Groups in Organizations

Groups in Organizations: Motivation Theories
Student’s Name
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Abstract
Most organizations today would wish to have their workers motivated and willing to work, yet fail to understand what truly drives an individual. Businesses could improve their efficiency if the workers had an invested passion for the company’s future. There are fundamental needs to be satisfied for an individual to prosper in the workplace. This paper explores different motivation theories, including Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Herzberg’s two-factor theory, and McClelland’s three needs or acquired needs theory. The focus will be how these theories can be applied in the workplace and how organizations can execute the models to guarantee motivated and happy workers. It can be said that each theory is similar to the other in that there are needs for every person to fulfill. Every worker is at a separate phase in their lives, which calls for different management approaches. It is indicated that motivation has to originate from within the worker. The theories analyzed will assist in describing how managers and organizations can shape their workers to self-motivate and yield the best result possible. It should be noted that the motivation can be both non-financial and financial.

Groups in Organizations: Motivation Theories
MOTIVATION THEORIES
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
This theory was invented by Abraham Maslow in 1943 and is the most widely recognized and earliest motivation theory.

The theory reduces needs into five basic classes. Maslow ranked these needs in his hierarchy model, starting with the basic physiological ones and advancing to safety, love and affiliation, and reverence and self-actualization (Miner, 2015). The lowest unfulfilled need becomes the overriding or the most significant and powerful need. The overriding need stimulates a person to act to satisfy it. Fulfilled needs do not motivate. A person seeks out higher needs in the hierarchy when lower needs are satisfied. The theory can be applied in motivating employees at the entry level of career, who want to satisfy the physiological needs like stable income (Miner, 2015). For the higher needs, employees are focused on self-esteem and self-actualization. Thus, organizations have to find ways of motivating workers through cross-training, special assignments, rewards, recognition, and job enrichment.
The weakness of this theory is that it lacks motivators of individuals who are motivated by extrinsic rewards and, therefore, its relevance is questionable for individuals in this group. It is also challenging for managers to determine the need level for workers, which might stop the motivation of workers in the organization. Finally, it is not an obligation that basic needs have to be satisfied for one to achieve higher needs, like an artist who aims at recognition and fame but has not fulfilled basic needs in the pyramid (Heinrichs, Oser & Lovat, 2013). Nevertheless, the strength is that there is a clear path for personal growth and development because individuals are motivated to migrate from basic needs to higher ones above the ladder.
David Mcclelland’s Three Needs Theory– Need for Achievement, Affiliation, and Power
McClelland advanced on Maslow’s work and came up with three human motivators in the early 1960s. It is a motivational model that tries to explain the way the needs for achievement, affiliation, and power impact other individuals (Miner, 2015). The achievement motivation involves a need to achieve and show mastery or proficiency. It relates to an individual’s need for skill mastering, significant success, high standards or control. The affiliation motivation entails a need for relatedness, belonging, and love. These individuals have a great desire for friendships and want to be part of a social group, and need to be admired (Heinrichs, Oser & Lovat, 2013). They are also team players. The last category is the power or authority motivation. This involves a need to influence one’s own work or that of other people. These individuals have a great need to succeed in their opinions and to lead. The need is required for increasing personal prestige and status. Concerning its application, this theory involves identifying drivers of motivation for employees and designing the leadership style and project tasks around the workers in a team to ensure their engagement, motivation, and bring morale with the assignments (Miner, 2015).
The strength of this theory is that it offers a transparent image for the managers and organizations to understand which type of work is appropriate for the workers and the type of individual that can improve the performance of the organization (Latham, 2012). The theory also applies more empirical proof to supplement its arguments, unlike Maslow’s theory. Conversely, its weakness is that there are concerns with the validity about the TAT prediction applied to find the individual needs level.
Herzberg‘S Two Factor Theory
This model of this theory is that there are some factors called the motivating factors that lead to job contentment, and separated factors called the hygiene factors that lead to dissatisfaction. Herzberg developed this theory in 1987 in which he argued that the job satisfiers are concerned about the factors related to the job performance, while the job dissatisfiers are concerned about the factors which outline the context of the job. Then hygiene factors include work condition, security, salary, and safety while motivating factors include achievement and having a responsibility, which can lead to satisfaction (Latham, 2012). The application of this theory involves removing the dissatisfaction that workers encounter and assist them in getting satisfaction in their job. Elimination may involve offering job security, competitive wages, and effective and supportive supervision. On the other hand, the job satisfaction creation involves offering a chance for achievement and responsibilities and appreciating individuals’ contributions (Heinrichs, Oser & Lovat, 2013).
The weakness of Herzberg’s Needs theory is that it ignores situational factors. It also fails to consider blue-collar employees. The theory’s reliability is not certain. Again, no comprehensive assessment of satisfaction was applied. Nevertheless, the strength of this theory is that it distinguishes between behavioral needs, explaining what lead workers to develop the need for specific things and enabling managers to execute their motivation better (Latham, 2012).
Options and Strategies for applying the Motivation Theories
Several options and strategies can be used to apply the three theories. For all the three theories, organizations can include compensation spurs directly in specific performance targets to make workers prosper. This can involve offering substantial bonuses to top performers and include intangible prizes to make them remain committed to organization’s goals. For McClelland’s theory, organizations need to introduce worker development initiatives, worker recognition plans, and an open, positive organizational culture to nurture the acquired needs (Latham, 2012). The programs can uplift workers self-esteem and sense of achievement. Moreover, other options and strategies include arranging project team meetings one a week, empowering employees to make them grow and develop, ensuring suitable job instruments are available, and considering each worker’s career foals when assigning responsibilities.
Implementation of Maslow’s Theory
The phased implementation design can be used to execute the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory because the needs described in this theory are categorized into phases. This theory is selected because it contains a broad range of needs that all organizational employees can have and acts as the foundation for all other motivation theories. It includes the needs required by young and old workers at different phases of needs to be satisfied. Maslow’s theory is appropriate for implementation in organizations because of its ability to arrange the needs from the basic to the most advanced. Concerning the physiological needs, organizations, such as banks, can set up cafeteria, canteens, and drinking fountains for workers to meet the needs like food and water (Heinrichs, Oser & Lovat, 2013). Next, the security needs can be achieved by ensuring that workers are offered medical benefits, retirements benefits, proper working conditions, clear job descriptions, and solutions to problems.
Likewise, concerning the belonging needs, organizations need to promote social interface by enabling participation, developing team spirit, showing sporadic acclaim, and supporting external social activities. Further, businesses should structure challenging tasks and jobs to enhance employees’ self-esteem. This can be achieved through delegation of responsibilities, offering training, giving awards, rewards, and approval, and encouraging participation (Latham, 2012).  Finally, the self-actualization needs can be realized by implementing things like facilitating creativity, offering challenges and puzzling tasks, and supplying specialized training.

References
Heinrichs, K., Oser, F., & Lovat, T. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of moral motivation: theories, models, applications (Vol. 1). Springer Science & Business Media.Latham, G. P. (2012). Work motivation: History, theory, research, and practice. Sage.Miner, J. B. (2015). Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge.