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Organizational Organizational Behavior, 8eBehavior, 8e

Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Schermerhorn, Hunt, and OsbornOsborn

Prepared by

Michael K. McCuddy

Valparaiso University

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 6 2

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Chapter 6Motivation and Reinforcement

Study questions.

1. What is motivation to work?

2. What are reinforcement theories, and how are they linked to motivation?

3. What do the content theories suggest about individual needs and motivation?


Chapter 6Motivation and Reinforcement

Study questions — cont.

4. What do the process theories suggest about

individual motivation?

5. How can satisfaction and its linkage with

performance help tie together insights of the

motivation theories into an integrated

motivational model?


1. What is motivation to work?

Motivation.

– The individual forces that account for the

direction, level, and persistence of a person’s

effort expended at work.


What is motivation to work?

Direction.– An individual’s choice when presented with a

number of possible alternatives.Level.

– The amount of effort a person puts forth.Persistence.

– The length of time a person stays with a given action.



Reinforcement theories.

– Emphasize the linkage between individual

behavior and specific outcomes.

– Focus on observable behavior and outcomes.

– Managers can alter the outcomes to influence

direction, level, and persistence of motivation.



Content theories.

– Focus on individual physiological and

psychological needs.

– Manager’s job is to create a work environment

that responds positively to individual needs.



Process theories.

– Focus on the cognitive processes that

influence behavior.

– Examines why a person behaves in particular

ways relative to available outcomes.



Motivation across cultures.– North American motivation theories are

subject to cultural limitations.– Motivation determinants and responses are

likely to vary considerably throughout the world.

– Sensitivity to motivational variations is important.


What are reinforcement theories, and how are they linked to motivation?

Reinforcement.

– The administration of a consequence as a

result of a behavior.

– Proper management of reinforcement can

change the direction, level, and persistence of

an individual’s behavior.



Classical conditioning.– A form of leaning through association that

involves the manipulation of stimuli to influence behavior.

– Involves an initial stimulus (unconditioned stimulus) and a conditioned stimulus in the learning of behavior.



The classical conditioning process.– Behavior is caused by an unconditioned

stimulus.

– A conditioned stimulus is paired with the unconditioned stimulus.

– The conditioned stimulus is able to evoke the behavior.



Operant conditioning.

– The process of controlling behavior by

manipulating its consequences.

– Focuses on the interplay of antecedents,

behavior, and consequences.



Antecedents.– The condition leading up to or cueing

behavior.

Behavior.– The action taken by the person.

Consequences.– The outcome received by the person.



Law of effect.– Theoretical basis for manipulating

consequences.

– Behavior that results in a pleasant outcome is likely to be repeated while behavior that results in an unpleasant outcome is not likely to be repeated.



Reinforcement emphasizes consequences that can be manipulated.– Extrinsic rewards:

• Positively valued work outcomes that are give to the individual by some other persons.

• Contrived rewards have direct costs and budgetary implications.

• Natural rewards have costs only in terms of the manager’s time and efforts.



Organizational behavior modification (OB Mod).– The systematic reinforcement of desirable work

behavior and the nonreinforcement or punishment of unwanted work behavior.

– Uses four basic strategies:• Positive reinforcement.

• Negative reinforcement.

• Punishment.

• Extinction.



Positive reinforcement.– The administration of positive consequences

to increase the likelihood of repeating the desired behavior in similar settings.

– Rewards are not necessarily positive reinforcers.

– A reward is a positive reinforcer only if the behavior improves.



Principles governing reinforcement.

– Law of contingent reinforcement.

• The reward must be delivered only if the desired

behavior is exhibited.

– Law of immediate reinforcement.

• The reward must be given as soon as possible after

the desired behavior is exhibited.



Shaping behavior.

– The creation of a new behavior by the positive

reinforcement of successive approximations

leading to the desired behavior.

– Behavior is shaped gradually rather than

changed all at once.



Scheduling reinforcement.– Continuous reinforcement.

• Administers a reward each time the desired behavior occurs.

– Intermittent reinforcement.• Rewards behavior periodically — either on the

basis of time elapsed or the number of desired behaviors exhibited.



Schedules of intermittent reinforcement.– Variable schedules typically result in more

consistent patterns of behavior than do fixed schedules.

– Types of intermittent schedules:• Fixed interval.• Fixed ratio.• Variable interval.• Variable ratio.



Negative reinforcement.

– Also known as avoidance.

