In the past few decades several theories have been presented to explain worker motivation and in some cases the lack of such motivation. Some of the basic theories will be described. This is by no means meant to be a thorough treatise on the subject of motivation, but rather an introduction to some of the issues that might be involved. Hopefully, a rudimentary understanding of motivation will be helpful in understanding the actions of ourselves and our colleagues.
(ref. "A Theory of Human Motivation" by A. H. Maslow in Sutermeister)
The hierarchy of needs theory is based on the premise that people are motivated by the desire to fulfill their needs. People seek goals to satisfy their needs. Once a need has been satisfied, that need no longer acts as a motivator. In the absence of any other needs, there would be no motivation. According to Maslow, there are a series or levels of needs that explain motivation in people. There are five such levels of needs. These needs fall into a hierarchy as shown below:
self actualization needs (highest level of need)
self esteem needs
social (love needs or the need to belong)
safety or security needs
survival or physiological needs (lowest level needs)
The most primitive or lowest level needs are the physiological needs. Examples include the need to eat, for water, to have clothing for comfort, to have adequate sleep, etc. (mostly those needs which can be characterized as bodily needs). As such they tend to be temporal in nature. If there is no food, Maslow states that "man lives by bread alone" but when there is plenty to eat, food ceases to be a motivator.
The second level consists of safety needs. If this need is paramount, individuals become safety-seeking tools. While most citizens might not think consciously about the need for safety, citizens do expect some sort of stability or predictability in their surroundings. An adult in a society that is not threatened by wild animals, extremes of temperature, criminals, tyrants, etc. may not be consciously aware of the need for safety. Such adults are not motivated by safety needs. In a broader sense, citizens may feel the need to have financial security in their retirement years, for stability in their place of employment, for constancy in their housing arrangements, insurance against various losses, etc. The need for order is apparent in the general tendency in societies to have religions and to organize into groups. The need for security may be as much an emotional need as it is a physical one.
The third level consists of the love needs. This is associated with the need to belong. It is a basic need for other people. It is the need to feel a part of a group. For example, it is natural to have friends, for adults to marry, and in general to share affection with other people. We can easily be associated with dozens of different groups of people. The love need is not to be confused with sex, as sex may even be considered as a physiological need. Love needs are more associated with the exchange of affection and the need to be accepted by others.
The fourth level consists of the esteem needs. Esteem needs are essentially the need for individuals to have a stable and high evaluation of themselves, for self-respect and the esteem of others. Esteem is the result of real capacity, achievement and respect from others. Self-esteem leads to self-confidence, worth, strength, capability and adequacy of being useful and necessary in the world. This level of need really has two components. One is associated with feelings of personal worth, adequacy, and competence. The second is the need for respect, admiration, recognition, and status in the eyes of others.
The highest level need is self-actualization. Self-actualization consists of being all that one can be. This is clearly the most difficult need to truly understand. It is associated with the unique expression of oneself. It is an active state in which an individual achieves personal growth. It occurs when one reaches one's innate personal potential. This need may be associated with a compulsion to put one's talents or abilities to work. The need for self-actualization is associated with an inner drive, essentially apart from the influence of others. It is often linked with creative expression. However, it is never a fully satisfied need, i.e., the need continues and the individual is never self-actualized.
Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of needs states that the lowest level needs must generally be satisfied before the next level of need will emerge. If all the needs are unsatisfied, the lowest level need will typically provide the greatest motivation, while the desire to satisfy the higher level needs is diminished. Once a low level need is satisfied, the next level of need emerges as the subsequent goal to attain. If the lower need again emerges, the higher needs become weaker motivators.
In simple terms, the lowest level need that is not satisfied is the primary motivator. In reality, the other needs do not actually disappear, but their influence as motivators may be diminished.
As a manager, it is important to understand the level of needs that others have. This is at the root of developing effective incentive programs and in maximizing productivity.
(ref. Work and the Nature of Man by Frederick Herzberg, Cleveland World Publishing Company, 1966)
Frederick Herzberg has developed a theory on the premise that worker mental health is associated with performing meaningful work. His theory grew out of a research study conducted with 200 accountants and engineers. The research consisted of personal interviews being conducted with each subject. The essence of the interview was to ask, "Can you describe, in detail, when you felt exceptionally good about your job?" and "Can you describe, in detail, when you felt exceptionally bad about your job?"
