Achievement
by
Charles Lamson
Over the years, behavioral scientists have observed that some people have an intense need to achieve; others, perhaps the majority, do not seem to be as concerned about achievement. This phenomenon fascinated David C. McClelland (May 20, 1917 – March 27, 1998). For more than 40 years, he and his associates at Harvard University studied this urge to achieve.
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McClelland's research led him to believe that the need for achievement is a distinct human motive that can be distinguished from other needs. More important, he believed that the achievement motive can be isolated and assessed in any group.
McClelland illustrated some of these characteristics of people with a high need for achievement in describing a laboratory experiment. Participants were asked to throw rings over a peg from any distance they chose. Most people tended to throw at random---now close, now far away; but individuals with a high need for achievement seemed to measure carefully where they were most likely to get a sense of mastery---not too close to make the task ridiculously easy or too far away to make it impossible. They set moderately difficult, but potentially achievable goals. In biology, this approach is known as the overload principle. In weightlifting, for example, strength cannot be increased by tasks that can be performed easily or that will injure the organism. Strength can be increased by lifting weights that are difficult enough to stretch the muscles but not enough to cause injury.
The high need for achievement surfaces only when people believe they can influence the outcome. Achievement-motivated people are not gamblers. They prefer to work on a problem rather than leave the outcome to chance.
In the case of managers, setting moderately difficult but potentially achievable goals may be translated into an attitude toward risks. Many people tend to be extreme in their attitude toward risks, either favoring wild speculative gambling or minimizing their exposure to losses. Gamblers seem to choose the big risk because the outcome is beyond their power and, therefore, they can easily rationalize away their personal responsibility if they lose. The conservative individual chooses tiny risks where the gain is small but secure, perhaps because there is little danger of anything going wrong for which that person might be blamed. Achievement-motivated people take the middle ground, preferring a moderate degree of risk because they feel their efforts and abilities will probably influence the outcome. In business, this aggressive realism is the mark of the successful entrepreneur.
Another characteristic of achievement-motivated people is that they seem to be more concerned with personal achievement than with the rewards of success. They do not reject rewards, but the rewards are not as essential as the accomplishment itself. They get a bigger kick out of winning or solving a difficult problem than they get from any money or praise they receive. Money, to achievement-motivated people, is valuable primarily as a measurement of their performance. It provides them with a means of assessing their progress and comparing their achievements with those of other people. They normally do not seek money for status or economic security.
A desire by people with a high need for achievement to seek situations in which they get concrete feedback on how well they are doing is closely related to this concern for personal accomplishment. Consequently, achievement-motivated people are often found in sales jobs or as owners and managers of their own businesses. In addition to concrete feedback, the nature of the feedback is important to achievement-motivated people. They respond favorably to information about their work. They are not interested in comments about their personal characteristics, such as how cooperative or helpful they are. Affiliation-motivated people might want task-relevant feedback.
Achievement-motivated people behave as they do, according to McClelland, because they habitually spend time thinking about doing things better. In fact, he has found that whenever people start to think in achievement terms, things start to happen. College students with a high need for achievement will generally get better grades than equally bright students with weaker achievement needs. Achievement motivated people tend to get more raises and are promoted faster because they are constantly trying to think of better ways of doing things. Companies with many such people grow faster and are more profitable.
Neil Gilbert and Charles Whiting warn that if professionals, for example, are not afforded the opportunity to self-actualize (increase their competence and achievement) in their organization, "their only recourse [will be] to leave the organization." Employees who are not empowered will look elsewhere to empower themselves, perhaps placing their considerable talent in the hands of a competitor. This is a formidable threat in knowledge-based organizations where the departure of two or three key individuals may mean the death knell of the company.
McClellend even extended his analysis to countries. He found that the presence of a large percentage of achievement-motivated individuals is related to the national economic growth. Achievement motivated people are most likely to be developed in families in which parents expect their children to start showing some independence between the ages of 6 and 8, making choices and doing things without help, such as knowing the way around the house. Other parents tend either to expect this independence too early, before children are ready, or never to expect it, thereby smothering the development of the personality of their children. One extreme seems to foster passive, defeatist attitudes as children feel unwanted at home and incompetent away from home. They are just not ready for that kind of independence so early. The other extreme yields either overprotected or overdisciplined children. These children become very dependent on their parents and find it difficult to break away and make their own decisions.
Given all we know about the need for achievement, can this method be taught and developed in people? McClellend is convinced that it can. In fact, he developed training programs for businesspeople that were designed to increase their achievement motivation.
Achievement-motivated people can be the backbone of most organizations, but what can we say about their potential as managers? As we know, people with a high need for achievement get ahead because as individuals they are producers---they get things done. But when they are promoted---when their success depends not only on their own work but on the activities of others---they may be less effective. Because they are highly task oriented and work to their capacity, they tend to expect others to do the same. As a result, they sometimes lack the human skills and patience necessary for effectively managing people who are competent but have a higher need for affiliation than they do. In this situation, their overemphasis on producing frustrates these people and prevents them from maximizing their own potential. Thus, although achievement-motivated people are needed in organizations, they do not always make the best managers unless they develop their human skills. Being a good producer is not sufficient to make an effective manager.
*SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES, 8TH ED., 2001, PAUL HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, DEWEY E. JOHNSON, PGS. 48-50*
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