SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT FOR LIFELONG LEARNING
CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMME - TRAINING MODULE N° 5
EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS LEADERSHIP and MANAGEMENT –
SERVICES
Instructions - DAY 2 session 1
Group work on MOTIVATION THEORIES
Participants will be divided in 3 groups. Each group will work on one
motivation theory.
Please read individually and carefully the text. Then discuss it in your
group to agree on a common understanding of the text. Each participant
should be ready to explain the theory to other colleagues.
If you wish you can prepare flipchart or cards to support your
explanation.
Maslow’s Motivation Theory
Motivation is psychologically complex and no one general and comprehensive
motivational theory exists. There are lots of theories built on different motivational
factors. Some are taking into consideration human needs, classifying them; others
are dealing with intrinsic and extrinsic factors; third are relying on comparison with
other employees, etc.
The most well-known is Maslow`s theory that argues that everyone seeks to satisfy
two basic levels of needs: lower level needs (physiological, security, the need for
love and belonging) and higher level needs (esteem of both self and others and selfactualisation or achieving one's full potential). Once any of these needs is met, it
becomes less important as a motivator. The distribution of these needs is highly
hierarchical and the needs are satisfied in predefined order. Maslow`s motivational
theory is the first theory of motivation taking into account personal needs as source
of motivation. Even though Maslow's hierarchy has been criticised a lot, he is
considered to be a pioneer of theories of motivation, many people are exposed to it
and a lot of followers have built their own ideas and theories onto it.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied
needs and that certain lower needs must be satisfied before higher needs can be
satisfied.
Maslow identified five levels of need, arguing that as long as we are motivated to
satisfy those needs we are growing and moving toward self- actualisation. Levels are
the following:
Physiological needs are the very basic needs such as air, water, food, sleep, etc.
Only when they are alleviated, may we think about other things. Within an
organisation physiological needs can be alleviated through rest periods, health care,
pensions and wages.
Safety needs are the psychological requirement to establish stability in the world.
They begin with the security of home and family and community. Safety needs
remain unsatisfied if a peer group is dysfunctional or where the environment is found
threatening. For example, if an employee’s job is under threat or they are constantly
criticised they will be unable to focus on the task at hand.
Humans have a need to feel loved and accepted by others. They satisfy that need by
belong to groups: clubs, religions and families, even gangs. People often comment
that an important aspect of having a job is the relationship they have with their work
group.
There are two types of esteem needs: self-esteem which results from competence or
mastery of a task (intrinsic) and self esteem needs which results from attention and
recognition that comes from others (extrinsic). Participative management offers
opportunities to satisfy both types of esteem needs through incentive mechanisms
that recognise achievement (extrinsic) and by providing opportunities to contribute at
all levels (intrinsic).
The need for self-actualisation is “the desire to become more and more what one is,
to become everything that one is capable of becoming”. People who have overcome
lower order needs are free to maximise their potential for example by seeking
knowledge, peace, aesthetic experiences and self-fulfilment. Self-actualisation is not
success in your job, but an organisation that provides their employees with an
environment that encourages and supports the pursuit of personal goals will benefit
through having more.
Having into consideration Maslow`s theory the lower needs have to be fulfilled in
order to meet higher needs. If a teacher/student has not had her/his breakfast before
she/he comes to school, she/he will not be concentrating on learning; will be
preoccupied with the need for food. Because there are many children who come to
school without a proper breakfast, school systems must meet this need by providing
breakfast programs so that these children will be more likely to learn effectively. Or if
teacher have no proper room in which to prepare and teach, or classroom without
heating, without proper light, one cannot go on without solving first problems with
basic needs. How teachers conduct their classrooms is a major factor directing
students' motivation. Therefore, it is the responsibility of teachers to know what their
students' needs are, to understand the concept of Maslow's hierarchy, and to
develop their teaching programs accordingly. In the educational scene the teacher
has the primary responsibility to develop, encourage, enhance, and maintain
motivation in the student. Most of the school managers or leaders have success and
are gaining a lot of followers when solving first basic physiological and safety needs.
Schools that have renovated their bathrooms, have installed heating, have
developed good lesson plan are likely to continue in the same fashion and to
improve other aspects of school life. This kind of schools will attract more parents
and students, will please own staff, will motivate them to work harder.
While Maslow's hierarchy makes sense at a first glance, there is no scientific
evidence to support its strict hierarchy. Maslow's hierarchy also has difficulty
explaining cases such as the "starving artist" in which a person neglects physical
needs in pursuit of aesthetic needs or spiritual needs. This theory also doesn’t pay
attention to cultural diversity and different cultural attitudes towards specific needs.
Herzberg’s Motivation Theory
To better understand employee attitudes and motivation, Frederick Herzberg
performed studies to determine which factors in an employee's work environment
caused satisfaction or dissatisfaction. He published his findings in the book The
Motivation to Work.
The studies included interviews in which employees where asked what pleased and
displeased them about their work. Herzberg found that the factors causing job
satisfaction (and presumably motivation) were different from those causing job
dissatisfaction. He developed the motivation-hygiene theory to explain these results.
He called the satisfiers motivators and the dissatisfiers hygiene factors, using the
term "hygiene" in the sense that they are considered maintenance factors that are
necessary to avoid dissatisfaction but that by themselves do not provide satisfaction.
The following table presents the top six factors causing dissatisfaction and the top
six factors causing satisfaction, listed in the order of higher to lower importance.
Factors Affecting Job Attitudes
Leading to Dissatisfaction
Leading to Satisfaction
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Company policy
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Achievement
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Supervision
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Recognition
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Relationship w/Boss
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Work itself
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Work conditions
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Responsibility

