Brief Biography
Frederick Irving Herzberg was born in 1923 into a Jewish family in Lynn, Massachusetts, a northern suburb of Boston, but was raised in New York City.
Herzberg’s parents had immigrated to the US from Lithuania. In America, his father supported the family as a housepainter.
In 1939, Herzberg enrolled in City College of New York, but enlisted in the US Army in 1943 before finishing his undergraduate studies.
During his military service, Herzberg was present at the liberation of the Nazi extermination camp at Dachau, after which he also helped with the resettlement of survivors.
Following demobilization, Herzberg returned to the City College of New York, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1946.
Herzberg then received a fellowship from the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, where he obtained his PhD in psychology in 1950. His doctoral dissertation was written on the topic of electric shock therapy.
Upon graduation, Herzberg was hired as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. While there, his primary research interest changed to industrial and organizational psychology.
Herzberg eventually founded Case Western’s Department of Industrial Mental Health.
In 1972, Herzberg moved to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he held the title Professor of Management.
Herzberg retired from teaching in 1997; he died three years later, in 2000, at the age of 76.
Herzberg is best known for his “motivator-hygiene” theory of employee motivation. Also known as the “two-factor theory,” Herzberg’s chief idea was to challenge the then-reigning assumption that money and other tangible benefits are the principal methods of motivating employees.
Instead, Herzberg held that worker dissatisfaction and satisfaction had different sources. While an employee’s perception that his pay is unfair or inadequate may indeed lead to feelings of dissatisfaction with his job, no amount of tangible reward by itself will create a robust sense of positive job satisfaction.
The upshot of this theory is that a leader must first establish a baseline of employee satisfaction (“motivator-hygiene”) with fair tangible compensation and only then implement a different set of motivating factors.
The practices important for furthering positive employee satisfaction, according to Herzberg, include fostering an employee’s sense of his job’s purpose, of his responsibility for his own job performance, and of his autonomy in his work.
Herzberg also worked as a management consultant throughout his career. For example, he consulted for AT&T and other multinational corporations, as well as for foreign governments, including extensive stints in the USSR, Japan, and Israel.
Herzberg published around a half-dozen well-received books, including the classics, The Motivation to Work (1959) and Work and the Nature of Man (1969).
Herzberg also published several hundred peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and other essays. One of his essays, “One More Time, How Do You Motivate Workers” [Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62], is the HBR’s most-frequently reprinted article.
Notable Quotes
Note: The original sources of the following quotations attributed here to Frederick I. Herzberg are provided where known. If no specific source is mentioned, then the attributed quotation may be assumed to derive from or (perhaps via paraphrase) be inspired by Herzberg’s many academic and popular writings.
Employee Satisfaction
Job enrichment means a vertical expansion of the job, which increases the depth of the job and the degree of responsibility.
True motivation comes from achievement, personal development, job satisfaction, and recognition.
If you ask people what motivates them, most people would say money. But that’s not what motivates them at work. It may keep them from being dissatisfied, but it doesn’t motivate.
A satisfied employee will give a greater output and render better service.
The more an individual can personally identify with the job, the more satisfied they will be.
True motivation comes from achievement, personal development, job satisfaction, and recognition.
“One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?,” Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62.
People who are satisfied with their jobs are more productive, more creative, and contribute more to their organizations.
“One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?,” Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62.
The only job where you start at the top is digging a hole.
Innovation
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.
Leadership
Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.
Life
The most important events of our lives are the decisions we make.
“One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?,” Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62.
The true worth of a person is not to be found in man’s outer circumstances but in his inner qualities.
We know that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on the same continuum. You don’t get rid of dissatisfaction to get satisfaction, and you don’t get rid of satisfaction to deal with dissatisfaction.
Management
Management is responsible for organizing the work so that people can achieve results.
“One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?,” Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62.
The relationship between management and the workers is reflected in their attitudes toward the work and toward themselves.
The Motivation to Work, with Bernard Mausner and Barbara B. Snyderman (1959).
Job enrichment is not a thing, it’s a process.
Motivation
If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do.
“One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?,” Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62.
The only way to motivate people is to give them what they want.
“One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?,” Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62.
It is not the money that motivates us. It is the desire to excel, to do something useful, to master challenges, to be recognized for achievements, to be creative, to be able to make a difference, and to enjoy the work we do.
“One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?,” Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62.
The most important thing in motivation is not the motivation itself, but rather the willingness to motivate others.
The motivating factors are challenging work, responsibility, recognition, advancement, and the opportunity for personal growth.
The most important factor in motivating people is the way they’re treated by their superiors.
Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.
Money can’t buy motivation.
Success
To improve productivity, you need to focus on improving the work itself, not just adding perks or incentives.
“One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?,” Harvard Business Review, 1968, 46(1): 53–62.
There is no perfect system. Just as there is no perfect vacation spot, there is no perfect company. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work at improving what we have.
The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.
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