According to Baridam (2002), another widely-known need-based theory of motivation is the theory developed by C. McClelland. Further, McClelland explains three main motivational paradigms namely achievement, affiliation and power. McClelland's need theory is a motivational model that attempts to describe how the needs for achievement, power and affiliation influence employees (Amabile, 2001).
The driver achievement is a need to accomplish and demonstrate own competence (Barbuto and Wheeler, 2006). Thus, an employee with a high need for achievement prefers tasks with responsibility and results based on their own performance. Further, they also expect quick acknowledgement of their progress from the management (Cianci et al., 2003). As per McClelland’s need theory, some employees are driven to a successful outcome through seeking personal achievement rather than rewards themselves (Osterloh and Frey, 2007). Further, achievement-driven employees prefer working on tasks of moderate difficulty in which final outcomes are the result of their effort rather than of luck.
The driver affiliation is a need for love, belonging and social acceptance (Lussier and Achua, 2007). Accordingly, workers with a high need for affiliation are motivated by being liked and believed by other workers or management. Also, they tend to engage in social gatherings and may be uncomfortable with conflict (Lussier and Achua, 2007). According to Jaja (2003), the need for affiliation is the desire for friendly and interpersonal relationships among colleagues. Jaja (2003) further posits that affiliation is the relationship that results from joining one worker with another. Thus, employees who are highly affiliation-motivated are driven by the desire to maintain good relationships with other employees within the workplace. Affiliation-motivated employees enjoy belonging to a team and want to feel loved, cared and accepted by other employees or management (Daft, 2003)
Workers who are power-motivated are driven by the desire to influence, teach, or encourage other employees (Sansone,2000). Therefore, power-motivated employees enjoy assigned responsibilities at the workplace. Thus, power-motivated employees can productively support to setup team targets and help other co-workers in the team feel competent about their responsibilities and work. Further, power makes an impact on other workers and influences other colleagues (Robbins, 2009). Employees with a high need for power are workers who like to manage other co-workers and organizational matters (Fowler, 2014). Power-motivated workers expect higher positions with status and authority and tend to be more concerned about their level of influence than effective work performance (Kouzes and Posner, 2007).
Figure 1.0: McClelland’s acquired needs theory
Source: Marshall, 2001.
Further explanation of McClelland’s theory of needs can be obtained by video 1.0. Accordingly, high achievers are successful in entrepreneurial activities. They achieve high for themselves and not for others. The best managers in an organization are high in their need for power but low in their need for affiliation. Employees with high affiliation need a desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
Video 1.0: McClelland´s Theory of Needs
Source: MeanThat & Authentic Data Science, 2015
Application of McClelland in my workplace
McClelland’s theory of needs is one of the best theories that describe employee motivation by breaking down the needs and how they have to be addressed (Saif et al., 2012). According to Barbuto and Wheeler (2006), achievement is a need to accomplish and demonstrate own competence.
Thus, in my workplace, the needs of achievement-driven employees are satisfied by assigning quarterly sales targets. According to McClelland’s Need theory, some employees are driven to a successful outcome through seeking personal achievement rather than rewards themselves (Osterloh and Frey, 2007). Therefore, our organization can identify the best employees quarterly and appreciate them end of the quarter by offering an award. As achievement-driven employees expect quick acknowledgement of their progress from the management (Cianci et al., 2003) this procedure should be continued every quarter. Further, our company management can select the best sales manager of the year, best project manager, the best leader of the year and appreciate them. Achievement-driven employees of our organization can be motivated by these actions.
Affiliation-motivated employees enjoy belonging to a team and want to feel loved, and accepted by other employees or management (Daft, 2003). Accordingly, our organization can arrange special group activities not only for employees but also for their family members. Also, special days of the calendar such as women’s days can be celebrated by gathering the staff. As a leading IT organization, our company organize the grand year-end party, cricket matches, get-togethers and group events. Due to the covid19 pandemic situation, mentioned group gatherings are not permitted in the country. Thus, our company can arrange online meetings and events, online games or contests that employees can actively participate. Without postponing group gatherings due to restrictions, our organization can arrange alternative online-based gatherings and events to influence affiliation-driven employees.
