What is the ERG Theory of Motivation?

The best way to visualize ERG Theory is in the context of the Hierarchy of Needs as shown
below.

As can be seen from the diagram, ERG theory is an acronym for Existence, Relatedness, and
Growth.
These are the three basic needs that employees will try to satisfy. In the model, as one need is
filled, this will provide motivation for the employee to want to fulfill another need. All three
needs must be satisfied simultaneously in order for an individual to feel motivated.
Let’s examine what each of these terms means in turn.
1. Existence (E)
Existence refers to our basic survival needs as humans.
In this category are food and water, shelter, good health, and feeling safe. These needs can be
broadly described as our basic physiological and safety needs.
If you can’t satisfy your basic survival needs then it impossible to focus on other, higher
needs. For example, if you don’t have enough water to drink, and you don’t have ready
access to clean water, then your life is in immediate peril and finding water will occupy most
of your thoughts, at the expense of almost all other needs.
2. Relatedness (R)
Relatedness refers to our need to relate to other people, that is, it refers to the relationships we
have.
Having good relationships and interactions with other humans is a need we all share,
although obviously, this need isn’t as strong as our basic survival needs.
To feel happy and content most humans need to interact with others and for those interactions
to be positive in nature.
3. Growth (G)
Growth refers to our need for personal development, to be creative and to perform
meaningful work. Growth allows us to explore what our potential might be within our current
environment.
It’s easy to see why you might lack motivation if you are stuck doing the exact same job
every day without variety. Conversely, if your job provides interesting and varied challenges,
it’s easier to be motivated as you’re being presented with growth opportunities each day.
Frustration-Regression Principle
ERG Theory proposes that if a higher-level need fails to be filled then a person may regress
and seek to further fill lower-level needs instead.
For example, if an ambitious employee isn’t provided with growth opportunities, then their
motivation will be lower and they may become frustrated. This may cause them to seek out
more relatedness needs. They may socialize with other members of the team more.
Finally, if they are unable to satisfy their relatedness need, they may seek to further satisfy
their existence needs.
Difference from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Differences between the ERG Theory of Motivation and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
 Unlike in Maslow’s theory, needs at multiple levels can be pursued at the same time.
 In ERG Theory, if a higher-level need isn’t satisfied then the person may regress to
seeking to satisfy lower-level needs (Frustration-Regression principle).
 In Maslow’s theory needs must be satisfied in sequence from the bottom to the top of the
pyramid, one at a time. This is not the case with ERG Theory, where different levels of
needs can be satisfied at any time. For example, an individual can feel that they are
having their growth needs met whilst still feeling unsatisfied in their relationships.
Managerial Implications of ERG Theory
Let’s now examine how the ERG Theory of Motivation applies to the workplace.
To boost motivation, managers should look to promote all elements of ERG Theory
simultaneously. According to the theory, limiting your focus to just one or two aspects of the
theory will fail to motivate your team.
The aim is to act before Frustration-Regression starts to set in.
1. Existence
Employees won’t be happy if their basic needs are not met.
Remember that safety is one of these basic human needs. If employees don’t feel safe in their
work environment they are unlikely to be motivated.
 Are you doing everything you can to make your employees feel safe?
2. Relatedness
We all want good relationships. If we don’t get on with our boss it’s going to be difficult to
feel motivated. Likewise, if we have negative relationships with co-workers then our
motivation is likely to be low. We’ll look forward to leaving the office each day so we can
get back to our homes and switch to having more positive relationships with our families.
 Are any of the team working isolated or working alone all day?
3. Growth
In the workplace, we have a need to grow. If we work hard year after year and everything
stays exactly the same we’re going to find it difficult to stay motivated. We need growth.
This could mean recognition of our achievements, respect from peers, pay raises, increases in
responsibility, or increased respect from peers.
 Do any of your team feel they are stuck in a dead-end job?
 Is each member of your team aware of the growth opportunities available to them?
 Do you tend to hire internal or external candidates for new positions? Preferring
internal candidates can provide growth opportunities to your existing team.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, also known as Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation, is a
popular motivational theory explaining that as humans, our actions are motivated by our
desire to meet specific needs.