The responses showed that the accountants and engineers generally stated that some content aspects of the job were associated with feeling good about the job. Herzberg called these job content factors. Concerning experiences in which people felt bad about their job, Herzberg noted that these tended to be associated with surrounding or peripheral aspects of the job. Herzberg called these context factors. With this general categorization, Herzberg concluded that job content factors were satisfiers and that job context factors were dissatisfiers.
It is noteworthy that rarely were content factors mentioned as dissatisfiers or that context factors were rarely mentioned as satisfiers. From this Herzberg concluded that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction, but rather that the absence of satisfaction is simply no satisfaction. Similarly, the opposite of dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction, rather than satisfaction. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are discrete feelings and they do not occur on a continuum, i.e., they are not polar opposites on the same scale. In other words, one set of factors can lead to satisfaction while anther set of factors can lead to dissatisfaction. Thus, this is called the two-factor theory.
The job content factors or satisfiers were generally classified as relating to some of the following:
Achievement Recognition
Work Itself Responsibility
Advancement Growth
These factors are motivators that can be realized when completing a job, solving problems, seeing the results of one's efforts, being recognized for a job well done, performing interesting work, successfully completing a (difficult, demanding or challenging) task, having control over one's own job, being given responsibility for the work of others, upward movement in the organization, increased opportunities, and learning new skills.
The job context or environmental factors associated with dissatisfaction were classified as relating to the following:
Company Policy Company Administration
Supervision Working Conditions
Salary Interpersonal Relations (with superiors, peers, etc.)
Status Job Security
Personal Life
These are "hygiene" factors which include feelings about the inadequacy of company management, poor lines of communication, poor direction as to the tasks to be performed, unclear lines of authority, lack of authority to complete a task, incompetent supervisors, excessive amount of work, poor environmental conditions (light, temperature, space, ventilation), poor wages, lower than expected salary increases, restrictions because of status (work conditions, worker liberties, etc.), company stability, compulsory transfers to undesirable locations.
Herzberg's theory bears considerable similarity to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Herzberg noted that the higher level of needs, the growth needs, are the only true motivators. The content factors tend to motivate by their presence while the context or hygiene factors dissatisfy individuals when they are deficient, i.e., dissatisfiers are deficit needs. For example, poor working conditions are commonly named as the source of dissatisfaction, but good physical working conditions are rarely named as being the source of worker satisfaction.
If a firm is to motivate its workers, it must be cognizant of the fact that the lack of dissatisfiers does not create satisfaction. Workers may be very dissatisfied if fringe benefits are lacking, but they are rarely the source of great satisfaction.
Another way of considering satisfaction and dissatisfaction is to consider the difference between job enrichment and job enlargement. A worker that is asked to do a more challenging task (job enrichment or vertical loading) will probably be more satisfied than will a worker who is simply expected to do an increased amount of the same work (job enlargement or horizontal loading) that has been performed in the past. Management must simply realize that hygiene factors and motivators are different and that both must be addressed.
Job enrichment or vertical job loading is associated with the content factors given above. To maximize satisfaction and thus to motivate workers, the following actions might be considered:
Remove some job controls
Increase worker accountability for their own work
Give workers complete units of work to produce
Give greater job freedom or additional authority to workers
Make periodic reports directly to the workers (not through the supervisor)
Introduce new and more difficult tasks
Assign specialized tasks to workers so they can become experts
Subsequent research of the two-factor theory on construction workers has shown that there might be a subtle difference in the motivation of construction workers. In essence, Herzberg stated that workers will be motivated when they are satisfied. For construction workers, there may be a slight twist to this causal relationship. What is so special about construction work is that each structure is unique. As a result, workers derive a strong sense of pride and satisfaction from having completed a project. Thus, the drive or motivation for construction workers may be to complete their projects as a means of realizing the satisfaction that accompanies this effort. While this may explain a different relationship between satisfaction and production, management can utilize the two-factor theory to good advantage even on construction projects. They must simply make it possible for workers to efficiently complete their construction tasks. While the above may appear to be a contradiction, it might also be argued that this is further validation of the two-factor theory. Note that even though a construction project may take months to complete, daily satisfaction surely accompanies the work as it is done.
