Organisational Behaviour

PAPER ON HERZBERG’S MOTIVATION - HYGIENE THEORY (TWO FACTOR THEORY)

PREPARED BY KUSHAL R. JAIN AIS ID: - U609060

The Motivation Hygiene theory introduces the term job enrichment, which is defined as an attempt to design tasks in such a way so as to build in the opportunity for personal achievement, recognition, challenge and individual growth. The Herzberg’s theory is one of the few unique theories in the area of Organisational psychology. In his theory, Herzberg suggested that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are caused are caused by different and independent set of factors. He found that when people are satisfied, they attribute their satisfaction to the work itself – motivating factors, while when people are dissatisfied with their jobs; they are concerned about the environment in which they work – hygiene factors. Following are some of the Typical Hygiene and Motivation factors Typical Motviating Factors • Achievement • Recognition • Work Itself • Responsibility • Promotion • Growth Typical Hygiene Factors • Working conditions • Quality of supervision • Company policy and administration

• Relationship with co-workers • Salary • Job Security • Status • Physical Environment In this paper, I would like to illustrate how the Motivation – Hygiene theory is put / not put into practice in my Organization with the help of anecdotes on myself and some of my colleagues. Anecdote 1 I have been working with Reliance Energy Limited since last 2 years and in due course the management has taken several steps to ensure a high degree of job satisfaction by adhering to the two factor theory. For the first 2 months after my joining, I was given training on soft skills covering topics like communication skills, personality development, analyzing skills etc, and also several inputs were given by the senior members of the company for better learning and growth. I was then allocated a department of work related to my field of civil engineering. In the meanwhile my pay after 2 months was increased by 50%. Furthermore the Organization also gave me a personal motor bike for travel as my work involved visits to sites where construction activities were carried out. The senior members of my Department were extremely supportive and helped me a great deal to get adjusted to the working environment. In some months I was given the responsibility of handling sites on my own giving me opportunities to prosper and get recognition amongst other co-workers. After one year of experience, I was promoted and given the post of Assistant Manager and pay was hiked by a further 30%. Every year, the Company also organizes several cultural events like dance competitions, singing competitions, essay writings, quizzes, sports and other celebrations which brings out the hidden talents of its employees and feeling of togetherness. On the other side of it, as I have been working in the same Dept. and gaining experience on same work, I feel less motivated to do time and again the same job. Anecdote 2 Next I would like to mention the situation of contract labours associated with the company. In Operational and Maintenance work, the labour is required to visit different sites of work each day. The Company policies involve giving no traveling allowance to the labours. To adjust the traveling costs the labours request for being paid wages on daily (8 hours) + overtime basis. As there are ‘n’ no. of labours working at different sites, it becomes practically impossible to find out how much overtime is to be given to every labour. The overtime is then given on the basis of job carried out and not on how much time exactly the labour worked overtime. If it is a difficult job then more overtime and vice – versa. At such instances, there is a state of dissatisfaction amongst some labours for being given same / less overtime as compared to the ones who actually did not work overtime but asked for it so as to adjust it in travel amount spent. At times this leads to the conversation like“Sahab mera overtime usse kaam kyon hain” which results in clashes and unhygienic working conditions amongst the labours. The Management here can pay the contract labours traveling allowances for travel by trains and buses only. Overtime is to be given to only those labours who were actually working at site till late hours after working time and not every one of them. This would result in fair policy and only labours who work hard till late will reap the benefits of pay by daily + overtime basis.

Anecdote 3 Next I would like to mention about one of my senior members in the team and his reasons of being dissatisfied with job. Mr. Deepak Parab has done Diploma in Civil and has been working in the Organization since last 13 years. He has been working as a Junior Engineer in Civil Dept. for these many years. The current scenario is that the company recruits fresh engineers who have done Bachelors and are allocated work in the same Dept. The new recruitments as he finds out are being paid more than what he is being paid and as per Company policies in span of one year they are given the designation of Assistant Managers. The Organization here falls short to recognize his experience for the job and accordingly his growth has been same over the years. This situation leads to his disinterest at work and less productivity. The management must here give due recognition to experience of Mr. Deepak and create hygiene – motivation factors by giving him at least equal pay and the same status the new recruiters have got. The Organization must give their employees equal job responsibilities and based on their performance the employee must be promoted. Anedcote 4 In this I would like to describe about a female employee who is working in my Organisation for last 17 years. Mrs. Anita Bhave is a married woman and has to handle responsibilities of home as well as office work. She feels dissatisfied with the job now as she is not able to cope up with her dual responsibilities. Her work demands longer stay in office than the usual work timings of other employees. Moreover the job location for her is far away from her residence. This leads to unsuitable working conditions and instead of her repeated attempts to get a transfer to the office located near her residence, the management has failed to meet her hygiene factors. Here it is necessary for the management to consider her demands as she has been working with the company since very long and handles her job very effectively. Anecdote 5 Here I would like to state how even a lower grade employee feels satisfied at work. Mr.Shetty is working in my Organisation as a Peon from many years and the relationship he has with every employee is commendable. None of the senior staff members have behaved indifferently with him. In one of the incidents where his son met a serious accident, he was short of money to bear all the medical expenses required for treatment of his son. Here all the co-workers / management came together and collected funds for helping him financially by which his son was treated with proper facilities. As such a hygiene factor in a Organisation – good relations with co-workers led to a motivating factor – recognition and pay. Having said all, REL also has taken several other steps to meet the motivation – hygienic factors of a employee which are as follows:• • • • • • • • •

Self-appraisal system Goal setting Monthly meetings to be held in every Dept. Providing laptop to its senior grade officers Beat the Best awards Free Breakfast and Lunch provisions Free use of Gymnasium Performance based incentives Proper means of communication

• Training and development of employees by organizing regular workshops / seminars. • Providing Mediclaim policies • OHSAS system to ensure safety of workers • Cultural and Sports events Apart from these many more steps are taken by the Organisation to create an ideal situation for its employee to work. I would like to conclude by saying that the hygiene factors must be continually maintained by management because they are never completely satisfied. The hygiene factors of each employee differs and it is difficult to meet demands of all employees. Steps shall be taken to achieve common hygienic factors of all employees. It shall also focus on rearranging work so that motivator factors can take effect by job enlargement, job rotation and job enrichment. Most importantly the management must implement a system to find out periodically what might be the evidence of de-motivated employees in a business and act accordingly. It can be any of the following: - Low productivity - Poor production or service quality - Strikes / industrial disputes / breakdowns in employee communication and relationships - Complaints about pay and working conditions

From the above interpretation it is clear that the Organization must build a situation of high motivation combined with high hygiene factors to create an ideal condition amongst its employees.