UNDERSTANDING MCCLELLAND’S THEORY
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological Needs
• air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing,
reproduction
Safety Needs
• personal security, employment, resources,
health, property
Love and belonging
• friendship, intimacy, family, sense of
connection
Esteem
• respect, self-esteem, status, recognition,
strength, freedom
Self-actualization
• desire to become the most that one can be
David McClelland’s Achievement Motivation
Theory
• Need for Power
• Need for Achievement
• Need for Affiliation
David McClelland built on this work in
his 1961 book, “The Achieving Society.” He
identified three motivators that he believed we
all have: a need for achievement, a need for
affiliation, and a need for power. People will
have different characteristics depending on their
dominant motivator.
McClelland says that, regardless of our
gender, culture, or age, we all have three
motivating drivers, and one of these will be our
dominant motivating driver. This dominant
motivator is largely dependent on our culture nd
life experiences.
ACHIEVEMENT
• has a strong need to set and accomplish
challenging goals
• takes calculated risks to accomplish their goals
• likes to receive regular feedback on their
progress and achievements
• often likes to work alone
AFFILIATION
• wants to belong to the group
• wants to be liked, and will often go along with
whatever the rest of the group wants to do
• favors collaboration over competition
• does not like high risk or uncertainty
POWER
• wants to control and influence others
• likes to win arguments
• enjoys competition and winning
• enjoys status and recognition
Theory of Achievement Equations
John Atkinson expanded this idea into
the theory of achievement, that the tendency to
approach an activity was based on three factors:
Ms - the motive for success
Ps - the probability of being successful
Is - the incentive value of success
He found that Ts, the tendency to
approach an activity, was equal to the product of
these factors. The success equation therefore
is:
Ts = Ms * Ps * Is
Atkinson wrote up a second equation that
applied to a person more driven by the fear of
