Motivation Flashcards
Define motivation
The definition for motivation depends on who you ask.
· process, affected by internal and external causes
o behaviorist say its all external (wrong cuz its BOTH)
o also easy to focus on person and not on environmental (external)
· that affects our decisions
o regarding form (what you do)
o intensity (how intense)
o duration (how long you do it)
(FID)
· not the same as attitude or mood, not the same as performance(performance is function of ability, skills, luck, environment, and task)
How do managers and psychologists answer the question: What is the best way to motivate workers?
It depends on which manager and psychologist is asked.
Theory X managers would believe that to motivate people a person’s behaviors should be managed. This type of manager would adopt the tenets that:
- people naturally avoid work
- people naturally avoid responsibility
- people naturally look-out for themselves
- people naturally resist change
- employees must be bribed or coerced (AALNC)
Theory Y managers would believe that to motivate people a person’s outcomes should be managed. This type of manager would adopt the tenets that:
- work is as natural as play
- adults seek responsibility
- people have creative potential
- employees must be freed from barriers(WACF)
Psychologist:
Behaviorist: give employees rewards for desired behavior.
Maslow and Herzberg (needs theorists): Align with theory Y managers.
Deci and Ryan: if a person percieves themselves as competent they will like the job more.
- In what ways are motivational speakers motivating?
All motivators will say
o a. Tap your potential (can’t be great at everything, find out what you are good at and what you can do)
o b. Improve your skills (good books focus on this)
o c. Set goals (defining, specifying, and creating boundaries to do them)
o d. Create the plan
o e. Deadlines
o f. Finish w/inspirational story
However, problem with motivational speakers is that their goal is to make behaviors follow the sudden change in attitude they have caused. Herzberg believes that behaviors should change and attitudes will follow.
Herzberg: change behavior to change attitudes
everyone else: change attitudes to change behavior
- What is the relationship between motivation and performance? To what degree is performance related to motivation?
motivation is not the same as attitude or mood (ppl usually label ppl in good moods if they’re doing what they’re told to do)
motivation is not the same as performance
motivation alone won’t guarantee performance (you can’t do ANYTHING)
performance is also a combo of motivation, hard work, and luck
performance= f(abiltity, skills, luck, environment, task)
ability: potential to learn
skill: technique
luck: timing of 75 richest ppl ever to live being within 1830-1840s in Western Expansion milking the untapped resources of the New West for example, allowing for performance to excel
environment: example of filling a niche
task: ?
- To what degree is our behavior influenced by internal (in your head) events? By external events? This is one of those “depends on whom you ask” questions.
could talk about
movement vs. motivation
dog sitting for biscuit (dog moved, owner motivated)
movement (external), motivation (more internal in this case)
what your definition of intrinsic motivation is
inside the person, or inside the activity (activity leads to valued outcome)
behaviorists say all behavior is externally motivated by they’re WRONG
humanists would say that behavior is also internal
- Describe the process of drive reduction and homeostasis. Give some examples of the difference between drive induction and drive reduction motivational systems.
Negative Feedback Loop / Drive Reduction
the more the behavior is performed, the less behavior there will be
deficit–behvior that reduces deficit—-until deficit disappears
output from system slows the system
negative (most biological needs)
about avoiding pain (pain avoidance)
Positive Feedback Loop / Drive Induction
technically, examples of these type of systems usually end up breaking down, unless psychological (example of microphone)
positive (higher level needs)
examples: giving to people, getting recognition for hard work, etc
the more the behavior is performed, the more behavior there will be
output from system accelerates the system
about getting more of what feels good (pleasure attainment)
- What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
intrinsic motivation: activity IS valued outcome
used to be motivation is inside the person
but better definition is motivation inside the activity
ex) going to the gym cuz you like the gym
extrinsic motivation: activity leads to valued outcome (activity would be avoided if you could just have outcome-so you could lose the weight without going to the gym you wouldn’t go to the gym)
motivation outside the activity
ex) going to the gym to lose weight (instrumental)
- Describe the difference between Theory X and Theory Y managers.
Theory X: manage behavior (David’s cookies)
1. ppl naturally avoid work
2. ppl naturally avoid responsibilty
3. ppl naturally look out for themselves
4. ppl naturally resist change
5. employees must be bribed or coerced to do things
Theory Y: focus on outcomes not behavior (Myer’s Field Cookies.. mmmm)
1. work is as natural as play
2. adults seek responsibility
3. ppl have creative potential
4. job as manager is to free ppl from barriers
- What are the basic assumptions about human motivation that underlie Taylor’s suggestion for increasing productivity?
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1911) said that we could treat employees like they’re machines, to make them as productive as possible. Back then it was not about how employees felt, but about how you could get the most work out of the employees
figure out when somebody should work, when to have breaks, to increase productivity dramatically
broke down building a building to bricks an hour
balance for the optimal way
introduced field of employee selection
he focused on
using scientific method
emphasis on mechanization
standardized times and methods
detailed planning and scheduling
standardized ppl for each task
wage incentives
- The authors of Fish, suggest that people can choose to be happy and motivated. Is this realistic?
