Tasks of students in this course - summary
1. A student, as member of a group, participates, contributes and makes presentation
on a class topic-based presentation
2. A student, submits individually, a 500-word essay summarizing the article s/he is
presenter of
3. A student, submits individually, a 500-word essay summarizing the article s/he is
discussant of
4. A student, as part of a discussant group, asks questions in the class
5. A student submits at least ten reviews of lectures and of presentations
–
Presenters of the day do not submit presentation reviews
6. A student, as part of a group, participates, contribute and makes presentation on a
company engagement topic.
Appreciation, motivation and communication
• While organizations often dedicate the holiday season to recognizing
employees for a job well done, a good share of workers say they
regularly feel underappreciated in the workplace throughout the year.
• An October 2020 survey of 2,231 workers by Monster.com finds the
overwhelming majority of people believe that both expressing
gratitude at work helps ease stress and anxiety (97%), and receiving
gratitude motivates their daily work (94%).
– https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/17/expressing-gratitude-reduces-stress-and-boosts-motivation-atwork.html?&qsearchterm=motivation accessed 12 May 2021
OB/MHROB
Lecture 5: Motivation
This lecture



Defines and describes the three key elements of motivation.
Compares and contrasts various approaches to motivate employees including
 Identifying and satisfying needs
 Identifying and satisfying employee goals and values
 Redesigning employee jobs
 Alternative work arrangements
Explores implications for motivation theories for HRM across cultures
Motivation - importance
• Management is defined as getting things done through
employees.
• What should managers do to ensure that subordinates are
more engaged.
• One option is to understand what motivates subordinates –
their needs, goals and values and then take actions to satisfy
them.
Defining motivation - 1
• Motivation is an internal state or a condition that activates a person’s
behavior and gives it direction toward accomplishing a task.
• It is based on emotion.
• Motivation is important as it influences an individual’s effort toward
performing a task.
• Performing a task is not just a matter of ability
• Motivation = Ability + Values
• Cultural/personal values affect what motivates managers
Defining motivation -2
• Motivation is the processes that accounts for an individual’s intensity,
direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining an organizational
goal
– Intensity: Amount of effort put into a task. How hard one tries.
– Direction:
• Hard work may not achieve anything, or one may not know what s/he achieved.
• Efforts should have a goal and in the work context - it is organizational goals
– Persistence:
• How long the effort is maintained
• Motivated individuals stay with a task long enough to achieve their goals.
Motivation
Early theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
• Herzberg’s Two-Factor (MotivationHygiene) Theory
• McClelland’s Theory of Needs (Three
Needs Theory)
Contemporary Theories
• Equity Theory
• Organizational Justice
• Expectancy Theory
• Self-Determination Theory
• Goal-Setting Theory
– Management by Objectives
• Self-Efficacy Theory
• Operant conditioning
• Implementing motivation theories
– Job Characteristics model
Maslow: Hierarchy of needs
• Physiological needs: A minimum level of
basic salary.
• Safety needs: Good working conditions
and job security.
• Belongingness need: Scope for teamwork
and social activities.
• Self-esteem: Personal achievement and
recognition from others, appreciation.
• Self-actualization is a sense that a key goal
has been accomplished for an individual.
– Hierarchy – satisfied need is not a
motivator/satisfaction-progression process
Herzberg: Two factor theory
• Intrinsic factors or Motivators: Positive influencers/ intrinsic to a
job/ push employees to higher levels of performance.
– Achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself,
responsibility, and growth or advancement.
• Extrinsic factors or Hygiene or ‘dissatisfiers’: Minimizes job
dissatisfaction – external to job
– company policy and administration, supervision,
interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary,
status, and security.
• Necessary to have both motivators and hygiene factors to
motivate employees
• Improving hygiene factors may not motivate:
– Higher pay but the work itself is boring and routine
McClelland’s theory of needs - 1
• Learned/learnt-Needs theory
– Needs are not inherent/people are not born with them. They are learnt.
– For example: People can be trained to be high achievers.
• Three needs that shape motivation: Need for achievement (nAch), Need for
affiliation (nAff), and the Need for power (nPow).
• People with a high nAch
– Accomplish challenging goals through their own efforts, and prefer positive
feedback and recognition for their successes.
