Human resource management is a part of an organization that deals with the most crucial resource of the firm – human personnel. One core objective of human resource management is remuneration, compensation, and providing benefits. A business does not stop at the mere provision of salaries especially in today’s modern era (Ouedraogo & Leclerc, 2013) . Globalization has spruced up the management of human resource as people’s needs evolve in their personal life and work. Human personnel that wants more than a good salary characterizes the 21st Century making it necessary for organizations to adopt changes in their human resource management. Today, organizations are adopting new strategies for keeping their personnel motivated by giving both financial and non-financial benefits that have a great impact on their lives (Hatane, 2015) . There are different theories that suggest how to motivate employees, most of which are making sense today in most organizations. One such theory is the Two-factor Theory by Herzberg.
The Two-Factor Theory by Herzberg
According to the two-factor theory, certain factors will lead to job satisfaction and others will cause dissatisfaction. Herzberg came up with these factors by interviewing people on the things that made them feel good or bad about their jobs. He found out that people who felt good had different responses to those that felt bad. From this, Herzberg formed the two-factor theory that suggests that people will some features of a person’s workplace will cause satisfaction while others led to dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg, dissatisfaction factors cannot be remedied to create satisfaction because factors that cause satisfaction are separate and distinct from those that cause dissatisfaction (Dartey-Baah & Amoako, 2011) .
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The two factors – those leading to dissatisfaction and those that cause satisfaction are grouped into two categories – hygiene and motivation factors. Herzberg refers to these factors as extrinsic to represent the tangible and basic needs and intrinsic motivators that represent the less tangible factors. Extrinsic motivators relate to factors that are expected and are basic hence lack thereof will lead to dissatisfaction. On the other hand, intrinsic motivators are emotional factors that are usually outside the conventional scope of what an organization should provide but the lack thereof will critically affect job performance. The extrinsic and intrinsic motivators have an inverse relationship – the presence of intrinsic motivators will increase motivation while the absence of extrinsic motivators will reduce motivation (Dartey-Baah & Amoako, 2011) . Herzberg suggests that a motivation plan should include both motivators to motivate employees to increase their performance.
Application of the Two-Factor Theory
In the case study, respondents were more inclined to extrinsic motivators rather than the traditional bonuses and increased salary. The case study shows that money may improve job satisfaction but may not necessarily lead to motivation that improves their performance. According to the two-factor theory, expected motivators will not increase motivation but will increase job satisfaction. Salaries and benefits are expected motivators; most organizations have promoted policies that are made known to employees even on recruitment. However, according to the theory, these expected motivators will not help an organization in increasing motivation.
This concept of the two-factor theory explains the inclination of survey respondents towards the unexpected motivators. Traditional scope of an organization does not view personal growth and development, life-work balance, effective communication, and personal relations to be factors that can lead to job satisfaction, motivation and eventually increase performance. All these are intrinsic motivators that increase motivation as employees view them as motivators. According to Herzberg, creating conditions of job satisfaction require addressing these motivating factors like growth opportunities, recognizing employee’s contribution, and training or development opportunities.
An organization that takes pride in open communication, fostering personal relationships, improve their leadership quality, and giving credit where it is due, is likely to have employees that are motivated and satisfied with their jobs. This is because employees do not expect such benefits and therefore value them than more than the expected benefits. This is consistent with the theory of the hierarchy of needs by Maslow. Basic needs (extrinsic needs) are important to people but they value the needs at the top of the hierarchy the most. People will fulfill the basic needs for them to be satisfied with their job but they are more motivated as they attain the other needs among them self-actualization, self-esteem, and relationships (Taormina & Gao, 2013) . Herzberg refers to the top hierarchy needs as self-achievement needs.
Employees know that every employer will pay salaries or wages but an employer that goes beyond the obvious has a staff team that is very productive and motivated. According to a 2015 post in the Guardian, the working generation today has different perceptions about work leading to the different changes in motivating factors. Today, the organizational structures are no longer rigid; they are more accommodative allowing for free-flow of ideas and career paths. This trend has been so pronounce in the 21 st Century especially due to the digital era we are in that creates a collaborative and flexible working environment (Fox & O'Connor, 2015) . Today, more people will seek jobs that help them balance their work and personal life and so many are working from home.
These changes explain the results of the survey report. Most people will want to have the hygiene factors in their workplaces but the motivating factors will increase their productivity. People care less today about climbing the ladder and more about the satisfaction they get from their jobs. Most people in the survey viewed communication and relationships as the most successful way to improve job satisfaction. Another participant was so accurate that an organization should inquire what employees want and if it is impossible to provide it, it should communicate and offer a space for more suggestions. According to Herzberg, eliminating the factors that lead to dissatisfaction is the first step to an effective motivation plan. This involves improving hygiene factors like poor policies, bad supervision, a culture of no respect and dignity and job insecurity. Getting rid of these factors will eliminate dissatisfaction so that an organization can create the conditions that foster job satisfaction. Conditions for job satisfaction are the intrinsic motivators that survey participants talked about.
Conclusion
The two-factor theory of motivation by Herzberg is more relevant today than in the past. According to Herzberg, employees need to be at satisfaction with their jobs and are motivated to increase their performance. Herzberg emphasizes the use of motivation factors to increase motivation and hygiene factors to increase job satisfaction. The use of both is more effective as because these factors are independent of each other hence job satisfaction does not necessarily increase motivation. This theory is consistent with the survey report as most participants are inclined to the motivation factors as the successful methods of improving employee job satisfaction.
References
Dartey-Baah, K., & Amoako, G. (2011). Application of Fredrick Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory in Assessing and Understanding Employee Motivation at Work: A Ghanaian Perspective. European Journal of Business and Management, 3 (9), 1-8.
Fox, K., & O'Connor, J. (2015, November 29). The Future of work: Five Ways Work will Change in the Future . Retrieved April 29, 2018, from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/29/five-ways-work-will-change-future-of-workplace-ai-cloud-retirement-remote
Hatane, S. (2015). Employee Satisfaction and Performance as Intervening Variables of Learning Organization on Financial Performance. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Science, 211 (2015), 619-628.
Ouedraogo, A., & Leclerc, A. (2013). Job Satisfaction and Organizational Performance: Evidence from Canadian Credit Union. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications, and Conflict, 17 (1).
Taormina, R., & Gao, J. (2013). Maslow and the Motivation Hierarchy: Measuring Satisfaction of the Needs. The American Journal of Psychology, 126 (2), 155-177.
