s will apply two motivational theories to organizational behavior, i.e., what theories work best to motivate employees: Herzberg’s two-factor theory/job enrichment, and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory. Employee motivation is crucial for business success as just like an unmotivated individual will not achieve his or her goals, so unmotivated employees will not achieve corporate goals. A conclusion will address which, if any, of these theories is the more valid in explaining how best to motivate employees.
The aspect of motivation within organizational behavior is perhaps one of the most researched and studied phenomenon in business. There are many theories of motivation that have emerged in organizational behavior literature. In today’s world motivation is seen as being best achieved by a combination of elements within the organization that combine to produce it: needs; job design; satisfaction. One of the most famous theories of motivation was developed by Frederick Maslow. Before discussing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs motivation theory, we will look at the biological needs and psychogenic needs formulated by Madsen and Murray respectively. We have a limited number of biological needs and Maslow’s list of them was reduced to 12 main biological motives that were accepted as valid by most motivational theorists. His list includes such needs as hunger, thirst, sex, breathing, sleep and aggression. Henry Murray, on the other hand, developed a list of human social needs which he argued, unlike our biological needs, vary from individual to individual based on personal experience. For example, some of us acquire a need for orderliness while some of us never do. Murray devised a list of 28 social motives which he felt were motivated from learning and social interaction rather than biological origins. Some of Murray’s needs have been given more attention by researchers than others. One of these, the need to achiev...