– Motivated more to complete a task and less by financial reward
– Corporate high fliers/ Not good team players
– More like entrepreneurs/ May not be good managers of people
McClelland’s theory of needs - 2
Need for affiliation (nAff) refers to the desire for approval from others, as a
result, conforming to their wishes and expectations and avoiding conflict.
– Employees with high nAff prefer working with others, tend to have
better attendance records, and are better at mediating conflicts.
– High nAff employees are effective in coordinating roles and in social
interaction.
– High nAff employees tend to be less effective at allocating scarce
resources and making decisions that require conflict or confrontation.
McClelland’s theory of needs - 3
Need for power (nPow) refers to the desire to exercise authority over
people and resources.
– Power is a symbol of status and a tool to fulfill personal needs, rather
than a delicate instrument to serve stakeholders.
– Some people have a high need for personalized power or socialized
power.
– People with a high nPow are motivated by the opportunity to be in a
position of authority.
– Persuades employees in their way of thinking
Expectancy theory
• The expectancy theory was proposed by Victor Vroom of Yale School
of Management in 1964. Vroom stresses and focuses on outcomes,
and not on needs unlike Maslow and Herzberg. Consists of three
relationships
• Effort – performance relationship: The probability perceived by the individual
that exerting a given amount of effort will lead to performance at a certain
level.
• Performance – outcome relationship: The degree to which the individual
believes performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a
desired outcome.
• Outcome – personal goals relationship: The degree of attractiveness of an
outcome to an individual.
Expectancy theory: A hypothetical example
• A car dealer announces 50, 000-yen bonus for sale of
one car per week:
• Required effort: Come to office right on time, talk to
prospective buyers even after work, search the
websites to look for companies or people who are
looking for cars.
• Question: Can I put in this effort?
• Performance: Can I sell one car in a week?
• Outcome: Even if I can sell a car what is the guarantee
that I shall get the bonus?
• How trustworthy is the car dealer
• How transparent is the decision-making process
•
Procedural justice
• Personal goals: 50, 000-yen bonus
• Question: Do I value (valence) 50,000 yen?
Equity theory - 1
• Focuses on perceptions of fairness in the
distribution and exchange of resources.
• Four elements
1.
2.
3.
4.
Inputs: Skills, effort, experience, amount of
time worked, performance results, and other
employee contributions to the organization
Outcomes: Pay, promotions, and recognition
The outcome/input ratio: The value of the
outcomes received divided by the value of
inputs provided in an exchange relationship.
Referent: Individuals compare situations with
a ‘‘comparison other,’’ who may be another
person or group of people in the same job,
another job, or another organization
Equity theory - 2
• An equity evaluation is formed after determining one’s own
outcome/input ratio and comparing this with other’s ratio.
• If the outcome of the evaluation indicates that inequity
exists, the employees will be motivated to take the following
actions to reduce feelings of inequality:
•
•
•
•
•
Change inputs/ reducing effort.
Change outcomes/sick leave
Change perceptions/I do not deserve any more
Change the referent/Another employee receives the same reward
Get away from the inequitable situation/leaving the job.
Equity theory and international example
• A luxury hotel chain in Thailand brought extra workers form a sister hotel in Vietnam for a
short term during the new year holidays.
• Vietnamese workers were provided room and board along with wage that is standard in
Vietnam.
• Vietnamese workers, instead of comparing with workers back at home, compared their
compensation package with the local Thai workers who were receiving almost double the
amount that the Vietnamese workers were receiving.
• Management was confused because they thought that they were doing a favor to them by
bringing them to Thailand during the holiday season.
• Vietnamese workers were trying to organize a union . Management consented to increase
their pay by 25 percent but the they were still not happy.
Organizational justice
• Relates to the way employees feel authorities and decision-makers at work treat
them. Four elements of organizational justice are:
• Distributive justice is concerned with the fairness of the outcomes, such as pay and
recognition that employees receive.
• Procedural justice: While distributive justice looks at what outcomes are allocated,
procedural justice examines how. Procedural justice exist when decisions are consistent,
made based on transparent rules, avoids bias, uses accurate information and allows for
appeal.
• Informational justice emphasizes that managers provide employees with explanations for key
decisions and keep them informed of important organizational matters, particularly the ones
that affect employees.
• Interpersonal justice reflects whether employees are treated with dignity and respect.
