Herzberg’s two factor theory for improving Employee Engagement

 Overview

Employee Engagement, Job satisfaction and motivation are very much important to the productivity, efficiency and success of an organization (Owler & Morrison, 2015). The success of an organization is the final outcome and all the precautions, tasks, activities and decisions are made to achieve the organizational goal. Frederick Herzberg introduced two factor theory of worker motivation to examine about the factors contributing to dissatisfaction and motivation of employees (Owler & Morrison, 2015). These factors can be broken into two main categories in the form of Hygiene Factors and Motivation factors (Baah & Amoako, 2011).

Video 1

Source: (Abdulkadir, 2016)

The video 1 describes how these two factors should be controlled in an organizational environment. First of all factors of satisfaction which are simply called as “motivators” should be increased in the organization. Motivational factors are mostly based on an individual’s needs for personal growth which are achievements, job, recognition, responsibilities and advancement. The other thing is minimizing the factors that cause dissatisfaction in their absence which are simply called as “hygiene factors”. The video 1 illustrates some of those factors which are company policies, supervision quality, working conditions, quality of inter personal relations and salaries. If the Top management of an organization can follow this Herzberg’s theory in a proper way, then the satisfaction of employees gradually increases and it will help to make “Engaged employees” in the workplace.  

 

  

Figure 1

Source : (Chu & Kuo, 2015)

The figure 1 illustrates how Hygiene and Motivation factors work on an employee with different transformation from “satisfied to not satisfied” and “dissatisfied to not dissatisfied”. As an example, an employee will get motivated gradually and will go to a satisfied mindset when his achievements are well recognized and appreciated. If he does not have a proper recognition in his workplace, that employee will definitely not be satisfied with his job. Meanwhile the same employee can be dissatisfied when he is not paid well and if he has to work in an environment with lack of facilities.

Herzberg’s two factor theory for my workplace

Herzberg’s motivation theory has received a special attention as it has a practical approach towards motivating employees (Hong & Waheed, 2011). I work for an Engineering company and sometimes it is very much difficult to apply these theories in practice because of the different mindsets and different necessities of employees who are working with me. Anyway the steps that I have already taken and the important steps which will be implemented in future are elaborated below.

Motivational Factors

The employees are assessed once a year when the financial year ends and marks are allocated to the performance that they have showed during the past year. This is called “Employee Assessment Method(EAM)” in my company.Based on the marks that they have obtained, promotions and annual bonus are given. I have experienced in my professional career that, employees are very much engaged and motivated from this method. For an example, if any employee is unable to obtain the full bonus value due to any reason within a financial year, that employee will work hard in the upcoming year and definitely get it in next year.

In  my organization the month “July” in every year is called the “Training and Development month” of the company and each and every employee has to go through these programs as it will develop the “personal growth” of those employees. Herzberg found that Maslow’s theory of personal growth and self-actualization became the keys to understand good feelings about employees about organization and jobs (Stello, 2011).

An employee is entitled to do “only for what he knows or what he has learnt” because it will make good nature for work to all employees inside the organization. For an example a plumber is never asked to do a repair of a SMDB(Sub Main Distribution Board) as it is an electrical work which is very much risky. Anyway if any employee is willing to learn any other subject area which he does not know much about, the organization will definitely encourage that employee for his further studies.

Hygiene Factors

By conducting the Herzberg’s two factor theory in an organization, it has been found that “making more money” received the second highest important thing for an employee (Hong & Waheed, 2011). That means “salary” is more important to workers. In my organization, we do necessary salary increments in relevant time period and it will make employees satisfied about their jobs. All salary and wages are matched according to their performances and as I have mentioned earlier, if any employee does his further studies and gain additional knowledge about different technical subject, his salary will be reconsidered and increased again.

According to (Yusoff, Kian, & Idris, 2013) supervision has revealed a positive relationship between leader-member interactions and job satisfactions. According to my point of view, every employee should be supervised and monitored after knowing or having a clear image about different attitudes and different thinking patterns which are carried inside the mindsets. The EAM which is done in my organization will help me to obtain a clear idea about the supervisions which are carried out by Supervisors, Executive staff and Assistant Managers in my Engineering Department.

The other important thing is “interpersonal relations” which can be developed by arranging Sports events, Annual trips, Get-togethers and Award ceremonies inside the organization. It has been proved that the factors of work group interactions and co-worker’s support have significant positive correlation to job satisfaction (Yusoff, Kian, & Idris, 2013).

Conclusion

Neither the motivation factors nor the Hygiene factors decide the future of an organization and managers need to blend them together to build up the correct recipe (Baah & Amoako, 2011). Organizations in the modern era can still use this theory with high success to create a culture where employees are highly motivated and engaged in the organization.

References

Abdulkadir, N. (2016, March 26). Herzberg two factor theory. Retrieved April 16, 2022, from Nejla Abdulkadir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIhJ0Ggf8_w

Baah, K. D., & Amoako, G. K. (2011). Application of Frederick Herzberg's Two factor theory in assessing and understanding employee motivation at work:a Ghanaian Perspective. European Journal of Business and Management, 1-7.

Chu, H. C., & Kuo, T. Y. (2015). Testing Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory in Educational Settings in Taiwan. The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning , 54-65.

Hong, T. T., & Waheed, A. (2011). Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory and Job Satisfaction in the Malaysian Retail Sector:The Mediating Effect of Love of Money. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 73-94.

Owler, K., & Morrison, R. L. (2015). What makes work enjoyable and motivating for Learning Advisors in Aotearoa-New Zealand? The Association of Tertiary Learning Advisors Aotearoa/New Zealand(ATLAANZ), 16-33.

Stello, C. M. (2011). Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory of Job Satisfaction:An Integrative Literature Review. Minnesota: Department of Organizational Leadership,Policy and Development,University of Minnesota.

Yusoff, W. W., Kian, T. S., & Idris, M. M. (2013). Herzberg's Two Factors Theory On Work Motivation:Does its work for Todays Enviornment? Global Journal Of Commerce and Management Perspective, 18-22.