Maslow focused in particular on the needs of employees in the workplace. His theory
proposes that there are five types of needs that employees need to have fulfilled in the
workplace for them to reach their full potential.
The five needs come in a particular order. When one of the needs is satisfied, the employee
would be motivated by having the opportunity to meet the next set of needs in the hierarchy.
Background
Abraham Harold Maslow (1908 – 1970) was an American psychologist who is most well
known for creating Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
He first published this theory in a 1943 paper entitled, “A Theory of Human Motivation.”
In 1954, Maslow explained the theory in more detail in his book, “Motivation and
Personality.” Other books written by Maslow include, “Toward a Psychology of Being”, and
“Maslow on Management”.
Maslow was awarded the accolade of Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist
Association in 1967.
Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation
The earliest version of the theory, and still the most popular version today shows the five
motivational needs drawn in a pyramid.
From the bottom to the top, Maslow’s five levels of needs are physiological needs, safety
needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.
The pyramid represents a hierarchy. What this means is that only when a lower level need has
been fully met would an employee then be motivated by the opportunity to meet the next
level of their needs.
A classic example to explain this phenomenon is to consider a person who is dying of thirst
in a dessert. They will not be motivated by higher level motivators, such as the opportunity to
improve their French. Instead, they will only be motivated by their desire to quench their
thirst, so they continue to live. This basic need must be met first.
The key to understanding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is to realize that your needs are
continually changing. What motivated you five years ago will not motivate you today.
Let’s examine each of Maslow’s 5 Levels of Needs in turn.
Deficiency Needs and Growth Needs
The model can be broken down into deficiency needs and growth needs.
Deficiency needs (D-needs) are those needs which motivate people when they are unmet. The
first four levels in the hierarchy are deficiency needs.
Note that the longer deficiency needs go unmet, the stronger the desire to fulfill that need will
become, therefore satisfying these needs is vital to avoid unpleasant feelings. So for example,
the longer you go without water, the more crucial getting water will become to you.
The top-level of the hierarchy concerns growth needs. Confusingly, these are commonly
known as B-needs, which simply means “being” needs.
Maslow’s 5 Levels of Needs
According to Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation, you begin by being motivated to meet
your lowest level of needs. Only once you have done this do you move on to being motivated
to meet the next level of needs. This process continues until you reach the top level, self-
actualization.
Although the theory was initially proposed as a rigid hierarchy, Maslow later modified it so
that the progression up the hierarchy doesn’t have to be so strict and that levels can overlap to
some extent. This makes sense because for some people achieving status (level 4) might be
more important than attaining love (level 3).
Level 1: Physiological Needs
Physiological needs are the basic physical needs that you must meet for you to live. They are
vital to your survival.
These needs include food to eat, water to drink, air to breathe, shelter to protect you from the
elements, warmth to avoid freezing, and sleep to refresh you.
Note that Maslow included sex within this category as a basic physical need because
reproduction is vital to the survival of the human species.
Level 2: Safety Needs
Once you have met your physiological needs the next needs you will look to satisfy are your
safety needs. Once our basic physical needs are satisfied, we all want to feel safe and secure.
These needs include being free from war, natural disasters, and violence.
In the workplace, these needs include job security, a safe working environment, having
access to grievance procedures, saving some money each month, and knowing you have
health insurance should you become ill.
Physiological needs and safety needs combined are often referred to as your basic needs.
Level 3: Social Needs
Once you meet your safety needs, the next needs you will look to satisfy are your social
needs. At this level, you’ll have a desire to develop your interpersonal relationships. You
want to feel as though you belong.
These needs include intimacy, friendship, and family.
According to Maslow, at this level, you will feel you need to belong to one or more groups.
The group could be a family group, a workplace group, or a social group. Belonging to a
group is commonly called affiliating, whereby you officially attach yourself to a club or
group.
Feeling that people love you, that they care about you, and that you belong, can help you
avoid issues such as loneliness, anxiety, and depression.
Level 4: Esteem Needs
Once you meet your needs at the lower three levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, your
esteem needs will become more important in influencing and driving your behavior.
Esteem needs are your ego needs and status needs. At this level, you will be motivated by
getting recognition from others, achieving high status, achieving respect, and feeling
important.
In a nutshell, you want to feel like you are making a contribution to the world and that others
recognize this contribution.
