Chapter 2
Motivation and Behavior
Chapter Overview
This chapter introduces the concepts of behavior, motives, and goals. Building on these
concepts, Expectancy Theory is introduced, followed by an extensive discussion of
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Chapter Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, each student should be able to:
1. Explain behavior in relationship to motives and goals
2. Discuss possible outcomes when need satisfaction is blocked
3. Explain activities resulting from high-strength needs
4. Diagram and explain Expectancy Theory
5. Diagram and explain Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Key Terms and Concepts
Behavior = Motives and Goals
Behavior is basically goal oriented. Generally, we behave as we do because we are
motivated to attain a particular goal, although the goal we are pursuing may not be known
by our conscious mind.
All behavior is a series of activities. We may choose at any time to change from one or
more activities and begin to do something else. Why do people engage in one activity and
not in another? Why do they change activities? How can we as managers learn to
understand, predict, and influence the activities of another person or group of people?
To understand people’s behaviors, managers must know what motives or needs of people
evoke a certain action at a particular time.
Motives are the whys of behavior. They are also known as needs.
Goals are external and in the context of motives, can be defined as hoped-for rewards.
Goals are need (or motive) satisfiers.
Behaviors are influenced by both a person’s goals and motives.
Blocking Need Satisfaction
Need satisfaction can sometimes be blocked. This will result in some form of coping
behavior, which can be either rational or irrational. Examples of rational coping behavior
include substituting a need that can be satisfied for the blocked need or pursuing alternate
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behaviors to attempt to satisfy the original need.
Blocked needs and continually unsuccessful rational coping behavior may lead to various
forms of irrational coping behavior.
Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance theory deals with the relationships between people’s selfperceptions and their environments. Dissonance occurs when two perceptions relevant to
each other are in conflict. This creates psychological discomfort and causes an individual
to try to modify one of the perceptions in order to reduce the tension.
Frustration
When goal attainment is blocked, frustration is the result. Frustration is essentially the
situation that leads to irrational coping behaviors such as:
Aggression: the acting out of hostility
Rationalization: making excuses for failure to achieve a goal
Regression: reacting with behavior appropriate for a much younger, or less mature
person when frustrated
Fixation: repeating the same behavior patterns over and over even though they
accomplish nothing
Resignation: after prolonged frustration, giving up and/or becoming apathetic to the
situation
Categories of Activities
Activities resulting from high strength needs can generally be classified into two
categories: goal-directed activity and goal activity.
Goal-directed activity is aimed toward achieving need satisfaction. For example, if the
need is hunger, the goal-directed activity might be shopping for or cooking food.
Goal activity is the behavior you engage in as you satisfy your need. In the above
example, the goal activity is eating.
Expectancy Theory
Victor H. Vroom has suggested an approach to determining the additional factors that
affect need strength. His theory describes a linkage between effort and performance and
between performance and outcomes.
When a person feels a need, the person will respond with behavior. If the person sees a
good chance (expectancy) that hard work will improve performance in the behavior, the
person is likely to work hard. If the person sees a positive relationship between good
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performance and valued (high valence) outcomes or rewards, the likelihood of the
person’s working harder is increased.
Example: Maria has a felt need to receive a raise (a raise has high valence for Maria). She
believes that raises are awarded for good performance (there is a high instrumentality
between performance and receiving a raise). She also believes that if she works very
hard, she can improve her performance (she has high expectancy that hard work will
result in good performance). Maria therefore has high motivation to work hard.
Expectancy and Availability
Two factors affect need strength. They are:
Expectancy – the perceived probability of satisfying a need based on past experience.
Past experience can be either first hand or vicarious.
Availability – how an individual perceives the availability of the goals to satisfy a need.
If the need satisfiers are unavailable in the environment, or are perceived to be
unavailable by the individual, expectancy is affected.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s framework helps explain the strength of certain needs. According to Maslow,
“lower order” needs (such as the physiological needs for food, clothing, and shelter) are
the strongest until they are satisfied, or mostly satisfied. When physiological needs are
met, the needs for safety or security emerge as strongest until they are satisfied, and so on
through the hierarchy.
Physiological Needs
This level of needs tends to be one that can be satisfied relatively easily by access to
money. This is not necessarily true for all levels of needs.
Safety Needs
There are two types of safety or security needs: those that are conscious and those that are
unconscious. Consciously we strive to avoid the major hazards of life – wars, diseases,
and economic instabilities. Some people, however, value security in even greater measure
than this – sometimes subconsciously. A high concern for security may mean that an
individual will sacrifice creativity and initiative. For example, the person will refuse a job
transfer to a city or country considered unsafe.
Social Needs
Social needs form the next level after safety needs and are quite complex. People
socialize for many different reasons, ranging from simple enjoyment for its own sake to
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an attempt to reinforce their own view of the world or a desire to share their unhappiness.
