MOTIVATION: LOOKING BEYOND HYGIENE FACTORS

Written on 27th December 1999

The externally imposed attempts by management to 'install a generator' in the employee

has been demonstrated to be total failure. The absence of 'hygiene' factors such as good

supervisor - employee relations or liberal fringe benefits can make a worker unhappy but

then the presence will not make him want to wok harder. Essentially meaningless

changes in tasks that workers are assigned to do have not accomplished the d desired

objective either. The only way to motivate the employee is to give him challenging work

in which he can assume responsibility.

Some of the attempts in the past to instill motivation like reducing the total time spent at

work have not been benefited. In fact most motivated employee seek more hours of work,

not fewer. Similar in the case of wage increase the employees have motivated them only

to seek the next wage increase. The case with fringe benefits like club memberships etc.

are no different. People spend less time working for more money and more security than

ever before and the trend cannot be reversed. These benefits have become more of a right

than a reward. Human relations training, two way communication between the employee

and management have all produced little or no motivation. Job participation originally

evolved to bring in a sense of achievement rather than a substantive real achievement also

failed to deliver the goods. Employee counseling too like others has been successful only

in the short run.

There is an increasing need to differentiate between hygiene factors and the motivators. It

would be interesting to note that the opposite of job satisfaction is not job dissatisfaction

as is commonly misunderstood but is no job satisfaction. The difference between the two

goes much beyond what semantics has to do with them. The dissatisfaction avoidance or

hygiene factors that are extrinsic to the job include company policy and administration,

interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary, status and security. The growth or

motivating factors that are intrinsic to the job are achievement, recognition for

achievement, the work itself, responsibility and growth or advancement. Hygiene factors

have been proved to contribute to about 69% of job dissatisfaction and the growth factors

to about 81% of job satisfaction.

Attempts to increase or enhance the growth factors have led to what is now commonly

known as job enrichment. The difference between job enrichment and job enlargement is

to be clearly understood. The prior provides the opportunity for the employee's

psychological growth, while job enlargement merely makes the job structurally bigger.

Job enrichment has been practiced in a few companies in the recent past and has emerged

as successful motivating factors. Companies can do a lot good to themselves and the

employees by satisfying the growth needs of an individual. A few thumb rules have been

evolved from the successful attempts of job enrichment at vaious organizations. Firstly it

must be clearly understood that not all jobs can be enriched nor do all jobs need to be

enriched.
Selection of only those jobs should be done where attitudes are poor, hygiene factors are

too costly and motivation factors would make a difference in performance. Approaching

them with a conviction that they can be changed is a must. A brain storming session can

follow enlisting all the possible changes to the job. All options involving hygiene factors

and generalistic ideas like responsibility, growth and challenge may be dropped along

with those involving horizontal job loading. The direct involvement of people whose jobs

are being enriched is not advisable. This is followed by a controlled experiment before

final implementation. It may be noted that there is a strong possibility that the

performance during the initial few weeks may be low but would gradually become very

good. Therefore to exercise patience is the best option. This would automatically bring

about the much talked employee centered style of supervision.

Even if a small amount of the total time and percentage of money spent on hygiene

factors were spent on the job enrichment the returns in the form of human satisfaction

and economic gains to the organisation and the society at large would be very high. To

realize the potential of every employee in the organization and enrich his or her job is the

only thing, which can bring about a distinct change in the motivation of the employees in

the log run.