Frederick Herzberg

Psychologists often are very influencial for business management research, as understanding the thought processes of employees and the general public is a very large part of business operations. You can have the writers at Paper Masters explain any psychological concept in light of how it effects business or have them explicate the psychological concept itself. For example, a research project on Frederick Herzberg can be about human motivation or about how to motivate one's employees. Herzberg was brilliant at illustrating psychological concepts that helped managers understand motivating employees.

Herzberg was known for one theory, known by the following names:

• Motivator-Hygiene Theory
• Two-factor theory
• Herzberg's Theory

Frederick Herzberg (1923-2000) was an American psychologist whose work became highly influential in business management, largely through his 1968 article "One More Time, How Do You Motivate Employees?" which originally appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Herzberg is also remembered for the Motivator-Hygiene Theory, also known as the Two-factor theory, regarding job satisfaction.

The distinction between hygiene factors and motivators is significant. The presence of factors that create job dissatisfaction should be eliminated. This will not satisfy the workers, but will only diminish their dissatisfaction. Herzberg believed that in order to motivate employees and create a satisfied workforce, motivators must be emphasized. When motivators are absent, employees are neutral toward work, not satisfied.

It is interesting to note that Herzberg's motivators can be correlated to Maslow's higher-ordered needs and McGregor's Theory Y assumptions. While some may criticize these human relations theories as being too simplistic to fully determine the basics underlying worker motivation, their value to a practitioner's comprehension of managing people within an organization cannot be overstated.

Frederick Herzberg was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the son of Lithuanian immigrants. In 1939, he entered City College of New York, but left before completing his studies in order to enlist in the US Army during World War II. After the war, he returned to City College, completing his degree in 1946 and then moving to the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned both his Master's and Doctoral degrees. His thesis work focused on electric shock therapy.

Starting in the 1950s, Herzberg worked at the University of Utah, where he began research on organizations and organizational behavior. It was through this work that he developed the Motivator-Hygiene Theory, also known as the Two-factor theory, or simply the Herzberg Theory. This states that people are influenced by two sets of factors. Hygiene factors include status, salary, fringe benefits, and job security, which do not lead towards higher satisfaction, but the absence of which will lead to dissatisfaction. Motivators include recognition, and responsibility, things that do provide satisfaction.