Informal work groups can be constructive as well as destructive. If workers see the goals
of their group as being the same as the goals of the organization, productivity will tend to
be high.
Esteem Needs
Esteem needs can be divided into two components:
Prestige – the desire to keep up with (or ahead of) others. People seek prestige
throughout their lives in various ways. Some may choose to pursue material symbols
while others attempt to achieve through self-actualization or personal achievement.
Prestige is an intangible need awarded by the community. There seems to be a
widespread need for people to have their importance clarified and set at a level that each
individual feels is deserved.
Power – is the ability of an individual to induce compliance from others. It can also be
described as an individual’s influence potential.
Self-Actualization Need
Self-actualization is difficult to define, as people seem to satisfy this need in different
ways. It appears to be related to both competence and achievement.
Competence – implies control over environmental factors, both physical and social. The
feeling of competence is related to expectancy. If a person has a history of more
successes than failures that person will have a relatively strong feeling of competence and
will also have a stronger expectancy of success in future endeavors.
Achievement – David C. McClelland believes that there are people who have an intense
need to achieve and others who do not experience that need. Individuals with a high need
for achievement tend to set goals that are difficult but possible to reach. They also tend to
value achievement itself more than the extrinsic rewards for achievement. Achievementmotivated people prefer task-oriented feedback to relationship-oriented feedback.
McClelland believes that achievement can be taught.
Alderfer’s ERG Theory
Alderfer suggested that there are three core needs: existence, relatedness, and growth.
Alderfer’s existence grouping generally corresponds to Maslow’s basic physiological and
safety needs; relatedness corresponds to social needs; and growth corresponds to esteem
and self-actualization.
Suggested Teaching Approaches
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What motivates you? Several newspapers, such as the San Francisco Chronicle, have a
Question Man who asks thought provoking questions of people in their daily lives. What
motivates you is typical of the questions asked and one that can be used to introduce this
chapter.
Assignments
1. Have students develop their own theory about what motivates them. What are the
key concepts in this theory? How would you diagram it? What are some examples
of how this theory has worked in their lives? How does it compare to one or more
of the well-known theories?
2. Ask students to prepare lists of criteria they think will be most important to the
people who work for them as direct reports or with them as coworkers. Compare
those lists to what the students report is now most important to them in their
current jobs.
Discussion Questions
1. How can attitudes be changed? What is the relationship between attitudes and job
satisfaction? Can students give examples of times when their behavior was very
different from their attitudes?
2. Have students break into groups and discuss why managers study motivation and
behavior.
3. Have students provide examples of cognitive dissonance from their work and
personal environments.
Activities
1. Activity
Students can apply their knowledge from reading Chapter 2 by identifying specific
behaviors that are often seen in the workplace, and indicating which of Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs the person exhibiting these behaviors is trying to meet.
2. Case Study
The written case study for this chapter focuses on the concept of cognitive dissonance –
when two main points cause conflict or tension. Use the case study to help students
explore their thought processes around this concept.
Exam Questions
1. Why do managers study motivation and behavior?
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Answer:
Managers study motivation and behavior in order to try to predict not only what
activities people are going to choose to engage in at any given time but also what
might make them choose to change from one activity to another activity.
The major goal of managing people is to influence them to behave in desirable
ways. Behavior is basically goal-oriented and is a series of activities. In order for
a manager to understand, predict, and influence the behavior of people, the
manager must know what motives or needs of people evoke a certain action at a
particular time.
Motives are the whys of behavior. They are also known as needs and are internal
to individuals. Goals are external and can be defined as hoped for rewards.
2. What is cognitive dissonance? Give some examples of situations that might create
dissonance in an individual. What does cognitive dissonance have to do with
blocked need satisfaction?
Answer:
Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person’s self-perception and the perception
of the environment are in conflict. This creates psychological discomfort and
causes the person to try to modify one of the perceptions in order to reduce the
tension.
The following are examples of two situations that may cause cognitive
dissonance. Sonia’s self-perception is that she is an above average athlete. Sonia
has been cut from both the tennis team and the basketball team. Bob sees himself
as a very good student and someone of high intellectual ability. Bob has just
failed his midterm in organizational behavior even though he studied for four
hours.
Usually, the first reaction to blocked need satisfaction is some type of rational
coping behavior, either pursuing a different behavior in order to satisfy the
blocked need, or substituting another need for the one that can’t be satisfied. For
Sonia, rational coping behavior might be deciding that it’s unrealistic to try out
for two sports at the same time and concentrate her efforts on just one. For Bob, it
might be going to see the professor for study tips and trying to arrange some type
of extra credit work to make up for the failed midterm.
