16. Motivating employees Flashcards
Motivation
The process by which a person’s efforts are energized, directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal.
- energy is a measure of intensity, drive, and vigor
- effort is channeled in a direction that benefits the organization
- we want employees to persist in putting forth effort
Maslow’s hierarchy
- Physiological needs
- Safety needs
- Social needs
- Esteem needs
- Self-actualization needs
McGregor’s theories:
- Theory X: The assumptions that employees dislike work, are lazy, avoid responsibilitym and must be coerced to perform.
2. Theory Y: The assumption that employees are creative, enjoy work, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction
Hertzberg’s two-factor theory
(motivation-hygiene theory)
- the motivation theory that claims that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction and motivation, whereas extrinsic factors are associated with job dissatisfaction.
Hygiene factors
factors that eliminate job dissatisfaction, but don’t motivate.
Motivators
factors that increase job satisfaction and motivation
Three needs theory
- Need for achievement (the drive to succeed and excel in relation to a set of standards)
- Need for power (The need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise.
- Need for affiliation - the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
Need for affiliation
The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships
Goal-setting-theory
the proposition that specific goals increase performance and that difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than do easy goals.
Self-efficacy
an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.
Reinforcement theory
The theory that behavior is a function of its consequences.
Reinforcers
Consequences immediately following a behavior which increase the probability that the behavior will be repeated
Designing motivaating jobs
- Jobs design
- Job scope
- Job enlargement
- Job enrichment
- Job depth
- Job characteristics model
Job design
the way tasks are combined to form complete jobs
Job scope
The number of different tasks required in a job and the frequency with which those tasks are repeated.
Job enlargement
The horizontal expansion of a job that occurs as a result of increasing job scope.
Job enrichment
The vertical expansion of a job that occurs as a result of additional planning and evaluation of responsibilities.
Job depth
The degree of control employees have over their work.
Job characteristics model
A framework for analyzing and designing jobs that identifies five primary core job dimensions, their interrelationships, and their impact on outcomes.
Five core Job dimensions
- Skill variety
- Task identify
- Task significance
- Autonomy
- Feedback
Skill variety
the degree to which a job requires a variety of activities so that an employee can use a number of different skills and talents.
Task identify
the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
Task significance
the degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people.
Autonomy
the degree to which a job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out.
Feedback
the degree to which doing work activities required by a job results in an individual obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance.
Relational perspective of work design
An approach to job design that focuses on how people’s tasks and jobs are increasingly based on social relationships.
Proactive perspective of work design
An approach to job design in which employees take the initiative to change how their work is performed.
High-involvement work practices
work practices designed to elicit greater input or involvement from workers.
Equity theory
The theory that an employee compares his or her job’s input-outcome ratio with that of relevant others and then corrects any inequity.
Referents
the persons, systems, or selves against which individuals compare themselves to assess equity
Distributive justice
perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.
Procedural justice
perceived fairness of the process used to determine the distribution of rewards.
Expectancy theory
the theory that an individual tends to act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
Expectancy (effort-performance linkage)
The perceived probability that an individual’s effort will result in a certain level of performance.
Instrumentality
The perception that a particular level of performance will result in attaining a desired outcome (reward).
Valence
The attractiveness/importance of the performance reward (outcome) to the individual.
Motivating in tough economic circumstances
- The economic recession of the last few years was difficult for many organizations.
- Layoffs, tight budgets, minimal or no pay raises, benefit cuts, no bonuses, long hours doing the work of those who had been laid off was the reality that many employees faced.
Managing Cross-Cultural Motivational Challenges
- Most current motivation theories were developed in the United States by Americans and about Americans.
- Managers can’t automatically assume motivational programs that work in one geographic location are going to work in others.
Motivate unique groups of workers
- Compressed workweek
Longer daily hours, but fewer days. - Flexible work hours (flextime)
Specific weekly hours with varying arrival, departure, lunch and break times around certain core hours during which all employees must be present. - Job Sharing -> Two or more people split a full-time job.
- Telecommuting -> Employees work from home using computer links.
Motivating professionals
- Strong and long-term commitment to their field of expertise
- Loyalty is to their profession, not to the employer
- Have the need to regularly update their knowledge
- Don’t define their workweek as 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Motivating contingent workers
- Opportunity to become a permanent employee
- Opportunity for training
- Equity in compensation and benefits
Motivating Low-Skilled, Minimum-Wage Employees
- Employee recognition programs
- Provision of sincere praise
Open-book management
a motivational approach in which an organization’s financial statements (the “books”) are shared with all employees.
Employee recognition programs
programs based on personal attention and expression of interest, approval, and appreciation for a job well done.
Pay-for-performance programs
variable compensation plans that pay employees on the basis of some performance measure.
