Chapter 11 - Motivation Flashcards
Define the term “motivation”
The internal and external factors that stimulate the desire in workers to be continually interested in, and committed to, doing a job well. Gives workers desire to complete a job quickly/well.
Explain the benefits to a business of a well-motivated workforce (5)
- Level of productivity high, increasing competitiveness
- Workers keen to stay with business, reduces costs of labour turnover
- Workers more likely to offer useful suggestions to help business achieve objectives
- Often work hard to seek promotion and responsibility
- Low absenteeism
If employment does not provide conditions for these human needs to be met, workers likely demotivated. What are these four needs?
- Social connection: by working in teams/groups
- Significance: by praising and recognising performance
- Challenge: by providing different work tasks and chance of promotion
- Certainty: by providing employment contracts and some job security
State the content theories of motivation (5)
- Taylor and scientific management
- Mayo and human relations theories (Hawthrone effect)
- Maslow and hierarchy of human needs
- Herzberg and the two-factor theory
- McClelland and 3 motivational needs theory
Explain what content theories of motivation focus on (2)
- those human needs that energise and direct human behaviour
- How managers can create conditions that allow workers to satisfy needs
Explain Taylor’s scientific approach to improving output or productivity (7 stages)
- Select workers to perform a task
- Observe them performing task, note key elements of it
- Record time taken to do each part of task
- Identify quickest method recorded
- Train all workers in this quickest method, do not allow changes
- Supervise workers to ensure that this is the best way being carried out and time them to check that set time not exceeded.
- Pay workers on basis of results, based on “economic man theory”
Explain Taylor’s “economic man apporach”
Suggests people are motivated by money alone, only factor that could stimulate further effort is chance of earning more money. Formed basis of Taylor’s main motivational suggestion: wage levels based on output. Amount paid should be directly linked to output through system called piece rate.
Explain elements of Taylor’s approach and its relevance to modern industry (5)
1, Economic man
More common view that workers have wide range of needs that can be met at work, not only prospect of making money.
- Select the right people for each job
Before Taylor, few attempts to select employees carefully. Today, emphasis on effective employee selection in nearly all businesses. - Observe and record performance of workers
Became known as time and motion study. Initially viewed with suspicion by workers as way of making them work harder. Modern industry, still used, but with cooperation and involvement of employees. - Establish the best method of doing a job
Efficiency depends on using best ways of working. However, Taylor’s use of managers to give instructions without discussions, demotivating. Worker participation in devising best working methods now encouraged. - Piecework payment systems
Still used, much less widely. In service industries has become very difficult to measure the output of individual workers.
Explain what Mayo had proven/shown (2)
- Working conditions in themselves were not important in determining productivity levels
- Other motivational factors needed to be investigated before conclusions could be drawn.
Explain the conclusions of Mayo’s work (5)
- Changes in working conditions / pay levels have little / no effect on productivity
- Consultation with workers improves motivation
- Working in teams and developing team spirit can improve productivity
- Giving others some control over their own working lives improves motivation
- Groups can establish their own targets, can be greatly influenced by informal leaders of group
Evaluate the effect of Mayo’s research on today’s businesses (4)
- Since findings published, trend towards giving workers more role in business decision making. Called worker participation
- HR departments put into play to try put Hawthorne Effect into place
- Team/group working is applied in many types of modern business organisation. Offers greatest opportunities for workers and businesses to benefit from Hawthorne effect.
- Idea of involving workers, taking interest in welfare and finding out individual goals, opened up new fields of research for industrial psychologists
Explain the importance of Maslow’s work to managers (2)
- our needs determine our actions - will always try to satisfy needs, motivated to do so
- If work can be organised so that some or all needs of employees can be satisfied at work, become more productive and satisfied.
Explain Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (5 points)
Maslow summarised human needs in the form of a hierarchy.
-> Individuals’ needs start at lowest level (Physical needs)
-> Once one level of need satisfied, humans work to achieve next level
-> Self actualisation or self - fulfilment not reached by everyone, everyone capable of reaching potential
-> Once need satisfied, no longer motivates worker to action. So, when physical needs satisfied, offer of more money will not increase productivity
-> Reversion is possible. Possible for individuals to feel less satisfied at one level and for satisfaction to move down to next level. Job security is example.
State the levels of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and explain how these needs are satisfied at work by effective HRM. (5) (Lowest -> highest)
- Physical needs (food, shelter, water, rest, clothing)
Income from employment enough to meet essential needs. - Safety needs
A contract of employment with some job security; a structured organisation that gives clear lines of authority to reduce uncertainty; ensuring health and safety conditions are met. - Social/belonging needs (trust, acceptance, friendship)
Working in teams or groups and ensuring good communication to make workers feel involved. - Esteem needs
Recognition for work well done - status, achievement and responsibility - will gain the respect of others. - Self- Actualisation (reaching full potential)
Challenging work that stretches individual will give sense of achievement; opportunities to develop and apply new skills will increase potential.
