Application of Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory to Nursing Workload

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

Hertzberg’s two-factor theory or motivation-hygiene theory is a theory that was
developed by Frederick Herzberg, an American psychologist. The theory is contained in the
famous book that he published in 1968 “One More Time, How Do You Motivate
Employees?” (Yadav, 2019). Even though it was published in 1968, Hertzberg had been
developing theory for much of the 1950s and 1960s. He asked engineering and accounting
employees in Pittsburgh to describe situations where they really felt good about their jobs and
situations where they really felt bad about their jobs (Yadav, 2019). Hertzberg hoped that the
answers would help him to understand the root of employee motivation.

Based on the responses that he received, Hertzberg found that job satisfaction is
associated with certain characteristics of a job, while job dissatisfaction is associated with a
different set of job characteristics. These findings formed the basis of his two-factor theory or
motivation-hygiene theory. Motivators were the drivers of job satisfaction and included work
advancement, responsibility, recognition, and achievements (Alrawahi et al., 2020). Hygiene
factors were the main drivers of job dissatisfaction. They included working conditions,
supervision, relationship with colleagues, and salaries (Alrawahi et al., 2020). More
importantly, Herzberg held that the two sets of factors were independent of each other. For
instance, decreasing or increasing hygiene factors will only affect the degree of an
employee’s dissatisfaction with their work; it will not have an effect on their level of job
satisfaction.

The theory became popular within a few years of its development. More than fifty
years after its development, the theory remains popular and is widely applied in different

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industries to motivate employees and increase their job satisfaction. The industries where it is
widely applied include construction, health, finance, and hospitality industries (Alrawahi et
al., 2020). The theory’s popularity rests on multiple factors. The most important of these
factors is that it provides a practical way of improving the motivation of employees. All an
employer has to do is optimize the number of motivators and reduce hygiene factors.

Application of Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory to Nurse Shortages/Workload

The current COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in the number of people requiring
hospitalization as millions of people have become infected with the disease. The increased
number of patients has in turn led to a massive increase in the workload. The problem is
especially serious for nurses working in critical care facilities as the number of patients in
ICU facilities has dramatically increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in the
workload of nurses is not just a result of increased number of patients or the severity of
illnesses of the patients but also because of specific measures that have been taken to control
the spread of COVID-19 to other patients and hospitals (Lucchini, Iozzo & Bambi, 2020).
For instance, since family members are not supposed to be near patients, nurses have been
forced to offer the patients support that would otherwise have been provided by their family
members (Lucchini et al., 2020). Additionally, the need to work while donning personal
protective equipment for safety makes working during this period of COVID-19 extremely
challenging.

Many hospital organizations are faced with the challenge of motivating nurses so that
they perform at their best and help to save lives. Herzberg’s two-factor theory can be applied
to improve motivation of nurses during the current COVID-19 pandemic. On the motivation
side, hospitals can increase job satisfaction of nurses by recognizing the important role that
they are playing in saving lives. The recognition could be in the form of awards, shopping

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vouchers, and gifts. On the hygiene factors side, hospitals should strive to improve the
working conditions of nurses. Some of the measures that they can take to improve working
conditions include ensuring that there are adequate personal protective equipment for nurses
so that they do not have to worry about their safety, and increasing the number of nurses to
ease the workload of available nurses. Job dissatisfaction could also be reduced through
increasing salaries of nurses. Thus, Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory is an appropriate theory to
apply in current nursing situation because it is a very practical theory.

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References

Alrawahi, S., Sellgren, S. F., Altouby, S., Alwahaibi, N., & Brommels, M. (2020). The
application of Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation to job satisfaction in clinical
laboratories in Omani hospitals. Heliyon, 6(9), e04829.

Lucchini, A., Iozzo, P., & Bambi, S. (2020). Nursing workload in the COVID-19
era. Intensive & critical care nursing, 61, 102929.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2020.102929.

Yadav, G. (2019) Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory: An Evaluation. International
journal of basic and applied research, 9 (7).