Chapter 7 Vocab Flashcards
Motivation
The processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of five needs — physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization — in which, as each need is substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant.
Lower-Order Needs
Needs that are satisfied externally, such as physiological and safety needs.
Self-Actualization
The drive to become what a person is capable of becoming.
Higher-Order Needs
Needs that are satisfied internally, such as, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs.
Theory X
The assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform.
Theory Y
The assumption that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.
Two-Factor Theory
A theory that relates intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction. Also called motivation-hygiene theory.
Hygiene Factors
Factors — such as company policy and administration, supervision, and salary — that, when adequate in a job, placate workers. When these factors are adequate, people will not be dissatisfied.
McClelland’s Theory of Needs
A theory that states achievement, power, and affiliation are three important needs that help explain motivation.
Need for Achievement (nAch)
The drive to excel, to achieve in relationship to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
Need for Power (nPow)
The need to make others behave in a way in which they would not have behaved otherwise.
Need for Affiliation (nAff)
The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
Self-Determination Theory
A theory of motivation that is concerned with the beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful effects of extrinsic motivation.
Cognitive Evaluation Theory
A version of self-determination theory which holds that allocation extrinsic rewards for behavior that had been previously intrinsically rewarding tends to decrease the overall level of motivation if the rewards are seen as controlling.
Self-Concordance
The degree to which peoples’ reasons for pursuing goals are consistent with their interests and core values.
Job Engagement
The investment of an employee’s physical, cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance.
Goal-Setting Theory
A theory that says that specific and difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher performance.
Promotion Focus
A self-regulation strategy that involves striving for goals through advancement and accomplishment.
Prevention Focus
A self-regulation strategy that involves striving for goals by fulfilling duties and obligations.
Management by Objectives (MBO)
A program that encompasses specific goals, participatively set, for an explicit time period, with feedback on goal progress.
Self-Efficacy Theory
An individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.
Reinforcement Theory
A theory that says that behavior is a function of its consequences.
Behaviorism
A theory that argues that behavior follows stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner.
Social-learning Theory
The view that we can learn through both observation and direct experience.
Equity Theory
A theory that says that individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond to eliminate any inequities.
Organizational Justice
An overall perception of what is fair in the workplace, composed of distributive, procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice.
Distributive Justice
Perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.
Procedural Justice
The perceived fairness of the process used to determine the distribution of rewards.
Informational Justice
The degree to which employees are provided truthful explanations for decisions.
Interpersonal Justice
The degree to which employees are treated with dignity and respect.
Expectancy Theory
A theory that says that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
What are the three key elements of motivation?
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What are some early theories of motivation? How applicable are they today?
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How do the predictions of self-determination theory apply to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards?
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What are the implications of employee job engagement for management?
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What are they key principles of goal-setting theory, self-efficacy theory, and reinforcement theory?
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How is organizational justice a refinement of equity theory?
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What are they key tenets of expectancy theory?
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What are some contemporary theories of motivation, and how do they compare to one another?
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How do you put goal-setting operations into practice? Management by Objectives (MBO) allows employees to participatively set goals that are tangible, verifiable, and measurable. An organization’s overall objectives are translated into specific objectives for each succeeding level. Four ingredients common to MBO programs are: goal specificity; participation in decision making; explicit time period; and performance feedback. MBO programs are common in many business, healthcare, educational, government, and nonprofit organizations.
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Self-efficacy theory, also as social cognitive theory and social learning theory, is a new theory gaining much attention. Albert Bandura, the developer of self-efficacy theory, defined four characteristics: enactive mastery, or gaining relevant experience with the task or job; vicarious modeling, or becoming more confident because you see someone else doing the task; verbal persuasion, occurring when a person is more confident because someone convinces him that he has the skills; and arousal, which leads to an energized state, driving a person to complete the task.
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Goal-setting theory and self-efficacy theory don’t compete with one another; they complement each other,
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Social-learning theory argues that we can learn through both observation and direct experience. Models are central to the social-learning viewpoint. Four processes determine their influence on an individual:
Attentional processes: people learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention to its critical features.
Retention processes: a model’s influence depends on how well the individual remembers the model’s action after the model is no longer readily available.
Motor reproduction processes: after a person has seen a new behavior by observing the model, watching must be converted to doing.
Reinforcement processes: individuals are motivated to exhibit the modeled behavior if positive incentives or rewards are provided.
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What role does equity play in motivation? Equity theory argues that individuals make comparisons of their job inputs and outcomes relative to those of others and then respond to any inequities. If we perceive our ratio to be equal to that of the relevant others with whom we compare ourselves, a state of equity is said to exist. We perceive our situation as fair. When we see the ratio as unequal, we experience equity tension.
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However, organizational justice draws a bigger picture. Organizational justice is concerned with how employees feel they are treated by authorities and decisions-makers at work. For the most part, employees make their evaluations along four dimensions, as shown in this exhibit.
Distributive justice is concerned with the fairness of the outcomes, such as pay and recognition that employees receive. Although employees care a lot about what outcomes are distributed (distributive justice), they also care a lot about how outcomes are distributed. While distributive justice looks at what outcomes are allocated, procedural justice examines how outcomes are allocated. Having direct influence over how decisions or made, or at the very least being able to present your opinion to decision makers, creates a sense of control and makes us feel empowered. Employees also perceive that procedures are fairer when decision makers follow several “rules.” It turns out that procedural and distributive justice combine to influence people’s perceptions of fairness. If outcomes are favorable and individuals get what they want, they care less about the process, so procedural justice doesn’t matter as much when distributions are perceived to be fair.
Research has shown that employees care about two other types of fairness that have to do with the way they are treated during interactions with others.
The first type is informational justice, which reflects whether managers provide employees with explanations for key decisions and keep them informed of important organizational matters. The second type of justice relevant to interactions between managers and employees is interpersonal justice, which reflects whether employees are treated with dignity and respect.
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Expectancy theory, therefore, focuses on three key relationships: the effort-performance relationship, which is the probability perceived by the individual that exerting a given amount of effort will lead to performance; the performance-reward relationship, which is the degree to which the individual believes that performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome; and the rewards-personal goals relationship, which is the degree to which organizational rewards satisfy an individual’s personal goals or needs and the attractiveness of those potential rewards for the individual.
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Expectancy theory helps explain why a lot of workers aren’t motivated on their jobs and do only the minimum necessary to get by. We can look at the theory’s three relationships by asking three questions that employees would need to answer affirmatively if they are to be motivated. First, if I give maximum effort, will it be recognized in my performance appraisal? Second, if I get a good performance appraisal, will it lead to organizational rewards? Third, if I’m rewarded, are the rewards attractive to me?
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Exhibit 7–9 integrates much of what we know about motivation. Its basic foundation is the expectancy model. Expectancy theory predicts that an employee will exert a high level of effort if he or she perceives that there is a strong relationship between effort and performance, performance and rewards, and rewards and satisfaction of personal goals. Each of these relationships, in turn, is influenced by certain factors. For effort to lead to good performance, the individual must have the requisite ability to perform, and the performance appraisal system must be perceived as being fair and objective. The final link in expectancy theory is the rewards-goals relationship.
The model also considers the achievement, need, reinforcement, and equity/organizational justice theories. High achievers are internally driven as long as the jobs they are doing provide them with personal responsibility, feedback, and moderate risks. Reinforcement theory recognizes that the organization’s rewards reinforce the individual’s performance. Individuals will compare the rewards they receive (outcomes) from the inputs they make with the outcome-input ratio of relevant others, and inequities may influence the effort expended.
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