motivation Flashcards
define motivation
process by which someone’s efforts are energised, directed and sustained towards attaining a goal. Giving employees an incentive to remain committed to the success of the organisation
early theories of motivation
1) maslow’s hierarchy of needs
2) McGregor’s Theory X and Y
3) Herzberg’s 2-factor theory
4) McClelland’s Three Needs theory
maslow
1) each level must be satisfied before next need becomes dominant
2) moves up the needs hierarchy in order
3) once a need is satisfied, it is no longer motivating
3) divided into lower and higher order needs - satisfied externally vs internally
Theory X and Y
X - managers view employees as lazy, having little ambition, disliking work and responsibility and requiring close supervision
Y - employees enjoy work, seek out responsibility and decision making power; enjoy challenges
not necessary for Y to be the best way always - steve jobs
herzberg
extrinsic hygiene factors need to be satisfactory to avoid dissatisfaction: supervision, peer and manager relationship, working conditions, salary, security (lower levels of Maslow!)
intrinsic motivating factors are needed for satisfaction and motivation: achievement, recognition, advancement, growth (top 2 levels)
three needs - McClelland
1) need for achievement - personal rather than organisational achievement; intrinsically motivated to perform to a high standard and want moderately difficult tasks. Not necessarily best managers!
2) need for power - making others behave in a way they wouldn’t have otherwise
3) need for affiliation - desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships
high nPow and low nAff tend to be best leaders
can be measured using projective test known as Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) - write story based on pic, judge levels of 3 needs from it
contemporary theories of motivation
1) goal setting
2) reinforcement
3) job design - enlargement, enrichment, JCM and modern views (relational vs proactive perspective)
4) equity theory
5) Vroom’s expectancy theory
goal setting
1) specific, challenging goals
2) participation in goal setting usually increases committment to meeting goals
3) feedback increases motivation and improves performance esp if self-generated (monitors own progress)
three other contingencies affect impact of goals on performance:
1) goal commitment
2) self-efficacy - self-belief in capabilities. High SE means more likely to try harder in difficult situations or when given negative feedback
3) national culture - most effective when cultures are independent, challenge-seeking, performance is considered important by both managers and employees
reinforcement theory
behaviour is a function of immediate consequences - reinforcers will increase probability of repetition of behaviour while punishment will reduce it
motivational rewards are most effective when immediately following behaviour
should ignore negative behaviour instead of punishing it as punishment’s effect is temporary and may cause conflict/absenteeism/turnover
motivational job design
the way tasks are organised to form complete jobs
should be done deliberately to reflext the demands of the changing envionrment, org’s tech and employees’ skills, abilities and preferences to motivate them
- job enlargement
- job enrichment
- job characteristics model
- modern job design
job enlargement vs enrichment
enlargement:
- horizontally expanding a job by increasing job scope: the tasks needed for a job and the frequency with which they are repeated
- must be KNOWLEDGE enlargement activities, not just any tasks
enrichment:
- vertically expanding a job by adding job depth: the degree of control and independence employees have over their work through planning and evaluating responsibilities
job characteristics model
5 core job dimensions and their interrelationships, impacting employee motivation, productivity and satisfaction
1) skill variety needed
2) task identity - completion of whole and identifiable unit of work
3) task significance - impact on the work or lives of other people
4) autonomy - freedom to schedule work and decide methods to carry it out
5) feedback - clear info on effectiveness of performance
suggests employees will be motivated when they LEARN (feedback) that they PERSONALLY (autonomy) performed well on tasks that they CARE ABOUT (skill variety, task identity, task significance)
this is moderated by the strength of the individuals growth need - high growth need more likely to experience critical psych states of model and respond positively to 5 dimensions
specific suggestions for job design:
1) basically target ways to improve all the 5 dimensions PLUS:
2) establish external and internal client relationships to increase skill variety, autonomy and feedback
outcomes: high quality performance, high satisfaction, low absenteeism and turnover
criticisms of JCM
fails to take into account more social dimensions fo work that become more important as economy transitions from manufacturing to knowledge and service economy
updated job design
may be more appropriate for modern economy than JCM
1) relational perspective - tasks and jobs are based on social relationships, with more interactions, interdependence and interpersonal feedback both inside and outside org
2) proactive perspective- employees take the initiative to change how their work is performed. High involvement work practices increase proactiveness. 5 factors influencing proactiveness:
- autonomy
- level of ambiguity and accountability
- job complexity
- level of stressors
- social or relationship context
equity theory
employees compare the outcomes from a job with the inputs they put into it, then compare their inputs-outputs ratios with those of relevant referents
if perceived to be inequitable relative to them, will view themselves as being under or overrewarded and correct this by:
1) higher or lower productivity
2) better or worse quality
3) increased absenteeism
4) voluntary resignation
3 referent categories:
1) persons - those with similar jobs in org, or family/friends/other professional associates
2) systems - pay policiies and allocation
3) selves - inputs-outputs ratios unique to the individual, influenced by past personal experiences
distributive justice (perceived fairness of amount of rewards allocated between people) affects employee satisfaction more than procedural justice (perceived fairness of the process used to determine distribution of rewards), which affects employee’s org committment
- managers should openly share info on how allocation decisions are made and follow consistent and unbaised procedures - employees will be more likely to view their bosses as positive even if dissatisfied with pay and other outcomes
