management style is widely
accepted as inferior to others, it has its place in largescale production operation and unskilled production line
work. Many of the principles of Theory Y are widely

adopted by types of organization that value and
encourage participation. Theory Y-style management is
suited to knowledge work and professional services.
Professional service organizations naturally evolve
Theory Y-type practices by the nature of their work; Even
highly structured knowledge work, such as call center
operations, can benefit from its principles to encourage
knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
Tip 1:
Enough theory. Which approach do you prefer?
Do you work most effectively when your boss controls
every part of everything you do? Or would this drive you
mad, so that you'd just do what he or she wanted (and
nothing more), look for another job, and then leave? Or
would you prefer a boss who helps you to do your best,
increasingly trusts your judgment, allows you to use your
creativity, and step-by-step gives you more control over
your job?
Which type of manager would you work for more
effectively?
Learn from this! As it is for you, it will be for many of the
members of your team!
Tip 2:
That said, different members of your own team may have
different attitudes. Many may thrive on Theory Y
management, while others may need Theory X
management. Still others may benefit from an altogether
different approach.
Mix and match appropriately.
Using the Theories

Understanding your assumptions about employees
motivation can help your learn to manage more effectively.
In order to understand McGregors theories in more detail,
we suggest the following reading:
Douglas McGregor Revisited

Published in 2000, this book looks at McGregors timetested thinking on human motivation, and shows how his
theories apply in todays organizations.
This site teaches you the skills you need for a happy and
successful career; and this is just one of many tools and
resources that you'll find here at Mind Tools. Subscribe to
our free newsletter, or
Herzbergs Theory of Motivation: Definition, Maintenance and Motivation

Factors!
Out of these two types of factors, the first ones are considered to be more
effective to make the employees more dissatisfied when these are absent. So
the presence of these factors (maintenance or Hygienic) does not directly
motivate the employees. These are called Maintenance factors since these
factors only help in maintaining a reasonable level of satisfaction among the
employees.
The second type of factors, more properly called Motivational factors, really
help in motivating the employees. These factors certainly have direct effect on
the employees. It is also found in most organisations that even such

motivational factors after some time just become Maintenance factors. It is
generally seen that once an employee gets one thing, then he hopes to get
another thing to motivate him.

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Although scientific management as a distinct theory or school of thought was obsolete by the 1930s,

What causes workers to be more productive? Researchers have asked this

At the center of this work was Elton Mayo, a Harvard

What motivates employees to go to

This question of motivation has been studied by

Understanding the Theories

Comparing Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X assumes that people dislike work; they want to

Management Style and Control

Rewards and Appraisals

work. Many of the principles of Theory Y are widely

Mix and match appropriately.

Using the Theories

Douglas McGregor Revisited

Herzbergs Theory of Motivation: Definition, Maintenance and Motivation

the employees. It is also found in most organisations that even such

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