Chapter 6: Motivation in Practice Flashcards
Pay to Performance on Production Jobs
- Variable pay
- Wage incentive plans
Variable pay
a portion of employee’s pay that is baked on a measure of performance
Wage incentive plans
various system that link pay to performance on production jobs
Piece rate
worker are paid for each unit produced
Potential Problems with Wage Incentives
1) Lowered quality
2) Differential opportunity
3) Reduced cooperation
4) Incompatible job design
5) Restriction of productivity
Lowered quality
to gain more pay, employee emphasize on quantity rather than quality
Differential opportunity
supply of raw materials / equipment technology varies from workplace to workplace → unequal opportunity
Reduced cooperation
unwilling to do group tasks, etc
Incompatible to job design
ex → on assembly line, it’s hard to identify & reward individual contribution to productivity
Restriction of productivity
a. Increased productivity might lead to reduction in workforce
b. Fear employer might cut labour cost
Pay to Performance on White-Collar Jobs
Merit pay plans
Merit pay plans
System that attempt to link pay to performance on white-collar jobs
Potential problems with Merit Pay Plans
1) Low discrimination
2) Small increases
3) Pay secrecy
Problems with Merit Pay Plans - Low Discrimination
managers might not differentiate between good & bad performing employee (might be because perceptual errors, etc)
Problems with Merit Pay Plans - Small increases
when merit pay is too small to be a motivator
Lump sum bonus : merit pay awarded in a single payment and not built into base pay
Problems with Merit Pay Plans - Pay Secrecy
employee can’t compare their merit with others
Types of Pay Plans
1) Profit Sharing
2) Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
3) Gainsharing
4) Skill based pay
Types of Pay Plans - Profit Sharing
the return of some company profit to employees in the form of a cash bonus or retirement supplement
Advantages of profit sharing
i. Sense of ownership
ii. Pays only when org. makes profit
iii. Align employee goals w/ org. goals
Disadvantage of profit sharing
i. Difficult for employees to see their impact on org. profits
ii. Many factors affect org. profits that’s beyond employee control
Types of Pay Plans - Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
allow employee to own a set amount of company’s shares that they’re allowed to purchase at fixed price
Advantages of Employee Stock Ownership plans (ESOPs)
i. Sense of legal & psychological ownership for employees
ii. Align employee goals w/ org. goals
Disadvantages of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
i. They lose motivational potential in a weak economy when value of org. stock declines
ii. Many factors can influence value of org shares, regardless of employee effort & performance
iii. Difficult for employee to see connection between their effort & value of org stocks
Types of Pay Plans - Gainsharing
group pay incentive plan based on productivity / performance improvements over which workforce has some control (ex : reduction in labour cost, material, supplies)
Advantages of Gainsharing
i. Align employee goals w/ org goals
ii. Encourage teamwork & cooperative behaviour
Disadvantages of Gainsharing
i. Bonuses might be paid even when org doesn’t make a profit
ii. Employees might neglect objectives that not included in the formula
Types of Pay Plans - Skill based pay
the more skill employee acquired, the higher the pay
Advantages of Skill based pay
i. Encourage employee learn & new skills
ii. Provide greater flexibility in task assignments
iii. Provide employee w/ broader picture of work process
Disadvantages of skill based pay
i. Increase cost of training
ii. Labour cost can increase as employee acquire more skills
Job Design as a Motivator
Job design –> Structure, content, configuration of a person’s work tasks & roles
Job Scope
breadth & depth of a job
Breadth of job
num of different activities performed on the job
Depth of Job
extent of control the worker has over how these tasks are performed
What happens to motivation if there is greath breadth and depth involved?
More intrinsic motivation
Ex: Professor, management
What happens to motivation if there is minimum breadth and depth involved?
