Achievement Need

Henry A. Murray’s theoretical focus was to catalog all possible human
needs. This led to a wide range of understanding; however, it was left to later
researchers to add depth to the understanding of needs. One of the best researched
of the secondary needs is the need for achievement. This need of
individuals to overcome obstacles and accomplish what often are very difficult
tasks has been investigated in detail by David McClelland and his
colleague John Atkinson. They developed a system for scoring individuals’
responses to TAT cards to abstract achievement-oriented themes. They observed
that individuals who had a high need for achievement completed
more tasks under competitive conditions, were more productive in their jobs,
and tended to get better grades. They used this information and measuring
system to develop a training program for industry that has been shown to increase
employees’ need for achievement and job productivity. Their system
was found to be working even two years after the program was begun. Interesting
questions remain, however; for example, at what level does the need
for achievement become unproductive? At some point it will lead to unrealistic
expectations, unnecessary stress, and related health problems.
One of the fascinating things about the McClelland and Atkinson method
of assessing an individual’s need for achievement is that it is not restricted to
measuring responses from TAT cards. Their scoring system can be used with
any written material; therefore, it can be adapted to a vast amount of literary,
historical, and biographical information. McClelland conjectured that
he could predict the economic growth and decline of a country from the
number of achievement themes evident in its children’s stories. He looked
at the economic conditions of twenty-three nations from 1929 to 1950 and
scored their children’s stories from the prior decade (1920-1929). While it is
apparent that children’s stories are not the only factor related to economic
well-being, McClelland did discover that those countries with a higher number
of achievement themes in the children’s stories experienced the most
economic growth.