LECTURE 14 NOTES
MOTIVATION
SUMMARY:
Lecture 14 begins the student’s study of motivation, the role of motivation in employee
performance, theories of motivation, and strategies they can use as managers for
motivating employees. If managers are going to be successful in motivating employees,
they must focus on people issues and satisfying changing employee needs.
To be successful in working with subordinates, managers need to acquire a thorough
understanding of the motivation process. To that end, the definition of motivation,
various motivation models, and theories of people’s needs are the main discussion
topics in the chapter.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. A useful definition of motivation
2. Insights about the process theories of motivation
3. Practical ideas related to the content theories of motivation
4. An understanding of the importance of motivating organization members
5. Insights about specific strategies for motivating organization members
TARGET SKILLS:
Motivation Skill: the ability to create organizational situations in which individuals
performing organizational activities are simultaneously satisfying personal needs
and helping the organization attain its goals
OUTLINE:
This is divided into five sections:
1. Defining Motivation
2. Process Theories of Motivation
3. Content Theories of Motivation: Human Needs
4. Importance of Motivating Organization Members
5. Strategies for Motivating Organization Members
Defining Motivation:
This section introduces students to the definition of motivation.
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Motivation
o The inner state that causes an individual to learn in a way that ensures the
accomplishment of some goal
o Explains why people act as they do
o Managers are better able to influence subordinates’ behaviors when they
understand the principles of motivation and thus ways to influence their
subordinates’ behavior toward accomplishing the organization’s goals
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Motivation Theories are categorized into two types:
o Process Theory of Motivation
 Emphasize how individuals are motivated and focus on the steps that
occur when an individual is motivated
o Content Theory of Motivation
 Emphasize people’s internal characteristics and focus on
understanding what needs people have and how those needs can be
satisfied
Process Theories of Motivation:
This section introduces students to the process theories of motivation. The theories in this
section build on one another to furnish a description of the motivation process that begins at a
relatively simple and easily understood level and culminates at a somewhat more intricate and
realistic level.
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Needs-Goal Theory
Vroom Expectancy Theory
Equity Theory
Porter-Lawler Theory
o The Needs-Goal Theory of Motivation
 Figure 14.1 illustrates the Needs-Goal Theory of Motivation
 Most fundamental of the motivation theories
 Motivation begins with an individual feeling a need
 The need transforms into a behavior that supports the
performance of goal behavior to significantly reduce the felt
need
 Goal setting can play a prominent role in influencing motivation
 Research provides evidence that individuals who set goals have
an easier time focusing on activities relevant to those goals and
avoid distractions that prevent them from reaching their goals
 The Role of Individual Needs
 Managers must understand the personal needs of employees if
they are going to have success in motivating employees
 Offering rewards not valued by employees does not motivate
employees
 Managers must be familiar with the needs their employees have
and offer them rewards that can satisfy those needs
o The Vroom Expectancy Theory of Motivation
 Motivation is much more complex than the needs-goal theory
identifies – the Vroom Expectancy theory addresses the complexities
 Based on the premise that felt needs cause human behavior
 Also addresses the idea of Motivation Strength
 Individual’s desire to perform a behavior
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Motivation strength fluctuates as an individual’s desire
increases or decreases
 Motivation and Perceptions
 Figure 14.2 illustrates the Expectancy Theory in equation form
 Motivation strength is determined by the perceived value of the
result of performing a behavior and the perceived probability
the behavior performed will cause the result to materialize
 As these factors increase, motivation strength and the desire to
perform the behavior also increase
o Equity Theory of Motivation
 Stacy Adams
 When individuals believe they have been treated unfairly in
comparison to other coworkers, they react in a way to try to fight the
inequity
 Change work outputs to better match the rewards they are
receiving
 Change the compensation they receive by asking for a raise or
taking legal action
 Change their perceptions of the inequality
 Leave the situation rather than try to change it
 Perceptions of inequality come from a variety of situations, including
work assignments, promotions, compensation, ratings reports, and
office assignments
 All of the situations are emotionally charged because they all relate to
an individual’s perception of their self-worth
o The Porter-Lawler Theory of Motivation
 Figure 14.3 illustrates the Porter-Lawler theory of motivation
 Accepts the premise that needs drive behavior and the effort an
individual puts forth in their behavior is determined by the
individual’s perception of the value of the rewards that result from
finishing the task and the probability they will receive those rewards
 Additional characteristics of the theory include:
 Perceived value of the reward is determined by both intrinsic
and extrinsic rewards that result when a task is accomplished
o Intrinsic reward comes directly from performing the
task
o Extrinsic reward is extraneous to the task
 Extent to which an individual effectively accomplishes a task is
determined primarily by two variables: the individual’s
perception of what is required to perform the task and the
individual’s ability to perform the task
 Perceived fairness of rewards influences the amount of
satisfaction produced by those rewards
Content Theories of Motivation: Human Needs:
This section provides a discussion of content theory needs focusing on needs for self-respect,
respect from others, promotion, and psychological growth. The content theory needs have
been developed to help managers understand these needs.
