Alderfer –ERG Theory

 

Alderfer –ERG Theory 

   ERG is a motivational construct concerned with understanding the factors that contribute to individual human behavior. It is one of four content approaches that consider the intrinsic factors that cause a person to take specific actions (Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2008). As a model of human need, however, ERG theory has been validated by human experience (Ivancevich, et al., 2008).

   Alderfer distinguished three requirements instead of the five needs outlined in Maslow's theory, this theory pushes it into three categories that may include all the needs of human experience (Farnham, 2008).

1.   Existence Needs - These include basic material needs. In short, it involves a person's physical and physical safety needs (Song, Wang, and Wei 2007).

2.    Relationship Needs: People need significant relationships (with family, peers or top executives), love and belonging and they seek to achieve public fame and recognition. This class of interests contains external elements of Maslow's social needs and dignified interests (Song, Wang, and Wei. 2007).

3.      Growth Needs - This needs group brings together the needs of self-development, personal growth, and advancement. This set of needs includes Maslow's inherent component of self-authentication and respectability (Song, Wang, and V. 2007)  

Figure 1.3: Alderfer – ERG Theory

Source: (Alderfer, 1969).

   Assessing the relationship between need satisfactions, importance, and fulfillment, the need fulfillment moderated satisfaction and importance. In other words, the importance of the need was based on the manner of its fulfillment. In addition, this phenomenon was more likely to exist within the categories of existence, relatedness, and growth, rather than between them (Wanous and Zany, 1977).

   At a work level, this means that Managers must recognize their employees' multiple simultaneous needs. In Alderfer's ERG model, focusing exclusively on one need at a time will not motivate employees. The frustration-regression principle impacts workplace motivation. If you can recognize these conditions early, steps can be taken to satisfy the frustrated needs until the employee is able to pursue growth again (Robbins and Judge, 2008).

Example - ERG Theory, along with the three other content approaches to observing motivation, provided the theoretical underpinnings for an empirical study of motivational factors in the workplace. Wiley (1997) explains that the survey was first conducted in 1946, and again in 1980, 1986, and 1992, respectively. Factors from the 1946 tool were used as variables in the 1992 survey, which  was issued to 550 employees “in industries such as retailing, services, manufacturing, insurance, utilities, health care, and government agencies” (para. 22). Results indicated that the top five motivating factors for employees of the 1990s were “good wages, full appreciation for the work done, job security, growth in the organization, and interesting work” (para. 49). Future studies should consider what motivates people to high performance.

 

References

Ivancevich, J., Konopaske, R., & Matteson, M. T. (2007). Organizational Behavior and Management (8th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Song, L., Wang, Y., & Wei, J. (2007). Revisiting motivation preference within the Chinese context: An empirical study. Chinese Management Studies, 1(1), 25-41. Doi: 10.1108/17506140710735445.

Wanous, J., & Zwany, A. (1977). A cross sectional test of need hierarchy theory.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 18(1), 78-78. Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07495978.

Wiley, C. (1997). What motivates employees according to over 40 years of motivation
surveys? International Journal of Manpower, 18(3), 263-280. Retrieved from http://emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0143-7720.