Editing Content theory (section)

==Natural theories==
The natural system assumes that people have higher-order needs, which contrasts with the rational theory that suggests that people dislike work and only respond to rewards and punishment.<ref name="Lecture 10/1">Dobbin, Frank. "From Incentives to Teamwork: Rational and Natural Management Systems." Lecture. Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1 October 2012.</ref> According to [[Douglas McGregor|McGregor's]] [[Theory X and Theory Y#Theory Y|Theory Y]], human behavior is based on satisfying a hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, social, ego, and [[self-fulfillment]].<ref name="McGregor">McGregor, D., 1960. The Human Side of Enterprise, New York, McGraw-Hill.</ref>

Physiological needs are the lowest and the most important level. These fundamental requirements include food, rest, shelter, and exercise. After the physiological needs are satisfied, employees can focus on safety needs, which include "protection against danger, threat and deprivation".<ref name="McGregor"/> However, if management makes arbitrary or biased employment decisions, then an employee's safety needs are unfulfilled.

The next set of needs is social, which refers to the desire for acceptance, affiliation, reciprocal friendships, and love. As such, the natural system of management assumes that close-knit work teams are productive. Accordingly, if an employee's social needs are unmet, then he will act disobediently.<ref name="McGregor"/>

There are two types of egoistic needs, the second-highest order of needs. The first type refers to one's self-esteem, which encompasses self-confidence, independence, achievement, competence, and knowledge. The second type of needs deals with reputation, status, recognition, and respect from colleagues.<ref name="McGregor"/> Egoistic needs are much more difficult to satisfy.

The highest order of needs is for self-fulfillment, including recognition of one's full potential, areas for self-improvement, and the opportunity for creativity. This differs from the rational system, which assumes that people prefer routine and security to creativity.<ref name="Lecture 10/1"/> Unlike the rational management system, which assumes that humans do not care about these higher-order needs, the natural system is based on these needs as a means for motivation.

The author of the reductionist motivation model is Sigmund Freud. According to the model, physiological needs raise tension, thereby forcing an individual to seek an outlet by satisfying those needs {{cite book |last = Ziegler |first = Daniel |date = 1992 |title = Personality Theories: Basic Assumptions, Research, and Applications }}

===Self-management through teamwork===
To successfully manage and motivate employees, the natural system posits that being a part of a group is necessary.<ref name="Mayo">Elton Mayo, 1984 [1949]. "Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company." pp. 279-292 in Organization Theory: Selected Readings. Second Edition. Edited by D.S. Pugh. New York: Penguin.</ref> Because of structural changes in the social order, the workplace is more fluid and adaptive according to [[Elton Mayo|Mayo]]. As a result, individual employees have lost their sense of stability and security, which can be provided by being a member of a group. However, if teams continuously change within jobs, then employees feel anxious, empty, and irrational and become harder to work with.<ref name="Mayo"/> The innate desire for lasting human association and management "is not related to single workers, but always to working groups."<ref name="Mayo"/> In groups, employees will self-manage and form relevant customs, duties, and traditions.

===Wage incentives===
Humans are motivated by additional factors besides wage incentives.<ref name="Roethlisberger book">Roethlisberger, F. J., et al. Management and the Worker; an Account of a Research Program Conducted by the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne Works, Chicago. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1939.</ref> Unlike the rational theory of motivation, people are not driven toward economic interests per the natural system. For instance, the straight piecework system pays employees based on each unit of their output. Based on studies such as the Bank Wiring Observation Room, using a piece rate incentive system does not lead to higher production.<ref name="Roethlisberger book"/> Employees actually set upper limits on each person's daily output. These actions stand "in direct opposition to the ideas underlying their system of financial incentive, which countenanced no upper limit to performance other than the physical capacity of the individual".<ref name="Roethlisberger book"/> Therefore, as opposed to the rational system that depends on economic rewards and punishments, the natural system of management assumes that humans are also motivated by non-economic factors.

===Autonomy: increased motivation for autonomous tasks===
Employees seek autonomy and responsibility in their work, contrary to assumptions of the rational theory of management. Because supervisors have direct authority over employees, they must ensure that the employee's actions are in line with the standards of efficient conduct.<ref name="Roethlisberger book"/> This creates a sense of restriction on the employee and these constraints are viewed as "annoying and seemingly functioned only as subordinating or differentiating mechanisms."<ref name="Roethlisberger book"/> Accordingly, the natural management system assumes that employees prefer autonomy and responsibility on the job and dislike arbitrary rules and overwhelming supervision. An individual's motivation to complete a task is increased when the task is autonomous. When the motivation to complete a task comes from an "external pressure" that pressure then "undermines" the person's motivation, and as a result decreases the person's desire to complete the task.<ref>{{cite book |title = Sharing Motivation |last = Walton, Cohen |first = Gregory, Geoffrey |publisher = Psychology Press |year = 2011 |location = New York |pages = 82–83 }}</ref>