Content Perspectives on Motivation

Use your understanding of motivation theories to answer the following questions.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Alderfer's ERG Theory are similar because both of them:

Suggest that individuals must meet their needs in order.

Suggest that people can only be motivated by a reward from a need level that has not yet been met.

Suggest that individuals are motivated by a specific set of needs.

Suggest that punishment is more effective than rewards at motivating behavior.

You've just gotten the results back from a job satisfaction survey that your team took last month. The team is not dissatisfied, but they are not satisfied, either. You'd like to see the team have a higher job satisfaction rating than they do now. According to Herzberg, which of the following actions would be best for you to take in this situation?

Increase the base pay for all team members.

Give the team more responsibility for making decisions about how they will do their work.

Provide team members with better working conditions, including desks that can be converted to standing desks, as the team members wish.