Many educators suggest that current economic conditions and legislative initiatives within our states and nation have lead to low morale and lack of motivation for school employees. Using Herzberg's Hygiene theory and Maslow's Needs theory, please share your views on how and why current conditions may impact teacher motivation and share strategies that a building principal might employ to build morale and increase motivation.
Job dissatisfaction contributes to low employee morale. As noted in Herberg's Hygiene Theory, employees will perform at a minimum level as a result of undesirable working conditions. The economic climate can certainly be considered as an enviromental factor that hinges on working conditions. If the economic climate is good, morale has the potential to be high and vice versa if the climate is bad.
ReplyDeletePeople are threatened with possible job loss and fear the worst. This causes employees not to be motivated and to think about the loss of salary and the possible occurrence of personal life calamities if they are no longer employed. People generally have a desire to work. This causes them to have a good feeling about themselves and the job they perform. When they feel threaten by job loss, they feel overwhelmed, challenged and become unproductive.
As outlined by Abraham Maslow, once the basic needs of food and safety are met, people tend to reach their potential in productivity within an organization. However, motivation and exerting efforts for the good of the school organization will only last so long. All conditions for stimulation must be in place for employees to put forth more effort, persistence and direction in the accomplishment of a job responsibility.
Maslow's hiearchy of needs theory also gives strategies to building principals in order for them to motivate teahers and staff. The strategies include: Personal Regard, Communication, Recognition and Participation.
Every opportunity should be put forth to applaud and/or to recognize staff successes. People want to feel that they are needed and that they are making a positive contribution. As it relates to a building principal motivating the staff, a display board could be set up or an electronic video that shows a "staff of the month" and their recognition. This will bring on competition to assist the school in its goals of meeting outcomes. If the principal is genuine, the followers, in most instances, will have great work ethics.
Brenda A. Causey-Mitchell
Educational Leadership
Dr. Jason Jeffery, Instructor
Staff members can become easily discouraged and unmotivated. They are working in a high stakes environment with No Child Left Behind, low pay, new state cut scores and an every changing educational landscape. This equates to high stress.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Maslow's Hierarchy of Need's and Herzberg's Motivation Hygiene Theory we can motivate our staff if they has a sense of belonging, ego-status and self-actualizing. All employees want to feel good and appreciate abou their jobs/professions. In this ever changing job market, we have to be creative when motivating them.
We do a lot of affirming with our staff. We do it daily, weekly and monthly. Adminstrator's do Spot Awards. These awards are giving to staff members who go above and beyond the call of duty. We recognize the staff member during a meeting, give them a card with the reason writing inside and we include a gift card. We also encourage our staff to recognize each other through peer recognition. The staff member fills out a form to recognize a peer for a variety of reasons. They give the original copy to their colleague and they give the copy to the staff. Then, once a month, they are read outloud at a staff meeting and then they are put into a container and two or three sheets are picked and they are awarded lunch. The staff really enjoy this.
Another way to motivate is to make sure that everyone feels that they are all working for a common vision and mission and that they are doing their part. We must recognize and embrace their expertise.
Schools within the Detroit Public school system are faced with ever increasing challenges over the last few years. Children are coming to school more often than not faced with physiological needs like food, shelter and safety while at the same time their teachers are faced with looming layoffs, a reduction in resources and state mandates. Maslow would contend that the children's physiological and safety needs must be addressed in order the for children to be motivated to learn. Herzberg would contend that the environmental challgenges Detroit teachers face are "job dissatisfiers" or hygiene factors. My thought for administrators and principles is that development of learning communities within the school system would help schools and teachers face these challenges together in a collaborative fashion that focuses on learning. This means focusing on the success of each student where they are. This might involve designing strategies to ensure these struggling students receive additional time, support and resources no matter what classroom they are in. Designing team/school strategies to address the physiological and safety needs of the children would acknowledge the increased pressures they and the children they teach face each day and pull on the accumulated knowledge and expertise of the group to design these stategies. Herzberg would see the factors that might be involved in designing team/school strategies as "motivators" or "job satisfiers" because they fulfill the need for pscyhological growth. The learning community approach would also give teachers the sense that they were in some way impacting these physiological factors in a timely, specific way that is action oriented. The culture of collaboration is centered on teachers working in teams and engaging in an ongoing cycle of qustions that promote deep team learning.
