McClelland's Theory of Needs

In his acquired-needsachievement, affiliation, or power. A person's motivation and effectiveness in certain job functions are influenced by these three needs. McClelland's theory sometimes is referred to as the three need theory or as the learned needs theory. theory, David McClelland proposed that an individual's specific needs are acquired over time and are shaped by one's life experiences. Most of these needs can be classed as either

Achievement

People with a high need for achievement (nAch) seek to excel and thus tend to avoid both low-risk and high-risk situations. Achievers avoid low-risk situations because the easily attained success is not a genuine achievement. In high-risk projects, achievers see the outcome as one of chance rather than one's own effort. High nAch individuals prefer work that has a moderate probability of success, ideally a 50% chance. Achievers need regular feedback in order to monitor the progress of their acheivements. They prefer either to work alone or with other high achievers.

Affiliation

Those with a high need for affiliation (nAff) need harmonious relationships with other people and need to feel accepted by other people. They tend to conform to the norms of their work group. High nAff individuals prefer work that provides significant personal interaction. They perform well in customer service and client interaction situations.

Power

A person's need for power (nPow) can be one of two types - personal and institutional. Those who need personal power want to direct others, and this need often is perceived as undesirable. Persons who need institutional power (also known as social power) want to organize the efforts of others to further the goals of the organization. Managers with a high need for institutional power tend to be more effective than those with a high need for personal power.

Thematic Apperception Test

McClelland used the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) as a tool to measure the individual needs of different people. The TAT is a test of imagination that presents the subject with a series of ambiguous pictures, and the subject is asked to develop a spontaneous story for each picture. The assumption is that the subject will project his or her own needs into the story.

Psychologists have developed fairly reliable scoring techniques for the Thematic Apperception Test. The test determines the individual's score for each of the needs of achievement, affiliation, and power. This score can be used to suggest the types of jobs for which the person might be well suited.

Implications for Management

People with different needs are motivated differently.

· High need for achievement - High achievers should be given challenging projects with reachable goals. They should be provided frequent feedback. While money is not an important motivator, it is an effective form of feedback.

· High need for affiliation - Employees with a high affiliation need perform best in a cooperative environment.

· High need for power - Management should provide power seekers the opportunity to manage others.

Note that McClelland's theory allows for the shaping of a person's needs; training programs can be used to modify one's need profile.

Systems Approach to Training

The success of orientation or any other type of training can be gauged by the amount of learning that occurs and is transferred to the job. Too often, unplanned, uncoordinated, and haphazard training efforts significantly reduce the learning that could have occurred. Training and learning will take place, especially through informal work groups, whether an organization has a coordinated effort or not—because employees learn from other employees. But without a welldesigned, systematic approach to training, what is learned may not be what is best for the organization. Figure 10—6 shows the relevant components of the three major phases in a training system: (1) the assessment phase, (2) the implementation phase, and (3) the evaluation phase.

Assessment Phase
In the assessment phase, planners determine the need for training and specify the objectives of the training effort. Looking at the performance of clerks in a billing department, a manager might find that their data-entry and keyboard abilities are weak and that they would profit by having instruction in these areas. An objective of increasing the clerks’ keyboard entry speed to 60 words per minute without errors might be established. The number of words per minute without errors is the criterion against which training success can be measured, and it represents the way in which the objective is made specific. To make the bridge between assessment and implementation, the clerks would be given a keyboard data-entry test.

Implementation Phase
Using the results of the assessment, implementation can begin. For instance, a billing supervisor and an HR training specialist could work together to determine how to train the clerks to increase their speeds. Arrangements for instructors, classrooms, materials, and so on would be made at this point. A programmed instruction manual might be used in conjunction with a special data-entry class set up at the company. Implementation occurs when training is actually conducted.

Evaluation Phase
The evaluation phase is crucial. It focuses on measuring how well the training accomplished what its originators expected. Monitoring the training serves as a bridge between the implementation and evaluation phases and provides feedback for setting future training objectives.

source by Human Resource Management 9th Edition Robert L. Mathis John H