lesson 7: motivation concepts and applications

Lesson 7: Motivation Concepts and Applications

Learning ObjectivesAfter studying this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Describe the three key elements of motivation.

2. Evaluate the applicability of early theories of motivation.

3. Apply the predictions of self-determination theory to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

4. Identify the implications of employee job engagement for management.

5. Describe goal-setting theory, self-efficacy theory, and reinforcement theory.

6. Demonstrate how organizational justice is a refinement of equity theory.

7. Apply the key tenets of expectancy theory to motivating employees.

Learning Objectives8. Compare the main ways jobs can be redesigned.

9. Explain how specific alternative work arrangements can motivate employees.

10. Describe how employee involvement measures can motivate employees.

11. Demonstrate how the different types of variable-pay programs can increase employee motivation.

12. Show how flexible benefits turn benefits into motivators.

13. Identify the motivational benefits of intrinsic rewards.

Describe the Three Key Elements of Motivation

•Motivation - an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.

• The level of motivation varies both between individuals and within individuals at different times.

LO 1

Describe the Three Key Elements of Motivation

•The three key elements of motivation are:

1. Intensity: concerned with how hard a person tries.2. Direction: the orientation that benefits the

organization. 3. Persistence: a measure of how long a person can

maintain his/her effort.

LO 1

Evaluate the Applicability of Early Theories of Motivation

LO 2


•Maslow’s need theory has received wide recognition, particularly among practicing managers. • Research does not generally validate the theory.

• Some researchers have attempted to revive components of the need hierarchy concept, using principles from evolutionary psychology.

LO 2


• Theory X and Theory Y • Theory X assumptions are basically negative. • Employees inherently dislike work and must be

coerced into performing. • Theory Y assumptions are basically positive. • Employees can view work as being as natural as rest or

play.

LO 2


• The implications for managers can be explained by using Maslow’s framework

• Theory X: lower-order needs dominate individuals. • Theory Y: higher-order needs dominate individuals. •McGregor himself believed that Theory Y assumptions

were more valid than Theory X.

LO 2

Contemporary TheoriesApply the Predictions of Self-Determination Theory to Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards

•Self-Determination Theory• Proposes that people prefer to feel they have control

over their actions.

• People paid for work feel less like they want to do it and more like they have to it.

• Proposes that in addition to being driven by a need for autonomy, people seek ways to achieve competence and positive connections to others.

LO 3

Apply the Predictions of Self-Determination Theory to Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards

•What does self-determination theory suggest for providing rewards?

•A senior sales representative may be motivated by a commission. •A computer programmer who values writing code

because she likes to solve problems might react negatively to an external standard like having to write a certain number of lines of code every day.

LO 3

Apply the Predictions of Self-Determination Theory to Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards

•What does all of this mean?•For individuals:

• Choose your job for reasons other than extrinsic rewards.

•For organizations:• Provide intrinsic as well as extrinsic incentives.

LO 3

Identify the Implications of Employee Job Engagement for Management

• Job engagement is the investment of an employee’s physical, cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance.

• Gallup organization: more engaged employees in successful organizations than in average organizations.

LO 4

Identify the Implications of Employee Job Engagement for Management

•What makes people more engaged in their job?

• The degree to which an employee believes it is meaningful to engage in work.

• A match between the individual’s values and the organization’s.

• Leadership behaviors that inspire workers to a greater sense of mission.

LO 4

Describe Goal-Setting Theory, Self-Efficacy Theory & Reinforcement Theory

•Goal-Setting Theory •Goals tell an employee what needs to be done and

how much effort is needed.

•Evidence suggests: •Specific goals increase performance.•Difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher

performance than do easy goals. •Feedback leads to higher performance than does

non-feedback.

LO 5


• Three other factors influencing the goals-performance relationship:

1. Goal commitment2. Task characteristics3. National culture

LO 5


• People differ in the way they regulate their thoughts and behaviors.• Those with a promotion focus strive for advancement

and accomplishment and approach conditions that move them closer toward desired goals. • Those with a prevention focus strive to fulfill duties and

obligations and avoid conditions that pull them away from desired goals.

• It’s probably best to be both promotion and prevention oriented.

LO 5


• Self-efficacy theory is an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.

• Enactive mastery (gaining relevant experience with task)• Vicarious modeling (more confident when you see someone else

doing the task)• Verbal persuasion (person is more confident when someone

convinces him that he has skills)• Arousal (driving a person to complete the task)

• Also known as social cognitive theory and social learning theory.

LO 5


• Implications of self-efficacy theory:•Training programs often make use of enactive

mastery by having people practice and build their skills. • Intelligence and personality are absent from

Bandura’s list, but they can increase self-efficacy.

LO 5


• Reinforcement theory: behavior is a function of its consequences.• Takes a behavioristic view, arguing that reinforcement

conditions behavior.• Behavior is environmentally caused.

•Goal-setting is a cognitive approach: an individual’s purposes direct his or her action.

LO 5


• In its pure form, reinforcement theory ignores feelings, attitudes, expectations, and other cognitive variables known to affect behavior.

• Reinforcement is undoubtedly an important influence on behavior, but it is not the only one.

LO 5

Demonstrate How Organizational Justice is a Refinement of Equity Theory

•When employees perceive an inequity, they can be predicted to make one of six choices:

1. Change their inputs. 2. Change their outcomes. 3. Distort perceptions of self. 4. Distort perceptions of others. 5. Choose a different referent. 6. Leave the field.

LO 6

Apply the Key Tenets of Expectancy Theory to Motivating Employees

• Expectancy theory argues that a tendency to act in a certain way depends on an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.

