Natural and rational theories of motivation

Theories of Motivation can be classified based on whether the underlying principle of motivation is based on natural forces or some kind of rationality.

Natural Theories

Assumptions

Higher order needs

The natural system assumes that people have higher order needs, which contrasts with the rational theory that suggests people dislike work and only respond to rewards and punishment.^[1] According to McGregor's Theory Y, human behavior is based on satisfying a hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, social, ego, and self-fulfillment.^[2]

Physiological needs are the lowest and most important level. These fundamental requirements include food, rest, shelter, and exercise. After physiological needs are satisfied, employees can focus on safety needs, which include “protection against danger, threat, deprivation.”^[2] However, if management makes arbitrary or biased employment decisions, then an employee’s safety needs are unfulfilled.

The next set of needs is social, which refers to the desire for acceptance, affiliation, reciprocal friendships and love. As such, the natural system of management assumes that close-knit work teams are productive. Accordingly, if an employee’s social needs are unmet, then he will act disobediently.^[2]

There are two types of egoistic needs, the second-highest order of needs. The first type refers to one’s self-esteem, which encompasses self-confidence, independence, achievement, competence, and knowledge. The second type of needs deals with reputation, status, recognition, and respect from colleagues.^[2] Egoistic needs are much more difficult to satisfy.

The highest order of needs is for self-fulfillment, including recognition of one’s full potential, areas for self-improvement, and the opportunity for creativity. This differs from the rational system, which assumes that people prefer routine and security to creativity.^[1] Unlike the rational management system, which assumes that humans don’t care about these higher order needs, the natural system is based on these needs as a means for motivation.

Self-management through teamwork

To successfully manage and motivate employees, the natural system posits that being part of a group is necessary.^[3] Because of structural changes in social order, the workplace is more fluid and adaptive according to Mayo. As a result, individual employees have lost their sense of stability and security, which can be provided by a membership in a group. However, if teams continuously change within jobs, then employees feel anxious, empty, and irrational and become harder to work with.^[3] The innate desire for lasting human association and management “is not related to single workers, but always to working groups.”^[3] In groups, employees will self-manage and form relevant customs, duties, and traditions.

Wage incentives

Humans are not motivated solely by wage incentives.^[4] Unlike the rational theory of motivation, people are not driven toward economic interests under the natural system. For instance, the straight piecework system pays employees based on each unit of their output. Based on studies such as the Bank Wiring Observation Room, using a piece rate incentive system does not lead to higher production.^[4] Employees actually set upper limits on each person’s daily output. These actions stand “in direct opposition to the ideas underlying their system of financial incentive, which countenanced no upper limit to performance other than physical capacity.”^[4] Therefore, as opposed to the rational system that depends on economic rewards and punishments, the natural system of management assumes that humans are also motivated by non-economic factors.

Autonomy

Employees seek autonomy and responsibility in their work, contrary to assumptions of the rational theory of management. Because supervisors have direct authority over employees, they must ensure that the employee’s actions are in line with the standards of efficient conduct.^[4] This creates a sense of restriction on the employee and these constraints are viewed as “annoying and seemingly functioned only as subordinating or differentiating mechanisms."^[4] Accordingly, the natural management system assumes that employees prefer autonomy and responsibility on the job and dislike arbitrary rules and overwhelming supervision.

Implementations

Natural theories of motivation such as Theory Y argue that individuals are naturally willing to work and prefer jobs with high responsibility, creativity and ingenuity.^[1] Holistically, the implementation in the workplace based on natural theories of motivation requires creating a comfortable and open work environment because it is through this climate that the individuals’ goals are most likely to be aligned with the organization’s goals. Based on the assumptions of natural theorists, individuals are motivated to work for an organization when they feel fulfillment from the work and organization. Therefore, hiring should focus on matching the goals of the individual with the goals of the organization rather than solely on the candidate’s proficiency at completing a task, as rational theorists would argue. Logistically, there are several ways that firms can implement the assumptions of natural theories of motivation, including delegation of responsibilities, participation in management by employees, job enlargement, and membership within the firm.

Delegation of responsibilities

McGregor’s Theory Y makes the assumption that the average person not only accepts, but also seeks out responsibility.^[2] Thus, as a firm gives individuals’ greater responsibilities, they will feel a greater sense of satisfaction and, subsequently, more commitment to the organization. Additionally, Malone argues that the delegation of responsibility encourages motivation because employees have creative control over their work and increases productivity as many people can work collaboratively to solve a problem rather than just one manager tackling it alone.^[5]

Participative management

Participative management styles involve consulting employees through the decision making process. Markowitz argues that this boosts employees’ morale and commitment to the organization, subsequently increasing productivity.^[6] Furthermore, Denison provides empirical evidence demonstrating that employee participation is correlated with better organizational performance.^[7] It is important to note that this stands in contract to Graham’s rationalist view that kaizen, a participative management style used in Japan, does not engage employees’ minds in the decision making process.^[8] Graham, however, only examines one specific and flawed participative management style that only allows limited input from employees.^[8] With a properly implemented process that actively engages employees, participative management will create a welcoming and productive environment.

Job enlargement

Job enlargement refers to increasing the responsibilities of a job by adding to the scope of the tasks. This provides more variety and prevents a job from getting boring. Additionally, this prevents the problem of alienation brought on by the rational theorists of Fordism.^[1] In assembly lines, the employee feels disconnected from the final product because he or she only performs one task repeatedly. Job enlargement instead keeps employees engaged in the organization and creates a more welcoming environment. It stems on the assumption that employees enjoy doing work and, therefore, are more satisfied when they have a wider range of work to do.

Firm membership

As Mayo details, based on observations of the Hawthorn Western Electric Company, an additional facet of motivation stems from creating a culture of teams and membership within the firm.^[3] For employees, a large part of job satisfaction is feeling as though one is a member of a larger team. For example, Mayo writes about a young girl worker who refused a transfer to a higher paid position in order to stay with a group that she felt a connection to.^[3] This example demonstrates that workers are not necessarily rational and only working for higher monetary compensation; instead, the social aspects of a firm can provide incentives to work. It is important, therefore, to create an inclusive environment that welcomes each worker or employee as a member of that organization.

References

1. Dobbin, Frank. “From Incentives to Teamwork: Rational and Natural Management Systems.” Lecture. Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1 October 2012.
2. McGregor, D., 1960. The Human Side of Enterprise, New York, McGraw-Hill.
3. Elton Mayo, 1984 [1949]. “Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company.” Pp. 279-292 in Organization Theory: Selected Readings. Second Edition. Edited by D.S. Pugh. New York: Penguin.
4. Roethlisberger, F. J. (F, et al. Management and the Worker; an Account of a Research Program Conducted by the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne Works, Chicago,. Cambridge, Mass.,: Harvard university press, 1939. Print.
5. Malone, Thomas (1997). "Is 'Empowerment' Just a Fad? Control, Decision-Making, and Information Technology". Sloan Management Review 23 (38).
6. Markowitz, Linda (1996). "Employee Participation at the Workplace: Capitalist Control or Worker Freedom?". Critical Sociology 22 (2): 89–103.
7. Denison, Daniel R. (1990). Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
8. Graham, Laura (1 May 1993). "Inside a Japanese Transplant: A Critical Perspective". Work and Occupations 20 (2): 147–173. doi:10.1177/0730888493020002002.