McClellands Theory of Needs - Essay Example

Furthermore the essay also includes the way in which this theory has impacted me in the process of motivating others in the workplace. It is already mentioned earlier that according to McClelland there are three different classes of needs – need for achievement, need for power and need for affiliation. Need for achievement is referred to the internal drive to excel. Such need is responsible for creating a tendency for setting moderately difficult goals which involve moderate risks. Furthermore this need results in a preference regarding situations where personal responsibility is associated with outcomes.

Need for power, on the other side, is the need of making others behave in the way in which the person wants. This type of need generates a desire of influencing others and a tendency of advocating riskier positions. The last need is the need for affiliation that is referred to the desire for close and friendly relationships with the co-workers (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Such need is mainly responsible for making people like others. McClelland and all his associates who are involved in the research behind the development of such a crucial theory mainly focused on the first type of need – need for achievement.

McClelland’s ‘needs theory’ is one of the most important motivating theories because it is one of those rare theories that are properly supported by extensive research. Furthermore the theory involves three of the most important aspects that are integrally related to the motivation of an individual in a particular organization. According to Charleston C. K. Wang, “McClelland was careful to note that there is not a one-to-one correspondence between a person’s needs and behavior” (Wang, 1993).

It is also found that McClelland used to believe that most of the effective managers have high need for power and low need for affiliation.