(ref. "Construction Productivity and Job Satisfaction," by John D. Borcherding, A.M. ASCE, and Clarkson H. Oglesby, F. ASCE, Journal of the Construction Division, Sept. 1974)
For many years, studies have been done on how job satisfaction is related to productivity. Even though the country's largest industry, few behavioral studies have not been directed toward construction. The following is the result of a study that was conducted by Dr. John Borcherding who examined the issue of job satisfaction as it relates to construction productivity.
Relationship Between Productivity and Job Satisfaction
For the construction industry, it was discovered that a productive job created high job satisfaction while a nonproductive job (one which fell behind schedule) produced dissatisfactions at all levels of the management/worker chain. This relationship is inverse to the one found in an office or factory setting which states that high job satisfaction leads to greater productivity. This inverse relationship is believed to be due to the very nature of construction. In construction, a worker, through his own efforts, produces a highly visible, physical structure in which great satisfaction comes from its completion. Therefore, jobs that are well-planned and run smoothly produce great satisfaction while jobs with poor management (with scheduling and planning problems), create great dissatisfaction. This illustrates the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity since well-managed jobs are generally more productive. In construction, higher productivity means seeing the final result sooner which in turn creates job satisfaction.
Why Work Is Satisfying
In order to make a construction project more productive, and therefore, more satisfying, it was important to determine what made work satisfying for various individuals from the Owner to the Apprentice.
1. The Owner and the Project Manager are most satisfied with a job in which there is a profit being made, the customer is satisfied, and the project is on schedule. Other factors not as important in creating a satisfying job, are good workmanship and a tangible physical structure.
2. The Superintendent and Forman are also aware of profit, but profit does not result in job satisfaction as much as for the Owner and Project Manager. The main satisfiers to a job for the Superintendent are keeping with the schedule, meeting the challenge of running and completing a project, and good workmanship. It also helps if there are good work relationships with and within a crew.
3. The Journeyman and Apprentice are the least worried about profit and schedule. Workers get most of their satisfaction from the completion of tasks, a good hard day of productive work, and knowing they were a part of a tangible physical structure. They also state that good social work relations add to their work satisfaction.
Means For Increasing Job Satisfaction
In order to increase job satisfaction for everyone involved in a construction project, one must be aware of not only what their own needs are but those needs of those above and below them. The following outlines some of the mans for increasing job satisfaction.
Increasing Satisfaction of Owners and Project Managers:
1. Timely Feedback--Timely job progress reports and effective cost reporting can help finish the project on schedule for a profit.
2. Plan Rather than Restructure Job Content--Worker productivity is increased by better planning not changes in work assignments after something goes wrong.
3. Effects of Change Orders--Worker morale can be affected if many changes are made. One might say, 'Why should I build something well if it's going to be torn out again?' Mitigating these effects will help to keep up productivity and workmanship.
4. Insuring Good Workmanship--Good work satisfies the customer which will in turn, satisfy the Owner and Project Manager.
5. Identification With Goal of Building Structure--Somehow the final goal of a finished structure keeps the project together. Everyone is satisfied since they feel a part of the process.
Increasing Satisfaction of Superintendent and Foreman:
1. Challenging Work and Its' Relationship to Job Decision Making--Satisfaction comes from the challenge of running work. This will depend on whether management delegates enough responsibility and puts enough faith in its people to make those decisions.
2. Effective Field Planning and Management Support--The Superintendent and Foreman must have enough foresight to make sure they get the equipment and materials they need to keep the
job running smoothly. Management must give support in updating schedule and delivering the goods when needed.
3. Sharing Cost Information--If the Superintendent and Foremen are given cost information on a regular basis, they may be helpful to management in achieving profitability.
4. Identification With the Building Physical Structure
5. Developing Good Crew Relations--This includes relations between a single crew as well as relations between the trades.
Increasing Satisfaction of Journeymen and Apprentices:
1. Accomplishing Task--Continuous feedback on daily workmanship and production is most important.
2. Identification With
3. Maintaining Good Crew Relationships
Construction satisfaction comes from the identification with being part of constructing a unique structure. To insure and increase satisfaction, management efforts should concentrate on good planning at all levels so workers can be productive. With high productivity, everyone wins! Workers are satisfied at all levels, customer is satisfied, and profits can be realized.
CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY AND JOB DISSATISFACTION
John Borcherding
and Clarkson Oglesby also studied job dissatisfaction and found each level of
authority has roughly the same dissatisifers.
Borcherding and Oglesby reported these findings in the June 1975 issue
of American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of the Construction Division
in an article titled "Job
Dissatisfaction in Construction Work".
Job dissatisfaction can be one factor that will increase costs, produce
time delays and generally reduce productivity on most types of projects. The essence of their findings was that each
level of authority has roughly the same dissatisfiers.
Five specific
problems were found through many interviews with owners, project managers,
supervisors, foremen and journeymen. These included union problems, poor
engineering, company mistakes, lack of support from superiors, and dealing with
unqualified persons.
Owners encounter
numerous problems dealing with unions that increase costs and cause
delays. Union practices and policies are
uncontrollable by the owner, therefore it is important for the owner to work
with the unions not against them. Profits are small on projects any mistake by
the company or individual can be dissatisfying to the owner. These mistakes can be avoid or minimized by
having qualified people available with full support to fix problems. Customer
dissatisfaction can lead to payment problems and dealing with unqualified
persons of powerful positions. Owners
must delegate work to those who efficiently carried it out in a flexible
manner. Also owners must develop relations early in the project with those who
could pose a threat to the project, i.e. inspectors, and city officials so
problems can be quickly resolved.
Project
managers' (PM) dissatifers differ from those of the owner. Company or personal mistakes, like missing
items in estimates, cause dissatisfaction for PM. Errors and mistakes can be avoid or minimized
by pre-planning and less last-minute decisions. Also, full support by the owner
will help relieve the pressures if cost and schedule problems develop. Poor engineering can be resolved by
pre-planning and having full engineering support available to solved problems
quickly. Poor supervisors can affect the production and profitability on all
parts on a project. Supers should be
carefully selected and those with weak skills should be retrained.
Superintendents
dissatifers are similar to the PM's' as both are up and down the ladder. Poor
organization between the GC's super and sub-contractors' supers can cause a lot
of problems. The line of authority
should not be handed down from high level management. This would impose an
inflexible working requirement that will hamper productivity. Supers must work
out the integration of trades through cooperative attitudes and weekly
meetings. Another dissatifier is constant criticism from the home office to
increase productivity. If management
wants to critique a supervisors performance the good
and bad should be fairly evaluated and told to the super. Full support by upper management will reduce
the pressure on supers. Other dissatsfers is poor engineering, union problems
and personal mistakes. Preplanning and
good rapport relationships with unions and employees will help super alleviate
these problems. Supers should always keep an eye out for new, qualified
employees.
Uncooperative or
unqualified workers slow down jobs, increase costs and reduce quality. Foreman should work for job satisfaction for
union workers and keep tabs on possible new qualified, cooperative workers.
Hazing and other harassment practices can produce a bad attitude on an employee(s).
Foreman should work to eliminate these practices and separate out those with
bad attitudes to work along. Foremen
need to forecast any problems ahead of time so management and engineering has
sufficient time to response. In tune, management need
to give full support to the foremen.
Union problems also plague the foremen. All levels of the contractor
management must make the commitment to work with unions not against them.
Journeyman
are the ones who do
actually perform the construction work.
Management purposed is to organized them and materials to execute the
work efficiently. Dissatisifers are poor
interpersonal relations with other employees or supervisor, poor quality or
unproductive work performed by their crew, unfair job assignment or the work
itself. It is important the skilled,
experience employees are teaching the inexperienced workers in an encouraging,
fair manner. Job assignment
are divided up equally and rotate the assignments where possible. Tedious and difficult "dirty" jobs
are required and someone needs to do them, but this
dissatisfiers that can be minimized.
Dissatisifers can be minimized by pre-planning to identify errors or probable problems and then solving them in the home office. Also, all individuals should forecast ahead to identify potential problems. Union problems will occur, success PM and owners should not have these problems conflict with the construction work. And finally, interpersonal relationship between all group should be well established before any problem develop. Good communications between