Two Factor Theory
(Herzberg)

Motivation Factors, Hygiene Factors. Explanation of Two Factor Theory and KITA of Frederick Herzberg.



  

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According to the Two Factor Theory of Frederick Herzberg people are influenced by two factors. Satisfaction and psychological growth are a result factor of motivation factors. Dissatisfaction was a result of hygiene factors. Herzberg developed this motivation theory during his investigation of 200 accountants and engineers in the USA.

 

The two Factors in the Theory

  • Hygiene factors are needed to ensure that an employee does not become dissatisfied. They do not cause higher levels of motivation, but without them there is dissatisfaction.
  • Motivation factors are needed in order to motivate an employee into higher performance. These factors result from internal generators in employees.

Typical Hygiene Factors

  • Working conditions

  • Quality of supervision

  • Salary

  • Status

  • Safety

  • Company

  • Job

  • Company policies and administration

  • Interpersonal relations

Typical Motivation Factors

  • Achievement

  • Recognition for achievement

  • Responsibility for task

  • Interesting job

  • Advancement to higher level tasks

  • Growth

Combining the hygiene and motivation factors results in four scenario's

  • High Hygiene + High Motivation: The ideal situation where employees are highly motivated and have few complaints.

  • High Hygiene + Low Motivation: Employees have few complaints but are not highly motivated. The job is perceived as a paycheck.

  • Low Hygiene + High Motivation: Employees are motivated but have a lot of complaints. A situation where the job is exciting and challenging. However the salaries and work conditions are not OK.

  • Low Hygiene + Low Motivation: The worst situation. Employees are not motivated and have lots of complaints.

Herzberg suggests that often work can be arranged and should be arranged in the following ways:

  • job enlargement
  • job rotation, and/or
  • job enrichment.

Besides The Two Factor Theory, Frederick Herzberg is also known for his acronym KITA, which has been politely translated as a Kick In The Pants! Herzberg said that KITA does not produce motivation. But only movement.

 

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Recent User Comments
Thulani Luphahla - Zimbabwe Hygiene and Motivation: Hand and Glove "It may seem not very practical to apply this theory in some parts of the world, like the third world. Going through Herzberg's theory in detail I have just realised it's the best work situation that bears fruit for both employee and employer. I would add and say it like hand and glove, hygiene and motivation are best partners in any work situation."    1
 - India Causes of Attrition "The theory is pretty good, but I am of the view that the underlying reason for a big percentage of people who move on is the boss. Most of the time when an employee leaves his job it's due to the treatment he or she receives from the boss. Treatment here could include a number of things like the quality of mentoring, the motivation provided or the management techniques utilized. But once the feelings soured people they make up their minds to move on. Although this reason may not be given when asked."    0
Pedro - Brazil Missing Social Environment Issues "I think that the theory is great, but it does ignore the fact that even with great structure of Motivators and Hygiene factors a company might suffer from social environment issues, such as fairness in setting job tasks, etc.."    1
Dr. R. M. J. B. Ratnayake - Sri Lanka Two Motivation Factors "As the analysis considered both hygiene factors as well as motivation factors, it is very relevant to present day organizations."    0
latiokor - Ghana Money / Pay alone cannot motivate Employees "If people's jobs are challenging and employers give the necessary feedback and encouragement plus employees salaries it would stimulate them to put in more effort since they would feel involved."    4
Best User Comments
Kiefer - Germany How to measure motivation? "(How) Can motivation be measured?"    25
 - Netherlands What motivates Employees to be more Innovative? "In the current crisis, it's important to keep your innovation effort at a high level. Martha E. Mangelsdorf writes in MITSloan Management Review Vol 40 No 3 p. 24 about an analysis by Professors Henry Sauermann and Wesley M. Cohen on what makes employees tick to be innovative. Out of 8 different types of work benefits (salary, fringe benefits, job security, intellectual challenge, independence, opportunities for advancement, responsibility and contribution to society) intellectual challenge was strongest associated with being innovative. Job security the weakest.
Why? The authors suggest that having a preference for challenge may lead scientists to select more demanding and innovative projects. Or the type of motivation may influence certain cognitive processes in the brain such as creative thinking. You can download the survey results for $5 here."		    7
Dr. C. Giri - India Two Factor Model: an Example "I would like to compare Herzberg's 2 factor model to a human body (organisation). The disease-infected human body (unhealthy organisation) can not be healthy and no nutrient (motivator) can produce positive results unless the diseases (hygiene factors) are cured. In an organisation, unless hygiene is taken care off, the impact of motivators are impossible in the same way as an unhealthy body does not respond to nutrients unless the diseases are cured."    5
Govind Sharma - India Reason for Attrition "I believe the monetary dissatisfaction and lack of motivation are major factors for attrition in any organization. With the monetary gain people also think about work place environment, treatment they are getting there and interpersonal skills and their relation with their colleagues and management as half of the day and almost 90% of their active hours they spend at work place."    0
Kika Madita - Indonesia Hygiene Factor & Information Systems "If there's an integrated information system in an organization, what will become the impact on the employees' hygiene factors?"    0
P A Elanko - India Hygiene "Excellent Analysis. There is more attrition because of poor hygiene in the organisations"    -1
 - UK Stratification and Herzberg "I wonder how well Hertzberg translates to an organisation with flat structures and little upward mobility? I believe it used to be called 'stratification' when I was studying! Also - there is an increasing trend towards 'casualisation' in the UK - that is to turn permanent jobs into time limited terminal project type posts."    -1
Sreenivassan Varadiengar - India Motivation Hygiene applies Everywhere "Herzberg's 2 Factor theory need not confine to work situations only. Just analyze an interactional session between two individuals. How recognition motivates individuals to interact more and how a discomforting feature of one makes the other leave the scene? So, the factors established in this theory apply to all life situations where human beings are involved. In my opinion, it is universal and time tested."    -1
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Compare with: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs  |  Hawthorne Effect  |  Customer Satisfaction model Kano  |  Theory X Theory Y  |  Competing Values Framework |  Expectancy Theory  |  ERG Theory  |  Cultural Dimensions  |   Leadership Continuum  |  Theory of Needs  |  Managerial Grid

