Are Senior Managers Really Hired at Lower Salaries? Seeking Clarity on This Practice

Hi All,

I heard from a friend that people at senior level management are hired at "CUT" Salaries. The thing is, only the best pick it up. That means money just serves as a hygiene factor at that level. I need more clarity on this. Please share your viewpoints.

Regards, Mallet.

The question means that when I move to a very senior level, it's the profile that really matters and not money. It's about good people picking up great challenging jobs not based solely on money but on profile. So, isn't that a contradiction to Herzberg's Theory?

Mallet.

No..

Thats what the Herzberg theory supports ...

Herzberg says.. factors causing satisfction & those causing dissatisfaction are different.

Therefore there are two factors :

1) Hygiene Factor: absence of which leads to Dissatisfaction

2) Motivation Factors: Presence of which leads to Satisfaction.

The theory says that those factors which cause dissatisfaction, cease to have any effect on individual; once the neccesities are met. say for eg. money.. after an individual starts earning a certain amt.. (depending on his/her needs and aspirations), earning more does not make him feel motivated. where as on the other hand, if s/he was earning less than what s/he wants to earn, it will cause dissatisfaction.

On the other hand motivation factors, like recognition, responsibility leads to satisfaction in performance.

Therefore, the top brass leaves and settles for a lower salary, and higher responsibility, etc. whereas at a lower level, people are still trying to meet there hygiene factor needs, that is of enough pay, therefore, they dont leave and settle for lower salary.

TYPICAL HYGIENE FACTORS

•Working conditions

•Quality of supervision

•Salary

•Status

•Safety

•Company

•Job

•Company policies and administration

•Interpersonal relations

TYPICAL MOTIVATION FACTORS

•Achievement

•Recognition for achievement

•Responsibility for task

•Interesting job

•Advancement to higher level tasks

•Growth

I hope it clarrifies your doubt.. if not ask anything u want to!...

Rgds

Puja

Well articulated reply by Puja.

Choice of picking a job based on its intrinsic appeal, its ability to provide creative fulfillment, and its power to invoke a sense of responsibility are typically the motivators.

As long as hygiene or maintenance factors (money/status/security, etc.) are taken care of, an individual can effectively engage himself in doing justice to the motivators.

Any theory, after all, can't be the absolute truth.

A good theory, however, does help in establishing a reasonable amount of generalizations which can provide pointers to some possible solutions or alternatives.

For example, there are enough individuals who, at some stage in their lives, are actually motivated to make money - the more, the merrier - and other aspects do not matter to them.

Whereas for a few individuals, money is just secondary. There are examples wherein people left cushy jobs or comforts and plunged into jobs that are creatively stimulating. A fall in the standard of living/comfort meant nothing to them.

The point I am making here is that any theory or generalization is useful until we see its message but should not be regarded as the ultimate explanation for everything.

Cheers!

Rajesh

I strongly agree on the element of performance as the important factor for appraisal. We cannot ignore the fact that Frederick Herzberg's theory is still widely implemented even though the results vary from earlier performance.

Frederick Herzberg explored the question, "What do people want from their jobs?" He did this by asking various people about situations and events at work when they felt exceptionally good or bad about their jobs.

Herzberg's collection of information revealed that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors create job dissatisfaction. In other words, when people felt satisfied and happy at work, the conditions present directly affected their inner feelings and self-esteem. Dissatisfaction was created by the job environment people worked in and the interactions within that environment.

As job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are controlled by different factors, Herzberg concluded that job satisfaction was not the opposite of job dissatisfaction. In contrast to the accepted theories at the time, Herzberg believed that job satisfaction was a distinct and separate entity from job dissatisfaction.

The complete removal of job dissatisfaction will not necessarily cause an employee to feel job satisfaction. Similarly, job satisfaction does not necessarily eradicate all elements of job dissatisfaction. Herzberg, therefore, decided that the opposite of job dissatisfaction was simply a work environment containing "no dissatisfaction," and the opposite of job satisfaction was an employee feeling "no satisfaction."

As extrinsic factors do not motivate employees, Herzberg referred to these as Hygiene factors, and intrinsic factors were called motivators for obvious reasons. From the 1960s to the 1980s, Herzberg's theory of motivators and hygiene factors was widely popular. After that, other studies labeled it as simplistic, but its principles can still be found within other motivation theories.