1.Maslow developed a theory of motivation that emphasized and combination of psychological and personal needs, and combined physical and economic needs. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is broken into five categories: psychological needs, safety and security needs, love (social) needs, esteem needs, and self-actuation needs. The different needs are broken into two theories, X & Y. The theories represent a different set of motivators in employment.
Theory X is considered the lower level needs of a person and includes psychological needs and safety and security needs. In this theory, Maslow considers the lower level needs of people. His assumption is that people who are motivated by Theory X are inherently self-centered, need to be directed in their efforts, and without active management would be passive and resistant to organizational needs. I would look at people in this category as people who like a structured work environment where they prefer
knowing the work rules and expectations. They may also be people who are motivated by negative consequences.
Theory Y is considers the higher-level needs of a person and includes Love (social) needs, esteem needs, and self-actuation needs. In this theory Maslow the higher level needs of people. People in this category are self-motivated, not passive or resistant to change, accept and look for higher levels of responsibility and authority, and strive to achieve. When I hear of the needs in Theory Y, I think of people who like to be challenged and work in a changing environment. They look forward to new
opportunities and want challenges to help them grow and improve. People in this category are leaders and want to have the opportunity to manage and work with others and are most like likely motivated by positive consequences.
It is important to understand that people who fall into either of these categories do not necessarily fit completely into the concepts Maslow described, but rather have traits or preferences of motivation that fall more into one theory than another. Respecting the different motivators of people and that it is important to have both type of people in an organization for balance.
2.If I was going to look for a new job I would focus on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In order to be happy and successful in a job,
there are basic needs that need to be met. I would need to find a company that provides a safe work environment, not just for physical safety but also for emotional and development safety where I am allowed to learn and share my experience and education to support and improve the company. Work also needs to have a social element where the employees are not just there to work, but there to work together. Social esteem and self-actuation are important elements of a job that people can be satisfied at. Management has a responsibility to mentor and support their employees so that they can continue to grow personally nand in their positons in the company.
In the company I work at I have an ideal job. I am a manager and am allowed to take on the responsibility to manage my department and the employees who report to me, which I enjoy. I have a couple of younger engineers who are excited to learn skills and while it is difficult to see them struggle and sometimes fail, it is great to see the way they take what they have learned and apply it to the next situation. I just completed my Lean/Six Sigma Black Belt training and am able to take a leadership role in in developing and implementing a continuous improvement program at our facility. I have been involved with continuous improvement programs for over ten years and it is frustrating to me to see all the opportunity to improve the processes and systems at our facility, but know that we are making progress and more opportunities will be available to continue to improve.
3.Positive consequences are things that can be done my an organization or their management team to instill a positive behaviorial action by an employee by offering something the person finds as attractive and motivates them to succeed with the given task. Sometimes this includes a pat on the back, a verbal approval in doing a good job, a wage increase or bonus, or even a promotion.
Negative consequences are the result of when a person finds things unattractive or non-pleasurable. These consequences occur when a person is punished for not delivering the desired results and might include such things as a demotion, a transfer, or even being fired. A key element and technique managers must use to instill positive working environments is that of reinforcement. Whether a positive or negative consequence, reinforcement must be used to send the message of either good or bad behavior will result in a like ending. Setting expectations for employees and gaining buy-in upfront will help managers deliver strong reinforcement among their employees. Holding everyone accountable and not simply taking a pass on a person for a specific reason when they might be under performing is something all managers must be cognizant of. All too often I have watched managers treat people differently even though they are delivering similar results. I have seen sales people that were at an equal level of quota per month in which one might get a high five during a meeting or a verbal accolade while the other sales person with similar results gets no mention or credit.
Extinction is the practice of virtually ignoring an undesirable behavior with the belief that ignoring it will cause it to eventually go away. Because there is no consequence, the person exhibiting the behavior will adjust their behavior in an effort to find a positive consequence. For serious situations that could be harmful to employees, customers or the firm this method should not be used as it could be detrimental to conducting business.
4.Poor performance is attributable to either problems in work design or organizational process problems and the employee themselves. Poor processes and work flows cause a lot of anxiety with people as they attempt to do things in a way that isn't logically correct. Often times when managers hold team members accountable for the work they conduct and the work is of poor quality because a bad system is in place, those team members become disgruntled and frustrated with their jobs which causes turnover. Turnover is a very expensive issue in businesses as replacements are costly to retrain to become productive.
Employees that are the cause of poor performance will stem from any of three things including the person's relationship with the organization or manager, some issue with their personal life, or they simply don't have the knowledge or ability to conduct the work. Again, with the poor performance being attributable with the person, if it isn't corrected the implications on the product or service being delivered could be compromised relative to the competition causing the business to lose customers or even their own employees.
I often have seen combinations of both of these issues surrounding poor performance. Often time it comes when change occurs. If change isn't properly handled and employees don't have strong work flow systems and processes set-up or they don't have training or knowledge on how to handle the change at hand, they will utlimate fail because of the performance. Managers that can see the performance shifting in a negative fashion have the ability to affect change to insure the processes are cleaned up and the people have a clear path to learn and understand how to carry out their work which will solve the issues of poor performance.