Motivation Flashcards
What is a centralised organisation ?
and it’s characteristics
A centralised organisation is one
where the majority of decisions are taken by senior managers at the top of the business.
-key decisions made at head office
-tight control on activities
-company-wide strategies are used
-quick decision making
-good direction
-communication can be poor
-can demotivate staff.
What is a decentralised organisation?
and it’s characteristics
A decentralised organisation is one
where authority has been passed down to lower levels in the hierarchy for decision-making.
-key decisions made by lower levels
-motivates and empowers staff
-individual strategies used
-good communication
-loss of control by head Office
-lack of direction
-decision making takes longer
Define downsizing
When a firm closes down or merges
aspects of their operations in order to reduce costs and remain competitive in the marketplace.
Define delayering
Removing tiers of management in the hierarchy, usually in the middle.
Advantages of delayering
- The removal of managerial layers in the hierarchical structure will mean that the business will save money on salaries.
- Better communication may result and lines of communication may be shorter.
- If remaining staff are ‘empowered’ to make their own decisions they become more motivated and productive.
- Greater possible efficiency may result.
Disadvantages of delayering
- Those managers/workers who remain may become fearful for their own jobs and therefore demoralised.
- Staff may be demotivated as chances of promotion are reduced.
- Some staff may now be over-burdened with work and are therefore less efficient.
- Cost implications – redundancies.
- Remaining staff may require training as to cope with extra responsibilities – cost of training.
Benefits of a well motivated workforce
- increased productivity
- increased quality
- lower levels of staff turnover
- improved communication
- higher levels of innovation
- greater worker satisfaction
- lower levels of industrial action
- improved customer service
- better reputation – easier to attract quality staff.
Frederick Taylor Motivation Theory
Taylor believed that people only work for money and that they should be told exactly how to do their jobs. They are motivated by financial rewards.
- He broke down the production process into a series of small tasks that could be carried out by relatively unskilled employees.
- He believed in close supervision of the
workforce to ensure that they continued to make the maximum effort possible, motivated by pay. - He believed in paying people according to how much they produced (piecework)
-There is a tall hierarchy within organisations, with little scope for upward communication
Mayo - Hawthorne Experiments
He found that productivity increased with every change, even when the changes made the conditions worse.
He believed productivity rose because of:
-greater communication
-better teamwork
-showing an interest in others
-involving others in decision-making
-ensuring the wellbeing of others
-making work interesting and non-repetitive.
Herzberg 2 factor theory
He identified two major sets of influences at work:
•Hygiene factors are all around the job, but are not part of the job. They do not lead to motivation, but without them employees become dissatisfied with:
-company policy and administration
-supervision
-working conditions
-salary
-relationship with fellow workers.
•Motivators relate to the job itself and can be used to positively motivate employees:
-personal achievement
-recognition
-interest in the work itself
-responsibility
-growth and advancement.
Herzberg believed that hygiene factors and motivators should be used together.
Porter and Lawler Expectancy Theory
They propose that an individual’s motivation is affected by the reward they expect to receive for completing the task. The individual’s view of the attractiveness of the possible reward will determine their level of motivation.
They categorised the rewards:
•Intrinsic rewards include the positive feelings that the individual experiences from completing the task, e.g. pride, satisfaction. In order to give a job more intrinsic rewards they emphasised the importance of job content.
•Extrinsic rewards are rewards that come from outside the individual, for example material rewards such as pay increases and bonuses.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s theory was that employees have a series of needs they seek to fulfil at work. These are in a hierarchy – once a lower level need is satisfied, individuals strive to satisfy needs further up the hierarchy.
Bottom of Hierarchy- Physical, Security, Social, Esteem, Self-actualism - Top
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs - Explained
•Physiological Needs – By offering competitive salaries, etc. a business is able to satisfy basic needs of their employees in relation to food, drink, rest and activity. Staff discounts.
•Safety Needs – By providing a healthy work environment. Helps employees to choose the best option for a healthy work-life balance by offering good holiday entitlement.
•Social Needs – Affiliating or being part of a group – teamwork, open communication. A sense of belonging is generated.
•Esteem Needs – By recognizing that all
employees should feel that they contribute to the achievements of the business and placing great emphasis on providing positive feedback rewarding staff for their achievements. Promotion from within. Ensuring they feel competent – provision of good training.
• Self-Actualisation – By providing employees with the opportunity to take on challenging and stimulating responsibilities in an attempt to reach their full potential. For example, providing the opportunity for individuals to take ownership of projects – this enables them to develop and improve
Vroom Expectancy Theory
Vroom assumed that people acted in their own best interests according to their beliefs about the outcomes of their own behaviour. Generally, he believed that people opted to maximise their happiness and minimise their unhappiness.
What does VIE stand for ? (Vrooms Expectancy Theory)
Vroom believed that an individual’s motivation was a combination of these three forces V,I and E.
•Valence - an individual will undertake a task if they believe that they will receive a worthwhile reward as a result.
•Instrumentality - an individual needs to believe that a particular action is likely to lead to a particular result – an individual will be motivated to work hard to achieve a particular target if he or she believes that it will lead to a positively valent result. For example, if the individual believes that their hard work will lead to promotion then they will be motivated to work hard.
•Expectancy - an individual’s belief in the likelihood of being able to achieve the target that has been set for them.
Definition of Financial Motivation
Financial methods directly involve
monetary rewards:
- pay increases
- bonus schemes – sales, performance, Christmas
- piece rates – workers are paid for each item they produce or for each task completed
- profit sharing/share ownership
- fringe benefits – company cars, pension schemes, sickness benefits, subsidised meals and travel and staff discounts.
Advantages of Financial Motivation
- Workers like to earn more money as this may improve their standard of living.
- In many cases they motivate workers to reach a certain target - otherwise why do businesses continue to use them.
- For some workers, money is a major motivator.
-Share ownership may also bring with it a sense of belonging and motivate workers to contribute more to the organisation.
Disadvantages of Financial Motivation
-Some schemes can cause resentment,
especially when bonuses are linked to teams. Some workers become de-motivated because they feel that they are carrying some of their colleagues.
- When targets are not reached the workforce may be resentful, especially if the reasons for not hitting the targets are out of their control, e.g. bad management, late suppliers, etc.
- Jealousy – some workers are de-motivated by the financial success of colleagues. Banking bonuses are a good example.
- Some argue that financial incentives tend to only have a short term impact on motivation. Once workers become used to a certain standard of living, they want a better one and seek better financial incentives
Definition of Non-financial Motivation
The use of non-financial methods of
motivation demonstrates attempts by employers to apply the ideas behind the theories of the likes of Mayo, Maslow and Herzberg.
Examples of Non-financial Motivation
-Job enrichment
-Job enlargement
-Job rotation
-Job design
-Communication
-Empowerment
-Quality Circles
-Training
-Flexible Working
What is Job enrichment ?
giving workers more control
over the tasks that they complete and allowing workers to complete tasks that have a meaning and are complete in themselves.
-gives the employee a greater
challenge and helps them to develop new skills which could lead to promotion. This does require a manager to delegate, which some may find difficult. Not all workers respond well to extra responsibility and some may feel out of their depth. Some may also resent doing extra work for the same pay.
What is job enlargement?
increasing the number of
tasks completed by a worker. For example, a secretary previously employed to answer calls might now have duties that include filing, letter writing, etc. This adds interest to the job and involves the employee in a more complete role within the business.
-prevents boredom and encourages employees’ satisfaction as they are completing an entire process. Some managers argue that allowing workers to complete whole tasks will reduce efficiency. This is because workers are much quicker when they focus on specific tasks and carry them out repeatedly. The types of tasks required in a restaurant may not lend themselves to this policy.
What is job rotation ?
changing workers’ tasks, which are completed at regular intervals. This can be as simple as switching places on a production line. The variety adds interest to the job and reduces the number of errors that can arise through boredom.
- giving workers different jobs to
do from time to time to reduce their boredom and give them greater experience. In addition, a business might benefit from having a more widely trained workforce with greater flexibility. This will take a lot of time to train the workers and they will take time to settle in. It may also cost money.
What is Job Design ?
jobs should include complete
tasks that are of interest to the worker and challenging, which allow decision-making.