ReplyDeleteThe current state of schools nationwide has a feeling of anxiety in the safety level of Maslow's Need Hierarchy and do not promote motivation. Two organizational factors in this level are job security and fringe benefits. These two factors are very shaky. Teachers in many districts receive layoff notices annually. This does not bode well for a feeling of job security. Many are just waiting for the pink slip and unsure of what the future holds. Some school districts have asked teachers to work with the promise of getting paid. Highland Park schools in Michigan faced that problem recently. They faced a payless payday, if they did not let the state government take over the district’s school system. http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/02/23/highland-park-school-system-facing-payless-payday/
ReplyDeleteAt one point, teachers did not have to contribute for their healthcare cost. Recently they have been asked to make a larger contribution each year.
Both of these issues contribute to low morale and motivation. These are issue that a building principal has little or no control over. What the principal can do is concentrate on making sure the basic needs are met. Another way is keeping a steady line of communication with the staff about what is happening. Teachers should be made aware of changes that affect them before the media when ever possible.
The current conditions certainly take a huge chunk out of morale from the bottom part of Maslow's theory. Often the first things to go when things get tough economically are those things that make us most comfortable, i.e. coffee machines, and basic supplies. I have experienced this first hand in my school as we have slowed down on the amount of water we order for the teachers. This causes us to run out mid week and causes some unrest. If people start feeling like there is no concern for their health, motivation goes down in suit. It is also very possible that when things start changing, and changing quickly, that administrators would begin to make decisions in a vacuum and the sense of collaboration or buy in from teachers would be thrown out the window for the sake of expediency. This can be seen in many schools. A leader, under a great deal of pressure to produce and with a completely different set of circumstances, may go Napoleon and start acting as if they are the only one involved and the only one with skin in the game. All in all the conditions we face today as they have been referred to before, are those of a perfect storm. As an administrator I think it is important to slow down and address these things head on. Talk about them openly and provide creative solutions while asking for lots of feedback along the way. Incorporating this feedback is key as well. Even when it comes to the hygiene factors a leader must consider where they too can make cuts. They should make this known to the staff to create a sense of solidarity. The leader should also involve the staff in the change process and decision making process, they are the best resources that are already on staff so they will not require any more capital. If a leader does not have a staff full of people they can trust to help make decision and increase the self actualization of those people, there is a whole other set of issues that needs to be explored.
ReplyDeleteMaslow’s Needs Theory is based on the study of motivation of a person. Maslow’s theory is identified in five basic groups of human needs that emerge in a specific sequence or pattern- that is, in a hierarchy of importance (Lunenberg and Orstein, 2008). As each need gets satisfied the next need presents itself. The levels are physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. Herzberg’s Motivation- Hygiene theroy is based off from Maslow’s needs theory. Herzberg’s is a two-factor theory, which seeks to determine factors that cause motivation. Herzberg looks at what cause employee’s job satisfiers (or motivators) and job dissatisfies (or hygiene factors).
ReplyDeleteWith current issues that school leader face in education today it makes it more difficult to keep the morale up with their staff. School leaders are facing economic conditions and legislative initiatives with means building principals need to use Maslow’s and Herzberg’s motivation theories to boast morale and increase employee motivation. Using Maslow’s five step needs theory a principal would need to be aware of the employee’s basic needs are being met. Starting with food and shelter to an employee being the best they can be. Staff’s basic need of food and shelter is met with pay, pay increases, and fringe benefits. Safety needs are met with the employee feeling safe and secure with their working environment and conditions. Social needs are taken care of when principals try to develop a team atmosphere, when staff truly collaborates on issues with instructions and behaviors of students and teachers have professional development opportunities. Esteem needs are created when employees are recognition and respect. A principal can use various methods to create respect with staff are starting staff meetings with teachers best practices, and using walk-through method daily. Self-actualization needs, which are basically achieving ultimate satisfaction when one is met than the other, become more important.
