Employee Motivation: Implementing Mcclelland's Three Needs Theory Essay Example
Employee Motivation: Implementing McClelland's Three Needs Theory
Fundamentals of Management MGT 3371
September 30, 2010
ABSTRACT
What motivates employees to perform? Is it money? Power and prestige? Camaraderie? Personal achievement? On the surface, it is logical to assume that money motivates people to work. Money is needed to meet the basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The more money you make, the more things you can afford to buy. Yes, money is a great motivator. But is it THE motivating factor that drives employees to perform? What about power and prestige? Is that “atilla the hun” type executive more influenced by his big paycheck or is it his need for control, recognition and status symbols that drives him? What about camaraderie? Some workers excel in work environments where there is a lot of human interaction and harmony within the group. Others prefer to work alone, rarely having to deal with other people. What about personal achievement? Take for example, two employees who go to work for the same company at the same time, same job, same pay. One stays on the same job for 20 years content with where he is. The other, over the same 20 years, advances within the company to more and more difficult jobs with more and more responsibility until he reaches upper management where he finds himself not nearly as happy as the other guy. He is making much more money, yet he is unhappy. Perhaps, he never was “suited” for a management position. Is there a way to know which employees are better suited for which jobs? David McClelland thought there was. He believed that if we could identify what it was that motivated employees then we could put them into the appropriate jobs to meet those needs. This in turn would produce a motivated workforce contributing to economic growth (Nohria & Groysberg, 2008). McClelland developed a theory known as the three needs theory or the learned needs theory. He proposed that an individual's needs are
Fundamentals of Management MGT 3371
September 30, 2010
ABSTRACT
What motivates employees to perform? Is it money? Power and prestige? Camaraderie? Personal achievement? On the surface, it is logical to assume that money motivates people to work. Money is needed to meet the basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The more money you make, the more things you can afford to buy. Yes, money is a great motivator. But is it THE motivating factor that drives employees to perform? What about power and prestige? Is that “atilla the hun” type executive more influenced by his big paycheck or is it his need for control, recognition and status symbols that drives him? What about camaraderie? Some workers excel in work environments where there is a lot of human interaction and harmony within the group. Others prefer to work alone, rarely having to deal with other people. What about personal achievement? Take for example, two employees who go to work for the same company at the same time, same job, same pay. One stays on the same job for 20 years content with where he is. The other, over the same 20 years, advances within the company to more and more difficult jobs with more and more responsibility until he reaches upper management where he finds himself not nearly as happy as the other guy. He is making much more money, yet he is unhappy. Perhaps, he never was “suited” for a management position. Is there a way to know which employees are better suited for which jobs? David McClelland thought there was. He believed that if we could identify what it was that motivated employees then we could put them into the appropriate jobs to meet those needs. This in turn would produce a motivated workforce contributing to economic growth (Nohria & Groysberg, 2008). McClelland developed a theory known as the three needs theory or the learned needs theory. He proposed that an individual's needs are