Self-Determination Theory
• ‘Marcia started work at the Humane Society as a volunteer. She put in 15 hours
a week helping people adopt pets. And she loved coming to work. Then, 3
months ago, they hired her full-time at $11 an hour. She is doing the same
work she did before. But she is not finding it nearly as much fun’.
• Self-determination theory: People prefer to have control over their
actions so when they feel they are forced/obligation to do something they
previously enjoyed, motivation would decrease
• In support, Cognitive evaluation theory proposes that the introduction of
extrinsic rewards reduces intrinsic interest in work
 When people are paid for work, it feels less like something they want to do
and more like something they have to do.
Goal-Setting Theory -1
• This theory claims that intentions to work toward a goal motivates employees
– Goals motivate when they are:
Specific:
• Tells an employee what needs to be done and how much effort is needed.
Difficult
• Difficult goals get our attention and thus tend to help us focus.
• Difficult goals energize us because we have to work harder to attain them.
• When goals are difficult, people persist in trying to attain them.
• Difficult goals lead us to discover strategies that help us perform the job or task more
effectively.
Goal must be attainable: Unattainable goals do not motivate managers
Goal-Setting Theory - 2
• Goal commitment:
• The individual believes he or she
–
–
–
–
can achieve the goal
wants to achieve it.
when goals are made public,
when the goals are self-set rather than assigned.
• Accompanied by feedback:
– Self-generated feedback is best because it identifies gaps between achievement and goal
• National culture: Western culture suits best
– Assigned goals appear to generate greater goal commitment in high than in low power
distance cultures
Unattainable goals: Toshiba
• Toshiba top management set aggressive profit targets called “challenges” during
regular monthly meetings.
• Toshiba top management demanded divisions must achieve those challenges
• Toshiba top management warned that the company may withdraw from their line of
business unless those challenges are achieved.
• Toshiba has maintained a corporate culture in which employees cannot go against
the wishes of top management.
• Division heads reported that the challenges – profit targets - were achieved when
they actually were not.
• Division heads did this by engaging in accounting irregularities.
– http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002301982 accessed 22 July 2015
Implementing goal setting theory
Management by Objectives (MBO)
• Converts overall organizational
objectives into specific objectives
for work units and individuals
– Cascading of Objectives
• Fits in with the goal setting theory
• Common elements:
–
–
–
–
•
Goal specificity
Explicit time period
Performance feedback
Participation in decision making
Peter Drucker
Self-Efficacy Theory - Albert Bandura
• Self-efficacy theory: An individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a
task
– The higher your self-efficacy, the more confidence you have in your ability to
succeed.
•
In difficult situations, people with low self-efficacy are more likely to lessen their effort or give up
altogether, while those with high self-efficacy will try harder to master the challenge.
• Self-efficacy is increased by:
– Enactive mastery: Gain experience/successfully completing a job
– Vicarious modeling: See someone else do the task
– Verbal persuasion: Someone convinces you that you have the skills
– Arousal: A person’s own responses and emotional reactions to situations: Moods, emotional
states, physical reactions, and stress levels.
Operant conditioning, reinforcement and motivation - 1
• B. F. Skinner, one of the most prominent advocates of operant
conditioning, demonstrated that people would
– engage in desired behaviors if they are rewarded i.e., positively
reinforced for doing so;
– rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the desired
response;
– and behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is less likely to be
repeated.
• In other words, learning influences behavior
Operant conditioning, reinforcement and motivation - 2
• Individuals can learn by being told or by observing what
happens to other people, as well as through direct experience.
– Much of what we have learned comes from watching models—
parents, teachers, peers, film and television performers, bosses, and
so forth.
• The view that we can learn through both observation and
direct experience is called social-learning theory
• People would be motivated to do a task that they know
receives rewards
Every day is the same thing
• “Every day was the same thing,” Frank Greer said. “Stand on that assembly line. Wait for an
instrument panel to be moved into place. Unlock the mechanism and drop the panel into
the Jeep Liberty as it moved by on the line. Then I plugged in the harnessing wires. I
repeated that for eight hours a day.
• I don’t care that they were paying me twenty-four dollars an hour. I was going crazy. I did it
for almost a year and a half. Finally, I just said to my wife that this isn’t going to be the way
I’m going to spend the rest of my life. My brain was turning to JELL-O on that Jeep assembly
line. So I quit.
• Now I work in a print shop and I make less than fifteen dollars an hour. But let me tell you,
the work I do is really interesting. The job changes all the time, I’m continually learning new
things, and the work really challenges me! I look forward every morning to going to work
again.”
