McClelland’s theory of needs contends
that everyone has three needs to a greater or lesser extent regardless of age,
gender or race (Armstrong,2014). McClelland proposed that individual’s specific
needs are acquired over time and are shaped by one’s life experiences, whilst
one of them will be predominant, thereby McClelland’s theory refers as acquired
needs theory (Chukwuma and Okafor,
2014). Unlike Maslow’s theory of needs or Alderfer’s ERG theory,
McClelland’s theory focuses on satisfying existing needs rather than creating
or generating needs (Korzynski,2013).
Saif et al (2012) explains that, McClelland’s
theory has focused on achievement motive due to assumption of high achievers
have stimulus to strive in order to perform better than others. Thus, McClelland’s
theory also refers to as achievement theory (Armstrong, 2014). Three needs of
achievement can be categorized as the need for achievement, need for affiliation
and need for power.
1. Need for Achievement (nAch)
Need for achievement refers to
the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to set standards and to strive to
succeed in their career ladder (Singh,2017). Furthermore, high achievers prefer
to work alone rather in teams; willing to take regular feedbacks on their work;
seek challenges and high degree of independence (Abbah,2014).
For instance, sales managers
can be taken into this need for achievement category where sales managers were
assigned a company sales target and in order to achieve the target, sales
executives bring new prospects, then generating new leads to profitable revenue
on the business, whilst receive constant feedbacks on the services provided to
end customers.
2. Need for Affiliation (nAff)
Need for affiliation refers as
to the concern for establishing and maintaining close personal relationships
with others (Rybnicek et al, 2017). People
with higher need for affiliation prefer to spend more time maintaining social
relationship joining groups (Abbah,2014). Nevertheless, Chukwuma and Okafor (2014), states that individual
with a high degree of need is ineffective at making decisions due to attachment
of other people’s beliefs in situations.
For example, public relations manager
can be taken into the need for affiliation category. Public relations manager
has to treat all concerns or issues raised by employees with due diligence and
care, making sure the issues are heard and that the employees are given a
voice.
3. Need for Power (nPow)
Need for power refers to as the
need to control or influence others (Armstrong,2014). Singh (2017) express that, people with high
need for power seek the position of leadership. Furthermore, power motivated people have the
desire to coach, teach or encourage others to achieve, whilst concerned with
self-respect and discipline (Chukwuma
and Okafor, 2014).
Reference List
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2014. Employee Motivation: The Key to Effective Organizational Management in
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Armstrong, M.
and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
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Chukwuma, E. and Okafor, O., 2014. Effect of
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