According to Maslow, there are actually two sets of esteem needs, lower esteem, and higher
esteem. Lower esteem is simply the need for respect from others, whereas higher esteem is
self-respect.
Note that if you meet your lower-esteem needs, but your higher esteem needs are unmet, then
it can be common to suffer from a condition knows as imposter syndrome.
Esteem needs and social needs together are often called our psychological needs.
The lower four levels combined make up your deficiency needs – needs, which if unmet, will
motivate you to fill them. We can now move on to look at growth needs.
Level 5: Self-Actualization Needs
Self-actualization, or fulfillment needs, is the drive to become the best that you can be. It’s
about achieving your full potential as a human being.
You can think of the first four levels of the hierarchy as being a set of levels you must master
to enable you to reach the self-actualization level.
Because we are each unique, at this final level, each of us will pick something individual to
us at which we want to excel. It could be a desire to be the best parent. It could be a desire to
be the best athlete you can be. It could be a desire to create the most beautiful art. It is a
unique desire that motivates us each day.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the Workplace
All of the needs that Maslow described in his Theory of Human Motivation are ones which
employees will want to have satisfied in the workplace. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
doesn’t just exist for our personal lives but in all aspects of our lives.
To motivate employees, the organization needs to think of ways of incentivizing employees
so that they feel as though each need is being met. This will give the employee the motivation
to progress up the hierarchy.
Here are some examples of actions employers can take to motivate employees using
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
1. Physiological Needs in the Workplace
If your employees can’t meet their basic physiological needs, then they won’t be motivated to
try and move to the next level.
As an employer, you should ensure that your employees have a comfortable work
environment, including access to clean water and restrooms.
2. Safety Needs in the Workplace
Employee morale will be low if employees don’t feel safe. That could mean that they are
working in an unsafe environment, or it could mean that they are in fear of losing their job.
As an employer, you should ensure your employees are working in a safe environment, and
that you treat them fairly. Handle redundancies and layoffs sensitively and carefully.
3. Social Needs in the Workplace
Employees want to feel as though they belong.
As an employer, you should ensure you provide team building socializing opportunities to
your employees. It would help if you also communicated regularly with your team to keep
them “in-the-loop” as to what’s going on in the organization. Regular communication is
especially important if you manage remote workers.
 4. Esteem Needs in the Workplace
Employees want to feel that they are doing a good job and that they are receiving recognition
for their efforts.
As an employer, there are many ways you can recognize employees to boost their esteem.
Recognition can include career opportunities, special assignments, training, praise, perks and
awards, and engaging employees in the decision-making process.
5. Self-Actualization Needs in the Workplace
When all the other needs have been met, employees will want to be the best they can be at
their job.
As an employer, it is your responsibility to help employees become the best version of
themselves. Work with each employee to put them in challenging situations where they feel
empowered to deliver. However, be careful that they aren’t in too challenging a situation as
this will be demotivating.
Advantages and Disadvantages
There are several advantages and disadvantages associated with Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs.
Advantages
 The model is easy to understand and apply at a basic level.
 It expresses the human desire to achieve and have more and more over time.
 It’s a holistic approach to motivation. Maslow’s model helps us understand that an employee
won’t be motivated to perform even if promised a great reward when they are tired, cold, and
hungry.
Disadvantages
 There is no way to test Maslow’s concept of self-actualization empirically.
 It doesn’t take account of cultural differences. For example, the need to feel part of a team is
higher in China that it is in the US.
 Each person will value each need in a greater or lesser way. Esteem needs can be essential to
you, but your peer may place a higher value on safety needs. For example, Van Gogh self-
actualized through art but lived in poverty for his whole lifetime. This calls into question the
need to move up the hierarchy one step at a time.
 In reality, we typically don’t focus on meeting one need and then meeting the next need.
Instead, we can seek to satisfy many needs at the same time.
Tips to Self-Actualize
If you’re interested in being the best that you can be and reaching the top of Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs, then here are some tips to help you get there. Although you will achieve
self-actualization in your own unique way, there are many everyday habits and traits that
people at this level share.
 Try doing something new instead of always doing things in the same way.
 Form your own opinions and beliefs instead of simply believing the perceived wisdom.
