Work Motivation
Performance = (Motivation X Ability) – Situational constraints
Motivation is the concept used to explain why a person performs in the manner and level that they behave
Motivation and Job Satisfaction
Many of the theories of motivation actually describe job satisfaction
Job satisfaction is the positive and negative feelings and attitudes about one’s job (Chapter 8)
Motivation is that which energizes, directs, and sustains behavior (Steers & Porter, 1991)
3 Key Functions of Motivation
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Level of Energy or Arousal – What energizes or arouses behavior
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Direction of Behavior – What directs or channels the behavior? Which behaviors does a person choose
to perform?
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Level of Persistence – How is the behavior sustained or maintained?
Major Types of Motivation Theories
 Needs theories (Content)
 Cognitive or Process theories
 Reinforcement or behavior theories
Needs Based Theories
Common Assumptions
 Motivation originates from “within”
 We seek out situations that can satisfy our needs
 To “motivate” others, we must provide opportunities to satisfy their needs, motives and values
Needs Based Theories - Motivation is determined by the discrepancy between what we want, need, value and
expect and what the job actual provides
 McClelland’s Theory of need for Achievement, Power and Affiliation (1961)
 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory (1943)
 Alderfer’s (1972) ERG Theory
 Herzberg’s Two-Factor (Hygiene-Motivator) Theory
McClelland’s (1961) Theory of Acquired Needs
Specific needs are acquired or learned over time and are shaped by life experiences.
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Need for Achievement (nAch)
o Need to demonstrate high performance levels and mastery over difficult or complex tasks
Need for Power (nPow)
o Need to take charge, assume responsibility and influence, and to make an impact
Need for Affiliation (nAff)
o Need to socially interact with others, help others, and to make and sustain friendly
relationships.
Need for Power and Need for Achievement – Better Managers
People high in (nAch) prefer work that:
 Involves individual responsibility for results.
 Involves achievable but challenging goals.
 Provides feedback on performance.
People high in (nPow) prefer work that:
 Involves control over other persons.
 Has an impact on people and events.
 Brings public recognition and attention
People high in (nAff) prefer work that:
 Involves interpersonal relationships.
 Provides for companionship
 Brings social approval.
Evaluation
 Product of an impressive long-running research program
 Controversy over measurement methods
 Recent study shows the validity of different measures
Need Hierarchy Theory
Abraham Maslow: proposed that we have a hierarchy of needs. Once one is fulfilled we can move on to the
next
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
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Physiological
Safety
Social or Belonging
Ego or Esteem
Self-Actualization
Evaluation
 Popular and makes good intuitive sense
 Weak empirical support
 Satisfied needs become MORE, not less, important to workers (Hall & Nougaim, 1968)
 If one need becomes more important, others also become more important
 Theory still provides useful guidelines
 Main problem
o rigidity of progression
Cognitive or Process Theories - Focus on the complex decision making processes such as weighing
alternatives, costs and benefits, goals, that underlie motivation
 Equity theory
 Goal setting theory
 Expectancy theory
Goal-Setting Theory -Locke (1968)
Our primary motivation on the job is defined in terms of our desire to achieve a particular goal
Focuses both on the direction of the behavior and sustaining work performance
People’s behavior are motivated by their internal intentions, objectives, or goals
A goal is what a person consciously wants to attain or achieve
The goal represents what we intend to do at a given time in the future
Goal Mechanism (Locke & Latham, 2002)
 Goals serve a directive function - The direct attentions and effort toward the goal-relevant activities
and away from goal irrelevant activities
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Goals have an energizing function- High goals lead to greater effort than low goals
There is evidence of physiological indicators of effort
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Goals affect persistence - When people are allowed to control the time they spend on a task, hard
goals prolong effort
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Goals affect action indirectly - By leading to the arousal, discovery, and/or use of task relevant
knowledge and strategies
What type of goals leads to the best level of performance?
SMART GOALS
S Specific
M Measurable
A Attainable
R Relevant
T Time-oriented
Specific Goals
Goals are only meaningful when they’re specific enough to be verified and measured
Measurable Goals
Properly set goals are measurable
Difficult by Attainable Goals
Goals should be set so as to require the employee to stretch to reach them
Easy goals are not as motivating as difficult but attainable goals
They should not be impossible goals
Relevant Goals
Goals need to be relevant and controllable to the job
Time-Relevant
Goals should be time specific
Open-ended goals are likely to be neglected because there is no sense of time urgency
Other Factors:
Employee Participation
Goals can be set in two ways:
 they can be assigned or
 they can be determined by both supervisor and employee
Participation does not seem to increase performance
Participation does increase commitment to goals
Empirical support
Strong!!
 Performance under goal-setting conditions is almost always superior to “no goal setting” conditions
 Applicability
 Extremely applicable
 Can set specific, challenging goals for every conceivable job and person
High Performance Cycle by Locke and Latham 1990 - Expands on Goal Setting Theory
Specific, attainable goals influenced by:
Moderators (commitment to goal, self-efficacy, task difficulty, feedback) and
Mediating Mechanisms (universal task strategies such as direction of attention, effort and persistence)
Reinforcement or Behavior-based theories
Organizational behavior modification – application of conditioning principles to obtain certain work outcomes
What people do is determined by the outcomes and consequences
Based on principles of behaviorism
Operant conditioning - behavior is controlled by its consequences
Reinforcements and Punishments
Reinforcement - Consequences that increases likelihood of behavior
Positive reinforcement or reward
Negative reinforcement – avoidance of negative outcomes
Punishment- Unpleasant consequences that make a behavior less likely
Schedules of Reinforcement
Continuous Reinforcement - behavior is reinforced every time it occurs
Partial Reinforcement
 Fixed Ratio
o $1 for every ten widgets
 Variable ratio
o $1 for every ten widgets on average (8, 12, 6, 6, 18)
 Fixed Interval
o $100 per week
 Variable Interval
o paid $100 every 7 days on average (3, 9, 12, 4)
Pay as a Consequence
Fredrick Taylor believed that money was what workers wanted more than anything else
If a supervisor wanted to increase performance and production all they had to do was to increase pay
1970’s Pay seemed less important as a motivator
Greater focus on Pay - By the 1990’s pay had become an important motivator again
In a meta-analysis of reinforcement theory for task performance over a 20 year period,
Stajkovic and Luthans (1997) report an average of 17% improvement in task performance
Reinforcement in Organizations
Pay-for-performance - employees are paid according to how much they individually produce
piece work)
(also called
Gainsharing - using pay incentives based on the group rather than individual performance (profit sharing)
Merit pay -incentive pay based on performance appraisal scores
Primarily with white collar jobs
Empirical Support
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Moderate support
Contingent reinforcement better than non-contingent reinforcement
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Ratio reinforcement schedules evoke superior performance compared to interval schedules
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Little difference among ratio schedules
Critiques
 Why does reinforcement work??
 What is the process?
 Is it ethical to “control” workers?
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Most effective reinforcement is immediate
not possible for all jobs and/or organizations
Industrial Applicability
 Moderate
 Contingent payment for performance is possible in some jobs
 Ethical problems associated with “shaping” employee behavior