Motivation in organizational psychology

Scientific Management Theory
Scientific management is a philosophy and set of methods that stressed the scientific study and organization of work at operational level for improving efficiency. It is associated with Frederick Winslow Taylor who is called the “father of Scientific Management.”

Scientific Management has contributed the following techniques that are used even today:
 * Scientific method of doing work.
 * Planning tasks.
 * Standardization.
 * Specialization and division of labour.
 * Time and motion studies.

This approach has been criticised that David Mcclelland dehumanized workers by treating them as mere factors of production. David believed that workers could be motivated by mere need for money i.e. C=economic gains by the form of higher wages. In reality, workers need sense of job security, social fulfillment and a challenging job, other than a good pay.

Human Relations Model
Elton Mayo found out that the social contacts a worker has at the workplace are very important and that boredom and repetitiveness of tasks lead to reduced motivation. Mayo believed that workers could be motivated by acknowledging their social needs and making them feel important. As a result, employees were given freedom to make decisions on the job and greater attention was paid to informal work groups. Mayo named the model the Hawthorne effect. The problem with his model is undue reliance on social contacts at work situations for motivating employee

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Papers

 * Dickson, W. J. (1973). Hawthorne experiments. In C. Heyel (ed.), The encyclopedia of management, 2nd ed. (pp. 298-302). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.


 * Harpaz, I. (1990). The importance of work goals: an international perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 21. 75-93.


 * Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (1959). The motivation to work. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
 * Lindner,J.R.(1998). Understanding Employee Motivation. Journal of Extension,Volume 36 Number 3. Full text]


 * Kovach, K. A. (1987). What motivates employees? Workers and supervisors give different answers. Business Horizons, 30. 58-65.


 * Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, July 1943. 370-396.


 * Smith, G. P. (1994). Motivation. In W. Tracey (ed.), Human Resources Management and Development Handbook (2nd ed.).


 * Smith, K. L. (1990). The future of leaders in Extension. Journal of Extension, 28 (1).


 * Terpstra, D. E. (1979). Theories of motivation: borrowing the best. Personnel Journal, 58. 376.


 * Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation. New York: Wiley.