A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

228 ■ A CLASS WITH DRUCKER
work. Peter felt that Herzberg’s work was also a significant contribution
because he recognized that as certain needs or wants become satisfied,
they cease to be incentives for higher achievement.
Herzberg collected data on job attitudes among employees in hundreds
of companies. From studying this data, he concluded that workers have
two completely different categories of needs which affect satisfaction or
dissatisfaction <strong>with</strong> a job.
The first category he called “hygiene” factors. He gave them this name
because these needs serve the function of preventative medicine, at least
in the workplace. They prevent job dissatisfaction. They are also distinguished
by the fact that these needs are never completely satisfied. You
have to keep maintaining them, or else you lose performance. You can’t,
however, increase performance <strong>with</strong> them. But if your organization is
already performing well, you can help to maintain these high standards
<strong>with</strong> the hygiene factors.
Hygiene factors include money, status, treatment of followers and
security. This relates back to the example of compensation. Money is a
good compensator in order to earn enough to survive, or to live at a certain
level. Above that level, it ceases to be an incentive and becomes what
Herzberg classified as a hygiene factor. This phenomenon is well-known
in the management of sales teams, in which most of the salesperson’s
salary depends directly on the level of sales. Up to a certain point this
increased compensation acts as a motivator for the salesperson to make
higher sales. But above that point, salespeople have been known to actually
quit trying to sell! They have achieved a satisfactory level of compensation,
and are happy to go about their business until the next month.
The second category, according to Herzberg, includes motivating factors
that relate to the job itself. They involve feelings of achievement,
recognition for accomplishment, challenging work, increased responsibility,
and growth and development. These are the factors that produce job
satisfaction as contrasted <strong>with</strong> the hygiene needs that only prevent job dissatisfaction.
And, as Peter taught, they are underutilized in many organizations,
but are necessary due to the limitations of the hygiene factors.
Herzberg’s work is important because it shows that if we reduce the
hygiene factors, we’re going to get job dissatisfaction. How would you feel
if someone reduced your salary? To avoid job dissatisfaction, we maintain
the hygiene factors at their present levels. Of course there are exceptions
to this rule. Most workers will accept a reduction in salary or benefits if