McClelland’s Need Theory
McClelland’s Need Theory
McClelland’s Need Theory attempts to explain how the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation affect human motivation and the actions of the people.
McClelland's theory is primarily concerns that some people are driven success through
seeking “personal achievement rather than reward themselves (Saif et al., 2012, p.1387).
McClelland's theory can help to identify the
dominant motivators of people in the team of the organization (A. D2, 2013). An
organization can use this information to influence how the team set goals and
provide feedback and reward team members. There are instances when the manager
sets a target for the team, one of the team members always takes the charge of
the group (Kidwell,
2011). The team member is likely primarily driven by power. HR
professionals might face another team member who never speaks during the
meeting. They always agree with the group's decision and work hard to avoid
conflicts. This person is likely to have a strong need for affiliation (Brandon, 2015).
Figure 1.0 McClelland’s Motivation Theory
(McClelland & Burnham, 2008)
Characteristic
of McClelland’s theory
According to McClelland, every individual has these three
types of motivational needs regardless of their demography, culture and wealth.
These motivation types are driven by real-life experience (McClelland,
1961).
Need for Achievements
It is the need that drives the person to work regardless
of the obstacle that he wants to achieve. With respect to this, actual findings
suggest that it best matches the reward high income because individuals have
a higher need for achievement (Kirkcaldy and Furnham 1993; Tang
1995). Some
people avoid low-risk situations because of the lack of real challenges and
understanding is not genuine (Sowathbee, 2009). There are people who avoid
high-risk situations because they observe and understand is to be more about
luck and chance and not about one's effort. Their preference is to work in a
results-oriented work environment and appreciate feedback on their work (McClelland and
Burnham, 1976).
Need for Affiliation
Employees seek to work in
groups by creating a friendly and lasting relationship (Sinha, 2015). Actual findings
support that this assumption as they show that employees with a higher need for
affiliation feel better supported by their leader and show more emotional
attachment, trust, and warmth (Engeser and Langens 2010; Lewis 2000;
Wiesenfeld et al. 2001). These individuals work effectively in roles based on social interaction. They
like spending their time socializing and maintaining relationships and possess a
strong desire to be loved and accepted (Jaja, 2003).
Need for Power
The need for power is the desire within a
person to hold control and authority over another person (McClelland,
1990). An individual with a high power needs to invest in status enhancement despite severe costs because of
how highly they value prestige (Winter 1973). These people are strong leaders and can be
best suited to leading positions. They may also be very effective in
negotiations.
Implications of McClelland’s theory to Apparel Sector
On the manufacturing plant, team leaders fix a
set of goals for each department such as cutting, sewing, quality to somehow
achieve the ultimate goal is on-time delivery irrespective of the risk. In the
production department sewers should be multi-tasks and without particular for
the product. If the given task is not intimate should find solutions to perform
the task.
In the production plant, Managers can identify
some employees who are likely to be in groups except for the individual work.
They wish to collaborate with others despite the high risk and uncertainty.
Ultimately the team is motivated by the need for affiliation and ends up with
great teamwork.
Some employees can take the lead and lead the team members on the correct path to achieve the goal over the other teams. They extend their contribution because of their prestige and self-esteem. HR professionals evaluate the assigned task daily and weekly how far they have achieved. The managers showcase the individual or the team photo on the noticeboard with the winning title.
List of References.
A.D2 Nchorbono (2013) Examing the role of
motivation on employee performance in the public sector in Ghana. Merit
research journal of education and review Vol. 1(10) pp. 227-249
Engeser S, Langens T (2010) Mapping explicit social motives
of achievement, power, and affiliation onto the five-factor model of
personality. Scand J Psychol 51(4):309–318. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.
00773.
Jaja, S. A. (2003) Praxis
of Work Behavior, Pinnacle publishers, Lagos
Kirkcaldy B, Furnham A (1993) Predictors of beliefs about
money. Psychol Rep 73(3_suppl):1079–1082. doi:10.2466/pr0.1993.73.3f.1079
Kirkpatrick SA, Locke EA (1996) Direct and indirect effects of three core
charismatic leadership.
Kidwell, M. (2011). „AN
Analysis of Management Strategies and Incentives for Workplace Retention in
Competitive Organizations.‟ Doctoral Thesis, Capella University.
Lewis KM (2000) When leaders display emotion: how followers
respond to negative emotional expression of male and female leaders. J Organ
Behav 21(2):221–234. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-
1379(200003)21:2\221:AID-JOB36[3.0.CO;2-0
McClelland D.C. (1961),
The Achieving Society, The Free Press, New York
Saif, K.F., Nawaz, A., Jan, A. and
Khan, M.I. Synthesizing the theories of job-satisfaction across the
cultural/attitudinal dimensions. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary
Research in Business, 2012,3 (9): 1382-1396.
Sowathbee. (2009).
Blogspot. Retrieved From: Http://Motivation types.Blogspot.Com/
Sinha, D. K, (2015)
McClelland's Need for Achievement Theory. Retrieved on September 1 5 , 2 0 1 7
f r o m http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/entreprene u r s h i p / m o t i v a
t i o n - entrepreneurship/mcclellands-need-forachievement-theory/40683
Tang TL-P (1995) The development of a short money ethic
scale: attitudes toward money and pay satisfaction revisited. Pers Individ
Differ 19(6):809–816. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(95)00133-6
Wiesenfeld BM, Raghuram S, Garud R (2001) Organizational
identification among virtual workers: the role of need for affiliation and
perceived work-based social.
Sowathbee. (2009).
Blogspot. Retrieved From: Http://Motivation types.Blogspot.Com.
support. J Manag 27(2):213–229. doi:10.
1177/014920630102700205
Winter DG (1973) The power motive. Free Press, New York
Hi thiloka, agree with you, adding to your points, This theory applied to manage in the corporate teams by identifying and categorizing every team member amongst the three needs. Knowing their attributes certainly help to manage their expectations and running the team smoothly (Andersen,2018).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, Dineth. I agree with your view. He points out that individuals perceive the need for achievement differently and motive can be distinguished from other needs. Achievement motive can be isolated and assessed in any group (McClelland, 1961).
DeleteWell said Thiloka. Further McCleiiand proposed that an individual's specific needs are acquired over time and are shaped by one's life experiences. Most of these needs can be classed as either achievement, affiliation, or power (Kanika Kapoor, 2020).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, Upeksha. Among those motivational theories, Mcclelland's Theory of Needs explains the set of needs that lie behind motivation (Mcclelland, 1985).
DeleteTotally agree with you Thiloka. McClelland affirms that we all have these above-mentioned three motivating operators and those are not hang on our gender or age. One of these drivers controls our behavior. Accordingly, the dominant drive turns on based on employers’ life experiences (Bogaert, 2006).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThank you for your comments, Dileep. I agree with your view. Achievement-motivated people are those individuals who have an imbibed desire to improve upon their status. He notes that such individuals are people who focus on getting things done. These people have the potential of becoming managers but most often are not able to live up to expectations because they are job-oriented (McClelland, 1961).
DeleteWell Said and I would like to add more to this, Ranks human needs hierarchically in a five-level pyramid where people seek to satisfy their needs from bottom to top starting from a)Physiological, b) Safety, c) Belongingness, d) Esteem, and moving to e) Self-Actualization needs, the following points will explain the Maslow's need-hierarchy theory examples (Kakkos and Trivellas, 2011)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, Shazna. Every individual is not achievement-oriented (McClelland, 1961). McClelland’s research develops a different set of needs as the basis of motivation. He notes that some people need to achieve while others do not.
Delete