MBA640
Organizational Behavior
Belhaven University
Unit 5
Motivation and Job Design
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This unit
Third unit of course
 Comes from Chapter 5 and 6 of our text
 Delves into what makes us act as we do
 Analyzes how we design our jobs and how we
look at them
This unit is foundational for many more
courses that you will have in your graduate
program.

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Topics
Needs
 Employee motivation
 Motivation theories and processes
 Psychological contract
 Job design
 Quality of work life
 How people perceive their jobs
 How to change how jobs are perceived

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Unit Objectives
By the end of this unit, you should:
 Understand many of the key motivational
theories and how they work
 Understand principles of designing jobs in a way
that is both effective for the organization and
motivational for the employee
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Job Performance

Job performance is the result of three influences
(factors):
1.
2.
3.
Willingness to perform
Capacity (ability) to perform
Opportunity to perform
Managers and leaders have the ability to affect all
three of these factors.
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Needs….where it all begins

Needs: deficiencies an individual experiences at
a particular point in time.

Needs lead to goal directed behavior. A person
will direct his or her energies to meeting a need
until it is met or a stronger need arises.
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How do needs influence behavior?

Two approaches to looking at this:


Content theories: focus on factors within a person that
energize, sustain and stop behavior.
Process theories: these theories focus on how these
motivational processes work within organizations.
It is not an either-or type of thing. Both types of
theories have application.
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Maslow’s Need Hierarchy
Self
Actuali
zation
Esteem
Belongingness
1. Needs ascend from the
bottom
2. A person cannot move to
higher needs until lower
needs are satisfied
3. Unmet needs prompt needsatisfying behavior (goaldirected behavior)
4. A satisfied need no longer
motivates
Safety & Security
Physiological
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Alderfer’s ERG Theory
1.
Existence
Food, air, pay, working conditions
2.
Relatedness
Social and interpersonal relationships
Growth
Being creative or productive
3.
Similar to Maslow
Not a
hierarchy…persons
may move between
needs freely
Some believe 2
needs may be in
play at one time
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Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
1.
Hygiene
Factors
Motivators
Pay, security,
working
conditions
Achievement,
recognition,
meaningful
work
2.
3.
4.
LACK of them
can
demotivate
Presence can
motivate
Both are present in the
workplace
Increasing a hygiene
factor will not motivate.
Inadequate hygiene
factors can demotivate
Increasing motivators
increases job
satisfaction
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McClelland’s Learned Needs
1.
Need for
Achievement (Nach)
2.
Need for Power
(Npow)
Need for Affection
(Naff)
3.
Needs are learned
or acquired from the
culture
Strong need prompts
goal-directed
behavior
Empirical support for
this theory is not as
strong as for the
others
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Stop and think…
Look at Matthew 4:1-11
 Read how our Lord was tempted by Satan?
 Can you identify how Satan may have tried to
use these motivational theories on Jesus?

Food: Herzberg, Maslow (physiological)
 Acclaim, publicity: Belongingness (Herzberg),
relatedness (Alderfer)
 Power, dominion: Npow (McClelland), achievement
(Alderfer)

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Will
accomplishing
the job earn
the reward?
Valence
Will the effort
get the job
done?
Performance
Effort
Expectancy…a process approach
Is the reward
worth it?
1. If employees do not believe their efforts will get the job done, they will not
be motivated.
2. If employees do not believe that management can deliver the promised
rewards, there will be no motivation.
3. If the reward is not valued by the employees, there will be no motivation.
ALL THREE must exist before motivation
happens.
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Equity Theory…another process
approach
A person compares his or 1.
her input vs outcomes to 2.
the inputs vs outcomes for 3.
other persons.
 The person does not
4.
expect the ratio (inputs:
outcomes) to be equal to
others, but proportional.

5.
6.
Change inputs
Change outcomes
Change the reference
person
Change inputs or
outcomes of reference
person
Change attitude
Leave
Ways to equalize the formula:
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Psychological contract

Psychological contract: a complex unwritten set
of expectations regarding the employment
relationship.

Breach of psychological contract: employee
perception that the organization has failed to
fulfill the unwritten agreement.
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What motivates you?
Stop for a moment and watch this short
entertaining and informative video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
How many motivational theories did you see used in this
video?
How are motivational interactions more complex than You
first thought?
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Job Design
Job design: the process of specifying the tasks,
duties and responsibilities of a job.
 What’s the big deal about it?

1.
2.
3.
4.
Objective outcomes: it gets the organization’s tasks done
efficiently and effectively
Behavior outcomes: Employees react to the work itself (re:
Hawthorne Studies).
Intrinsic and extrinsic outcomes: design provides
opportunities for both kinds of motivation
Job satisfaction outcomes: design affects how people feel
about their jobs.
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Elements of Job Design
Three dimensions of job design:
1.
2.
3.
Range: number of operations
Depth: control a person has over the job
environment
Relationships: span of control
Management has influence over all three.
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Job Range
Number of tasks a jobholder performs.
 More tasks = wider range.
 Taylor made work efficient by LIMITING the
number of tasks.
 Range has nothing to do with the prestige or the
salary of the job (i.e., anesthesiologist)

What is the risk of too narrow range? Of to
wide of a range?
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Job Depth
The amount of discretion or control a person has
to decide job outcomes and activities.
 More discretion = more depth.
 Many high-depth jobs have low range
(professors, plumbers).

Management’s task is to figure out the best mix
of range and depth.
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Job Relationships

This dimension regards who and with how many
persons one works.

Departmentalization: how the workflow is divided



Influenced by organization’s objectives
Has functional implications
Span of control: size or number of groups over which
one has responsibility.


Greater number = wider span
Wider span = more complexity and difficulty
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Relating to Jobs

Key: how people DO their jobs is influenced by
how they THINK about their jobs.
Designing a job based only on scientific (objective)
data ignores the psychological aspects (Taylor’s
problem).
 Designing a job based only on subjective properties
(feelings, perceptions) may not achieve organizational
goals.

It is management’s job to work this out.
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TQM
TQM = Total Quality Management
 Is an organization-wide approach
 Blends group problem-solving (job enlargement)
with a LOT of statistical process control data
 Is an attempt to balance the psychological with
the technical
 Tools include Six Sigma and Benchmarking

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Things management can do…

To increase job range:

Job rotation: moving people periodically from job to
job


Does not change the basic characteristics of the jobs, just who
is doing them.
Job enlargement: increase the number of tasks a
person can do to accomplish a portion of the work.


Seems to reduce boredom
Seems to increase employer “ownership” of the job.
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Things management can do (2)…

To increase job depth:

Herzberg: create job enrichment

Provide opportunities for more discretion



Scheduling, feedback, uniqueness, control over resources
Personal accountability
Provide job enlargement

Blend a moderate amount of range and depth
Self managed teams
 Alternative work arrangements

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Things to remember
Management has control (or at least influence)
on job design.
 Job design affects performance, satisfaction and
motivation.
 Individual differences are now considered
important variables to consider in the design of
jobs.

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Unit Recap
Motivational theories describe why we behave
as we do
 Job design theories try to figure out how to
leverage our behavior to meet organizational
objectives

Psalm 139:14 (NIV)
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
We don’t just manage organizations, we
manage people.
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What’s next?
Complete the reading assignments
 Complete the writing assignments
 Answer the discussion questions
 Complete the unit quiz

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References
RSA Animate. (2010, April 1). Drive: The
surprising truth about what motivates us
[Video File]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XA
PnuFjJc
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