Using Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory gives a principal an opportunity to build morale and increase employee motivation. A principal would need to look at what makes an employee happy or a “job satisfiers” and what make an employee upset or a “job dissatisfies”. Job satisfiers are achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth. A principal would need to create an environment of respect and recognition of positive teaching behaviors. Job dissatisfies are policies, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and salary. A principal can create more motivation with a school by having an open door policy and being open to all channels of communication. By staying up to date with all contract policies which will create total fairness throughout the building a principal will insure the staff that there are no “favorites”. A principal should also use these theories to create a complete team atmosphere so staff is on board with all policies and procedures. This will help make all working conditions comfortable and equal to all employees. This is how a principal can use Maslow’s and Herzberg’s motivation theories to better the morale and increase the motivation of their staff.
Motivation within a job is a key to success. If you lack motivation not be as productive. In a school setting productivity is key. Herzberg and Maslow both created theories on motivation to increase employee moral. Maslow created a hierarchical theory where needs are ranked on a scale and once one is met the next important need arises and takes precedent until it is met. This affects teachers and principals alike in that if your basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing (need 1) are not met then you are not going to focus much on your job. Growth and achievement are the last on the scale (need 5) and you cannot fully expect your employees to be working satisfactory until needs 1-4 are adequately meet. Therefore it is imperative as an administrator to know your staff both inside the building and out. Know their needs and try to meet them as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, Herzberg also developed a theory based on motivation. He called his the Motivation-Hygiene Theory, which was based off of Maslow’s. Herzberg created two categories (satisfiers and dissatisfiers). Satisfiers made you more productive in your job. Dissatisfiers did not make you more productive only less productive; they did not deal directly with your job. It is important for a principal to make sure again that the dissatisfiers are meet adequately so that he or she can improve on the satisfiers and make the employee a better more productive one.
Principals can properly meet the needs of their staff and build moral in a variety of ways. The top element that Herzberg recorded in his findings was recognition and achievement. If you can allow your staff to set goals, achieve them, and then recognize them, you are on your way to creating a healthy staff environment.
Motivation has been described as an individual’s intrinsic desire or want to complete a task (Herzberg, 1987; Lunenburg & Ornstein, 2008).Both Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory and Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory have been utilized to discuss how and why motivation could be improved within the work environment. Lunenburg and Ornstein (2008) describe Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory as a two factor theory in comparison to Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory, which would be considered a five-factor theory (Pg. 97). However, both theories have components that deal with an individual obtaining “basic” necessities, such as physiological and safety needs, as well as complex or higher level needs, such as social and psychological growth. Unfortunately, due to the economic conditions and legislative initiatives, work environments and administrative staff are not providing motivation to their employees.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, a vast amount of work places are not able to provide their employees with comparable wages for the amount of work and effort put into completing tasks. Some organizations are unable to provide safe and clean working environments because their income is not stable enough to complete building maintenance. As a result, employees are unable to meet their basic needs, such as having adequate food and shelter, or having a safe work environment. Unfortunately, any organization that is not capable of fulfilling lower level needs typically isn’t capable of fulfilling higher level needs. If an employer is unable to fulfill lower level needs, then it is likely that they will not be able to provide additional opportunities for growth, such as recognition or mentoring. If both lower level needs and higher level needs remain unmet, there is an increased likelihood that high morale and motivation will be low.
As a building principal, there are several steps that could be taken to increase morale and motivation. First, in order to fulfill the lower level needs, I would encourage, as well as participate, in a “keep it clean” initiative within the school. I would make the suggestion that faculty, staff, students, and parents take time out on a Saturday to help do some renovations to the school. By providing these individuals with some knowledge on the economic instability of the school, these individuals may be more willing to participate. It would also be very important to discuss what benefits could be reaped from having a safer and cleaner environment. Second, I would attempt to find ways to make sure that my employees were able to provide food and shelter to their families and were being compensated for their time and work. Third, I would take the time out both publicly and personally to recognize these individuals for their hard work. I would also try to make sure that I am providing them with ample and adequate supervision. As a result, I would create staff meetings and one-on-one meetings to discuss the needs of the employees. Finally, I would provide these individuals with challenging opportunities, which in some instances may force them to step out of their comfort zones. However, I would make sure that these opportunities would be advantageous to these individuals and would in some way lead to psychological or social growth. For instance, a building supervisor may request that teachers write an article on their field of expertise. This activity may not only be challenging, but could also lead to opportunities, such as publishing. It is very important for work environments to meet both lower level needs and higher levels needs of their employees in order to have motivated individuals.
