The Effectiveness of Maslow and Herzberg

How effective are the motivational theories of Abraham Maslow and Frederick Herzberg in today's workplace?  Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory can be effective if used appropriately.  Each of the five levels of Maslow's hierarchy can be applied to today's organizational structure as each level applies to all inside and outside of the organization.

In order to satisfy the first two levels, physiological and safety needs, an organization could provide lunch and break periods, a comfortable working environment, and safe working conditions (Ikwukananne, 2009).  These may seem like obvious motivators; however, there exists organizations that may not provide these.  With Maslow's higher levels, an employee can be motivated by additional responsibilities or a more challenging job description.

The effectiveness of Maslow's motivational theory is lacking in scholarly research (Ikwukananne, 2009) as the theory pertains to a current organization.  This blogger believes, as stated in another post, that an employee will only produce as far as they are capable based on where they fit on Maslow's hierarchy.  Employees will fit somewhere on Maslow's hierarchy and management should pay close attention to where their employees fit.

Herzberg's motivational theory is important in today's workplace as managers need to know what motivates their individual team members.  Some team members are motivated by bonuses or a nice office and again, it is imperative that managers know their teams so that proper and meaningful rewards are given.  The blogger's boss knows what motivates her team and she uses these tools to get her team exicted about the work they do.