 Be honest. Never manipulate people.
 Be prepared to go against the crowd.
 Take responsibility for your own success and life.
 Work hard.
 Identify limiting beliefs and feelings that are holding you back and work to overcome them.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Upgraded
In 1970 Maslow upgraded his original five-level model on two occasions. First, to include
cognitive and aesthetic needs, and later to include transcendence needs.
Maslow’s 7 Stage Hierarchy of Needs
Sometimes called Maslow’s 7 Basic Needs, Maslow updated his model to include more
growth needs while keeping the deficiency needs the same.
You can see The 7 Level Hierarchy of Needs in the diagram below:

These two levels have the following meaning:

1. Cognitive needs
Once you have fulfilled your deficiency needs, Maslow believed that you would then be
motivated by expanding your knowledge.
Cognitive needs reflect our need to discover, experiment, and learn how the world around us
works to expand our understanding.
This is a crucial step towards self-actualization as it involves opening your mind up and
exploring new ideas based on evidence.
2. Aesthetic Needs
The next step in moving towards self-actualization is fulfilling your aesthetic needs.
Once you have met your cognitive needs, you’ll seek to meet your aesthetic needs. This can
mean appreciating beautiful things in your life, but it can also mean achieving balance. For
example, walks in nature can lead to us feeling refreshed. Likewise experiencing music can
also leave us feeling rejuvenated.
When we meet our aesthetic needs we feel intimately connected to the beauty of the world
around us.
Maslow’s 8 Stage Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s 8 Stage Hierarchy of Needs again kept deficiency needs the same and added one
final level to the seven basic needs.
This is shown in the diagram below:

Transcendence is the very peak of the pyramid in the 8 Stage version of Maslow’s Hierarchy
of Needs and refers to our spiritual needs.
We become motivated by values which transcend beyond our self.
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION:
In a general sense, you can think of motivation as working as follows:

As you can see, each of us has needs. Your needs will be different from my needs. But each
of us is motivated by our needs to exhibit certain behaviors. The aim of our behaviors is
obviously to meet our needs.
Whether our needs are satisfied or not can then cause us to change our needs. In this way, the
cycle begins again with our new needs, potentially causing us to exhibit new behavior.
Content Theories vs. Process Theories
As we’ve already discussed, there are many different theories of motivation in existence, and
each of them is different. However, they can be categorized into two groups, known as
Content Theories and Process Theories.
1. Content Theories:
Content theories are also sometimes called needs theories. They look at motivation from the
perspective of our needs and aspirations. The theories then discuss motivation in terms of
filling these needs.
You can think of content theories of motivation as focusing on WHAT will motivate us.
 The main content theories of motivation are – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Alderfer’s ERG
Theory, McClelland’s Three Needs Theory, Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory, and McGregor’s
Theory X and Theory Y.
2. Process Theories
Process theories look at how people are motivated. They are concerned with the process by
which motivation occurs, and how we can adjust our processes to alter motivation levels.
You can think of process theories of motivation as focusing on HOW motivation occurs.
The main process theories of motivation are – Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory, Vroom’s
Expectancy Theory, Adam’s Equity Theory, and Locke’s Goal Setting Theory.

Let’s now give a brief overview of each of these theories of motivation. If you’d like to dig
deeper, then we have provided links to an article covering the theory in greater depth.
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow described needs in terms of a hierarchy. The concept being that needs at the bottom
of the hierarchy must be satisfied before an individual can move to the next level and seek to
satisfy those needs.
Now, each individual’s needs are changing all the time, but at any time, an employer can use
the hierarchy to try and determine what is going to motivate an employee.
The five levels of the hierarchy are:
 Physiological needs: such as food and water.
 Safety needs: such as being free from war, natural disasters, and having job security.
 Social needs: such as having relationships and belonging to groups.
 Esteem needs: such as receiving praise, recognition, and status.
 Self-actualization needs: such as wanted to be the best we can be.
When using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a business should offer different rewards to
encourage employees to keep moving up the hierarchy. This will keep employees motivated.
2. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
Herzberg argued that there are two factors which are essential in the motivation of
employees. These are motivators and hygiene factors.
