Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory: Enhancing Employee Motivation in Healthcare

Running head: HEALTH CARE 1
HealthCare (Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory)
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

HEALTH CARE 2
Introduction
There are various motivation theories that impact the methods used by organizations to
manage the employees to ensure a motivated workforce is established. The theories explain the
individual behaviors and the advice about strategies and factors that are to reap the best from
employees based on their work commitment. Nonetheless, the organizational issues are
overwhelmed by a complex nature that demands employee motivation. Motivation entails
individual forces that compel the level of persistence and direction in an organization
(Alshmemri, Shahwan-Akl & Maude, 2017). The competition aspect due to information
technology, globalization, and industrialization compels managers worldwide to find ways to
enhance employee motivation for them to stay competitive. For this reason, the managers and
supervisors apply various methods to enhance motivation and satisfaction for the employees.
Fredrick Herzberg developed the two-factor theory of motivation that offers leaders and
supervisors techniques of identifying barriers to employee motivation and also, the potential
improvement efforts that will help me realize if I can be a good supervisor to the staff based on
the factors I embrace.
The Two-Factor Theory
The two-factor theory asserts that employee motivation is enhanced using difficult but
enjoyable tasks whereby employees can attain, develop, and show responsibility that can help
advance the organization. According to Herzberg, the two-factor theory puts forth two factors
that can support an organization towards adjusting to impact motivation namely motivators and
hygiene (Jansen & Samuel, 2014). The motivators encourage the employees into working harder

HEALTH CARE 3
while the hygiene factors can be seen as dissatisfies in case they are present in a working
environment.
To start with the motivators, they concern the job content and also, they are intrinsic in
nature whereby they contain the physiological need to attain growth and recognition in an
organization. In my case, I embrace various motivators such as achievement, responsibility
autonomy, and professional growth that can bring positive implications to achieve employee
motivation in an organization. In case the motivators are absent they do not prove to be highly
dissatisfying but if they are present they establish strong motivation levels that contribute to
improved job performance. On the other hand, hygiene factors can be seen as the maintenance
elements that constitute physiological, love, and safety needs whereby Herzberg borrows them
from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Ozguner & Ozguner, 2014). Such factors cannot be directly
connected to the job but they can be based on the job conditions. Primarily, hygiene factors
dissatisfy the employees if absent but their presence does not establish strong motivation.
Hygiene factors include technical supervision, interpersonal relations with peers and supervisors,
subordinates, administration, company policy, job security, status, work conditions, salary, and
personal life (Matei & Abrudan, 2016). In my case, I have limited control towards hygiene
factors such as interpersonal relationships, organizational policies, and salary and benefits.
According to Herzberg, the hygiene factors are crucial to retain reasonable levels of satisfaction
and also, they can cause dissatisfaction. These factors also have the capacity to prevent
dissatisfaction and serve as the motivation starting point. Therefore, combining the motivators
and hygiene factors in an organization, they create a highly motivated working environment with
few complaints (Browne, Penn, Raykov, Pinkham, Kelsven, Buck & Harvey, 2016).