Summary of Fiona Hutchison's talk on:

What motivates us at work?

What's so important about motivation? Isn't it enough that people come to work on time, do their job and go home again?

Not according to the chairman of the panel of judges for the recent National Business Awards. He said that "it is emerging that issues relating to the performance of people form the major performance barrier (for companies).
In fact, some 34% of current barriers to business success are people related." It would seem not only desirable, but indeed essential, that staff are kept motivated.

However, this is not a 21st century discovery! Theories on motivation have been around for a long time. Some of the early names in this field were people like F.W.Taylor, Elton Mayo, and W.F.Whyte.

But I want to concentrate on two of the major motivational theorists of the latter half of the 20th century. The first of these , Frederick Herzberg, published "The Motivation to Work" as long ago as 1959 but it is still being read today and his insights into motivation are every bit as valid as they were over 40 years ago.

Herzberg's theory was essentially quite a straightforward one. He found that certain factors in the workplace truly motivate - these he called "motivators" for obvious reasons. Other factors were found to prevent people from feeling dissatisfied but they did not directly motivate them. This second set of factors he called "hygiene factors". He drew this analogy from medical science where hygiene may prevent illness but does not lead directly to good health.

According to Herzberg, people have two sets of needs:

• first of all as an animal - to avoid pain.
• secondly as a human being - to grow psychologically.

His research, which was done originally with 200 engineers and accountants in Pittsburgh, proved that people will strive to achieve hygiene needs because they are unhappy without them. However, once they have them they are no more motivated than they were before. Examples of hygiene needs in the workplace would be work conditions, salary, company car, job security.

True motivators on the other hand were found to be things directly relating to the job whereas hygiene factors were things surrounding the job. Motivators are factors such as achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, and personal growth.

One crucial point to note is that salary itself is NOT a motivator but a hygiene factor. Also, people are often more concerned with equity of salary than the amount itself.

Proof that Herzberg's motivation theory is still valid came in a survey published in The Times earlier this year. 1000 staff from companies employing more than 500 workers were interviewed. Many were found to be bored, lacking commitment and looking for a new job.

Why? Because of level of salary? No - in fact pay came 5th in the list of reasons people gave for leaving their job.

The main reasons were classic Herzberg motivators - people left for better promotion chances, more challenging work, a more exciting place to work and more varied work.

The second motivational theorist I want to look at is Maslow. He developed what has come to be known as Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" - which bears many similarities to Herzberg's hygiene and motivating factors. Maslow's theory is that people's needs can be classified as follows:

• basic needs for food, drink and shelter
• safety needs for protection against danger, threat, etc.
• social needs - the need to belong, to be accepted, to be liked
• self-esteem or ego needs to do with reputation, status, etc.
• self-actualisation needs - the need to realise your potential and continue to develop.

Nowadays, the basic and safety needs are usually met by companies because of legislation governing wage rates, working conditions, etc. Employers can concentrate on satisfying the three higher level needs of employees. It is interesting to note that these are very close to Herzberg's motivating factors.

So much for the theories, but what of the practice? To return to this year's National Business Awards, the company just chosen as Employer of the Year was Tesco. In their citation the judges said that "Tesco was voted Employer of the Year because its solutions were seen to be more holistic." These "solutions" involved recognising the importance to company performance of a committed and motivated staff. To ensure that they have this and also retain it, Tesco have invested £12m this year alone in training schemes all of which are pure Herzberg motivators. For example:

1. new and more open lines of communication between managers and staff;
2. a scheme whereby directors and senior managers spend a week on the shop floor listening to ideas and suggestions from customers and staff;
3. a "talent spotting" scheme to fast-track shop-floor workers up the promotional ladder; and
4. a better understanding of individual employee circumstances.

The result of all these initiatives is that Tesco is continuing to show record sales growth and profits - proof if it were needed that keeping staff motivated is good for business.

Here are two stories with which to finish. The first confirms Hertzberg's belief that money in itself is not a motivator. It concerns a young chambermaid in a large West End hotel who told me that it means much more to her when people leave a little note expressing their gratitude for the cleanliness of their room rather than a tip.

The second story is about the importance to all of us of praise - a young navy pilot during the Vietnam War was shot down over enemy territory. He parachuted out and landed safely. Years later he was in a restaurant with his wife when a man came over and called him by name. He was surprised and asked how the man knew who he was. The man replied "Because I packed your parachute!" The pilot was amazed and grateful, saying "If you hadn't packed my chute correctly, I wouldn't be here today". He also realised that there were a lot of sailors who packed parachutes and held the pilots' lives in their hands and yet their work was never acknowledged. He now does business lectures and he always says to his audience "Who packs your parachute? Who helps you through your life? Think about who helps you, recognise them and say thanks."

Some of us are fortunate to be doing jobs in which we feel very motivated. Others are less fortunate. But understanding a little of what motivates all of us must surely be a help as we work together in our individual companies and also as we come together through OASIS to socialise, listen to lunchtime talks or explore the spiritual dimension of our lives.

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After the talk there was a good deal of discussion, much of it focusing on the need for praise and to praise people, and there was some difference of opinion about the positive nature of praise versus the feeling that praise can also be seen as patronising. If you have any views on that or on anything in the talk itself we would love to hear from you. For instance, is it a weakness of our Scottish society that some of us are slow to praise, and that we find it hard to receive praise?

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