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Alderfer’s ERG theory
Argyris’s maturity-immaturity continuum
McClelland’s acquired needs theory
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
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o Figure 14.4 illustrates the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
o Maslow stated that human beings possess five basic needs and those needs
can be arranged in a hierarchy of importance – the order in which individuals
generally strive to satisfy the needs
 Physiological Need
 Food, water, shelter, rest, sex, air
 Security or Safety Need
 Free from harm, including both bodily and economic disaster
 Social Need
 Desire for love, companionship, and friendship
 Esteem Need
 Desire for respect
 Self-Actualization Need
 Desire to maximize whatever potential an individual possesses
o Greatest concern is the hierarchy has no research base, may not accurately
reflect basic human needs, and is questionable whether human needs are
really neatly arranged into a hierarchy
o However, the hierarchy is the most popular conceptualization of human
needs to date and continues to be widely discussed in management literature
Alderfer’s ERG Theory
o Clayton Alderfer
o Was critical of Maslow’s theory so conducted his own research and identified
three basic categories of needs – (ERG Needs)
 Existence Need – need for physical well-being
 Relatedness Need – need for satisfying interpersonal relationships
 Growth Need – need for continuing personal growth and development
o Comparing Maslow to the ERG Theory:
 Alderfer has three needs; Maslow five
 Alderfer found that individuals are able to activate their higher-level
needs prior to the satisfaction of the lower-level needs
 Alderfer identified that movement along the hierarchy is not always
upward
Argyris’s Maturity-Immaturity Continuum
o Chris Argyris
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o Provides insights into human needs with a continuum concept focusing on
personal and natural development of people to explain human needs
o People naturally progress from immaturity to maturity as they move:
 From a state of passivity as an infant to a state of increasing activity as
an adult
 From a state of dependence on others as an infant to a state of relative
independence as an adult
 From being capable of behaving in only a few ways as an infant to
being capable of behaving in many different ways as an adult
 From having erratic, casual, shallow, and quickly dropped interests as
an infant to having deeper, more lasting interests as an adult
 From having a short-time perspective as an infant to having a much
longer-time perspective as an adult
 From being in a subordinate position as an infant to aspiring to occupy
an equal or subordinate position as an adult
 From a lack of self-awareness as an infant to awareness and control
over self as an adult
o Needs are not arranged in a hierarchy
o Similarly to Maslow, the theory is primarily a subjective explanation of human
needs
McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory
o David C. McClelland – 1960s
o Focuses on the needs people acquire through their life experiences
o Emphasizes three of the many needs human beings develop in their lifetimes:
 Need for Achievement – nAch
 The desire to do something better or more efficiently than it has
ever been done before
 Need for Power – nPower
 The desire to control, influence, or be responsible for others
 Need for Affiliation – nAff
 The desire to maintain close, friendly, personal relationships
o An individual’s life experiences determine which of these needs will be highly
developed and therefore dominate their personality
o McClelland’s study of these three needs do have significant implications for
management
 Need for Achievement
 Can be so strong in some individuals that it becomes more
motivating than the quest for profits
 These individuals set goals for themselves that are challenging
yet achievable
 People with a small need for achievement tend to stay away
from challenging goals, responsibilities, and risk
 Need for Power
 Greatly motivated to influence others and assume responsibility
for subordinates’ behavior
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Seek advancement with activities involving increasing amounts
of responsibility
 Comfortable in competitive situations and enjoy decision
making
Need for Affiliation
 Cooperative, team-centered managerial style
 Prefer to influence subordinates to complete tasks through
team efforts
 Can lose effectiveness if their need for social approval and
friendship interferes with willingness to make decisions
Importance of Motivating Organization Members:
This section focuses on providing students a discussion of why motivation is so important for
managers to study and understand. Motivation drives an individual’s behavior which drives
goal accomplishment and productivity.
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People are motivated to perform behavior that satisfies their personal needs
Therefore, managers need to understand providing opportunities that satisfy needs
results in productive behavior within the organization
Figure 14.5 makes the point unsatisfied needs can lead organization members to
perform either appropriate or inappropriate behavior
Strategies for Motivating Organization Members:
This section discusses a variety of strategies available to managers for motivating their
organization members. Each strategy is aimed at satisfying needs through appropriate
organizational behavior.
