I am using Herzberg’s Two Factor model when analyzing managerial motivation theory in my workplace. My workplace has a few unique characteristics when it comes to motivating staff; the first is that we are union workers, the hospital can negotiate with the union to raise nursing pay across the board to attract or retain talent, but individual managers are powerless to provide financial incentives to individual employees or units for performance. The second unique characteristic is the national shortage of skilled critical care nurses. Once a nurse has reached a basic level of competence, skills becomes transferable anywhere and since every hospital is looking for nurses, job security is mobile and basically absolute. The hospital has an incentive to retain employees, even mediocre ones, in the ultra-competitive labor market for skilled nursing. The suits in the business suite have to manipulate the maintenance factors, factors that relate to job context, but unit managers have to motivate using motivational factors related to job content and motivate through recognition and appreciation of performance.

Hospital wide, nurses are motivated by leadership purely by maintenance factors. Herzberg theorized that maintenance factors such as pay and security are not positive motivational factors, and are only important as so much as their absence can be de-motivating. This is true subjectively and also according to research; an article in Nursing Management found that the factors affecting nursing dissatisfaction were staffing shortages, high volumes, burnout, psychological stress and other intrinsic factors. Compensation was not on the list (Duru & Hammoud, 2021). The hospital provides regular cost of living raises on top of our union negotiated scheduled raises, and offers options such as three-year retention bonuses to nurses, tuition reimbursement and certification bonuses. No nurse will says this out loud, but we were well compensated, but dissatisfaction and turnover was high.  The fact that I found motivation in the nature of my job tasks and that my hospital kept up with or exceeded most hospitals in wages was a motivating factor to me to remain at my job, but not a formula that worked for all. All financial incentives are equal and available to every nurse in the hospital system, from a flight nurse doing life-saving intubations in a helicopter, to a nurse doing vital signs at an outpatient primary care center. It is arguable that both jobs are of equal value, it is not arguable that both jobs require the same level of skills and training. This motivation technique is a comparable worth reward system. According to the text, a comparable worth system ensures that in different but comparable jobs, those of equal value to the employer, receive similar levels of pay (Newstrom, 2020). The hospital would be better off if it took advice from the article and focus on strategies to reduce workload, stress, enhance safety and provide more continuing education to motivate employees (Duru & Hammoud, 2021).

At a unit level, managers have little power to affect maintenance factors, but do have the ability to us motivational factors, Herzberg believed these factors to be much more valuable in increasing worker motivation. These intrinsic factors are based off an employee perceived value, job performance and recognition of good work, building motivation through self-empowerment (Newstrom, 2020). An article in the International Journal of Caring Science found that the most valued traits of leadership in nursing managers is a vision to raise employee beliefs, foster teamwork, encourage initiative, and have strong clinical knowledge themselves to provide professional advice (Demirhan et al., 2020). On my unit one technique that was used was periodic reviews and annual evaluation. This is a performance appraisal that should motivate and reward employees, give employees feedback about their work and coach and develop employees. This was also an opportunity for employee feedback for the management as well. Another was the chance to train to new roles in the department (triage, trauma, charge, etc); being driven mainly by achievement motivation this was a positive motivator for me, especially early in my career. For employees who were affiliation motivated there was a system by which you could “shout out” another employee for something positive on the break room board, and positive reviews from patient’s families on discharge surveys were emailed to the unit with the staff member credited.

References

Demirhan, B. S., Gezginci, E., & Goktas, S. (2020). The effect of leadership behaviours of nurse managers on nurses’ work motivation. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 13(1), 381–391. https://doaj.org/article/1ebe7274bf10486283b29569e15cfefe

Duru, D. C., & Hammoud, M. S. (2021). Identifying effective retention strategies for front-line nurses. Nursing Management, 29(1), 17–24. https://doi.org/10.7748/nm.2021.e1971

Newstrom, J. (2020). Organizational behavior: Human Behavior at Work (14th ed.) [VitalSource]. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

In the law enforcement profession, there are several different theories at play, and I think in the past few years, some have become more prevalent than others.

In the not to distant past, I would argue that two of the most common theories at play in the law enforcement profession would be goal-oriented and reinforcement theories. The goal-oriented theory suggests that the motivation comes from “a discrepancy between where we are and where we want to be” (Souders, 2019). An example of this would be a patrol officer knowing that they want to become a supervisor one day and focusing on what it will take to become one and striving for it. Similarly, the reinforcement theory “focused on the consequences of human behavior as a motivating factor” (Souders, 2019). Knowing that positive types of reinforcement come from good or well received behavior and negative reinforcement comes from bad or poorly received behavior also helps to guide officers during their time on shift and while working for the agency. An example of this would be how an officer handles a specific type of call. If the leadership audits a body cam and determines that was handled in a professional manner, then the positive accolades will lead the officer to believe that they are on the right path.

More recently, however, I feel that another theory has been added into the mix, mostly due to dwindling recruiting and retention numbers. I think that theory is the incentive theory. “Incentive theory suggests that behavior is driven by the promise of rewards or the threat of punishment” (Bandhu, et al., 2024). This works in a two-fold capacity because departments have issued more incentives such has hiring and retention bonuses, PT test bonuses, educational bonuses, and bonuses for specialized trainings such as Field Training Officers, Firearms Instructors, Use of Force Instructor, etc. It also works with the threat of punishment. Though recruiting and retention find themselves lower than in years past, law enforcement is under an even stronger microscope this day and age. A lot of officers have lost time or even their career for violating policies and the threat of not being able to provide for their families is a huge incentive for the majority to do the right thing and not stray from the standard.

References

Bandhu, D., Mohan, M. M., Nittala, N. A., Jadhav, P., Bhadauria, A., & Saxena, K. K. (2024). Theories of motivation: A comprehensive analysis of human behavior drivers. Acta Psychologica.

Souders, B. (2019, November 5). Motivation and What Really Drives Human Behavior. Retrieved from Positive.Psycology.com: https://positivepsychology.com/motivation-human-behavior/#:~:text=Goals%20are%20generated%20by%20what,Latham%2C%201990%2C%202002).

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