Applying motivation theories
• While it is important to understand the underlying motivation
concepts, it’s also important to see how you can use them as a
manager.
• One way to apply motivation theories to influence behavior is
Job design
• Job characteristics model of Hackman and Oldham serves as a
framework to design jobs.
Job characteristic model - 1
 Five core dimensions of jobs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Skill variety is the degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities so the worker
can use a number of different skills and talent - automobile service versus spray painting
Task identity is the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole job or identifiable
piece of work – cabinet maker versus table leg maker.
Task significance is the degree to which a job affects the lives or work of other people – Intensive
care nurse versus sweeper
Autonomy is the degree to which a job provides the worker freedom, independence, and
discretion in scheduling work and determining the procedures in carrying it out - salesperson
versus cashier.
Feedback is the degree to which carrying out work activities generates direct and clear
information about your own performance – quality inspectors versus product component
makers.
Job Characteristics Model - 2
Redesigning jobs - 1: Job Rotation
• The periodic shifting of an employee from one task to another with similar skill
requirements at the same organizational level.
• At Singapore Airlines, a ticket agent may take on the duties of a baggage handler.
• Japanese corporations practice job rotation
• Advantages
• Reduces boredom, increases motivation, and helps employees better understand how their
work contributes to the organization.
• Employees develop wider range of skills give management more flexibility in scheduling
work, adapting to changes, and filling vacancies.
• Disadvantages
• Training costs increase/ productivity in new job decreases/ new members create
disruption/supervisors spends more time in answering questions and monitoring the work of
recently rotated employees.
• Jack of all trades master of none
Redesigning jobs - 2: Job enrichment
Expands jobs by increasing the degree to which the worker controls the planning,
execution, and evaluation of the work
• Combining a number of skills to complete a whole task – cabinet maker.
• Forming natural work units – Completes a whole job affecting people – an intensive care
nurse
• Establishing client relationships: Employees decide their own work and get feed back
from clients – a professor
• Expanding jobs vertically: Gives employees responsibilities and control formerly reserved
for management.
• Opening feedback channels: Lets employees know how well they are doing and whether
their performance is improving, deteriorating, or remaining constant.
Redesigning jobs 3: Relational job redesign
• Designing work so that employees are motivated to promote the well-being of the organization’s
beneficiaries.
• This view, relational job design, shifts the spotlight from the employee to those whose lives are
affected by the job that employee performs.
• Relate stories from customers who have benefited from the company’s products or services/Connect
employees directly with beneficiaries
• The medical device manufacturer Medtronic invites people to describe how Medtronic products have improved, or even saved,
their lives and shares these stories with employees during annual meetings, providing a powerful reminder of the impact of
their work.
• It makes customers or clients more memorable and emotionally vivid, which leads employees to
consider the effects of their work actions more.
• Connections allow employees to easily take the perspective of beneficiaries, which fosters higher levels
of commitment.
Alternative work arrangements
• There are many approaches toward motivating people, and
we have discussed
•
•
•
•
Identification of needs and providing corresponding incentives
Identification and use of goals, expectations and values
Redesigning jobs employees perform
Another approach is alternative work arrangements such as flextime, job
sharing, and telecommuting.
• These are likely to be especially important for a diverse workforce of
dual-earner couples, single parents, and employees caring for a sick
or aging relative.
Alternative work arrangements - Flexitime
• Flexitime: Short for “flexible work time.” Employees must work a specific
number of hours per week but are free to vary their hours of work within certain
limits.
Susan’s employer - The Hartford Financial Services Group - opens at 6:00 a.m. and closes at
7:00 p.m. It’s up to her how she schedules her 8-hour day within this 13-hour period.
 Because Susan is a morning person and also has a 7-year-old son who gets out of school at
3:00 p.m. every day, she opts to work from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
 ‘My work hours are perfect. I’m at the job when I’m mentally most alert, and I can be home
to take care of my son after he gets out of school’.
Advantages: Employees can schedule their work hours to align with personal demands/ can
work when they are most productive/ balances work and family -“family friendly” workplace.
Disadvantages: May not be suitable for all jobs – Receptionists, Sales people



Alternative work arrangements – Job sharing
• Job Sharing allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40-hour-a-week job. One might
perform the job from 8:00 a.m. to noon and the other from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., or the two
could work full but alternate days.

