Motivation: Maslow, Taylor and Herzberg Edexcel International GCSE Business revision
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In plain words
Motivation is what makes people want to work hard and well. A motivated workforce produces more, makes fewer mistakes, takes fewer days off and is less likely to leave.
Three thinkers gave three answers to the question of what motivates people, and exam questions expect you to know each.
4 things to know
- Benefits of a well-motivated workforce: higher labour productivity, less absenteeism, and lower labour turnover (fewer people leaving).
- Maslow: people have a hierarchy of needs. From the bottom: physiological (food, shelter), safety (job security), social (belonging to a team), esteem (recognition, status) and self-actualisation (reaching your potential). Once one level is satisfied, the next one motivates.
- Taylor: workers are motivated mainly by money. Break the job into simple tasks, and pay workers according to how much they produce.
- Herzberg: there are two kinds of factor. Hygiene factors (pay, working conditions, job security) prevent dissatisfaction, but do not motivate. Motivators (achievement, recognition, responsibility, interesting work) are what make people work harder.
Tips and tricks
- Match the theorist to the idea: Maslow has the pyramid of needs, Taylor has money, Herzberg has the two factors.
- Under Herzberg, a pay rise stops people being unhappy but does not make them work harder for long. That surprises students, and examiners like it.
It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.
Motivation: Maslow, Taylor and Herzberg: 5 questions and answers
These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.
Which theorist believed workers are motivated mainly by money?
Taylor recommended paying workers by how much they produce.
Which is at the top of Maslow's hierarchy?
It means achieving your full potential.
According to Herzberg, which is a motivator?
The others are hygiene factors: they prevent dissatisfaction only.
Giving an employee a secure, permanent contract satisfies which of Maslow's needs?
Job security is a safety need.
Which is a benefit of a well-motivated workforce?
Motivated workers produce more.
Quiz
5 questions
Tap an answer and you’ll see straight away whether it’s right, and why.
Worksheet
3 questions, 8 marks. Write your answers on paper, then check them.
Motivation: Maslow, Taylor and Herzberg
Edexcel International GCSE Business 4BS1 · 8 marks · papermunch.org
Name ______________________________ Date ______________
State two benefits to a business of a well-motivated workforce.[2]
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Any two of: higher productivity, lower absenteeism, lower labour turnover, better quality work.
Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs.[3]
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People have five levels of need: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation. They are motivated by the lowest level that has not yet been satisfied, and move up one level at a time.
Explain the difference between hygiene factors and motivators in Herzberg's theory.[3]
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Hygiene factors, such as pay and working conditions, prevent workers being dissatisfied but do not motivate them. Motivators, such as recognition and responsibility, are what actually make workers want to work harder.
Answers: Motivation: Maslow, Taylor and Herzberg
- 1. Any two of: higher productivity, lower absenteeism, lower labour turnover, better quality work.
- 2. People have five levels of need: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation. They are motivated by the lowest level that has not yet been satisfied, and move up one level at a time.
- 3. Hygiene factors, such as pay and working conditions, prevent workers being dissatisfied but do not motivate them. Motivators, such as recognition and responsibility, are what actually make workers want to work harder.