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Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
This theory implies that for the happiest and most productive
workforce, you need to work on improving both motivator and hygiene
factors.
To help motivate your employees, make sure they feel appreciated and
supported. Give plenty of feedback and make sure your employees
understand how they can grow and progress through the company.
Dont forget that all of your employees are different and what
motivates one person might not motivate another. Paul Hebert of
Symbolist believes that benefits packages should not be one-size-fits
all
For true engagement to occur in a company you must first remove the
issues that cause dissatisfaction the baseline benefits offered by
the company that satisfy the hygiene needs of the employee. Then you
must focus on the individual and what they want out of their
association with your enterprise.
Chip Conley, founder of the Joie de Vivre hotel chain and Head of
Hospitality at Airbnb, used the Hierarchy of Needs pyramid to
transform his business. According to Chip, many managers struggle
with the abstract concept of self actualization and so focus on lower
levels of the pyramid instead.
Conley found one way of helping with higher levels was to help his
employees understand the meaning of their roles during a staff
retreat
Conleys team were able to realise the importance of their job to the
company and to the people they were helping. By showing them the
value of their roles, the team were able to feel respected and
motivated to work harder.
In order to get the most out of your team, you should also make sure
you support them in other aspects of their lives outside work. Perhaps
you could offer flexible working hours to give employees time to focus
on their families and make sure they are paid fairly to help them feel
financially stable.
3. Hawthorne Effect
Showing your employees that you care about them and their working
conditions may also motivate them to work harder. Encourage your
team to give you feedback and suggestions about their workspace and
development.
4. Expectancy Theory
1. Expectancy the belief that your effort will result in your desired
goal. This is based on your past experience, your self confidence and
how difficult you think the goal is to achieve.
2. Instrumentality the belief that you will receive a reward if you
meet performance expectations.
3. Valence the value you place on the reward.
Therefore, according to Expectancy Theory, people are most motivated
if they believe that they will receive a desired reward if they hit an
achievable target. They are least motivated if they dont want the
reward or they dont believe that their efforts will result in the
reward.
The key here is to set achievable goals for your employees and provide
rewards that they actually want.
Rewards dont have to come in the form of pay rises, bonuses or all-
expenses paid nights out (although I find these are usually welcomed!)
Praise, opportunities for progression and employee of the month style
rewards can all go a long way in motivating your employees.
Weiner theorised that specific attributions (e.g. bad luck, not studying
hard enough) were less important than the characteristics of that
attribution. According to Weiner, there are three main characteristics
of attributions that can affect future motivation.
Make sure you give your employees specific feedback, letting them
know that you know they can improve and how they can about it. This, in
theory, will help prevent them from attributing their failure to an
innate lack of skill and see that success is controllable if they work
harder or use different strategies.
You could also praise your employees for showing an improvement, even
if the outcome was still not correct. For example, you might praise
someone for using the correct methodology even though the results
werent what you wanted. This way, you are encouraging employees to
attribute the failure to controllable factors, which again, can be
improved upon in the future.