Low scope jobs –> Less intrinsic motivation
Ex: Assembly line job
Ways to increase job scope
1) Stretch assignments
2) Job rotation
Increasing job scope - Stretch assignments
challenging assignment & projects that are larger in scope than one’s current job & involve more responsibility
Increasing job scope - Job rotation
rotating employee to different task & jobs in org
Model on how to Design High-scope Jobs
a. Core job characteristics
b. Critical psychological states
c. Critical psychological states
High-scope Jobs - Core job characteristics to Affect worker
- Skill variety –> Opportunity to do various job activities w/ various skils
- Autonomy –> Freedom to schedule one’s own work activities
- Task significance –> Impact the job has on people
- Task identity –> Doing a complete piece of work from beginning to end
- Feedback –> Info about the effectiveness of one’s work performance
High-scope Jobs - Critical psychological states
- Work will be intrinsically motivating when meaningful
- Allowing workers to be responsible for the outcome
- Workers know their work progress
High-scope Jobs - Outcomes
- High intrinsic motivation
- High “growth” satisfaction
- High general job satisfaction
- High work effectiveness
High-scope Jobs - Moderators
variables that determine how job characteristics lead to an outcome
- Knowledge & skill
- Growth needs strength: the extent to which people desire to achieve higher-order need satisfaction by performing their jobs
- “Context” satisfactions
Jobs Enrichment
1) Job Involvement
2) How to enrich the job
3) Establishing external client relationship
4) Establishing internal client relationship
5) Reducing supervision/reliance on others
6) Forming work team
7) Making feedback more direct
Enrichment - Job involvement
psychological identification with one’s job & importance of work to one’s self image
Enrichment - How to enrich job
Combining task : assigning task that might be performed by diff workers to a single individual
Enrichment - Establishing external client relationship
putting employee in touch w/ ppl outside org who depend on their product / service
Enrichment - Establishing internal client relationship
putting employee in touch w/ ppl inside org who depend on their product / service
Enrichment - Reducing supervision / reliance on others
increase autonomy (control over one’s own work)
Making feedback more direct
permits worker to be identified with their “own” product / service
Potential Problems with Job Enrichment
1) Poor diagnosis
2) Lack of desire / skill
3) Demand for rewards
4) Union resistance
5) Supervisory resistance
Potential Problems with Job Enrichment - Poor diagnosis
Ex → Job enlargement : increasing job breadth by giving employee more task, but leaving other core characteristics unchanged
Potential Problems with Job Enrichment - Lack of desire / skill
Ex : difficult to train workers in certain skills required by enriched job, such as social skills
Potential Problems with Job Enrichment - Union Resistance
Unions have been historically focus on negotiating extrinsic motivators (Pay)
Supervisory resistance
job enrichment of an employee might “dis-enrich” the job of their supervisor
Work Design Characteristics
1) Motivational characteristic
2) Social characteristic
3) Work context characteristic
Work design - Motivational Characteristic
a. Task characteristic : similar to core job characteristics
b. Knowledge characteristic : knowledge, skills, ability demand required to perform a job
- Job complexity
- Information processing
- Problem solving
- Skill variety
- Specialization
Work design - Social characteristic
interpersonal & social aspect of work
- Social support
- Interaction outside of org
- Interdependence
- Feedback from others
Work design - Work context characteristic
the context within work is performed.
- Ergonomics : degree to which job allows correct / appropriate posture and movement
- Physical demands
- Work conditions
- Equipment use
Relational Job Design
Relational architecture of jobs: Properties of work that shape employee opportunities to connect & interact w/ other ppl → prosocial motivation : desire to expand effort to benefit other ppl
Job Crafting
Self-initiated changes that employee make to improve match between job characteristics & their needs
Job Crafting
- Increasing social job resources : asking for feedback, advice, support from supervisor & colleague
- Increasing structural job resources : increase autonomy & skill variety
- Increasing challenging job demands : asking for more responsibilities & projects
- Decreasing hindering job demands : minimize physical, cognitive, & emotional demand (reducing one’s workload / work-family conflict)
Management by Objectives (MBO)
Elaborate, systemic, ongoing program, facilitating goal establishment, goal accomplishment, and employee development
Characteristics of Management by Objectives
1) Manager meet w/ employee to agree on employee objectives
2) Periodic meetings to monitor employee progress in achieving objectives
3) Appraisal meeting to evaluate the extent of objectives that has been achieved
4) MBO cycle is repeated
Types of Flexible work arrangements
1) Flex Time
2) Compressed workweek
3) Job & work sharing
4) Telecommuting
Flex Time
arrival & departure time are flexible, as long as present during core times
(+) Good for office environments
(-) Not good for doctors, etc
Compressed workweek
employee work fewer than the normal 5 days a week but still put normal number hours / week
(+) Reduce customer service jobs
(-) Difficult when work is strenuous
(-) Short-term impact only
Job & work sharing
Job sharing : 2 part time divide the work of a full time job
(-) Result in problem if communication is not good
(-) Problem w/ performance appraisal
Work sharing : reduce num of hours employee work to avoid layoff & when there’s reduction in normal business activity
Telecommuting
employee can work remotely
Implementing Motivational Practice
1) Employee needs : money, challenging work
2) Nature of job : individual / group
3) Characteristics of org : strategy, culture
4) Desired outcome : job performance, retention