They focus on
play: Have fun and make the customers feel as though they can have fun while they’re there, too.
make their day: When talking to customers, make eye contact and if doing nothing else, making the customer your main focus. This also includes striking up conversation with people walking by your business place.
be there (for coworkers): (Often referred to as “Be Present” This is more to do with giving your full attention to a task or individual.) - Oftentimes while at the workplace, people will be there in body, but not mind, meaning that while they are there physically, their presence of mind isn’t. ‘Be there’ means to be at the workplace in mind and body; to be completely focused on your work and others around you, and how you can help other employees maintain a positive attitude as well.
choose your attitude: The philosophy says that you choose your attitude when you wake up in the morning, whether to be nice and friendly for the rest of the day, or to be mean and surly for the rest of the day. The philosophy advises to ‘choose’ to be nice and friendly every day, and that good feeling will spread to others.
Is this realistic? No, this definitely doesn’t encompass all jobs.
They have some notable advice but these don’t work in ALL work settings. This doesn’t include the ENVIRONMENT. For example:
play: an office is not a place where you can play around. It’s hard to have fun with a customer when you work for a funeral home for example.
make their day: some jobs don’t allow much deviation from 20 second interactions. Not much freedom to make small talk like cashiers in a fast paced setting. Some jobs don’t even allow contact with the people they are serving.
be there (for coworkers): all up to the person, yet one of the better points of Fish.
choose your attitude: up to the person, but what about empoyees with mental health problems ? Or anybodys that going through some shit (personal trials and tribulations). It’s easier said than done. It’s also hard to have a good attitude about things you don’t have control/ self determination over like many people in minimum wage jobs
- Nickel and Dimed introduces concerns about health care, affordable housing, childcare, education, public transportation, and community support for low-wage workers. How do these factors affect the apparent “motivation” of employees in low wage positions?
Health care
o So far, health care does not seem to be widely available to minimum wage workers (in case with Carlie from housekeeping in florida)
o Also, if it does include healthcare (3 months in example with Gail from serving) it can be overlooked, as they couldn’t find her application for the healthcare even though she was there for 3 months
o Most people get the no name brands for pills, or if hurt they just need to come out of pocket
o Even with the high risk of injury, when it happens workers are ;just told that they need to work through it
Affordable housing
o Most ppl on minimum wage struggle to afford the security of an apartment (pg 2
§ Those that do depend on a roommate or significant other to help afford it
§ Others live in their car
§ Trailer homes
§ If you are unable to pay the apartment rent then you must resort to being in a hotel
o Pg 27 “in pverty, as in certain propositions in physics, starting conditions are everything” because of the months rent and the months deposit
o Living wage (30,000 for one working person)
§ Usually they decide the living wage by determining the cost of food and multiplying by 3 to find out how much they need to live, but this does not take into consideration that the cost of food hasn’t inflated much and rent is much more than it used to be decades ago
§ Many depend on living with a spouse or other family member to combine income to make ends meet
- Describe Herzberg’s Motivation Hygiene Theory.
using critical incidents, Herzberg found that
positive events were marked by: achievment, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement
negative events were marked by: company policy, supervior, interpersonal relations, working conditions, pay and benefits, status, security
serve as hygiene factors (doesn’t make you healthy but keeps you from getting sick, prevents you from being unhappy, without hygiene factors you’re PISSED OFF
en it becomes minimum for you to accept, you’ll never be too rich or famous
absence of money makes you miserable but it’s abundance doesn’t create happiness (ex of lotto winners not happier than the average person after a year)
profiles
down and out (bad motivators, bad hygiene)
best of both worlds(good motivators, good hygiene, fuckin awesome)
starving artist (good motivators, bad hygiene)
I’m okay (bad motivators, good hygiene)
- Describe the Growth Maintenance Model. How is different than the motivation hygiene theory?
The Growth maitenance model says that motivation is based on
growth (intrinsic)
if dissatisfied on growth, you have: dull pain, boredom, lethargy, feelings of failure
if satisfied on growth, you have: long term satisfaction, flow, love, pride
maintenance (extrinsic)
if dissatisfied on maintenance, you have: anger, hurt, envy
if satisfied on maintenance, you have: short term thrill, relief, contentment
growth and maintenance differ in the flavor of satisfaction (different in quality of feelings) for example, boredom(dissatisfaction of growth) differs from angriness(dissatisfaction of maintenance)
How is this different from motivation/hygiene theory?
could say that growth=motivation
could say that maintenance=hygiene
2 separate continuums, except both from satisfied to dissatisfied growth/maintenance
growth maitenance is a better form of herzberg’s continuums, supposedly easier to understand and would be more acceptable like this
- Why is Maslow’s theory so popular?
Maslow’s theory was popular because it
distinguished us from animals (it came out during time of behaviorists and everybody wasn’t down for that, and maslow told ppl that they are generally “good” and want self actualization (anyone)- ppl like this)
easy to understand
has a humanistic appraoch: ppl are naturally good and we strive for growth
also impossible to refute and unquantifiable
- What is a need? Exactly how are needs motivating (incorporate the concepts of positive and negative feedback)?
book definition: need is a
hypothetical concept
need is determined by force
induced by characteristics of the environment
helps us understand approach behaviors as well avoidance behaviors
our definition: generally defined as a deficit that will energize an action to avoid pain (drive reduciton), or something that makes us wanna do something again (drive induction)
could talk about negative(drive reduction)
could talk about positive (drive induction)
