Chapter 4:
PRINCIPLES
OF MOTIVATION
Leonard: Supervision 11e
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western.
All rights reserved.
AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER,
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:
1. Discuss the reasons people behave the ways they do.
2. Compare various motivational theories and explain their
importance for understanding employee behavior.
3. Cope with difficult people.
4. Explain the ABCs of shaping behavior.
5. Compare the assumptions and applications of Theory X
and Theory Y in supervision.
6. Discuss supervisory approaches for stimulating
employee motivation, especially job redesign,
broadened job tasks (multitasking), and participative
management.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–2
Determinants of Human Behavior
• The forces that stimulate human behavior come
from within individuals and from their
environments.
 Examples of “baggage”:
Aging
 Family relationships
 Personal relationships
 Work environment

© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–3
Determinants of Personality
• Personality
 The knowledge, attitudes, and attributes that make up
the unique human being.
• Every Employee Has a “’tude”
 Positive mental attitude (PMA)

A person with a PMA usually responds favorably to the job,
other people, and most situations.
• Recognizing Human Differences and Similarities
 Tailor supervisory approaches to each employee’s
personality through the use of managerial techniques
that emphasize the similarities, rather than the
differences, of people.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–4
Determinants of Personality
Physiological
(Biological) Factors
Early Childhood
Influences
Personality
Cultural
(Societal) Values
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
Environmental
(Situational) Factors
4–5
Understanding Motivation
and Human Behavior
• Motivation
 A willingness to exert effort toward achieving a goal,
stimulated by the effort’s ability to fulfill an individual
need.
• Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow)
 A theory of motivation which suggests that employee
needs are arranged in priority order such that lowerorder needs must be satisfied before higher-order
needs become motivating.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–6
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Physiological needs
 Basic physical needs (e.g., food, rest, shelter, and recreation).
• Security needs
 Desire for protection against danger and life’s uncertainties.
• Social needs
 Desire for love and affection and affiliation with something
worthwhile.
• Self-respect needs
 Desire for recognition, achievement, status, and a sense of
accomplishment.
• Self-respect needs
 Desire for recognition, achievement, status, and a sense of
accomplishment.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–7
Understanding Motivation and
Human Behavior (cont’d)
• Applying the Needs Theories
 Use the needs hierarchy to visualize the needs
people have and to assess those needs’ relative
importance in motivating individuals.
 Structure work situations and reward systems such
that employees are motivated to perform well
because good work performance leads to satisfaction
of their needs.
• Employee Entitlement
 The belief that the organization “owes” them.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–8
Understanding Motivation and
Human Behavior (cont’d)
• Motivation-hygiene Theory (Herzberg’s)
 A theory that factors in the work environment primarily
influence the degree of job dissatisfaction while
intrinsic job content factors influence the amount of
employee motivation.
• Motivation Factors
 Elements intrinsic in the job that promote job
performance.
• Hygiene Factors
 Elements in the work environment that, if positive,
reduce dissatisfaction but do not tend to motivate.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–9
Motivation-Hygiene Theory: Factors
• Motivation Factors:
 Opportunity for growth
and advancement
 Achievement or
accomplishment
 Recognition for
accomplishments
 Challenging or
interesting work
• Hygiene Factors:
 Working conditions
 Money, status, and
security
 Interpersonal
relationships
 Supervision
 Company policies and
administration
 Responsibility for work
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–10
Understanding Motivation and
Human Behavior (cont’d)
• Expectancy Theory
 Theory of motivation that holds that employees
perform better when they believe such efforts lead to
desired rewards.

“People will do what is in their best interest.”