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Managerial Communication
o The most basic motivation strategy managers can use is to communicate well
with organization members
o Communication is a basic tool for satisfying the human needs of organization
members
o The Tips for Managing Around the Globe box in the text provides a discussion of
communicating rewards that align with values
Theory X-Theory Y
o Douglas McGregor identified two sets of assumptions
o Theory X
 Involves negative assumptions about people that McGregor believes
managers use as their basis for dealing with subordinates
 Dislike of work, naturally lazy, avoid work when they can
 McGregor assumes these managers are “Bad”
o Theory Y
 Represents positive assumptions about people that McGregor believes
managers use as their basis for dealing with subordinates
 Self-direction, creative, seek responsibility, exercise self-control
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 McGregor assumes these managers are “Good”
Job Design
o The process of designing the jobs organization members perform
o Earlier Job Design Strategies
 Make jobs simpler and more specialized to increase worker
productivity
o Job Rotation
 Move workers from job to job rather than requiring them to perform
only one simple and specialized job over the long term
o Job Enlargement
 Increase the number of operations an individual performs in order to
enhance their satisfaction with work
o Job Enrichment
 Frederick Herzberg research on the degrees of satisfaction and
dissatisfaction organizational members feel are two different variables
determined by two different sets of items
 Hygiene, Maintenance Factors
o Relate to the work environment
o When these factors are undesirable, the individual
becomes dissatisfied
 Motivating Factors
o Relate to the work itself
o When these factors are compelling, the individual is
usually motivated to perform a better job
 The process of incorporating motivators into a job situation is job
enrichment
 Table 14.1 lists the items that make up Herzberg’s hygiene and
motivating factors
 Job Enrichment and Productivity
 Herzberg’s overall conclusions show that individuals who are
involved in work situations have both desirable hygiene and
motivating factors
 Figure 14.6 illustrates the needs in Maslow’s hierarchy that are
desirable hygiene and motivating factors that generally satisfy
o Flextime
 Scheduling innovations beyond the traditional fixed, eight-hour
workday
 Allows workers to complete their jobs within a workweek of a normal
number of hours that they schedule themselves
 Table 14.2 provides a discussion of advantages and disadvantages of
using flextime programs
Behavior Modification
o B. F. Skinner
o Encouraging appropriate behavior by controlling the consequences of that
behavior
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o Behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated, whereas behavior that is
punished tends to be eliminated
o Reinforcement
 Positive reinforcement
 Reward that consists of a desirable consequence of behavior
 Negative reinforcement
 Reward that consists of the elimination of an undesirable
consequence of behavior
o Punishment
 Undesirable behavior consequence or the removal of a desirable
behavior consequence that decreases the likelihood the behavior will
continue
o Applying Behavior Modification
 Ingredients of successful behavior modification programs include the
following:
 Giving different kinds of rewards to different workers
according to the quality of their performances
 Telling workers what they are doing wrong
 Punishing workers privately to avoid embarrassing them in
front of others
 Giving out rewards and punishments that are earned to
emphasize that management is serious about its behavior
modification efforts
 Managers bring in third-party experts to help employees and the
organization identify negative cognitive and behavioral processes and
attempt to get them back on track
Likert’s Management Systems
o Rensis Likert
o Management styles can be categorized into the following systems:
 System 1
 Characterized by a lack of confidence or trust in subordinates
 System 2
 Characterized by a condescending, master-to-servant-style
confidence and trust in subordinates
 System 3
 Characterized by substantial, though not complete, confidence
in subordinates
 System 4
 Characterized by trust and confidence in subordinates
o Styles, Systems, and Productivity
 As management moves from system 1 to system 4, the human needs of
individuals within the organization tend to be more effectively
satisfied over the long term
 Figure 14.7 illustrates the comparative long- and short-term effects of
both system 1 and system 4 on organizational production
Managers can use system 1 in the short term because motivation by
fear, threat, and punishment is generally effective in the short run
 Over the long run, system 1 results in decreased performance and
productivity and therefore managers should be using a different
management style
Monetary Incentives
o ESOPs – Employee Stock Ownership Plans
o Lump-Sum Bonuses
o Gain-Sharing
o Whenever a monetary incentive program is used, it is important that it be
accompanied by communication to all employees describing the
organization’s business goals and explaining how employees’ behavior
contributes to accomplishing those goals
Nonmonetary Incentives
o Promoting from within
o Emphasis on quality – most individuals are unhappy workers when they
know their work goes toward a shoddy product
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