Maslow’s theory stated that humans are motivated by five essential needs structured in pyramid. He called it ‘hierarchy of needs’ and ordered it as basic/physical need followed on by security needs, social needs, self-esteem need and finally self-fulfillment at the top of the pyramid (Gherman, 2012). He stressed that one can only move to the next step once the need at the previous stage is fulfilled which attracted a lot of debate and controversies.
On the other hand, Herzberg’s theory lists ‘Satisfiers’ and ‘Hygiene factors’ as motivators and recognizes that the motivation comes in from within instead of outside individual (Armstrong, 2014). The method of research purposed by the theory is criticized along with the argument that the theory doesn’t provide a motivator any motivational factors.
Gerhart and Rynes started an argument criticizing the extensive interviews with highly intelligent people as per Maslow’s theory and critical incidents along with storytelling in Herzberg’s theory. They went on to say that even though Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theory appeared to be appealing to people initially, neither of those theory is supported by research (Gerhart & Ryenes, 2003).
The major problem with Maslow’s hierarchy-of-needs theory is that there’s no way to precisely measure how satisfied a certain level must be before moving on to the next tire in the pyramid or for the next level to be active. There’s no way to test the theory empirically either. The model is simplistic as a single product can satisfy multiple needs at once. Also, needs differ from one person to another and certainly differ from a culture to another and the assumptions made by the theory may be restricted to Western cultures. An example to disregard Maslow’s hierarchy could be one of J. K. Rowling, the famous writer for Harry Porter. She suffered a lot of hardship and struggle in life coming from a poor family but didn’t follow the stages as stated in the pyramid. She hardly had food to eat and house to live in but someone got to some stage of self-actualization which Maslow’s considers can only be completed once all the other stages are complete in some way.
Herzberg’s theory of motivation or the two factor theory lacks the understanding of some of the motivators. For example, a certain person may be promoted to a very high level position within the organization but isn’t provided much role to perform. In this case, even though the position is high enough, chances are the person won’t be satisfied with the level of responsibilities. This raises a question mark over job recognition being an internal motivator value for an individual.
In conclusion, even though Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theories were intuitively appealing to many people initially and still widely used in different business literature and situations, they also come with criticism as being unjustified interference. Neither of these theory being supported by research further pushes it back and brings question mark on it being able to improve productivity.
References
Armstrong, L. A. (2014). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 13th Edition. Kogan Page Limited.
Gerhart, B., & Rynes, S. (2003). Compensation: Theory, Evidence, and Strategic Implications . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Gherman, C. (2012). Maslow Pyranid – Possible Interpretation. International Journal Of Learning And Development , 2 (1).
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Maslow’s theory stated that humans are motivated by five essential needs structured in pyramid. He called it ‘hierarchy of needs’ and ordered it as basic/physical need followed on by security needs, social needs, self-esteem need and finally self-fulfillment at the top of the pyramid (Gherman, 2012). He stressed that one can only move to the next step once the need at the previous stage is fulfilled which attracted a lot of debate and controversies.
On the other hand, Herzberg’s theory lists ‘Satisfiers’ and ‘Hygiene factors’ as motivators and recognizes that the motivation comes in from within instead of outside individual (Armstrong, 2014). The method of research purposed by the theory is criticized along with the argument that the theory doesn’t provide a motivator any motivational factors.
Gerhart and Rynes started an argument criticizing the extensive interviews with highly intelligent people as per Maslow’s theory and critical incidents along with storytelling in Herzberg’s theory. They went on to say that even though Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theory appeared to be appealing to people initially, neither of those theory is supported by research (Gerhart & Ryenes, 2003).
The major problem with Maslow’s hierarchy-of-needs theory is that there’s no way to precisely measure how satisfied a certain level must be before moving on to the next tire in the pyramid or for the next level to be active. There’s no way to test the theory empirically either. The model is simplistic as a single product can satisfy multiple needs at once. Also, needs differ from one person to another and certainly differ from a culture to another and the assumptions made by the theory may be restricted to Western cultures. An example to disregard Maslow’s hierarchy could be one of J. K. Rowling, the famous writer for Harry Porter. She suffered a lot of hardship and struggle in life coming from a poor family but didn’t follow the stages as stated in the pyramid. She hardly had food to eat and house to live in but someone got to some stage of self-actualization which Maslow’s considers can only be completed once all the other stages are complete in some way.
Herzberg’s theory of motivation or the two factor theory lacks the understanding of some of the motivators. For example, a certain person may be promoted to a very high level position within the organization but isn’t provided much role to perform. In this case, even though the position is high enough, chances are the person won’t be satisfied with the level of responsibilities. This raises a question mark over job recognition being an internal motivator value for an individual.
In conclusion, even though Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theories were intuitively appealing to many people initially and still widely used in different business literature and situations, they also come with criticism as being unjustified interference. Neither of these theory being supported by research further pushes it back and brings question mark on it being able to improve productivity.
References
Armstrong, L. A. (2014). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 13th Edition. Kogan Page Limited.
Gerhart, B., & Rynes, S. (2003). Compensation: Theory, Evidence, and Strategic Implications . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Gherman, C. (2012). Maslow Pyranid – Possible Interpretation. International Journal Of Learning And Development , 2 (1).