16. Motivating employees

Question 1

Motivation

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Maslow’s hierarchy

Answer 2

1. Physiological needs
2. Safety needs
3. Social needs
4. Esteem needs
5. Self-actualization needs

Question 3

McGregor’s theories:

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

Hertzberg’s two-factor theory

Answer 4

(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.

Question 5

Hygiene factors

Answer 5

factors that eliminate job dissatisfaction, but don’t motivate.

Question 6

Motivators

Answer 6

factors that increase job satisfaction and motivation

Question 7

Three needs theory

Answer 7

1. Need for achievement (the drive to succeed and excel in relation to a set of standards)
2. Need for power (The need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise.
3. Need for affiliation - the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.

Question 8

Need for affiliation

Answer 8

The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships

Question 9

Goal-setting-theory

Answer 9

the proposition that specific goals increase performance and that difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than do easy goals.

Question 10

Self-efficacy

Answer 10

an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.

Question 11

Reinforcement theory

Answer 11

The theory that behavior is a function of its consequences.

Question 12

Reinforcers

Answer 12

Consequences immediately following a behavior which increase the probability that the behavior will be repeated

Question 13

Designing motivaating jobs

Answer 13

• Jobs design
• Job scope
• Job enlargement
• Job enrichment
• Job depth
• Job characteristics model

Question 14

Job design

Answer 14

the way tasks are combined to form complete jobs

Question 15

Job scope

Answer 15

The number of different tasks required in a job and the frequency with which those tasks are repeated.

Question 16

Job enlargement

Answer 16

The horizontal expansion of a job that occurs as a result of increasing job scope.

Question 17

Job enrichment

Answer 17

The vertical expansion of a job that occurs as a result of additional planning and evaluation of responsibilities.

Question 18

Job depth

Answer 18

The degree of control employees have over their work.

Question 19

Job characteristics model

Answer 19

A framework for analyzing and designing jobs that identifies five primary core job dimensions, their interrelationships, and their impact on outcomes.

Question 20

Five core Job dimensions

Answer 20

1. Skill variety
2. Task identify
3. Task significance
4. Autonomy
5. Feedback

Question 21

Skill variety

Answer 21

the degree to which a job requires a variety of activities so that an employee can use a number of different skills and talents.

Question 22

Task identify

Answer 22

the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.

Question 23

Task significance

Answer 23

the degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people.

Question 24

Autonomy

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Feedback

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Relational perspective of work design

Answer 26

An approach to job design that focuses on how people’s tasks and jobs are increasingly based on social relationships.

Question 27

Proactive perspective of work design

Answer 27

An approach to job design in which employees take the initiative to change how their work is performed.

Question 28

High-involvement work practices

Answer 28

work practices designed to elicit greater input or involvement from workers.

Question 29

Equity theory

Answer 29

The theory that an employee compares his or her job’s input-outcome ratio with that of relevant others and then corrects any inequity.

Question 30

Referents

Answer 30

the persons, systems, or selves against which individuals compare themselves to assess equity

Question 31

Distributive justice

Answer 31

perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.

Question 32

Procedural justice

Answer 32

perceived fairness of the process used to determine the distribution of rewards.

Question 33

Expectancy theory

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

Expectancy (effort-performance linkage)

Answer 34

The perceived probability that an individual’s effort will result in a certain level of performance.

Question 35

Instrumentality

Answer 35

The perception that a particular level of performance will result in attaining a desired outcome (reward).

Question 36

Valence

Answer 36

The attractiveness/importance of the performance reward (outcome) to the individual.

Question 37

Motivating in tough economic circumstances

Answer 37

• 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.

Question 38

Managing Cross-Cultural Motivational Challenges

Answer 38

• 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.

Question 39

Motivate unique groups of workers

Answer 39

• 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.

Question 40

Motivating professionals

Answer 40

• 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.

Question 41

Motivating contingent workers

Answer 41

• Opportunity to become a permanent employee
• Opportunity for training
• Equity in compensation and benefits

Question 42

Motivating Low-Skilled, Minimum-Wage Employees

Answer 42

• Employee recognition programs

- Provision of sincere praise

Question 43

Open-book management

Answer 43

a motivational approach in which an organization’s financial statements (the “books”) are shared with all employees.

Question 44

Employee recognition programs

Answer 44

programs based on personal attention and expression of interest, approval, and appreciation for a job well done.

Question 45

Pay-for-performance programs

Answer 45

variable compensation plans that pay employees on the basis of some performance measure.