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The document discusses three types of motivation: need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power. [1] People with a need for achievement prefer moderate difficulty tasks and feedback based on effort. Those with a need for affiliation enjoy social relationships and group acceptance. [2] People with a need for power value status and influencing others. McClelland's research found most people are dominant in one of these three motivations and that those in top management have high need for power and low need for affiliation. [3]

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57 views2 pages

OF The Record

The document discusses three types of motivation: need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power. [1] People with a need for achievement prefer moderate difficulty tasks and feedback based on effort. Those with a need for affiliation enjoy social relationships and group acceptance. [2] People with a need for power value status and influencing others. McClelland's research found most people are dominant in one of these three motivations and that those in top management have high need for power and low need for affiliation. [3]

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Need for achievement[edit]

Main article: Need for achievement


They prefer working on tasks of moderate difficulty, prefer work in which the results are based on
their effort rather than on anything else, and prefer to receive feedback on their work. Achievement
based individuals tend to avoid both high-risk and low-risk situations. Low-risk situations are seen as
too easy to be valid and the high-risk situations are seen as based more on the luck of the situation
rather than the achievements that individual made.[3] This personality type is motivated by
accomplishment in the workplace and an employment hierarchy with promotional positions. [4]

Need for affiliation[edit]


Main article: Need for affiliation
People who have a need for affiliation prefer to spend time creating and maintaining social
relationships, enjoy being a part of groups, and have a desire to feel loved and accepted. People in
this group tend to adhere to the norms of the culture in that workplace and typically do not change
the norms of the workplace for fear of rejection. This person favors collaboration over competition
and does not like situations with high risk or high uncertainty. People who have a need
for affiliation work well in areas based on social interactions like customer service or client interaction
positions.[3]

Need for power[edit]


Main article: Need for power
People in this category enjoy work and place a high value on discipline. The downside to this
motivational type is that group goals can become zero-sum in nature, that is, for one person to win,
another must lose. However, this can be positively applied to help accomplish group goals and to
help others in the group feel competent about their work. A person motivated by this need enjoys
status recognition, winning arguments, competition, and influencing others. With this motivational
type comes a need for personal prestige, and a constant need for a better personal status. [4]

Effect[edit]
McClelland's research showed that 86% of the population are dominant in one, two, or all three of
these three types of motivation. His subsequent research, published in the 1977 Harvard Business
Review article "Power is the Great Motivator", found that those in top management positions had a
high need for power and a low need for affiliation. His research also found that people with a high
need for achievement will do best when given projects where they can succeed through their own
efforts. Although individuals with a strong need for achievement can be successful lower-level
managers, they are usually weeded out before reaching top management positions. He also found
that people with a high need for affiliation may not be good top managers but are generally happier,
and can be highly successful in non-leadership roles such as the foreign service. [5][6]

References[edit]
1. ^ [1]. Umuc.edu. Retrieved July 16, 2014.

2. ^ "David McClelland". psychology.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2018-07-30.


3. ^ Jump up to:a b McClelland's Theory of Needs. NetMBA Business Knowledge Center.
Retrieved November 29, 2013.

4. ^ Jump up to:a b David McClelland. Businessballs.com. Retrieved November 29, 2013.

5. ^ McClelland, D. and Burnham, D., Power is the Great Motivator, Harvard Business Review,
1977, 2001.

6. ^ McClelland, D. Human Motivation, 1988. Cambridge University Press.

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