 

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Copyright 2009 12manage - The Executive Fast Track. V10.4 - Last updated: 11/21/2009. All names tm by their owners.


  ● Luigi (Italy) Treatment of Boss "So Cecil it seems you agree with Herzberg. Since Herzberg defined hygiene factors as dissatisfiers. One of them is Quality of Supervision, which is similar to your "treatment from the boss"."




  ● Mazen (Egypt) Motivation measurement "It is well-known that motivation can be measured to a high degree of accuracy by secured surveys where employees can answer a questionaire while maintaining the anonymity of the employee. It is advised to be done once at least every year."
  ● Vikash (India) Two factors of motivation "Merit & demerit of factor of motivation"
  ● Kamini Chawla (India) Motivation Measurements "Yesss there are psychological tests, through which motivation can be measured....
Of course everyone has their own motivator factor (eg, power, money, recognition etc.) which motivates them, the management needs to know which factors motivate our employees..."
  ● Olive (Ireland) How can Motivation be measured "You cannot measure motivation, or it is extremely difficult. Even though you might try, you cannot be sure you have reliable results. However, engegement can be measured."
  ●  (Switzerland) Measurement of Motivation "I have used different tools in multinational corporations in many countries. Right now I am using in NEPAL the latest generation from Scandinavia (state-of-the-art) with WOPI Work Personality Inventory of our DRIVES measuring MOTIVATION + THINKING + ATTITUDE. The motivation part distinguishes 3 different kinds: ACHIEVEMENT for PROFESSIONAL and LEADERSHIP and INTERACTION for CUSTOMER SERVICE/TEAMWORK."
  ● Vo Vinh Benjamine (France) Motivation evaluation needs face-to face dialogue "First step is engagement and motivation survey indeed. It will give you some sort of directions for a further inquiery. You will have then to specify (de)motivation levers by interviewieng people and making them realise the reasons of their demotivation, first individually, then collectively to identify solutions to improve their relationships to work. Management engagement is off course strongly needed."
  ● Darshan Gadekar (India) Can Motivation Be Measured? "It is easily possible to measure motivation. I feel that motivation is an outcome and not a driver, which means there are multiple factors which contribute to an individual feeling motivated or demotivated. In an organizational perspective, there are various activities, some of them being an Organizational Health Survey (OHS), dipsticks etc. which can provide this data. However, the best way to assess the motivation levels is by connecting with the employees on a one-on-one level. The efficiency which the employee demonstrates is an outcome of the various factors which contribute to his state of being. If the first part is done effectively, assessing the outcome should not be such a great challenge. In fact, the challenge is, having assessed the levels of motivation, what does the organization do about it, which is where I see quite a few organizations struggle."
  ● Sushreedarsini (India) Can Motivation be Measured or Not? "Motivation can be measured through watching the output. But before that by interaction it is possible to realize how much a person is motivated."