 Motivators: these encourage employees to work harder if present. Examples of motivators
include having an interesting job, advancement, and growth.
 Hygiene factors: These don’t encourage employees to work harder, but they will cause them
to become unmotivated if they are not present. Examples of hygiene factors include working
conditions and remuneration.
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory believed that to motivate employees, employers should:
 Eliminate job hygiene stressors: remove those things that are causing poor job satisfaction,
for example, poor working conditions.
 Boost job satisfaction: through job enrichment (making the job more interesting by giving it
more complex tasks) and job empowerment (making the post more satisfying by giving it a
greater variety of functions).
 Empower employees: by delegating increasing responsibility to each employee.
3. McClelland’s Three Needs Theory
McClelland’s Three Needs Theory argues that each of us has three needs to a greater or lesser
extent. The three needs are:
 Need for achievement: for example if you are motivated by setting a new record, or by the
opportunity to get promoted.
 Need for affiliation: for example if you are motivated by collaborating with others or being
accepted as part of a group.
 Need for power: for example if you are motivated by being in charge of others, or if you are
motivated by having high status.
Some people live at the extremes for each of these needs. For example, a team member with
no need for power might be subordinate and overly dependent, whereas a team member with
too much need for power might exaggerate their own abilities.
Managers can use the Three Needs Theory to set motivational targets tailored to each
member of their team.
4. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y puts employees into two broad categories.
a. Theory X
Theory X assumes that team members are intrinsically lazy and unmotivated, and will avoid
doing work if any opportunity presents itself.
Because of this, management must work tirelessly and continually to build systems of control
and supervision over employees.
b. Theory Y
Theory Y assumes that team members are ambitious and self-motivated. A Theory Y
manager holds the view that if provided with the right conditions, team members will
perform well.
McGregor himself was in favor of adopting a Theory Y style of management in most cases.
Employers looking to use Theory Y might:
 Use job enlargement to increase job satisfaction.
 Use a collaborative style of management, so employees feel they are a crucial part of decision
making.
 Set targets that encourage employees to challenge themselves.
5. Alderfer’s ERG Theory
You can think of the ERG Theory of Motivation is being a simplified version of Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs.
In ERG Theory, there are three needs which are also arranged in a hierarchy.
 Existence needs: These needs concern your physical well being. These are needs, such as
food, water, and feeling safe.
 Relatedness needs: These needs concern your need to relate to other people. They are needs,
such as the need to have positive interactions with others.
 Growth needs: These needs refer to our personal development needs and desire to perform
meaningful work. For example, an exciting job with lots of small growth opportunities every
day to learn something new will tend to keep us motivated.
There are a couple of differences to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Firstly, you can pursue multiple needs at the same time. Secondly, if a higher level need is
not satisfied, then you may regress and seek to meet lower level needs further.
6. Adam’s Equity Theory
 Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation proposes that high levels of employee motivation in the
workplace can only be achieved when each employee perceives their treatment to be fair
relative to others.
If you earn half what your colleague earns but do precisely the same work what will you do?
Adam’s suggest that you will adjust your inputs (the amount of work you do) to compensate
for the perceived unfairness of receiving half the pay (output).
In a nutshell, Adam’s says that as an employee, you’ll compare yourself to others and try to
make things fair as you perceive them. As an employee, you can’t change your outputs (your
pay and benefits), so you’ll adjust your inputs by either working harder or less hard to make
things fair.
According to Equity Theory, there are several ways an employee will assess their situation:
 By considering their experience within their current organization.
 By examining their experience within their previous organization.
 By comparing themselves to others in their current organization.
 By comparing themselves to others outside of their current organization.
7. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
Expectancy Theory states that a person will choose their behavior based on what they expect
the result of that behavior to be.
According to Expectancy theory, the behavior you choose will always be the one that
maximizes your pleasure and minimizes your pain.
For an employee to be motivated, the following three factors must be present:
 Expectancy: The belief that if you put the effort in it will be possible for you to hit your
targets.
 Instrumentality: The belief that you will receive a reward if you hit your targets.
 Valence: You must value and want the prize on offer.
You can determine the motivation level of any employee by multiplying expectancy,
instrumentality, and valence. The higher the result, the higher the motivation.
