Chapter 6: Basic Motivation Concepts
Motivation = “The processes that account for an
individual’s direction, intensity and persistence of
effort toward achieving a goal”
 Direction = should benefit the organization (i.e.
quality of effort counts!)
 Intensity = how hard an employee tries
 Persistence = how long can an employee maintain
his/her effort?
Note: the goal is an “organizational” goal
Early Theories of Motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Physiological
includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex and other bodily needs
 Safety
includes security and protection from physical and
emotional harm
 Social
includes affection, belongingness acceptance, and
friendship
 Esteem
includes internal esteem factors such as self-respect,
autonomy, and achievement; and external esteem factors
such as status, recognition, and attention
 Self-actualization
the drive to become what one is capable of becoming;
includes growth, achieving one’s potential, and selffulfillment
Theory X and Theory Y (Douglas McGregor)
Two-Factor Theory
 Intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction,
while extrinsic factors are related to job
dissatisfaction.
Hygiene factors = when these are adequate,
workers “feel OK” (i.e. they are NOT dissatisfied).
Examples include quality of supervision,
company policies and administration.
Motivators = examines factors contributing to job
satisfaction. Thus, there are factors which lead to
job satisfaction and things that don’t (i.e. notice
there is a difference between “non-satisfying”
and “dissatisfying factors”)
Contemporary Theories
 Alderfer's “ERG” Theory
Existence
Relatedness
Growth
This theory does not assume a rigid hierarchy
like Maslow's. For example, all 3 of these could
be operating at the same time.
McClelland's Theory of Needs
 The Need for Achievement: the drive to excel,
achieve in relation to a set of standards, strive to
succeed.
 The Need for Power: The need to make others
behave in a way that they would not have
behaved otherwise.
 The Need for Affiliation: The desire for friendly
and close interpersonal relationships.
Q: So, what can we “do” with such information
about our employees???
Answer: Match People and Jobs (an example…)
Cognitive Evaluation Theory
Goal -Setting Theory
 The theory that specific and difficult goals lead to higher
performance.
 Goals tell an employee what needs to be done and how
much effort will need to be expended.
 Specific goals increase performance; that difficult goals,
when accepted, result in higher performance than do easy
goals; and that feedback leads to higher performance than
does non-feedback.
 Specific hard goals produce a higher level of output than
does the generalized goal of "do your best."
– The specificity of the goal itself acts as an internal stimulus.
 Be sure to note the importance of goal commitment, selfefficacy, task characteristics, and national culture on goalsetting theory.
Reinforcement Theory
 A counterpoint to the goal-setting theory.
 In reinforcement theory, a “behavioristic”
approach, which argues that reinforcement
conditions behavior.
 Reinforcement theorists see behavior as being
behaviorally caused.
 Reinforcement theory ignores the inner state of
the individual and concentrates solely on what
happens to a person when he or she takes some
action.
Flow and Intrinsic Motivation Theory
Ken Thomas’s Model of Intrinsic Motivation
 Employees are intrinsically motivated when
rewards an employee gets from work result from:
– Choice– the ability to freely self-select and perform
task activities.
– Competence– the sense of accomplishment from
skillfully performing chosen tasks or activities.
– Meaningfulness– pursuing a task that matters in the
larger scheme of things.
– Progress– the feeling of significant advancement in
achieving the task’s purpose.
Equity Theory
 Individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with
those of others and then respond so as to eliminate any
inequities (this is the “motivation” component)
 Equity theory recognizes that…
– individuals are concerned not only with the absolute amount
of rewards for their efforts, but also with the relationship of
this amount to what others receive.
 Historically, equity theory focused on:
Distributive justice or the perceived fairness of the
amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.
However, equity should also consider procedural justice or
the perceived fairness of the process used to determine the
distribution of rewards.
Equity Theory (cont’d)
Choices for dealing with inequity:
1. Change inputs (slack off)
2. Change outcomes (increase output)
3. Distort/change perceptions of self
4. Distort/change perceptions of others
5. Choose a different referent person
6. Leave the field (quit the job)
Expectancy Theory
 The strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends
on the strength of an expectation that the act will be
followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of
that outcome to the individual. The theory focuses on three
relationships:
 Effort-performance relationship or the probability perceived
by the individual that exerting a given amount of effort will
lead to performance.
 Performance-reward relationship or the degree to which the
individual believes that performing at a particular level will
lead to the attainment of a desired outcome.
 Rewards-personal goals relationship or the degree to which
organizational rewards satisfy an individual’s personal
goals or needs and the attractiveness of those potential
rewards for the individual.
Expectancy Theory
Performance Dimensions
Summary and Implications for Managers
 Need Theories
Maslow’s hierarchy, Two factor, ERG, & McClelland’s
 Goal Setting Theory
Clear and difficult goals often lead to higher levels of employee
productivity.
 Reinforcement Theory
Good predictor of quality and quantity of work, persistence of
effort, absenteeism, tardiness, and accident rates.
 Equity Theory
Strongest when predicting absence and turnover behaviors.
Weakest when predicting differences in employee productivity.
 Expectancy Theory
Focus on performance variables
It is a “rational” model so be careful when using it
This theory may be better applied to employees with greater
discretion in their jobs (i.e., as opposed to semi-skilled positions)