Which among the following is not a hygiene factor ?
Responsibility
Responsibility is a motivator, not a hygiene factor — option 4.
The theory. Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, also called the Motivation-Hygiene theory, came out of asking accountants and engineers to describe times when they felt exceptionally good and exceptionally bad about their work. The striking finding was that the two sets of answers named different things, not opposite ends of the same thing.
| Hygiene factors | Motivators | |
|---|---|---|
| Also called | Maintenance or dissatisfiers | Satisfiers |
| Where they lie | In the context of the job — the environment | In the content of the job — the work itself |
| Examples | Salary, supervision, company policy and administration, working conditions, job security, interpersonal relations, status | Achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, growth |
| If absent | Dissatisfaction | No satisfaction — but not dissatisfaction |
| If present | No dissatisfaction — but not satisfaction | Satisfaction and motivation |
The central claim. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not opposites. The opposite of dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction, and the opposite of satisfaction is no satisfaction. Hygiene factors can only remove unhappiness; they cannot create motivation. Fix the pay, the policies and the supervisor and people stop complaining — but they do not thereby start caring.
The test for this question : ask whether the item is part of the work or part of the surroundings. Salary, supervision and company policy are all surroundings. Responsibility — being trusted with a task and answerable for it — is part of the work itself, and therefore a motivator.
What Herzberg recommended. Since motivation comes from job content, he argued for job enrichment — adding depth to a job by giving more responsibility, autonomy and feedback — and distinguished it sharply from job enlargement, which merely adds more tasks of the same kind and, in his phrase, only adds “zero to zero”.
Hence, the answer is Responsibility.
Similar Questions
An individual's involvement in work primarily indicates his/her:
Boss offers an employee a promotion which has huge increase in salary along with a new title. It also requires employee to work ten hours more per week along with shifting to a remote place. It is an example of which one of the following?
Assertion (A): Equity theory of work motivation is based on social exchange process, in which individuals make contributions (inputs) and expect certain rewards (outcomes).
Reason (R): Individuals decide whether or not a particular exchange is satisfactory by comparing their inputs and outcomes with those of others and try to rectify inequality.
Codes:
Which one of the following is not a ‘hygiene factor’ of Herzberg's Two Factor theory ?
When an individual is motivated to approach two or more positive but mutually exclusive goals, he is facing which one type of the following conflicts ?
According to Vroom’s theory of motivation, which one of the following is correct ?
A theory of motivation that is concerned with the beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful effects of extrinsic motivation, is termed as :
Which of the following is not perceived as the basic element of motivation ?
An individual’s involvement in work primarily indicates his/her :
Statement (I): “Motivation is a continuous, complex and dynamic process”.
Statement (II): “As compared to other industries, extra motivation is required in service sector industries”.
Important Questions from Motivation
What do you think is the best tool to motivate students?
______ is the set of attributes used to describe oneself.
Which of the following statement is correct?
I. Praising children for ability and hard-work comes under intrinsic motivation
II. Giving children money or treats for good grades comes under extrinsic motivation
Parents and teachers often reward their child for successful completion of learning tasks. This practice stimulates which of the following motivation in a student?
I. Intrinsic motivation.
II. Extrinsic motivation.
Which of the following strategies can be used to enhance the motivation level of the learners?
I. Students should be encouraged to make decisions.
II. Students should be praised for desirable behaviour.
III. A teacher should spend more time on student weakness.