If need satisfaction continues to be blocked despite rational attempts to cope,
cognitive dissonance may occur, leading to frustration and irrational coping
behavior. For instance, if Sonia remains unable to obtain a place on either sport
team despite her rational coping behavior, there is a conflict with her selfperception as an above average athlete. She is likely to become frustrated and
engage in some sort of irrational coping behavior. She may become aggressive by
acting in a hostile manner toward the coach or successful team members, or she
may become regressive by crying and acting like a much younger person. If Bob
fails a second midterm in the same class despite his visit to the professor, it may
lead to conflict with his view of himself as a good student. Bob may react by
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rationalizing his failure saying that the exams were poorly worded or unfair, or
that the professor is a poor instructor, or he may simply become fixated on the
same behavior pattern, studying the material the same way, for the same amount
of time, tackling the questions in the same order as he has in the past, even though
that behavior has proven to be unsuccessful.
3. Discuss the changes in motive strength.
Answer:
A motive tends to decrease in strength if it is either satisfied or blocked from
satisfaction.
Need Satisfaction – According to Abraham Maslow, once a need is satisficed, it is
no longer a motivator of behavior and another need becomes more potent.
Blocking Need Satisfaction – The satisfaction of a need may be blocked. While a
reduction in need strength sometimes follows, it does not always occur initially.
Cognitive Dissonance – Blocked motives and continually unsuccessful rational
coping behavior may lead to forms of irrational coping behavior, and another
need will become stronger.
Frustration – The blocking of goal attainment is referred to as frustration.
4. Use the components of Victor H. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory to discuss the
following examples:
Monica would like to be a star basketball player. She has been observing the
coach and it seems to her that the coach spends the most time with those players
who try hardest to excel. It also seems that those players who get the most
attention from the coach tend to develop into the best players.
Tom wants to be considered for promotion to area manager. The people who have
been promoted in the recent past all have had close relationships with the regional
manager. The regional manager seems to develop closer relationships with top
producers. Tom believes that if he works very hard, he could become a top
producer.
What factors in these examples are high valence, high instrumentality, and high
expectancy? What does Expectancy Theory say are the high probability behaviors
for Monica and Tom?
Answer:
In the example describing Monica, being a star basketball player has high valence.
Monica perceives high instrumentality between attention from the coach and
becoming an excellent player. She perceives that hard work will result in much
attention from the coach. According to Expectancy Theory, Monica should begin
working very hard on the basketball court.
For Tom, promotion to area manager has high valence. Tom has high expectancy
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that hard work will enable him to become a top producer. He perceives high
instrumentality between being a top producer and developing a close relationship
with the regional manager, and between a close relationship with the regional
manager and being considered for promotion. According to Expectancy Theory,
there is a high probability that Tom will begin working very hard.
5. Use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a foundation for discussing the following
situations:
Situation 1: Todd Jamison has heard a rumor that his job may be eliminated next
month. His boss, Lucia Conti, is considering moving Todd to a more prestigious
office in an effort to motivate higher performance in him.
Answer:
Lucia Conti’s attempt to motivate Todd Jamison by offering to meet his esteem
needs will probably not work since he is concerned about his safety needs.
Situation 2: Hannah Saltzman has been with the company for twenty-five years.
She makes very good money and is extremely competent at her job. She sat last
week with her boss, Arthur Simms, and said that her job just wasn’t challenging
her. She had received an intriguing job offer from a competitor. She explained
that she wanted to stay with the company, but would really like to be tackling
some new problems. Arthur Simms offered her a twenty-five percent raise to stay.
Answer:
Hannah Saltzman is interested in meeting self-actualization needs, and money is
rarely a way to satisfy those needs. It is very likely she will accept the job offer
from the other company.
Situation 3: The Williams family is extremely poor. They have five children, and
the children are always hungry, never sure when, or even if, they will see their
next meal. Parents of other children in the neighborhood can’t understand why the
Williams children show little interest in friendships or playing nicely with their
peers.
Answer:
The Williams children are influenced by their physiological needs; they do not
have a need for affiliation and friendship with others.
Situation 4: Brett Calder works in a technical capacity in Silicon Valley. People
with his programming skills are in high demand. He is being paid somewhat less
than the going rate in neighboring companies, but until recently, he has been
taking advantage of the company’s tuition assistance program to pursue his
graduate degree. He has now earned his degree and is meeting with Alice Watkins
from Human Resources to discuss his changed status. She offers him a small
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hourly increase and guaranteed job security.
Answer:
Brett Calder is interested in at least satisfying his esteem needs, and possibly will
soon be concerned with self-actualization needs. Since his skills are in high
demand in the area, his safety needs aren’t in question, and while he would
undoubtedly welcome a raise, even if only for prestige and power reasons, a small
hourly increase isn’t likely to do more than irritate him.
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