David C. McClelland has identified three types of needs which motivate persons for hard work. These needs are, need for power (n/PWR) need for affiliation (n/AFF) and need for achievement (n/ACH).
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Researchers conducted have been found that persons with a high need for power have a great concern for exercising influence and control. Such persons are generally seeking position of leadership. Persons with a high need for affiliation generally make efforts for maintaining pleasant social relationship.
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They always want to be loved by their social group. People with a high need for achievement have an intense desire for success and an equally intense fear of failure set moderately difficult goals for themselves. They analyse and assess the problems of their job. They take realistic risks but do not gamble.
David C. McClelland conducted a study on 450 workers who had been thrown out of work by a plant shutdown in Erie in Pennsylvania. All were more or less in the same situation. They sought help from United States.
Help Wanted” sections of the Papers, Union, Church Fraternal organisations, etc. On the basis of their achievements, David C. McClelland has come to the conclusion that men with higher n/ACH got more raises, were promoted more rapidly because they kept actively seeking ways to do a better job.
Some American and Mexican firms organised some programmes for increasing n/ACH. They organised such some programme for underachieving high school boys and businessmen in India from Bombay. These programmes were organised in a small city of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. These programmes had following main aims-
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1. To teach the participants how to think, talk and act like a person with high n/ ACH.
2. To set higher but carefully planned and realistic work goals for themselves over next two years.
3. To give to the participants knowledge about themselves.
These courses usually created a group sprit de corps. They learned about each other’s hopes and fears, success and failures. Thus, they were sufficiently benefited from going through an emotional experience.