Theories of motivation Explained with Lemuel Greene Case

   

     

      Lemuel Greene worked as a trainer for National Home Manufacturers, a huge builder of prefabricated houses. He was given the task of writing and revising company brochures. However, as soon as Greene and senior managers noticed that he has been working well with executives, he has been confident in his writing and the executive is always more willing to take on the future writing task after they work with the executive on a paper. So National Home moved Greene to its prestigious department of teaching. His salary increased and earns more than those executives who are in the company three times longer. Yet Albert could say in her biweekly meetings with him that Greene wasn't happy. When she asked about it, Greene responded that he was in a bit of a rut. Although the business filtering memos are now flawlessly completed and the annual report is 20% shorter but describes what it requires, still Greene is not fulfilled. Next week Greene came with a suggestion to Albert that if he began to educate some of the floor-workers, many of whom had no future in or outside of the business, as many people could only write their own names. They told her that they were not going to oppose it, but Greene couldn't continue to draw such a large salary while working with minimum wage pay workers. Greene accepted to a smaller pay and started providing English lessons in the factory. Greene eventually became serious about what he was doing and didn't treat the staff as kids in the remedial program. A bonus from a new source arrived from Greene at the end of the year. Although Greene's teaching has forced workers out of work for a few hours a week, the level of productivity has also risen, job turnovers have decreased, and some employees have continued to apply for supervisory positions for the first time in over a year.

 

     The  theory of Hierarchy of needs can be used to explain Lemuel Greene’s situation. There are five essential levels of needs that are ranked from lower to higher. The first one is Physiological needs that have to satisfy externally. The needs are the biological requirement for human survival. It includes hunger, thirst, shelter, and other bodily needs. Food, drink, and clothing will fulfill the need. The second one is Safety needs which are also externally satisfied and lower order need. It includes security and protection from any bodily and emotional harm. The third one is Social needs that are internally satisfied and it is in higher order. It includes the need for belongingness, friendship, love, and affections. The fourth one is Self-esteem needs that include self-respect and appreciation by others. It is internally satisfied and it is higher order. Individuals will want to get attention, achievement, recognition, and have status. The fifth one is self-actualization that is also internally satisfied and it is in higher order. It is about self-fulfillment, the potential that an individual wants to achieve, and also includes personal growth. People are self-aware of their potential and want to experience something new. Herzberg’s two-factor theory can also be used to explain Lemuel Greene’s unhappiness. Hygiene Factors are salary, work conditions, and company policies. So, the absence of hygiene factors will create dissatisfaction but not necessarily individual will be satisfied. Motivators include achievement, responsibility, and growth. It is related to satisfaction but not necessarily the absence of motivators individuals will be dissatisfied. McClelland’s Theory of Needs can be used that are need for achievement, need for power, and need for affiliation. Need for achievement is the desire to achieve something that an individual does. Need for power is the need to keep influence and control another person to manipulate and to change his choice for the individual’s own desires and interests. The need for affiliation is the ability of an individual to have good interpersonal and social relationships with others. He will have all three needs but one need will dominant him. Expectancy theory can be used here. There are three steps. The First step is Expectancy where it depends on the individual’s capability to achieve the desired level of task performance to complete the goal. The Second step is Instrumentality where the individual will get the reward by performing at a particular level. The third step is Valence where the reward satisfies the individual goal or not and also if it is important or not. 

 

     Green unhappiness can be shown with Maslow’s theory. He belongs to self-actualization. He already completed his Physiological needs as the basic need was satisfied for human survival. Safety needs were completed too as he has a very good salary so he has good safety and security. He also completed his social need as the executive like his work and love to work with him for the next task. He completed the needs of belongingness. His self-esteem needs were also completed as his opinion is valued. He is respected for his work and appreciated by everybody. He has very good achievement and has status. People recognize him and he gets attention from others. So, he is in self-actualization because he comes to the realization of his potential by offering classes to those people who don’t know how to write. He needed self-fulfillment because money was not important to him, rather he wants to help people. He was bored doing the same thing as business memos were not interesting as literature and the memos were flawlessly polished. Herzberg’s two-factor theory can be used here. He already has a good amount of salary, earning more than any other executives who have been in the company three times as long. He has no complaints about work conditions and company policies. There was no dissatisfaction but he was not satisfied. He had an achievement that he had moved him to the prestigious training program department but still, he wants to take responsibility for the workers on the plant floor that gave him satisfaction. It was not necessary he will be dissatisfied but he was not satisfied at first. Using McClelland’s Theory of Needs, Greene was dissatisfied because his desire for achievement and power is not satisfied despite the more income. He would want to focus more on teaching, want to solve a complicated problem, do a difficult task to support floor workers efficiently, and create a better way to accomplish his work. The expectancy theory can also be used to explain Green’s unhappiness. In expectancy, he believed and give effort in writing that leads to good performance. In Instrumentality, his performance increases his salary. In valence, salary is important but getting high income was not that important to him. His goal was that he wants to see others in a good position. The benefit was not important to him. That is why he was unhappy. Later when he started to teach floor workers, he gave effort and did not treat them like kids. His performance was really good that the workers learned a lot and apply for a supervisory position job. He was able to help the workers was the reward of self-fulfillment which was important to him.