Employee Motivation based on the Hierarchy of Needs, Expectancy and the Two-Factor Theories Applied with Higher Education Employees

Motivation strategies and practices can be seen as the necessary supplemental nutrition for enhancing employee engagement, satisfaction, commitment, and performance in the workplace. Providing a motivational environment is especially important in workplaces that do not traditionally have high compensation levels such as the not-for-profit universities and colleges where funding is limited and salary increases are rare. In this study, we discuss several motivational theories and assess their application in one higher education institution to determine employees’ perception about their workplace and level of satisfaction with management practices. The study is based on qualitative interviews with six employees from one university in South Florida. The results show that while employees are happy with their direct managers, there are motivational opportunities for further enhancing the work environment through better compensation and development opportunities. Implications, recommendations and limitation are presented for future researchers and managers who want to enhance their workplace through effective motivational strategies.