Ford engineers Julie Levine and Julie Rocco spend time with their families while working on the timeintensive job of redesigning the Explorer crossover. Typically, one of the pair will work late afternoons and
evenings while the other works mornings.
 Allows drawing on the talents of more than one but pay for one.
 Allows acquiring skilled workers—for instance, women with young children and retirees—who might
not be available on a full-time basis.
 Many Japanese firms are increasingly considering job sharing—but for a very different reason. Because
Japanese executives are extremely reluctant to fire people, job sharing is seen as a potentially
humanitarian means of avoiding layoffs due to overstaffing.
 The major drawback is finding compatible pairs of employees who can successfully coordinate the
intricacies of one job
Alternative Work Arrangements - Telecommuting
•
Telecommuting is working at home, at least 2 days a week, on a computer linked to the employer’s office.
•
Virtual office — working from home on a relatively permanent basis.
•
Suitable for three categories: Routine information-handling tasks, mobile activities, and professional and other
knowledge-related tasks
•
Writers, attorneys, analysts, and employees who spend the majority of their time on computers or the telephone—
such as telemarketers, customer-service representatives, reservation agents, and product-support specialists—are
natural candidates.
•
Advantages: Larger labour pool from which to select and reduced office-space costs.
•
Disadvantages:
•
May make it more difficult to coordinate teamwork and can reduce knowledge transfer in organizations;
•
Employees with a high social need, telecommuting can increase feelings of isolation and reduce job satisfaction;
•
“Out of sight, out of mind” effect: Employees who aren’t at their desks, who miss meetings, and who don’t share in
day-to-day informal workplace interactions may be at a disadvantage when it comes to raises and promotions.
Employee Involvement
 A participative process that uses the input of employees to increase their
commitment to the organization’s success
 Two types of employee involvement:
 Participative management: Conditions:
 Employees must be engaged in issues relevant to their interests so they’ll be motivated,
 They must have the competence and knowledge to make a useful contribution, and
 Trust and confidence must exist among all parties
 Representative participation/European/two types
 Works councils are groups of nominated or elected employees who must be consulted when
management makes decisions about employees.
 Board representatives are employees who sit on a company’s board of directors and
represent employees’ interests.
Pay programs to motivate - 1
Variable-Pay Programs: Base a portion of the pay on a given
measure of performance. Seven types:
• Piece-rate pay plan: Provides no base salary and pays the
employee only for what he or she produces.
• Merit-based pay: IBM increases employees’ base salary
based on annual performance evaluations.
• Bonuses: Paid only when performance improves
Pay programs to motivate - 2
• Skill-based pay: Decides pay levels on how many skills employees
have or how many jobs they can do
• Profit-sharing plans: Distributes compensation based on company’s
profitability – cash outlays or stock options.
• Gainsharing: Employees receive a financial share of the profit of the
company gained by a performance improvement they helped design.
• Employee-stock ownership plan (ESOP): Employees acquire stock,
often at below-market prices, as part of their benefits.
Summary
• Defined motivation and discussed several motivation
theories.
• Described the job characteristics model and the way it
motivates by changing the work environment.
• Explained how specific alternative work arrangements can
motivate employees.
• Demonstrated how the different types of variable-pay
programs can increase employee motivation.
How to stay motivated working
remotely
• Establish a sense of routine that includes plan out what you
absolutely need to get done that day.
• Then break down what you need to deliver into small, achievable
steps that you can check off along the way.
• Loop in your manager to make sure you’re aligned on what you’re
expected to deliver and that it includes work that you find motivating.
• Discussions with your boss can also go a long way to help you feel like
your work has value to the larger organization, which can help you
find meaning in your day-to-day.
How to stay motivated working
remotely
• After you identify the work that energizes you, you’ll still need to find ways to
power through the ones you enjoy less but are still expected.
• Make these tasks feel like less of a chore by building in rewards of what you’ll get
to do once you check them off.
• For example, when Adams feels unmotivated to complete a daunting task on her plate, she
tells herself that she’ll get to enjoy a walk with her dog as soon as she gets it done.
• Take stock of what you accomplish each day
• Try to maintain a separate work space so you can physically and mentally
disconnect outside of work hours.
• https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/13/how-to-stay-motivated-while-working-from-home.html accessed 04 June 2020