8. Taylor’s Motivation Theory – Scientific Management
Taylor’s Scientific Management was one of the first motivation theories.
Taylor’s theory can be broken down into two parts.
 A Theory about how employees behave.
 Principles to maximize efficiency based on this theory.
Taylor believed employees were only motivated by one thing, money.
Because workers are only motivated by money, then they don’t inherently enjoy work.
Because of this, employers should monitor workers closely to ensure they are not slacking.
Based on his philosophy that employees are lazy, Taylor’s principles boiled down to the
following:
 Study employee’s jobs so they can be broken down into manageable parts.
 Describe each component in an efficient, repeatable way.
 Train each employee to perform the task in this new efficient way.
 Use piece rate pay to encourage employees to be productive.
9. Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory of Motivation
The Self-Efficacy Theory of Motivation is a task-specific way of thinking about motivation.
The higher your self-efficacy, the greater your belief that you can perform a specific task.
 This is important to motivation because people with low self-efficacy are unlikely to give
their full effort to a task.
Four factors combine to determine a person’s self-efficacy for a task:
 Experience: If you have performed a similar job previously, then you are more likely to be
confident in your ability next time.
 Vicarious experience: You can develop self-efficacy by watching others complete a task.
 Social persuasion: Encouragement from others will increase your self-efficacy.
Discouragement from others will have the opposite effect.
 Physiological feedback: When you perform a task, your body will provide physiological
feedback. How you interpret this feedback feeds into determining your self-efficacy.
Typically, the more at ease you are with a type of task, the higher your self-efficacy.
10. Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory of Motivation
Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory of Motivation tries to explain what motivates good and bad
behavior in the workplace.
According to the theory, there are four factors which influence motivation with a schedule.
The four elements are levers, which can be used to change motivation levels. They are:
 Positive reinforcement: is a reward you give an employee when they exhibit the desired
behavior.
 Negative reinforcement: is a reward you provide an employee by removing something
negative from their environment.
 Punishment: Is when you use the threat of negative consequences to stop undesirable
behavior.
 Extinction: Extinction refers to stopping someone’s learned behavior. You can extinguish a
behavior by withholding the positive reinforcement that led to that behavior in the first place.
You may have noticed that we mentioned that these levers happen within a schedule. This
means that reinforcement of behavior needs to be more than a single event. It needs to happen
over and over again until the desired behavior is established.
As a manager, using Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory of Motivation can help you to
encourage good behavior and discourage undesirable behavior.
11. Mayo’s Motivation Theory
Mayo’s Theory of Motivation is based on the belief that two factors influence motivation in
the workplace:
 Job content: the tasks that make up your job.
 Social relations: how you get on and interact with your peers.
Mayo acknowledged that pay and environmental factors play a role in employee motivation,
but he believed that relational factors played an even more significant role.
Mayo believed that it was the group that influenced productivity. The importance of the
group cannot be overstated. It is the group that determines productivity, not pay, and not
processes.
Mayo determined how well a group would perform in terms of two factors:
 Norms: Refers to whether the members of the group encourage positive or negative behavior.
 Group cohesiveness: The comradery of the group. Effectively, how well the group gets
along with each other.
 Groups that have high cohesiveness and positive norms will be the most highly motivated and
therefore highest performing. Conversely, groups with negative norms and weak group
cohesiveness will be very unmotivated.
Mayo is important because he was the first to recognize that if you treat an employee well,
they might be more productive for you. These days that might seem like an obvious
statement, but in the time of Mayo, it wasn’t.
12. Locke’s Goal Setting Theory
Locke’s Goal Setting Theory of Motivation is based on the premise that if you set the right
goals, then you can increase both motivation and productivity.
So, what are the right goals?
To be the right goals, goals must have five characteristics:
 Clarity: To be motivating a goal must be clear.
 Challenge: To be motivating a goal must be challenging but not too challenging.
 Commitment: To be motivating, you must be committed to achieving your goal.
 Feedback: You must receive regular feedback or a goal will not continue to motivate you
over the long term
 Task complexity: To motivate you, a goal must not be too complicated.
Locke believed that goal setting could be a powerful tool in motivating your team, and
yourself, to high performance. He also found that badly set goals, such as a target that is
entirely outside of your control, can be demotivating.