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Management - Vikhanskiy OS

2. Theories of the content of motivation

Theories of the content of motivation analyze factors that influence motivation. To a large extent, the focus of these theories is focused on the analysis of needs and their impact on motivation. These theories describe the structure of the needs, their content and how these needs are related to the person's motivation for action. In these theories, an attempt is made to give an answer to the question of what inside a person encourages him to work. The most well-known motivation theories of this group are: 1) the theory of the hierarchy of needs, developed by Maslow; 2) ERG theory developed by Alderfer; 3) the theory of McClelland's acquired needs and 4) the theory of the two factors of Herzberg.

2.1. Maslow's hierarchy of needs hierarchy

The introduction mentioned the name of Abraham Maslow as one of the most famous representatives of the behaviorist trend in the series of doctrines on governance. The widely known and widely accepted concept of the hierarchy of needs developed by Maslow [9] includes the following basic ideas and premises.

• People constantly feel some needs.

• People experience a certain set of strongly expressed needs, which can be grouped into separate groups.

• The needs groups are in a hierarchical arrangement with respect to each other.

• Needs, if they are not satisfied, encourage the person to act. Satisfied needs do not motivate people.

• If one need is met, then another unmet need is in its place.

• Usually a person feels simultaneously several different needs, being among themselves in a complex interaction.

• The needs that are closer to the bottom of the "pyramid" require paramount satisfaction.

• Needs of a higher level are beginning to act actively on a person after generally meeting the needs of a lower level.

• Higher-level needs can be met in more ways than lower-level needs.

According to the Maslow theory, there are five groups of needs.

Physiological needs . To this group of needs are requirements for food, water, air, shelter, etc., ie. Those needs that a person must satisfy in order to survive in order to maintain the body in a vital state. These needs are largely related to the maintenance of physiological processes and are generated by human physiology. People who work mainly because of the need to meet the needs of this group have little interest in the content of the work, they concentrate on pay, as well as on working conditions, convenience in the workplace, the ability to avoid fatigue, etc. For the management of such people, it is necessary that the minimum wage ensures survival and working conditions are not too burdensome for existence.

Security needs . The needs of this group are related to the desire and desire of people to be in a stable and safe state, protected from fear, pain, illness and other suffering that life can bring to a person. People who are experiencing needs of this kind tend to avoid exciting situations, like order, clear rules, clear structures. They evaluate their work, first of all, from the point of view of ensuring their stable existence in the future. For a person who is affected by these needs, job security, pensions, and medical care are important. People who are experiencing these needs seek to insure themselves in a literal and figurative sense from the possibility of adverse events and changes, creating insurance potential, in particular, through education and education. People with a heightened need for security tend to avoid risk, internally resist change and transformation. To manage such people, it is necessary to create a clear and reliable system of social insurance, to apply clear and fair rules for regulating their activities, to pay labor above the subsistence level, not to involve them in taking risky decisions and carrying out actions involving risks and changes.

Needs of belonging and involvement. A person seeks to participate in joint actions, he wants friendship, love, to be a member of some associations of people, to participate in public events, etc. All these aspirations constitute a group of needs for belonging and involvement. If for a person this need is leading, he looks at his work, firstly, as belonging to the collective and, secondly, as an opportunity to establish good and friendly relations with his colleagues. In relation to such employees, management should be in the form of a friendly partnership, for such people it is necessary to create conditions for communication at work. A good result is provided by the group form of organization of work, group events that go beyond the scope of the work, as well as a reminder to employees that they are valued by colleagues at work.

Needs of recognition and self-affirmation. This group of needs reflects the desire of people to be competent, strong, capable, self-confident, as well as people's desire that others recognize them as such and respect them for it. People with a strong need for these needs seek a leadership position or a position of recognized authority in solving problems. When managing these people, it is necessary to use different forms of expression of recognition of their merits. For this purpose, the appropriation of titles and titles, the coverage of their actions in the press, the mention of their merits in public speeches, the delivery of various kinds of honorary awards, etc., may be useful.

Needs for self-expression. This group brings together the needs, expressed in the desire of man to the fullest use of his knowledge, abilities, skills. These needs to a much greater extent than the needs of other groups, are individual. This is a person's need for creativity in the broadest sense of the word. People with this need are open to the perception of themselves and the environment, are creative and independent. When managing people of this kind, one should strive to give them original tasks that enable them to realize their abilities, to give them greater freedom in choosing means of solving problems, and to attract them to work that requires ingenuity and creativity.

The theory of the hierarchical construction of Maslow's needs does not give an answer to the question of what the nature of those or other needs is. The main task of this theory seems to be to see how these or those other needs can influence a person's motivation for activity and how, knowing about a certain dynamics of the need to motivate a person, to influence a person, giving him the opportunity to satisfy his needs in a certain way.

Maslow's concept had a great influence on the development of theory and practice of modern management. However, life has shown that the concept has a number of very vulnerable moments.

First, the requirements differ in different ways depending on many situational factors (content of work, position in the organization, age, gender, etc.).

Secondly, there is not necessarily a rigid adherence to one group of needs after another, as it is represented in the "pyramid" Maslow.

Thirdly, the satisfaction of the upper group of needs does not necessarily lead to a weakening of their impact on motivation. Maslow believed that the exception to this rule is the need for self-expression, which can not be weakened, but even strengthen its effect on motivation as it is satisfied. Practice shows that both the need for recognition and self-expression can also exert an amplifying influence on motivation in the process of satisfying it (Figure 2.2).

Based on the systematization and integration into a specific set of needs, the forms of their manifestation in human behavior and possible means of satisfying their needs, a table can be compiled showing the relationship of the individual means of motivation to the Maslow's pyramid of needs (Table 2.1).

Table 2.1.

An example of the connection of needs, their manifestations and means of satisfaction