Explain the limitations of Maslow’s approach (4)
- Not everyone has same needs, as assumed by hierarchy
- Can be very difficult to identify degree to which each need has been met and which level a worker is on.
- Money is necessary to satisfy physical needs, yet it might also play a role in satisfying the other levels of needs, High incomes can increase status and esteem.
- Self - actualisation never permanently achieved. Jobs must continually offer challenges and opportunities for fulfilment, otherwise regression will occur.
Explain the conclusions of Hertzberg and the two-factor theory
Job satisfaction results from 5 main factors: achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility and advancement. He called these factors motivators.
Job dissatisfaction also resulted from 5 main factors: company policy and administration, supervision, salary, relationships with others and working conditions. He termed these hygiene factors. Factors that surround the job (extrinsic factors) rather than work itself (intrinsic factors).
Hygiene factors had to be addressed by management to prevent dissatisfaction. However, even if they were in place, they would not by themselves create a well-motivated workforce.
Higher pay and better working conditions will remove dissatisfaction about work but on its own will not lead to effective motivation.
Explain the 3 main features of job enrichment
- Complete Units of Work
Typical mass production leads to worker boredom. Argued that complete and identifiable units of work should be assigned to workers. Might involve teams rather than individual on their own. “If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do”. - Feedback on performance
Regular two-way communication between workers and managers should give recognition for work well done and could provide incentives for workers to achieve more. - A range of tasks.
To challenge and stretch a worker. Some may initially be beyond worker’s current experience. Fits in well with self-actualisation level
Evaluate the effects of Herzberg’s work for today’s businesses. (3)
- Teamworking more widespread, whole units of work being delegated
- Workers tend to be made much more responsible for quality of own work rather than closely supervised.
- Most firms continually looking for ways to improve effective communication and group meetings allowing 2-way communication often favoured
The nature of job enrichment. Jobs which: (6)
- Have considerable variety
- Require high knowledge and skills
- Give workers more autonomy
- Require workers to show responsibility
- Create chances for personal development
- Produce a meaningful unit of work.
Explain McClelland’s motivational needs theory, and the three types of motivational needs
- “Achievement” motivation
Person with strong motivational need for achievement will seek to reacg realistic and challenging goals and job advancement. Constant need for feedback about process and achievement. Helps provide sense of accomplishment. - “Authority/power” motivation
Motivated by having authority. Desire to control others, powerful motivating force. Need to be influential, effective, to make an impact. Strong leadership instinct. Value personal status and prestige. - “Affiliation” motivation
Need for friendly relationships, motivated by interaction with others. Good ream members as they need to be liked, popular and held in high regard.
3 needs are found to varying degrees in all workers and managers.
Define the term “process theories”
Emphasise how and why people choose certain behaviours in order to meet personal goals and thought process that influences behaviour. Process theories study what people are thinking about when they decide to put effort into particular activity.
Explain Vroom’s expectancy theory
Vroom suggested people will choose to behave in ways they believe will lead to results they value. States individuals have different set of goals. Can be motivated if believe that:
-> positive link between effort and performance
-> favourable performance = desirable reward
-> Reward satisfies an important need
-> Desire to satisfy need strong enough to make work effort worthwhile.
Based on 3 beliefs:
- “Valence”: depth of desire for extrinsic reward like money or intrinsic reward like satisfaction.
- “Expectancy”: Degree to which people believe that putting effort into work will lead to a given level of performance.
- “Instrumentality”: confidence of employees that they actually get what desire, even if promised by manager.
Vroom argued that even if one of these conditions or beliefs missing, workers do not have motivation to do job well.
Define the term “time-based wage rate”
Payment to a worker made for each period of time worked e.g. one hour. Payment per hour.
Explain the advantages of a time based wage rate (2)
- It offers some security over pay levels. (e.g. during slack periods of demand)
- Different rates can be offered to different types of workers.
Explain the disadvantages of a time-based wage rate (4)
- No incentive to increase output as pay level is not directly linked to output
- Labour cost per unit will depend on output, which may vary.
- Increased supervision needed, ensure not wasting time.
- Difficult to assess individual performance.
Explain the term “piece rate”
Piece rate is fixed for the production of each unit. Worker’s wages therefore depend on quantity of output produced. Workers are paid per unit of output.
Piece rate is a payment method where employees are paid per unit of output produced, rather than by the hour or day worked. This system links pay directly to productivity — the more a worker produces, the more they earn.
Explain the advantages of piece rate (2)
- Motivates workers to increase output
- Easy to calculate labour cost per unit
Explain the disadvantages of piece rate (4)
- Quality might fall
- In many jobs, individual worker output cannot be calculated
- No security over pay level (e.g. in event of production delays)
- Workers may become stressed and unwell by trying to earn more.
Define the term “salary”
A salary is an annual income that is usually paid on a monthly basis. Most common form of payment for professional, supervisory and management staff. Salary level is fixed each year, not dependent on number of hours worked or number of units produced.
Explain the advantages of salaries (4)
- Offers security of pay level to employees
- There are different salary levels for different grades of workers.
- Suitable for jobs where output is not measurable
- Often fixed for one year, so labour costs easier to forecast
Explain the disadvantages of salaries (2)
- Not directly linked to output so complacency may be a problem.
- It may lead to low achievement/ motivation if the effort and achievement of the employee are not regularly checked with appraisal.
- Salary does not act as a strong motivator for increased effort or efficiency. No financial reward for working faster or harder.
Define the term “commission”
A payment to a salesperson for each sale made. Can make up 100% of total income or can be in addition to a base salary.
Explain the advantages of commission as a financial reward (2)
- Creates incentive to increase sales
- May be in addition to a basic salary so it could offer some security of pay
Explain the disadvantages of commission as a financial reward (2)
- Discourages teamwork amongst sales employees
- May lead to pressurised selling which damages customer relationships.
Define the term “bonus”
A payment made in addition to the contracted wage or salary.
Explain the advantages of a bonus as a financial reward (3)
- Paid to individual for outstanding work or to teams for reaching targets.
- Creates incentive for employees to do well
- It is in addition to basic salary so offers some securityE
Explain the disadvantages of a bonus as a financial reward (3)
- Can cause resentment if bonus not received
- Damages team spirit if some receive, others don’t
- Reduces motivation if no bonuses paid e.g. if sales falling
Define “performance related pay (PRP)”
A bonus scheme to reward employees for above-average work performance.
Explain the procedures required for performance related pay (PRP) (3)
- Regular target setting, establishing specific objectives for individual
- Annual appraisals of workers performance against pre-set targets
- Paying each worker bonus when targets exceeded
Explain the advantages of performance related pay (2)
- Individual bonuses for meeting predetermined objectives/targets may encourage workers to work hard to meet targets
- Target setting can from part of the hierarchy of objectives to meet company aims.
Explain the disadvantages of performance related pay (PRP) (3)
- Requires frequent target setting and appraisal interviews
- If bonus is low, may not lead to greater effort as motivation will not be increased
- Managers might show favouritism to some employees by giving generous bonus payments.
Define the term “profit sharing”
A bonus for employees based on the profits of the business, usually paid as a proportion of basic salary.
Explain the advantages of profit sharing (2)
- Aims to increase commitment of workforce to make business profitable
- Might lead to suggestions for cost cutting and ways to increase sales
Explain the disadvantages of profit sharing (3)
- Might only be a very small proportion of total profits so not motivating.
- Shareholders might object as it could reduce profit for them
- Reduces profit retained for expansion
Define the term “share ownership schemes”
A scheme that gives employees shares in the company they work for or allows them to buy those shares at a discount.
Explain the advantages of share ownership schemes (3)
- Reduces conflict of objectives between owners and workers.
- Encourages increased sense of belonging and commitment.
- Workers more likely to participate in decision making aimed at business success.
Explain the disadvantages of share ownership schemes (3)
- May be very small number of shares so not very motivating
- Shares might just be sold- so no long-term commitment
- Managers often receive more shares so workforce may feel resentment towards managers.
Define the term “fringe benefits”
Benefits given, separate from pay, by an employer to some or all employees. E.g. company car, free insurance, pension schemes.
State 6 non financial motivators
- Job rotation
- Job enlargement
- Job enrichment
- Job redesign
- Training and development
- Opportunities for promotion and increased status
Define the term “job rotation”
A scheme that allows employees to switch from one job to another.
Explain the benefits of job rotation (3)
- May relieve the boredom of doing 1 task
- Can give worker several skills, makes workforce more flexible
- Workers are able to cover for colleagues’ absence
Explain the limitations of job rotation (3)
- more limited in scope than job enrichment
- does not increase empowerment or responsibility for work performed
- does not necessarily give worker a complete unit of work to produce, but just a series of separate tasks of similar degree of difficulty.
