Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory OR How to destroy a successful business by demotivating the employees
In 1989 as a junior software developer landing my first role in IT with a company that was doing Research & Development for IBM was a dream come true.
The work at Stowe Computing in Sydney, Australia was challenging and cutting edge for the time with a lot of freedom to explore new ideas and concepts. I had the opportunity to work alongside some extraordinarily brilliant and resourceful colleagues as well as some of the most talented IBM personnel in a global industry. Everyone was engaged, challenged and motivated.
There was roughly 60 employees in the division who were responsible for work on a range of projects such as conceptualising, designing and implemented the Multi-Lingual Messaging System for the IBM mainframe Operating System MVS-ESA. Double-Byte character enablement of IBM Products and some of the work on Kanji-DOS amongst other projects. The IBM development process was onerous and thorough but we all enjoyed working hard and contributed whatever it took to ensure each project was a success.
The working conditions were above average with great coffee (very important!), tea and beverages that often included the quintessential for Australian culture “Tim Tams”. The coffee room was where we gathered to stay connected with colleagues and other projects, sharing ideas, information and experiences. There is a lot to be said for good coffee. Friday afternoons everyone stopped work early for drinks and pizza in the board room. Often there was an informal presentation or informational discussion that went with this, it was the perfect job!
So what caused a successful and very profitable business to fail and collapse?
Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Frederick Herzberg’s research found, when the Hygiene-factors for a work place are low then individuals will become Dissatisfied due to the poor environment. This includes working relationships, working conditions, wages and job security.
Non-intuitively, individuals do not automatically become Satisfied by improving the Hygiene-factors of the job. Improving the extrinsic conditions can only lower or stop the Dissatisfaction. Herzberg noted that an individual’s Satisfaction is only increased when Motivational-factors or "the intrinsics of what they do " were present or improved (Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman, 2017).
Although the salary wasn’t anything above average at Stowe, the opportunity for achievement, recognition and feedback was very high. With regular interactions and positive relationships with our clients and counterparts from all over the world. The Hygiene-factors as well as the Motivational-factors were in place to make the group a success.
The Downfall
Along came the day when an Insurance Company from South Australia brought out the parent business and set its sights on the most profitable division in the company. There was one individual who was made responsible to make as much profit as possible from our division. One of the first actions implemented was to cut back on tea, coffee and snacks, followed closely by Friday night drinks. The effect caused was to instantly demoralise and destabilise the work environment and created Dissatisfaction within the ranks of the workers and managers. Questions started to be raised about job security as the company policies started to change and a pay freeze was instigated.
The Extrinsics of the work place, the Hygiene-factors changed rapidly followed by the Intrinsics of the job, the Motivation-factors being dismantled and eroded. It didn't take very long before some very key people abandoned the company and along with them went a lot of support from our key clients. The new management’s response to this was to assign staff to internal CICS-COBOL/DB2 work on their own insurance software and systems. This wasn't what people had signed up for and in a relatively short timeframe of less than two months, over half the workforce had left the division.
The new owners had treated the division as if we were part of the machinery without understanding the real assets of the business.
The only real assets that made the business successful and profitable were the Human Assets.
There were some questionable decisions and actions on a number of levels and what the new owners ended up with was an empty shell. It’s good to look back at this now with more experience and emotional intelligence, as a relevant case study of Motivational-Theory and how NOT TO implement culture change in an organisation.
The tea and coffee room isn't just a nice thing to have in the workplace. This is where employees will get together to talk about their current challenges and exchange ideas that will improve the business OR it can be the place employees will get together to express how Dissatisfied they are in their role and air their grievances with others.
What motivates you or gives you job satisfaction?
References
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B. and Snyderman, B. B. (2017) The Motivation to Work. Second Edi. Routledge.
