Motivating employees at work is an issue confronting academicians, researchers and practicing managers all over the world. Human Resource managers are

•          Reevaluating the relevance of traditional motivation theories developed by Maslow and Herzberg, which focus higher set of needs such as self-actualization, in the present day cultural context

•          Suggesting suitable changes and developing an alternate theories to understand the intrinsic process  of employee motivation

The Fear Greed Theory of Motivation

There are interesting implications for managers and decision makers as they revisit the process of motivation.  Thomas Patten, argues that there are just two basic motivators, i.e. greed and fear.  Fear-greed motivation theory, as postulated by him, has economic self-interest as its core and is more fitting to what is happening today.  In support of his argument, he cites the exchange theory in sociology, public-choice theory of political science and emerging socio-biology, all being focused on self-interest.  The recent fall of financial giants, seem to support this contention. 

How relevant is Maslow Today?

Greed seems to be emerging as a potent addition in the context of loss of jobs due to economic downturn, rising labour costs and potential reduction of financial services industry coupled with already shrinking aerospace and weapon markets, all causing widespread fear among working class.   Well-paid jobs seem to be increasingly perceived as means for providing a secured and gratifying existence.  A secured existence reduces fear.  The more is fear reduced, the greater is one’s feeling of security.

The proposition is thought provoking in the current context -

•          What truly motivates employees- is it greed or self-actualization?

•          Are the motivational theories of Maslow and Herzberg based on self-actualization enough to understand the work motivation process today?

•          If the answer to the previous question is no, is there an alternate framework to help practicing managers understand behavior of employees and the motivation process

Show me the money: Is it all that it takes?

It is only in the past decade that the importance of rewards – money, in particular, has been recognized.  Organizational Behavior Expert, Lawler seems to support this, “A great deal of evidence exists to suggest that pay was important to employees and that it could motivate them, yet it has been systematically ignored or distorted”.

The generalization in relating greed seems to be justified in workers exhibiting consistent behaviour pattern (asking for more benefits). Work has indeed moved from being a “noble cause” that a man could be intrinsically motivated to engage himself in, to a “commodity” which is accomplished in lieu of money through extrinsic motivation.  And as work assume the nature of a commodity, motivation to deliver more than expected has dropped and most enterprises today grapple with quality issues.

Schemes intended to motivate employees by linking compensation to performance and productivity are not alien to us.  The assumption is that people perform better if they are provided with higher incentives.  Research studies, conducted in various work settings, however support an opposing view.  According to Alfie Kohn, “As for productivity, at least two dozen studies over the last three decades have conclusively shown that people who expect to receive a reward for completing a task or for doing that task successfully simply do not perform as well as those who expect no reward at all”.

In an increasingly consumeristic world, where there is demand for higher deemed comfort levels,

•          Do most employees find their lower needs are inadequately satisfied?

•          Has this led to the temporary disappearance of man’s higher needs, and consequently his desire to reach out towards them?

Even as we look at modifying traditional motivational theories of Maslow and Herzberg, the theory of fear-greed motivation could do with more conceptual rigor and empirical studies. Most importantly, in an emerging economy like India, which is at the crossroads of change, there is growing importance of money as the prime motivator for work. And therefore, the theory of fear-greed motivation could be of interest.

 By Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Head of HR- Asia Pacific, Perot Systems

Building HR Strategy, Managing Culture Design & Change, Strategic Thinking & Alignment Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay