Motivational Calculus Proposed by Charles Handy, one of the most advanced Management Thinkers in

the world.

You have given an important task to a colleague or team member. However, he/she does not seem to
be too happy, though having the skills and energy to do it. Why? Handy says that the following factors
apply:

a) Needs - including personality and work environment

b) Results – measurable?

c) Effectiveness – do the results meet the needs?

Handy’s Motivation Theory

As a business owner or manager, you always want your employees to be excited about
the work they are assigned. Of course, in the real world, that isn’t always the way it
plays out. Instead, you will often find that your team members are ‘less than enthused’
about the work they have been asked to do.

Of course, when they aren’t excited, they aren’t going to be motivated – and the work is
likely to suffer in the end. So, what are you to do? Perhaps, you can use Handy’s
Motivation Theory in order to move your team members in the right direction from a
motivation standpoint.

Motivation is a complicated topic. One of the biggest issues with motivation is just how
individual and fleeting it can be. What is motivating for one person might not be
motivating at all for another. Also, what is motivating for someone today might hold little
or no motivation power for them at a point in the future. As a manager, you have to keep
your finger on the ‘pulse’ of your team members to ensure they are as motivated as
possible at all times.
 If you decide to use Handy’s Motivation Theory in order to better motivate your
employees, you will find that the theory includes three important factors –

1. Needs
2. Expectation
3. Results
It is these three factors that are going to come together in order to determine the
amount of motivation that a particular individual has when working on a project or task.

By understanding how these three factors play into motivation, you should be able to
tailor your approach in such a way that you get the best possible results. The content
below will quickly take a closer look at the three pieces of the motivation puzzle as laid
out in this theory.

Needs
If you have spent any time studying various motivational theories previously, you have
certainly seen the topic of needs come up before. When people have their needs met,
they are more likely to work hard on a given task. Those needs can range from quite
basic – things like food and water – to things that are harder to quantify like self-
actualization and achievement. Some of the needs of your employees will not be able to
be met by you as a manager, but you can help them to fulfill their need to feel satisfied
or accomplished in the workplace.

One of the topics that often comes up within the needs category which can be
addressed in the workplace is the need for affiliation. People naturally want to be
associated with other people, especially if those people are successful or desirable in
some way. So, when you are organizing the structure of your business, make sure you
give your employees a chance to work with those around them. The friendships that
develop from those working relationships are likely to be just as important as the work
that is produced.

Expectation
What does the person in question expect to receive in exchange for their effort? Put
another way, how much are they going to be willing to invest in the project that you have
laid at their feet? The expectation and expenditure are going to be closely tied, as
people are naturally going to be willing to work harder to obtain things that they see as
more valuable. For example, if you offer up a monetary bonus for a job well done, your
team members are likely to work very hard to succeed. On the other hand, if the only
expected reward is a handshake and a ‘thank you’, the effort put out is going to pale in
comparison.

This behavior is human nature, and it is unavoidable. Even the best employees are
going to subconsciously work harder for things that they see as more valuable. While it
would be great to live in a world where everyone simply gave their best effort all of the
time regardless of expectations, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. If you want to
get the most from your employees, you will have to give them the expectation of reward.
Results
Of course, you are going to have to follow through on the expectation of reward with an
actual payoff when a job is completely successfully. There are any number of ways that
the results of a project or task can be rewarded, and they don’t all have to be related to
money. Sure, money is always going to be the top priority for most of your workers, but
there are other rewards that can be valuable in important, emotional ways. For instance,
being singled out in front of the rest of the staff for the job that has been done will help
an employee to feel empowered, accomplished, and appreciated. Social recognition is a
powerful tool, and it is one that many people will work hard to receive.

Think carefully about the logical results that you can offer for the work that is done
within your company. Assuming that the standard paycheck which is received by your
employees is going to be enough to keep them motivated is a mistake. Your staff can
likely continue to receive their paycheck by doing just enough to get by – but you
obviously want them to do much better than that. When you work hard to ensure that
they have the proper motivations in place to strive for greatness, the whole organization
can benefit in the end.
 It isn’t easy to keep your employees motivated – but it is worth the effort to do your best
to make sure they have the drive they need to complete even the toughest of tasks. Use
Handy’s Motivation Theory, along with some of the other leading motivation theories
available, to make smart decisions about how you are going to motivate your team.
Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, you will likely need to tailor your
decisions to each individual to give them the encouragement and drive they need to
succeed.

You can read more about Handy’s Motivation Theory in our free eBook ‘Top 5
Motivation Theories’. Download it now for your PC, Mac, laptop, tablet, Kindle, eBook
reader or Smartphone.
Key Points
 Handy’s Motivation Theory implies that motivation is driven by more than ‘needs’ alone,
that is, our own interpretations and assessments form additional layers determining and
determined by our response to our own needs and the effects of those responses.
 Needs: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs factors, personality characteristics, current work
environment, outside pressures and influences.
 Expectation: What does the person in question expect to receive in exchange for their
effort?
 Results: We must be able to measure the effect of what our additional efforts, resulting
from motivation, will produce.
 You can use this theory to understand people’s needs, link them to desirable results
and make sure that their expectation of rewards is realistic.