Frederick Herzberg was an American psychologist who is perhaps best known for his theories on job enrichment and motivation in the workforce. His 1968 article, "One more time: How do you motivate employees?" is a classic in management theory and one of the most frequently requested and downloaded articles from the Harvard Business Review. The article provides a high-level overview of his Motivator-Hygiene Theory , also known as the Two-factor theory.
Herzberg developed his theory after interviewing over 200 engineers and accountants , primarily in the Pittsburgh area, asking them specifically to describe times in their professional lives when they were happy and unhappy with their work. He and his colleagues both verified and further corroborated their findings in a number of subsequent studies published in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The fundamental concept (and I believe the most important one) is that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are not opposites of each other. The opposite of job satisfaction is not job dissatisfaction, but rather no job satisfaction. Similarly, the opposite of job dissatisfaction is not job satisfaction but no job dissatisfaction (all of this reminds me of the Kano model of customer satisfaction, but that is a topic for another day).
The "two-factor theory" comes from Herzberg's findings that there are two broad categories of job characteristics that are important for job satisfaction. The first category was associated with "the need for growth or self-actualization" and included achievement, recognition, the work itself, level of responsibility, advancement, and the potential for professional growth and development. Herzberg called these "motivators" and felt that they were intrinsic to the job itself. The second category involved "the need to avoid unpleasantness" and included company policies and administration, relationship with supervisors, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, and salary. Herzberg called this second category "hygiene factors" and felt that they were extrinsic to the job.
Importantly, "motivators" work to increase job satisfaction, while "hygiene factors" work to reduce job dissatisfaction. Herzberg described these two factors as follows (see also the diagram below):
"The factors on the right that led to satisfaction (achievement, intrinsic interest in the work, responsibility, and advancement) are mostly unipolar; that is, they contribute very little to job dissatisfaction. Conversely, the dis-satisfiers (company policy and administrative practices, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, and salary) contribute very little to job satisfaction."
Importantly, the presence of "motivators" can produce job satisfaction, but their absence leads to no job satisfaction and not necessarily job dissatisfaction per se. Similarly, the presence of "hygiene factors" can reduce job dissatisfaction but cannot cause job satisfaction.
Herzberg's Two Factor Model certainly builds upon and incorporates some aspects of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which is perhaps better known. One of the main arguments against the Herzberg model is that it has more to do with job satisfaction (and job dissatisfaction), which is related but not equivalent to motivation. The word motivation comes from the Latin word movere, which means "to move." Motivation is thus defined as how to stimulate or drive someone to action, i.e. to move. Someone can be satisfied with their work and still not be motivated (think of someone who is just "going through the motions" or even "quiet quitting"). Conversely, someone can be quite motivated to do the work, even if it doesn't make them feel happy. I have previously discussed the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (see, for example, my post "Holes"). Regardless, I do find that the Herzberg Model is a valuable and important contribution. Job satisfaction and motivation are both incredibly important and complex topics, which I hope to return to in some future posts.
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