For example, within my work environment we were recently notified that we would be in a budget deficit at the end of the academic year. As a result, many of the additional activities and programs that we had prepared had to be eliminated. Consequently, the morale and motivation of the employees had really decreased because they felt like their hard work and effort could no longer be recognized. However, instead of my supervisor allowing us to continue to be unmotivated, she took time in one of our professional staff meetings to recognize the assignments and projects on which we had been working. Also, she provided us with other challenging tasks that would produce both psychological and social growth. For instance, I and another co-worker are responsible for attending the academic senate meetings on campus. Then, we must work together to create programs for next year that are inclusive of the information we learned during the meeting. By recognizing our hard work and providing us with new challenging tasks the morale and motivation within the office were raised.
ReplyDeleteThe current state of low morale and lack of motivation for school employees can be explained by the decision making process at the federal, state, and independent school level. Decision making skills and an understanding of models of decision making are essential for school administrators as they will need to make decisions daily that will effect their school and the motivations of clients including teachers, students and the community.
ReplyDeleteI believe in the strength of a site based decision making process that includes a group decision-making process when time permits. Many important decisions are made daily by the Principal on site; using a group-decision process the administration is able to identify the problem, generate the most possible alternatives for a solution, and assist in the implementation of the change. This allows participants other than the Principal to feel motivated because they feel part of the group or team and will produce a stronger “buy in” for the employee and the school. Andrew J. DuBrin states the benefits of participative decision making include:Decision quality, decision creativity, decision acceptance, decision understanding, decision judgement and decision accuracy.
Current conditions including financial limitations for educational systems and increased required reporting and testing have impact motivation within all levels of the school, some for the better and some for the worse. Currently, Arizona has passed a law requiring a new Arizona Framework for Measuring Educator Effectiveness. Part of the framework includes a new system of ranking performance of teachers and administrators. I have worked with my administrative team at Metropolitan Arts Institute and we are developing the new system with input from the entire staff. This has proven extremely valuable as we have been able to meet individual with teachers to explain the outlined requirements of the framework and ask their input on how they believe the should be ranked with a combination of their individual performance and the schools performance.
(Jim Markey)
ReplyDeleteThe current environment for K-12 public school teachers is both challenging and demoralizing. Schools are under fire for poor student performance and teachers are on the front line. A severe economic recession has placed significant economic pressures on schools and state funding has been drastically cut. It is not surprising that these two factors have led to low teacher morale.
Issues of morale are tied directly to the concept of motivation. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory suggests that improved motivation and morale are associated with the meeting of needs over a continuum from basic needs to complex needs. Relatively low on the continuum is safety, security, stability. The economic climate has resulted in many job cuts and wage concessions. This clearly impacts a teacher’s perception of economic security and job stability. Further up on the needs hierarchy are the factors of esteem from others and recognition. The current political climate often targets teachers as the cause of poor student academic performance. Teachers feel like scapegoats and are frustrated by the lack of respect towards their profession and their commitment to children.
A slightly different perspective of teacher morale issues can be gained by using Herzburg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory of motivation. Broadly, Herzberg’s model reorganizes Maslow’s Need hierarchy model into two factors: hygiene factors and motivators. The hygiene factors encompass the basic needs of Maslow’s model and are referred to as dissatisfiers. Security and salary are often key dissatisfiers and in the current economic conditions this is particularly true for teachers. Among the motivators identified by Herzberg, recognition is valued by many employees. Again, the current climate in education has resulted in teachers receiving negative recognition for their job performance.
Taking into consideration these two complimentary models of motivation, what can a principal do to improve teacher morale? First, teacher’s basic needs have to be met. A principal has to remove as much uncertainty over job security as possible. Making tough choices that can result in a stable work environment will improve morale in the long run. Unfortunately, external economic forces limit principal control of these factors.
Morale can be improved by the principal by focusing on some of the higher needs or job motivators. Recognition can be achieved through a variety of methods. They can be as informal as daily affirmations or on-the-spot awards of a gift card. Peer recognition awards also help motivate teachers and make them feel valued. Supporting and guiding parents to help recognize teachers will also boost morale.