Workers must see the linkages between increased effort and
improved performance, and between that performance and a
desired and valued reward.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–11
Understanding Motivation and
Human Behavior (cont’d)
• Equity Theory
 Explains how people strive for fairness in the
workplace.
 Demonstrates how employees make ratio
comparisons of their outcomes (rewards) to their
efforts to their perceptions of the ratio of outcomes to
efforts of others (referents).
 Inequity: inputs/outcomes ≠ inputs/outcomes
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–12
Understanding Motivation and
Human Behavior (cont’d)
• Equity Theory
 Types of inequity:

Negative or underpayment inequity (responses)
– Ask for a raise
– Lower output
– Absenteeism
– Inattention

Positive or overpayment inequity (responses)
– Ignore (do not admit to) overpayment
– Seek to justify the overpayment
– Attempt to maintain the overpayment
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–13
Understanding Motivation and
Human Behavior (cont’d)
• Supervisors and Equity Theory
 Implications for supervisors:

Provides another explanation for how perceptions and beliefs
about what is fair influence job performance.

Acquaints managers with the disasters that can occur when
rewards are misaligned with performance.
 Effective supervisors must be vigilant for signs of
unfairness and immediately address employees’
equity concerns.

Assist them in finding proper referents.

Correct situations in which inequity truly exists.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–14
FIGURE 4.6
Suggestions for coping with people who make your life difficult.
• Do not label people as difficult, no matter how difficult they make your life.
• Think in terms of difficult behaviors, not difficult people.
• The easiest way to cope with some people is to avoid them, but the easiest
answer isn’t always the best answer. Change your mind-set and focus on what
they do well.
• Accentuate the positive—build on their strengths.
• Take control of the situation. Get their attention by calling them by name.
• Talk with them in private; give them your undivided attention.
• Avoid accusations, ask open-ended questions, and listen to their side of the story.
• Factually provide one specific situation that illustrates the problem behavior.
• Clearly state that you expect the behavior to improve.
• Focus on changing what they do, not who they are.
• Establish deadlines and timetables for the behavior to cease.
• If the behavior does not change, consider asking upper management or someone
else to step in.
Remember: There is no recipe for dealing for people that make your life difficult. Search the
Internet, review the literature, continually learn about what people want and need, and develop
strategies for getting the best out of people.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–15
Using the ABCs to Shape
Employee Behavior
• ABCs of Shaping Behavior
 Behavior (the B) cannot be separated from the
antecedents (the A) that come before it and the
consequences (the C) after it. (ABC)
• Shaping Behavior:
 Clearly identify what the employee is to do.
 Tell the employee what the job entails and what is
expected in the way of performance.
 Monitor and provide feedback.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–16
Using the ABCs to Shape
Employee Behavior (cont’d)
• Law of Effect (Thorndike)
 Behavior with favorable consequences is repeated;
behavior with unfavorable consequences tends to
disappear.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–17
FIGURE 4.7
Steps in ABC analysis.
• Regularly monitor employee performance to uncover areas of low productivity and to identify the
behavior leading to undesirable performance.
• Describe the performance you don’t want and who is doing it.
• Record the specific behavior that needs to be changed.
• Determine all possible links between the antecedents, the undesirable behavior, and its consequences.
• Tell the employee what is expected in the way of performance (i.e., set specific goals).
• Set the stage for good performance (i.e., arrange antecedents so that the employee can achieve the
desired behavior).
• Eliminate any consequence that is irrelevant to the employee.
• Ensure an appropriate linkage between desired behavior and consequences the employee values.
• Monitor performance.
• Provide support and feedback on performance.
• Reinforce the positive aspects of the employee’s performance with consequences the employee values.
• Ensure that consequences are positive, immediate, and certain.
• Evaluate results and continue to reinforce desired behavior with desirable consequences.
• Experiment to find the most effective forms of reinforcement and rate of reinforcement.
Remember:
1. You cannot change people; you can change only their behaviors.
2. You will get the behaviors you consistently expect and reinforce. Therefore, only expect the best
from your employees.
3. Employees need to know exactly what behaviors will be reinforced and precisely what they are
doing that is right or wrong.
Sources: Based, in part, on the book by Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Performance Management
(Atlanta, GA: Performance Management Publications, Inc., 1989, 3rd ed revised), with permission.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–18
Shaping Behavior: Outcomes
• Extinction
 Good (or bad) behavior occurs less frequently or
disappears because it is not recognized.
• Positive Reinforcement
 Making behavior occur more often because it is linked
to a positive consequence.
• Punishment
 Making behavior occur less frequently because it is
linked to an undesirable consequence.
• Negative Reinforcement
 Making behavior occur more frequently by removing
an undesirable consequence.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–19
Comparing Theory X and Theory Y
• Theory X
 Assumption that most employees dislike work, avoid
responsibility, and must be coerced to do their jobs.
Advantages: Order, discipline and efficiency
 Disadvantages: lack of personal growth, initiative,
independence, motivation and commitment

• Theory Y
 Assumption that most employees enjoy work, seek
responsibility, and can self-direct.
Advantages: individual growth, responsibility, contribution,
commitment, and need satisfaction
 Disadvantages: time consuming, lack of firm direction

© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–20
Supervisory Approaches for Attaining
Positive Employee Motivation
• Job Redesign: Critical Psychological States
 Experienced meaningfulness of the work

Employees believe they are doing something meaningful
because their work is important to other people.
 Experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work

Employees feel responsible for how the work turns out.
 Knowledge of the actual results of the work activities

Employees learn how well they performed their jobs.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–21
Supervisory Approaches for Attaining
Positive Employee Motivation (cont’d)
• Job Redesign: Core Job Dimensions
 Skill variety

An opportunity to do various tasks and to use a number of different
skills and abilities.
 Task identity

The completion of a whole, identifiable piece of work.
 Task significance

The degree to which the job impacts others.
 Autonomy

Discretion in making decisions about the work to be done.
 Feedback:

Information an employee receives on job performance.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–22
FIGURE 4.10
The job characteristics model.
Source: J. Richard Hackman and Greg R. Oldham, Work Redesign (adapted from Figure 4-6), © 1980 by AddisonWesley Publishing Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc. See our Web site
(www.thomsonedu.com/management/leonard) to evaluate your own job in light of these characteristics.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–23
Supervisory Approaches for Attaining
Positive Employee Motivation (cont’d)
• Broadening the Scope and Importance of Jobs
 Job rotation

The process of switching job tasks among employees in a
work group.
 Multi-tasking

Increasing the number of tasks an individual performs.
 Job enrichment

Job design that helps fulfill employees’ higher-level needs by
giving those employees more challenging tasks and more
decision-making responsibility for their jobs.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–24
Supervisory Approaches for Attaining
Positive Employee Motivation (cont’d)
• Participative Management
 High morale of great workplaces consists of:

Pride in what you do (the job itself)

Enjoying the people you’re working with (the work group)

Trusting the people you work for (management practices and
economic rewards).
 Empowerment

Giving employees the authority and responsibility to
accomplish organizational objectives.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–25
Participative Management
Empowerment refers to giving employees the authority
and responsibility to accomplish organizational
objectives. Providing opportunities to make suggestions
and participate in decisions affecting their jobs is one of
the most effective ways to build a sense of employee
pride, teamwork, and motivation.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–26
Supervisory Approaches for Attaining
Positive Employee Motivation (cont’d)
• Participative Management (cont’d)
 Advantages: higher quality decisions, more
acceptance of decisions
 Disadvantages: time consuming, more criticism
• Participatory Management Programs
 Employee suggestion programs

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
 Employee involvement programs

Teams, quality circles, self-directed work teams
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
4–27
KEY TERMS
• Employee entitlement
• Multi-tasking
• Equity theory
• Negative reinforcement
• Expectancy theory
• Personality
• Extinction
• Physiological needs
• Hierarchy of needs
• Positive mental attitude (PMA)
• Hygiene factors
• Positive reinforcement
• Job enrichment
• Punishment
• Job redesign
• Reciprocity reflex
• Job rotation
• Security needs
• Law of effect
• Self-fulfillment needs
• Motivation
• Self-respect needs
• Motivation factors
• Social needs
• Motivation-hygiene theory
• Theory X
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
• Theory Y
4–28