Power-motivated employees are driven by the desire to influence, teach, or encourage other employees (Sansone,2000). Therefore, power-motivated employees enjoy assigned responsibilities at the workplace. Accordingly, our company management can identify power-motivated employees and assign higher responsibilities to them. Further, team leadership can be offered to power-motivated employees. Also, power-driven employees can be influenced by giving authority and the opportunity to take decisions themselves (Saif et al., 2012).
McClelland proposes that those in top management positions should have a high need for power and a low need for affiliation (Hennessey et al., 2005). McClelland also believes that although workers with a need for achievement can make good managers, they are not best suited to being in director positions of the organization. McClelland's theory is very suitable for current organization structures in the sense that it fits into any organization and it also considers the situational factors (Ricky and Gregory, 2012). Hence many studies recommend that organizations should endeavour to adopt McClellend's theory in motivating today's workforce (Ryan and Deci, 2000).
References
Amabile T. M (2001). Motivational Synergy: Toward a New Conceptualizations of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in the Workplace. Human Resource Management Review. Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 185-201
Anderson, H., Singale, M. & Svana, V. 2001. Psychology in the work context. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Baridam, M. D. (2002) Management and organization Theory, Sherbrooke Associates, PH
Bogaert, Anthony F (2006). "Toward a conceptual understanding of asexuality". Review of General Psychology. 10 (3): 241–250.
Barbuto, J. E., & Wheeler, D. (2006). Scale development and construct clarification of servant leadership. Group & Organization Management
Bugenahgen, M. J. (2006). Antecedents of transactional, transformational, and servant leadership: A constructive-development theory approach. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska.
Cianci, R.; Gambrel, P. A. (2003). "Maslow's hierarchy of needs: Does it apply in a collectivist culture". Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship. 8 (2), 143–161.
Daft, R. L. (2003). Management (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western. 345 – 360.
Fowler, S. (2014) Why Motivating People Doesn't Work…And What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging; BerrettKoehler Publishers.
Hennessey, B. A. and Amabile, T. M. (2005). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Organizational Behavior, 1-1.
Jaja, S. A. (2003) Praxis of Work Behavior,Pinnacle publishers, Lagos
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2007). The leadership challenge, (4 th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Osterloh, M. & Frey, B. (2007), "Dose pay for performance really motivate employees?" in Business performance measurement: theory and practice, ed. A.D. Neely, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 433-449
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Saif, K.F., Nawaz, A., Jan, A. & Khan, M.I. (2012) Synthesizing the theories of job satisfaction across the cultural/attitudinal dimensions. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business,3 (9), 1382-1396.
Hi Dileep, the need theory is an interesting topic in HRM. Michalos (2017) explains that when considering the need theory, it is important to differentiate "needs" from "wants", where needs are universal regardless of geography or culture but wants can be different due to many given variables.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lakshan for adding more points to my blog. Yes, McClelland found that people with a high need for achievement perform better than those with a moderate or low need for achievement, and noted regional, national differences in achievement motivation (Jaja, 2003).
DeleteGood post Dileep. McClelland noticed that employee motivation was not as simple as it appeared. Rather, he observed that variances in personality types and desires influenced the needs that each individual had to be met in order to be effectively motivated. Everyone has a desire for power, accomplishment, or affiliation. A well-trained manager will detect the needs of their subordinates and modify their operations to meet those demands (Johnson et al, 2018).
ReplyDeleteHi Janakan. I agree with the above comments and further People who are strongly affiliation-motivated are driven by the desire to create and maintain social relationships. They enjoy belonging to a group and want to feel loved and accepted (Sinha, 2015).
DeleteDileep, I agree with you. David McClelland elaborated on this research in his 1961 book "The Achieving Society." He believes that we all have three motivators: a desire for accomplishment, affiliation, and power. People will have different characteristics depending on how motivated they are. According to McClelland, these motivators may be learned, which is why this theory is also known as the Learned Needs Theory.
ReplyDeleteYes, Isuru. McClelland's need theory is closely associated with learning theory because he believed that needs are learned or acquired by the kinds of events people experience in their environment and culture. He found that people
Deletewho acquire a particular need behave differently from those who do not have it. (Sinha, 2015)