•An employee will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when he or she believes that: • Effort will lead to a good performance appraisal. •A good appraisal will lead to rewards. • The rewards will satisfy his or her personal goals.

LO 7


• Expectancy theory helps explain why a lot of workers aren’t motivated on their jobs and do only the minimum necessary to get by.

• Three questions employees need to answer in the affirmative if their motivation is to be maximized:

1. If I give maximum effort, will it be recognized in my performance appraisal?

2. If I get a good performance appraisal, will it lead to organizational rewards?

3. If I’m rewarded, are the rewards attractive to me?

LO 7


•Does expectancy theory work?

• It tends to be more valid in situations where effort-performance and performance-reward linkages are clearly perceived by the individual.

• If individuals were actually rewarded for performance rather than seniority, effort, skill level, and job difficulty, it might be much more valid.

LO 7

Compare the Main Ways Jobs Can Be Redesigned

• Repetitive jobs provide little variety, autonomy, or motivation.

• Job Rotation• Referred to as cross-training.

• Periodic shifting from one task to another. • Strengths: reduces boredom, increases motivation, and

helps employees better understand their work contributions.

• Weaknesses: creates disruptions, requires extra time for supervisors addressing questions and training time, and reduced efficiencies.

LO 8

Compare the Main Ways Jobs Can Be Redesigned

• Relational Job Design

• To make jobs more prosocially motivating:• Connect employees with the beneficiaries of their work.

Relate stories from customers who have found the company’s products or services to be helpful.

• Meet beneficiaries firsthand. Employees see that their actions affect a real person, and that

their jobs have tangible consequences. Connections make customers or clients more accessible in

memory and more emotionally vivid.Leads employees to consider the effects of their actions more. Fosters higher levels of commitment.

LO 8

Explain How Specific Alternative Work Arrangements Can Motivate Employees

LO 9


• Job Sharing • Two or more people split a 40-hour-a-week job.

• Declining in use.• Can be difficult to find compatible pairs of employees who

can successfully coordinate the intricacies of one job. • Increases flexibility and can increase motivation and

satisfaction when a 40-hour-a-week job is just not practical.

LO 9


• Telecommuting

• Employees who do their work at home at least two days a week on a computer that is linked to their office. • Virtual office• Well-known organizations actively encourage

telecommuting

LO 9

Describe How Employee Involvement Measures Can Motivate Employees

• Employee Involvement: a participative process that uses employees’ input to increase their commitment to the organization’s success.

• Examples of Employee Involvement Programs• Participative management• Representative participation

LO 10


• Participative management

• Joint decision making.• Acts as a panacea for poor morale and low productivity.• Trust and confidence in leaders is essential.• Studies of the participation-performance have yielded mixed

results.

LO 10


• Representative participation• Workers are represented by a small group of employees who

actually participate in decision making. • Almost every country in Western Europe requires

representative participation.• The two most common forms: Works councils Board representatives

LO 10

Demonstrate How the Different Types of Variable-Pay Programs Can Increase Employee Motivation

•What to Pay: Establishing a Pay Structure• Complex process that entails balancing internal equity and

external equity.• Some organizations prefer to pay leaders by paying above

market.• Paying more may net better-qualified and more highly

motivated employees who may stay with the firm longer.

LO 11

Demonstrate How the Different Types of Variable-Pay Programs Can Increase Employee Motivation

•How to Pay: Rewarding Individual Employees Through Variable-Pay Programs•Many organizations are moving away from paying

solely on credentials or length of service. • Piece-rate plans

• Merit-based pay

• Bonuses

• Profit sharing

• Gain sharing

• Employee stock ownership plans

•Earnings therefore fluctuate up and down.

LO 11

Show How Flexible Benefits Turn Benefits Into Motivators

•Flexible Benefits: Developing a Benefits Package

• Flexible benefits individualize rewards.

• Allow each employee to choose the compensation package that best satisfies his or her current needs and situation.

Replaces the “one-benefit-plan-fits-all” programs designed for a male with a wife and two children at home that dominated organizations for more than 50 years.

LO 12

Identify the Motivational Benefits of Intrinsic Rewards

• Intrinsic Rewards: Employee Recognition Programs

• Organizations are increasingly recognizing that important work rewards can be both intrinsic and extrinsic.

• Rewards are intrinsic in the form of employee recognition programs and extrinsic in the form of compensation systems. • Financial incentives might be more motivating in the short-term, but

nonfinancial rewards are more important in the long-term.

LO 13

Implications for Managers

• Make sure extrinsic rewards for employees are not viewed as coercive, but instead provide information about competence and relatedness.

• Consider goal-setting theory, as clear and difficult goals often lead to higher levels of employee productivity.

• Consider reinforcement theory regarding quality and quantity of work, persistence of effort, absenteeism, tardiness, and accident rates.

• Consult equity theory to help understand productivity, satisfaction, absence, and turnover variables.

• Expectancy theory also offers a powerful explanation of performance variables such as employee productivity, absenteeism, and turnover.


• Recognize individual differences. • Spend the time necessary to understand what’s

important to each employee. • Design jobs to align with individual needs and maximize

their motivation potential.

• Use goals and feedback. • You should give employees firm, specific goals, and they

should get feedback on how well they are faring in pursuit of those goals.


• Link rewards to performance. • Rewards should be contingent on performance, and

employees must perceive the link between the two.

• Check the system for equity. • Employees should perceive that experience, skills, abilities,

effort, and other obvious inputs explain differences in performance and hence in pay, job assignments, and other obvious rewards.

lesson 7: motivation concepts and applications

Documents