motivation

Question 1

what are the 3 main theories of motivation? What do they each say about motivation (and what are their limits)?

Answer 1

• Maslow theory of needs
• Herzberg 2 factor theory
• self-motivation theory (autonomy, relatedness, competence)

Question 2

What factors affect motivation in Gemma’s team during COVID?

Answer 2

individual level : idiosyncratic situations for each employee eg social isolation, childcare, anxiety, mental health issues
organisational level: massive layoffs and uncertainty impact motivation: survivor guilt, dampened creativity, low trust, hampered identification

Question 3

What are the extrinsic forces of motivation?

Answer 3

• rewards in proportion to output eg commissions, bonuses
• direct incentive for performance

Question 4

What are the limits for extrinsic sources of motivation?

Answer 4

-incentive life cycles means that individuals get to know how to trick the system and do as little while still getting the rewards
- performance can’t be easily measured eg how do we measure team performance
-impact on unethical behaviour eg rogue traders

Question 5

When does extrinsic motivation actually work?

Answer 5

-when it can be objectively and easily measured
- routine and repetitive tasks
- when performance is easily controllable by employees and they feel they can realistically achieve that performance
-when the presence of other motivators is low -so individuals have real interest in the task
-behaviour is easily monitored and opportunity for cheating is low

Question 6

What are intrinsic sources of motivation? Examples?

Answer 6

• genuine interest in the task
  -feeling challenged by the work
  -being praised for your work
• desire to learn
• task meaningfulness
  -status

Question 7

In what ways can we manage the content of work?

Answer 7

1. emphasise the sense of accomplishment at work by:
   -making the work more meaningful
   - make it challenging just enough but still achievable eg moderately difficult tasks are more motivating than easy tasks and significance of rewards is also greater
   -providing positive feedback and quantitatively tracked performance
   - setting goals is a good motivational technique
2. emphasise autonomy:
   - increases feelings of responsibility + motivation
   -autonomy is a primary predictor of stress
   -organisations that provide autonomy grow 4 times faster

3.meaningfulness eg non profit and volunteer work

Question 8

How does Google motivate interns?

Answer 8

Google internship video: it plays on intrinsic levers like passion, impact, there is no hierarchy, learning curve, full-time hiring offer⇒ content and design of the work is used a intrinsic lever here

Question 9

What can we do to address motivation in difficult contexts ie COVID for Gemma’s team?

Answer 9

-goal setting and power of small wins
-maintain social relatedness
-sense of purpose and identity of org
- 2 factor theory: impact on remote work/hygiene factors