Motivation in Practice

Question 1

The Role of Money

Answer 1

Money is the most commonly used reward in organizations
Money helps some needs get met

Question 3

money is not every employee’s top priority
- some emphasize

Answer 3

Relationships in the workplace
Opportunities for development

Question 4

Linking pay to performance

Answer 4

Link incentive plans to performance for effectiveness.

Question 5

Variable pay

Answer 5

a portion of the employees pay that is based on a measure of performance

Question 6

Piece rate

Answer 6

• per unit of production
• Common in production
• A basic hourly wage + piece rate differential on top more common in production.

Question 7

Potential Problems

Answer 7

• Quantity over quality
• Differences in resources to be avoided as expectancy relp impacted
• Individual reward’s impact on group cooperation
• Restriction of productivity (artificial limit on output)

Question 8

Merit Pay Plans

Answer 8

systems that attempt to link pay to performance on white collar jobs
Potential problem with merit pay plans

Question 9

Potential problems with merit pay

Answer 9

• Stimulates performance but usually not very effectively used in org. Many use other metrics linked to pay in reality, e.g. Seniority
• Managers don’t differentiate between good and poor performers
• Perceptual errors, esp if subjective measures of perf

Question 10

Reward Follies

Answer 10

Reward follies occur when organizations “reward A while hoping for B”
e.g., want to encourage teamwork but reward the “best” individual team members

Question 11

Reward Follies - why they happen

Answer 11

Stuck in old patterns of rewards and recognition
Don’t look at the big picture
Focus on short-term results
Make assumptions

Question 12

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

Answer 12

Allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior that was previously intrinsically rewarded tends to decrease the overall level of motivation.

Question 13

Cognitive Evaluation Theory Why does this occur?

Answer 13

Loss of control over behavior
Internal changes to external explanation
It was interesting” to “I did it for the money”

Question 14

Some key points about rewards

Answer 14

• Recognize Individual Differences
• Employees have different needs.
• Don’t treat them all alike.
• Spend the time necessary to understand what’s important to each employee.

Question 15

Link rewards to performance

Answer 15

• That which gets measured/rewarded gets done.
• Expectancy theory can provide insight into how to make rewards effective
• Make sure the rewards are “fair”
• Provide feedback and allow employees to participate in decisions that affect them

Question 16

Job characteristics theory (JCT)

Answer 16

• Job design as an intrinsic motivator
• Core job characteristics – have a strong potential to affect motivation

Question 17

Core job characteristics

Answer 17

• skill variety
• task identify
• autonomy
• feedback from job

Question 18

Profit sharing

Answer 18

the return of some company profit to employees in the form of a cash bonus or a retirement supplement

Question 19

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)

Answer 19

incentive plans that allow employees to own a set amount of a company’s shares and provide employees with a stake in the companies future earnings and success

Question 20

Gainsharing

Answer 20

a group pay incentive plan based on productivity of performance improvements over which the workforce has some control

Question 21

Skill based pay (pay-for-knowledge)

Answer 21

a system in which people are paid according to the number of job skills they have acquired

Question 22

Job design

Answer 22

the structure, content, and configuration of a persons work tasks and roles

Question 23

Job scope

Answer 23

the breadth and depth of a job

Question 24

Breadth

Answer 24

the number of different activities performed on a job

Question 25

Depth

Answer 25

the degree of discretion or control a worker has over how work tasks are performed

Question 26

Stretch assignments

Answer 26

challenging assignments and projects that are larger in scope than one’s current job and involve more responsibility

Question 27

Job rotation

Answer 27

rotating employees to different tasks and jobs in an organization
Different functional areas

Question 28

Critical psychological states

Answer 28

core job characteristics affect meaningfulness, responsibility, and knowledge of results in a systematic manner

Question 29

Outcomes

Answer 29

more motivation - high quality productivity

Question 30

Moderators

Answer 30

Moderator - growth need strength - refers to the extent to which people desire to achieve higher order need satisfaction by performing their jobs

Question 31

Job Enrichment

Answer 31

the design of jobs to enhance intrinsic motivation, quality of working life, and job involvement

• Involves increasing the motivating potential of jobs via the arrangement of their core characteristics

Question 32

Problems with enrichment

Answer 32

Poor diagnosis - not looking at the needs of the organiazation

Job enlargement - increasing job breadth by giving employees more tasks at the same level to perform but leaving other core characteristics unchanged

Question 33

Work Design

Answer 33

attributes of the task, job, ans social and organizational environment

Question 34

Task variety

Answer 34

the degree to which a job requires employees to perform a wide range of tasks on the job

Question 35

Relational architecture of jobs

Answer 35

the structural properties of work that shape employees opportunities to connect and interact with other people

Question 36

Prosocial motivation

Answer 36

the desire to expend effort to benefit other people

Question 37

Management by objectives (MBO)

Answer 37

an elaborate, systematic, ongoing program designed to facilitate goal establishment, goal accomplishment, and employee development