Salary

Advancement

Relationship w/Peers

Growth
Herzberg reasoned that because the factors causing satisfaction are different from
those causing dissatisfaction, the two feelings cannot simply be treated as opposites
of one another. The opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction, but rather, no
satisfaction. Similarly, the opposite of dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction.
While at first glance this distinction between the two opposites may sound like a play
on words, Herzberg argued that there are two distinct human needs portrayed. First,
there are physiological needs that can be fulfilled by money, for example, to
purchase food and shelter. Second, there is the psychological need to achieve and
grow, and this need is fulfilled by activities that cause one to grow.
From the above table of results, one observes that the factors that determine
whether there is dissatisfaction or no dissatisfaction are not part of the work itself,
but rather, are external factors. Herzberg often referred to these hygiene factors as
"KITA" factors, where KITA is an acronym for Kick In The A..., the process of
providing incentives or a threat of punishment to cause someone to do something.
Herzberg argues that these provide only short-run success because the motivator
factors that determine whether there is satisfaction or no satisfaction are intrinsic to
the job itself, and do not result from carrot and stick incentives.
Implications for Management
If the motivation-hygiene theory holds, management not only must provide hygiene
factors to avoid employee dissatisfaction, but also must provide factors intrinsic to
the work itself in order for employees to be satisfied with their jobs.
Herzberg argued that job enrichment is required for intrinsic motivation, and that it is
a continuous management process. According to Herzberg:
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The job should have sufficient challenge to utilize the full ability of the employee.
Employees who demonstrate increasing levels of ability should be given
increasing levels of responsibility.
If a job cannot be designed to use an employee's full abilities, then the firm
should consider automating the task or replacing the employee with one who has
a lower level of skill. If a person cannot be fully utilized, then there will be a
motivation problem.
Critics of Herzberg's theory argue that the two-factor result is observed because it is
natural for people to take credit for satisfaction and to blame dissatisfaction on
external factors. Furthermore, job satisfaction does not necessarily imply a high level
of motivation or productivity.
Herzberg's theory has been broadly read and despite its weaknesses its enduring
value is that it recognizes that true motivation comes from within a person and not
from KITA factors.
Motivators
Achievement
Recognition
Work itself
Responsibility
Advancement
Personal growth
Hygiene (or maintenance) factors
security
status
relationship with subordinates
personal life
supervision relationship with supervisor
work conditions
salary
relationship with peers
company policy and administration
Hygiene factors are merely a launch pad - when damaged or undermined we have
no platform, but in themselves they do not motivate.
McGregor’s Motivation Theory
In his book, The Human Side of Enterprise, Douglas McGregor proposed two
theories by which to view employee motivation. He avoided descriptive labels and
simply called the theories Theory X and Theory Y. Both of these theories begin with
the premise that management's role is to assemble the factors of production,
including people, for the economic benefit of the firm. Beyond this point, the two
theories of management diverge.
Theory X
Theory X assumes that the average person:

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Dislikes work and attempts to avoid it.
Has no ambition, wants no responsibility, and would rather follow than lead.
Is self-centred and therefore does not care about organizational goals.
Resists change.
Is gullible and not particularly intelligent.
Essentially, Theory X assumes that people work only for money and security.
Theory X - The Hard Approach and Soft Approach
Under Theory X, management approaches can range from a hard approach to a soft
approach. The hard approach relies on coercion, implicit threats, close supervision,
and tight controls, essentially an environment of command and control. The soft
approach is to be permissive and seek harmony with the hope that in return
employees will cooperate when asked to do so. However, neither of these extremes
is optimal. The hard approach results in hostility, purposely low-output, and hard-line
union demands. The soft approach results in ever-increasing requests for more
rewards in exchange for ever-decreasing work output.
The optimal management approach under Theory X probably would be somewhere
between these extremes. However, McGregor asserts that neither approach is
appropriate because the assumptions of Theory X are not correct.
The Problem with Theory X
Drawing on Maslow's hierarchy, McGregor argues that a satisfied need no longer
motivates. Under Theory X the firm relies on money and benefits to satisfy
employees' lower needs, and once those needs are satisfied the source of
motivation is lost. Theory X management styles in fact hinder the satisfaction of
higher-level needs. Consequently, the only way that employees can attempt to
satisfy their higher level needs in their work is by seeking more compensation, so it
is quite predictable that they will focus on monetary rewards. While money may not
be the most effective way to self-fulfilment, in a Theory X environment it may be the
only way. Under Theory X, people use work to satisfy their lower needs, and seek to
satisfy their higher needs in their leisure time. But it is in satisfying their higher needs
that employees can be most productive.
McGregor makes the point that a command and control environment is not effective
because it relies on lower needs as levers of motivation, but in modern society those
needs already are satisfied and thus no longer are motivators. In this situation, one
would expect employees to dislike their work, avoid responsibility, have no interest in
organizational goals, resist change, etc., thus making Theory X a self-fulfilling
prophecy.
From this reasoning, McGregor proposed an alternative: Theory Y.
Theory Y
The higher-level needs of esteem and self-actualization are continuing needs in that
they are never completely satisfied. As such, it is these higher-level needs through
which employees can best be motivated.
Theory Y makes the following general assumptions:
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Work can be as natural as play and rest.
People will be self-directed to meet their work objectives if they are committed to
them.
People will be committed to their objectives if rewards are in place that addresses
higher needs such as self-fulfilment.
Under these conditions, people will seek responsibility.
Most people can handle responsibility because creativity and ingenuity are
common in the population.
Under these assumptions, there is an opportunity to align personal goals with
organizational goals by using the employee's own quest for fulfilment as the
motivator.
McGregor stressed that Theory Y management does not imply a soft approach.
McGregor recognized that some people may not have reached the level of maturity
assumed by Theory Y and therefore may need tighter controls that can be relaxed as
the employee develops.
Theory Y Management Implications
If Theory Y holds, the firm can do many things to harness the motivational energy of
its employees:

Decentralization and Delegation - If firms decentralize control and reduce the
number of levels of management, each manager will have more subordinates
and consequently will be forced to delegate some responsibility and decision
making to them.

Job Enlargement - Broadening the scope of an employee's job adds variety and
opportunities to satisfy ego needs.

Participative Management - Consulting employees in the decision making
process taps their creative capacity and provides them with some control over
their work environment.

Performance Appraisals - Having the employee set objectives and participate in
the process of evaluating how well they were met.
If properly implemented, such an environment would result in a high level of
motivation as employees work to satisfy their higher level personal needs through
their jobs.