Today, we are studying Herzberg's Two-factor Theory aka Two Factor Theory aka Hygiene factors theory.

Herzberg’s Two-factor theory

This theory was presented by Fredrick Herzberg in 1959. Fredrick Herzberg was a psychologist who specialized in business management. He was interested in knowing when people felt exceptionally good or bad about their jobs or you can say when people were satisfied or dissatisfied with their jobs. 

• He interviewed some people and found out that people who were motivated and satisfied with their jobs referred to intrinsic factors (which are factors related to the job itself) and the people who were dissatisfied or demotivated referred to the extrinsic factors (factors related to the job context). So, the factors for motivation and demotivation of an employee weren’t the same. 
• Herzberg had to put these factors in categories and make sense of them which is why he named intrinsic factors (factors which motivated employees) as motivators and extrinsic factors (factors which were responsible for demotivation of people) as Hygiene factors. Here is the visual picture of these factors:

Now here's the thing, yellow triangle that you see behind the factors are telling you the intensity of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of an employee. The employee starts from being extremely dissatisfied when they don't have any hygiene factors or motivators and they are dissatisfied than gradually they are given their hygiene factors and once their requirements are met an employee moves towards the neutralization. This employee isn't dissatisfied nor satisfied he is in the middle. Once reaching this stage you start giving these employees Motivators that are going to motivate them and make them reach the extremely satisfying stage. In addition to that he also stated that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction in fact it is no satisfaction and in the same way dissatisfaction’s opposite is no dissatisfaction.

Real-Life Example:

You (employee) were hungry you needed food, your waiter (supervisor) served you a sandwich. You ate this sandwich which is a  very average sandwich but in this state of hunger, you liked it and ate it. You are now in the neutral stage and when you are given a desert (motivator), which was just a 10/10 you fell in love with the chef who was cooking your food and you want to come to this place every day (company). 

How to motivate Employees?

First, you have to meet the hygiene factors and then you give the employees motivators for motivating them. 

Videos:
Herzberg's Two Factor Theory in Urdu or Hindi:

Herzberg's Two Factor Theory in English: