Job Design & Motivation

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

Theories of work motivation refers to any state or condition that causes to initiate, choose, inhibit or persist in specific (behaviours and actions in specific circumstances). Content theories attempt to explain what motivates people, and process theories attempt to explain how people are motivated. This may cause some issues as different people are not necessarily motivated by the same potentially motivated content.

Question 2

Taylor and the Money Motive

Answer 2

Describe
• Scientific management with money as the key motivator
• Job Simplification – Job Design
• Scientific management advocates job simplification. This leads to job design which minimises skill requirements and maximises management control, with money as sole reason for working.
• Working in a factory, building cars, aeroplanes and packaging etc.
Advantages
• Little Micromanagement
• Training is not diverse so easy to teach simple job
• Cheap & Effective
• Improves productivity
Disadvantages
• Requires workers to have fewer breaks, lead to fatigue and repetitive strain, can lead to boredom.
• Someone building a part for an aeroplane could be made faulty which could be fatal.
• Kornhauser (1965) – noted its association with poor work attitudes and poor physical/mental health.

Individual Differences: McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y.
Theory X – view of the worker (McGregor, 1960) – employees dislike work, lazy, dislike responsibility and must be coerced to perform as Money as Motivator.
Theory Y: positive, wide of motivators. (Maslow Hierachy?).

Question 3

Herzberg’s Hygiene Factors and Motivating Factors

Answer 3

Describe
• Extrinsic Factors: pay, employment, work environment and other extrinsic factors termed hygiene factors.
• Intrinsic Factors: Skill use, challenge, responsibility and other job characteristics deemed intrinsic.
• Job enrichment: vertical integration (after Herzberg) with more responsibility rather than job enlargement (or job rotation) – horizontal integration.
Limitations
• Intrinsic & Extrinsic factors may be different for all employees in the office, therefore may be hard to motivate using certain measures.
• Some may be there for the work environment and social environment
• Whereas another employee is there for money, responsibility and challenges
Individual Differences: McClelland’s (1961) – not everybody has the work ethic, pursuit of excellence, status aspiration, acquisitiveness and competitiveness against others as well as against own standards.

Question 4

Hackman and Olham’s Job Characteristics Model (1976,1980)

Answer 4

Describe
Skill Variety (SV)
Task Identity (TI)
Task Significance (TS)
Autonomy (AU)
Feedback (FB)
Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) = SV + TI + TS / 3 x AU x FB
Each cjc has scale of 1 to 7, maximum score is 343. Average score for 876 different jobs was 128.
Advantages
• Cronbachs – Over .70, therefore can assume test is reliable method in assessing individual needs reliably, and this method carries validity for multiple industries to use (876 jobs)
• High Face Validity
Limitations
• Critical Psychological states of employees must exist for internally motivated work behaviour to develop.

Question 5

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

Answer 5

Describe
• Physiological needs – satisfied with wage
• Safety Needs – job security and defined job responsibilities
• Love Needs – satisfied by positive work culture that lets employees establish rapport with each other, and work together
• Esteem Needs – positive management relation with employees make them feel trusted and cable in their jobs
• Self-actualisation – a Promotion into a more challenging decision.

Within the office

• Workers didn’t feel like their ideas, opinions or input was valued. Managers didn’t take into account emotional or psychological factors, instead it was about what numbers they wanted them to achieve. Cangemi (2009) stated management lacked emotional intelligence.
• Interventions, anonymous HR questionnaire saying what went well what could we do better to improve work situations in the office. Fulling different needs within the hierarchy.

Advantages
• Relevant in all fields of life, whether you are at home or at the office.
• Takes into account human nature
• Simple yet effective

Limitations

• Individuals needs mean that this order may not be the same for everyone, social affection may be more important than physiological needs.
• How is satisfaction measured?

Question 6

Process Theories

Answer 6

Goal setting theory – Locke, 1981

Goal specificity – Do X by time Y, rather than do your best.

Goal difficulty – relationship between the person and the goal – subjective depending on ability and experience.

May help increase motivation, this could be applied to Maslow Hierarchy Theory, that if X performance is done by Y, this will allow for a promotion. However, a negative effect is that a manger could set an unrealistic target, where as an individual could make an easier and more achievable target.

SMART Goals.

Question 7

Combining Content and Process Theories

Answer 7

Expectancy theory – find out what content individuals’ value and what motivates them.

Goal Setting – to achieved desired content.

Design Job accordingly.