Finally, principals can help boost the morale of teachers through the explicit support of the academic and professional growth. A sense of personal growth is a complex need that can be addressed through a thoughtful professional development program and career advancement opportunities.
Jim Markey
EDL 660
As Maslow's theory of hierarchy suggests, the lower level needs need to be met prior to an individual creating a level of achievement to boost their motivation. In the current conditions of education, I do believe moral is low and it is difficult for any teacher or administrator to gain motivation with the high expectations that seem to have been set through No Child Left Behind. While trying to achieve AYP, it seems many have lost the ambition to find their need of self-actualization. The duties of administrators to make the right decisions as far as direction of the school is difficult enough, but trying to gain all the support of the teaching staff simply adds to the frustration.
ReplyDeleteHerzberg's Theory of Hygiene and Motivation also applies in the sense that there is a low level of satisfaction due to what may feel like over supervision and difficult working conditions. I see many teachers become frustrated with trying to reach the goals set and trying to close gaps between subgroups, that many have lost the drive to teach because they don't have motivation from what they originally came into teaching for.
As a newer teacher, it is difficult to focus on high achievement and progressing up the ladder of success when each spring the fear of job security returns to stress each aspect of your thoughts. To resort the safety needs and physiological needs is human nature, and it is the responsibility of administration and leadership amongst the teaching staff to begin the climb to motivation in schools.
A possible directive to take that many schools have already begun is to offer merit pay. A reward incentive to strike the teaching staff with an offer of pay will possibly bring up moral. Merit pay is not the only way an administrator can expect to bring up motivation. They also need to create a school climate that allows teachers to gain their needs of Esteem and further their growth in motivation. An administrator also needs to use strategies like recognition of achievement and communicating a high level of expectations that are still very reachable by a motivated, persistent, and effortful educator.
. Using Herzberg's Hygiene theory and Maslow's needs theory, please share your views on how and why current conditions may impact teacher motivation and share strategies that a building principal might employ to build morale and increase motivation.
ReplyDeleteI think the morale and teacher motivation in an educational environment starts with the leader/principal. The principal is the one that the staff looks up to and feed off of. Therefore it is the principal sole responsibility in the beginning to constantly be well organized, positive, honest, and passionate about education and overall the environment and its staff. The conditions in an educational environment can be looked at in a positive and or negative manner. For instance if the school is ran with good leadership the principal is actually leading and involved with staff, students, parents, and the educational community then most likely the atmosphere and morale will be positive. On the other hand if the principal has not built a rapport with the staff, barely involved and seen only sometime in the educational environment the impact will be very negative.
Some strategies to continuously keep staff motivated are professional developments inside and outside of the school. Recommending teachers take responsibilities in clubs and programs within the school. To continuously build a professional relationship with the staff. Constantly make notice and acknowledge the good in the teachers and student progress. Overall a principal should keep in mind its staff personal views as far as economic issues as it may relate to them personal and or educational. The principal must keep an open mind and instill in its staff that having an open mind may help keep the educational environment on the same page and continue to move the school forward no matter of the issues that may okay. I think Herzberg’s hygiene theory show the pros and cons but gives an outlook on how it can be balance within an educational team.
We have a situation where we have currently have a tier 2 reading intervention, but tier 3 students were being put in the classroom. The situation most closely followed the rational model. First, the problem was identified using data. We looked the determined cut score that a tier 3 student had and identified tier 3 student who were being put in the tier 2 intervention. Then we began generating alternatives for how to handle the tier 2 and tier 3 populations. This was done with two content teachers, both principals, the student success coordinating, and the curriculum director. The situation is still ongoing. We still need to evaluate the alternatives to make a decision. One the factors is determining how we will determine success in of the choice which is to say we're worried we won't be able to evaluate the success of the decision. Another thing that is hanging up the decision is that many of the solutions are dependent on a block of time that we are not sure we will have next year, so we are waiting for a signal that the time will be available.
ReplyDeleteThe reason this all fits into the rationale model so far is because we determined a level of performance that was not being met, specified the problem at hand, gathered all the information possible, and generated ideas.