  ● Paul Steele (West Australia) Motivation and EI "The above Hygiene Theory is becoming a bit dated. If employers really want to motivate staff they have to understand that motivation is an internal cognitive process and consider the emotional intelligence (competence) of the employee in regards to motivation."
  ● Sergiy Kadulin (Ukraine) Spiritual Inner Development as Motivational Factor "I think that the strongest motivational factor for innovation is spiritual individual growth, by which I mean
(1) Developing deeper understanding of your self and
(2) Broader understanding of the world around you.
It is true intellectual challenge, by far exceeding other motivational factors. Why? Because it provides for the best connection to the right side of human's brain."
  ●  (India) Motivation in Industrial Context "Every individual is unique in terms of needs and wants irrespective of category of factor it falls under. Degree of fulfillment of individual's stated and implied needs determines his degree of motivation. In a given organization, one needs to map these for each individual and then provide requisite inputs, both in general and in particular so as to increase overall level of motivation of all the people. One dissatisfied person breeds more dissatisfied persons."
  ● Nishi (Manuritus) Motivation Theories are Guideline "The above factors are a good guideline to make sure that the company is in line with the standard, somehow each and every individual are unique and what may motivate employee A may not motivate employee B and so on. These theories help the enterprise, somehow in today's fast changing environment it is a challenge to motivate a given workforce. For example in a workforce where the majority is young it will not be security but rather the environment that will prevail, that is camaraderie, flexibility to study, welfare, listening to music while working etc."
  ● Trevor Malele (Jhb-South Africa) Motivation and EI "While the autors' findings suggest that intellectual challege is a strong motivator, iI think it cannot be solely isolated as a determinant. In the current global economic downturn, you may find that a worker's salary may not cover an employee's needs, so salary may resurface as a motivational source."
  ● mesh N. Jhawar (India) Employees can be more innovative if "1. You give them freedom to fail.
2. Employees are trusted.
3. Resources are provided as and when required.
4. Nurture your employees as a gardener takes care of the plants in the garden. "
  ● Rocio Dextre (Peru) Leadership and Communication "Sometimes employees can have disagreements about what direction they may take even when they have resources, freedom and they are trusted. A demotivated employee can disincline to other, it is emotionally contagious. However a strong leader can take action after identifying and analyzing causes of discomfort, so that a decision making process may look for a mutual benefit and new goals. Positive and transparent communication can put in track the employees motivation to be more innovative."
  ● Patrick Senadzo (Ghana) Motivate for Innovation "That is true but to motivate employees to be innovative is also required a leader who is emotionally intelligent and sees delegation as an important element to unearth talents among employees."
  ●  (Portugal) Spiral Dynamics "Dr. Clare Graves created the Spiral Dynamics which divided individuals into 7 Levels of Consciousness. Being the 1st e.g. 'Cave Man' and the last one 'Spiritual Guru'. This Methodology has been applied in Organizations HR Management to better understand their employees - and subsequently improving their work environment according to their level of consciousness. Applying this method you can motivate an employee in a much more accurate way. Note: I have applied this method in Industrial context (to reduce waste) and the outcomes are incredible - most likely I will use it again in the future."
  ● Vivek Joshi (India) Innovation is dampened by Systems and Processes "I spend a lot of time advising companies on building systems and processes. However, one of the side-effects of building systems/processes is dampening innovation in the organization. There are methods available to build processes in innovation, and these methods are useful in the appropriate circumstances and if implemented well. The systems will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of innovation. But it is important to realize that the bedrock of innovation is creative thinking. Systems by their very nature will tend to dampen creativity."
  ● Samuel Ebeke (Nigeria) Participatory management system "These days workers tend to want to have a sense of belonging in the organization. They want not just to perform on their job details but to be seen as contributor in cross functional strategies. Employees are more motivated when they are treated as co-owners of the business."
  ● Fred Asiedu Cudjoe (Ghana) Employee Innovation "I have been practicising the philosophy of "if you don't try you try to fail" in my office and it's working well. It's really bringing out some new interesting ideas. These days most employees are are happier when they are given the chance to come out with something out of their own ingenuity."



  ●  (India) Hygiene Factors & IS "Hi Kika, (if i may address you so ...) When there is an integrated system which provides for all the personal data and the employees have a single window where they can get all required data / resolution this would lead to a great level of satisfaction ( not motivation ):
01. get a status check on any of his applications.
02. understand the policies and answers to their queries.
03. would be able to concentrate on his role and what he needs to deliver as business deliverables and leave the hygiene factors to be taken care by the respective stakeholders.
04. there is a record and a status update on the query / request.
05. The system needs to be driven by SLAs / workflows and escalation mechanism to drive it to optimum efficiency.
Will and the commitment should be seen from the top management, need to implement this in letter and spirit, it is not enough if the system is launched and there is no commitment and drive from the management."