Define the term “job enlargement”
An attempt to increase the scope of a job by broadening or deepening the tasks undertaken. Increasing loading of tasks on existing workers perhaps result of shortage of employees/redundancies. Unlikely to lead to long term job satisfaction unless tasks given to employees is made more interesting / challenging
Define the term “job enrichment”
Involves the reduction of direct supervision as workers take more responsibility for their own work and are allowed some degree of decision-making authority.
Explain the benefits of job enrichment (3)
- Complete units of work produced so worker’s contribution can be identified, and more challenging work can be offered.
- Direct feedback on performance (e.g. two-way communication) allows each worker to have awareness of own progress.
- Challenging tasks offered as part of range of activities, some of which beyond worker’s recent experience. tasks will require training and learning of new skills. Obtaining further skills and qualifications is form of gaining status and recognition.
Explain the limitations of job enrichment (4)
- Lack of employee training or experience to cope with greater depth of tasks can result in lower productivity.
- Employees may see enrichment process as just attempt to get them to do more work. Enrichment must be planned carefully with employees involved so benefits to both individuals and business can be understood.
- If employees just not able to cope with additional challenges, can lead to frustration and demotivation.
- Managers must accept reduced control and supervision over work of employees, which they may find difficult
Define “job redesign”
The restructuring of a job to make the work more interesting, satisfying and challenging. Adding, and sometimes removing certain tasks and functions can lead to more rewarding work.
Explain the benefits of training and development (4)
- Improving and widening skills of employee can increase productivity and flexibility of workforce, and ability to adapt to change
- Increase status of workers and give access to more challenging and probably better-paid jobs within business
- Developing employees and encouraging them to reach full potential increase opportunities for self-actualisation
- Often important incentives for employees to stay with business as feel being fully recognised and appreciated by company.
Explain the limitations of training and development (3)
- Training can be expensive as trainers and training facilities are needed or off the job courses must be paid for.
- Can take employees away from work for some time so other employees will need to cover for them
- Can lead to employees leaving business or become better qualified to gain employment within other companies. Discourages some businesses from paying for training programmes in case competitors benefit from the people they have trained.
Explain the benefits of employee participation in management and the control of business activity (4)
- job enrichment
- Improved motivation
- Greater opportunity for workers to show responsibility
- Better decisions could result from worker involvement as they have in depth knowledge of operations.
Explain the limitations of employee participation in management and the control of business activity (3)
- Time consuming to involve workers in every decision
- Autocratic managers would find it hard to adapt to the idea of asking workers for opinions
- Some may set up participation system but have no intention of actually responding to workers input. Demotivating.
Explain the advantages of teamworking (7)
- Teams given decision making authority. Job enrichment
- workers will not want to let team members down, absenteeism should fall
- Better motivated, esteem and social needs being met
- Better motivated team = productivity increases, labour turnover reduced
- Makes full use of all talents of workforce. Better solutions to problems.
- Lower management costs, delayering organisation, fewer middle managers required
- Complete units can be given to teams
Explain the disadvantages of teamworking (4)
- Not everyone team player. Some more effective working alone. Training may need to be offered to those not used to working collaboratively. Some feel left out.
- Teams can develop set of values and attitudes which may conflict with those of organisation, particularly if dominant personality.
- Require training to improve employee flexibility and this could be costly.
- Could be some disruption to production as teams establish themselves.
Define the term “empowerment”
The giving of skills, resources, authority and opportunity to employees so that they can take decisions and be accountable for their work.
Explain the advantages of empowerment (4)
- Quicker problem solving. Respond to problems immediately, do not take time referring to manager
- Higher levels of morale and motivation
- Higher levels of involvement and commitment improve 2-way communication, reduce labour turnover
- Managers are able to focus on bigger strategic issues
Explain the disadvantages of empowerment (4)
- Lack of experience increases risk
- Reduced supervision and control might lead to poor decisions.
- May be lack of coordination between teams
- Some employees may be reluctant to accept more accountability
Define the term “quality circles”
Group of 5 to 10 employees who have experience in a particular work area. Meet regularly to identify, analyse, and solve the problems arising in their area of operation.
Explain the benefits of quality circles (3)
- Workers have hands-on experience of work problems. Best solutions
- Results of meetings presented to management. Most successful ideas often adopted
- Effective method of allowing participation of all employees
Explain the limitations of quality circles (3)
- Time consuming, reduce time available for production
- not all employees will want to be involved in quality circles
- May not have the management power to make changes, Employees discourages and unwilling to operate.
Analyse reasons why an employee’s human needs may not be satisfied at work (9)
- underpaid
- lack of job security
- unsafe working conditions
- lack of teamwork
- no promotion prospects
- lack of work life balance
- type of job
- style of leadership
- objectives of the business
