Frederick Herzberg points out that satisfaction at work is not the
opposite of dissatisfaction. The graphic below is from:
Frederick Herzberg "One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?"
Harvard Business Review, September-October 1987, pp. 109-120
Herzberg asked some employees to describe events in their job that
either a) caused "extreme dissatisfaction" or b) cause "extreme
satisfaction". He then categorized the event in terms of the categories
on the graphic below. The top part of the graphic relates to events in
categories he described as "intrinsic motivators". The bottom part of
the graphic relates to events in categories he thought of as "hygiene
factors". Dissatisfaction events extend the bar to the left from the
center, in light gray, satisfaction events extend the bar to the right
from the center, in dark gray. For example, the top horizontal bar in
the graphic relates to events that Herzberg categorized as
"achievement". About 10 percent of all events were "extreme
dissatisfaction" and in the achievement category (failure). 40 percent
were "extreme satisfaction" / achievement. (The percentages don't add
up to 100 across the graphic because events can be in more than one
category).
The arrangement of the graphic emphasizes that the events that make
people dissatisfied are in different categories from the events that
make people satisfied. Herzberg argues that you can't increase
motivation much by concentrating on removing dissatisfaction, you have
to increase satisfaction, and that there will be a large difference
between these two approaches.
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