Laura Bryant joined Kellogg's straight after university in 2002. She joined the Field Sales team initially. This involved visiting five to ten supermarkets a day to develop relationships at a local level. After two years her hard work was rewarded and she was promoted to Customer Marketing Manager at Head Office. This helped to raise her profile as she wanted to move into marketing. With support from her manager, Laura made the transition from Sales to Marketing as Assistant Brand Manager on Rice Krispies and Frosties. In 2009 she was promoted again to manage the marketing plan for Special K and she is now Brand Manager for Kellogg's Cornflakes. The company has helped motivate her to climb the hierarchy of needs and achieve her career ambitions.
A. Identify and explain the theory of motivation applied by the manager at Kellog’s company. Identify each level and support your answer from examples from the case.
B. Herzberg's motivational factors and Maslow's esteem and self-actualization needs are similar. Explain how organizations can meet these needs.

A. The manager at Kellogg's company applied Herzberg's two factors motivational theory. Kellogg provided Laura the enabling environment by creating organizational policies and procedures, supervision, relationships with co-workers and supervisors, physical work environment, job security, promotions, and rewards which propelled Laura to aspire for great responsibilities and achieve her career ambitions.

By applying the motivational factors, such as recognition of Laura's efforts, giving her appropriate responsibilities at each level of her development in the organization, and raising her profile and advancement with promotions, Laura's manager motivated her with what Herberg described as "intrinsic job elements." And the Kellogg company must have provided the extrinsic job elements which enabled both the manager and Laura to perform their jobs well.

B. Herzberg's motivational factors are the intrinsic job elements like achievement, recognition, nature of work, responsibility, advancement, and growth and Maslow's self-esteem and self-actualization needs are similar. Maslow's self-esteem and self-actualization needs indicate that an individual, after satisfying physiological, security, and sociological needs, will aspire to greater needs. These greater needs stated as self-esteem and self-actualization needs are represented by such factors as respect, valued work contribution in a supportive environment, and a sense of personal responsibility and achievement, among others.

Organizations can meet these self-esteem and self-actualization needs (according to Maslow) by being aware of and promoting Herzberg's two factors motivational model, thus creating the enabling environment for individual achievement, advancement, and growth. In Laura's Kellogg Company, she was given a chance (employment), put in relevant positions, promoted several times, and was motivated "to climb the hierarchy of needs and achieve her career ambitions."

Explanation:

Herzberg's two factors motivational theory states that "two factors affect motivation in the workplace." Herzberg called these factors, "the hygiene factors and motivating factors." Hygiene factors are "extrinsic job factors that will cause an employee to work less if they are not present." But, motivating factors encourage an employee to work harder if present.

Maslow identified human needs in a hierarchical order, starting from physiological needs (food and other basic necessities of life), security needs (job security, financial security, etc.), sociological needs (acceptance and love), self-esteem needs (respect, achievement, recognition, etc.), and finally self-actualization needs (creativity, peak experience of life, objectivity, etc.).