Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Motivation Theories: Implications for Organizational Performance

Abstract

Motivation is an essential component in the enhancement of organizational performance. Motivation theories have emerged over time toward providing insight into the importance of motivation in achieving organizational success. The paper embarks on a comparative study of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's two-factor motivation theories to ascertain any relationship and implications for organizational performance. The study relied on qualitative data collected from scholarly articles whereby they were analyzed using the case study approach and expounded thematically. The study bares a correlation between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s two-factor motivation theories, in which they provided overlapping models on the structure of needs that represents both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The implication of the theories has shown that individual needs differ and that the blend of both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors, as shown by both theories, cannot be isolated, as the regular application of both factors would produce robust employees energized for higher performance. It is concluded that the success of any organization is pivot not only on the capacity of a manager to organize and coordinate material resources, but also to recognize the divergence of the needs of individuals and develop approaches to satisfy them.

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