– The withdrawal of negative consequences to

increase the likelihood of repeating the desired

behavior in similar settings.



Punishment.

– The administration of negative consequences

or the withdrawal of positive consequences to

reduce the likelihood of repeating the behavior

in similar settings.



Implications of using punishment.– Punishing poor performance enhances

performance without affecting satisfaction.

– Arbitrary and capricious punishment leads to poor performance and dissatisfaction.

– Punishment may be offset by positive reinforcement from another source.



Extinction.– The withdrawal of the reinforcing

consequences for a given behavior.– The behavior is not “unlearned”; it simply is

not exhibited.– The behavior will reappear if it is reinforced

again.



Summary of OB Mod strategies.

– Positive and negative reinforcement.

• Used for strengthening desirable behavior.

– Punishment and extinction.

• Used to weaken undesirable behavior.

• Extinction may inadvertently weaken desirable

behavior.



Ethical issues with reinforcement usage.– Is improved performance really due to reinforcement?– Is the use of reinforcement demeaning and

dehumanizing?– Will managers abuse their power by exerting external

control over behavior?– How can we ensure that the manipulation of

consequences is done in a positive and constructive fashion?


2. What do the content theories suggest about individual needs and motivation?

Content theories.– Motivation results from the individual’s

attempts to satisfy needs.Major content theories.

– Hierarchy of needs theory.– ERG theory.– Acquired needs theory.– Two-factor theory.


What do the content theories suggest about individual needs and motivation?

Hierarchy of needs theory.– Developed by Abraham Maslow.– Five distinct levels of individual needs.

• Physiological.• Safety.• Social.• Esteem.• Self-actualization.



Hierarchy of needs theory — cont.– Five need levels occur in a hierarchy of

importance.– Assumes that a given need level must be

satisfied before the next higher level need can be activated.



Research evidence on hierarchy of needs theory.– Actually may be a more flexible hierarchy of

lower order needs and higher order needs.– Needs vary according to:

• A person’s career stage.• Organizational size.• Geographic location.



Research evidence on hierarchy of needs

theory — cont.

– Satisfaction of one need level may not

decrease it importance and increase

importance of next need level.

– Hierarchy of needs differs across cultures.



ERG theory.

– Developed by Clayton Alderfer.

– Collapses Maslow’s five categories into three

categories: existence needs, relatedness needs, and

growth needs.

– Adds a frustration-regression hypothesis.

– More than one need category may be activated at the

same time.



ERG theory — cont.– Existence needs.

• Desire for physiological and material well-being.

– Relatedness needs.• Desire for satisfying interpersonal relationships.

– Growth needs.• Desire for continued personal growth and

development.



Research evidence on ERG theory.

– Supporting evidence is encouraging.

– Addition of frustration/regression hypothesis

is a valuable contribution.

– Offers a more flexible approach to

understanding human needs.



Acquired needs theory.– Developed by David McClelland.– Three needs — achievement, affiliation, and

power — are acquired over time, as a result of experiences.

– Managers should learn to identify these needs and then create work environments that are responsive to them.



Need for achievement.– The desire to do something better or more

efficiently, to solve problems, or to master complex tasks.

– High need for achievement people:• Prefer individual responsibilities.• Prefer challenging goals.• Prefer performance feedback.



Need for affiliation.

– The desire to establish and maintain friendly

and warm relations with others.

– High need for affiliation people:

• Are drawn to interpersonal relationships.

• Seek opportunities for communication.



Need for power.– The desire to control others, to influence their

behavior, or to be responsible for others.

– High need for for power people:• Seek influence over others.

• Like attention.

• Like recognition.



Research evidence on acquired needs theory.– Identification of the need profiles that are

required for success in different types of jobs.

– People can be trained to develop the need for achievement, particularly in developing nations.


What does the two-factor theory suggest about individual needs and

motivation? Two-factor theory.

– Developed by Frederick Herzberg.

– Also known as motivation-hygiene theory.

– Portrays two different factors — hygiene factors and motivator factors — as the primary causes of job dissatisfaction and job satisfaction.



Hygiene factors.

– Sources of job dissatisfaction.

– Associated with the job context or work

setting.

– Improving hygiene factors prevent people

from being dissatisfied but do not contribute to

satisfaction.



Motivator factors.– Sources of job satisfaction.– Associated with the job content.– Building motivator factors into the job enables

people to be satisfied.– Absence of motivator factors in the job results

in low satisfaction, low motivation, and low performance.



Research evidence on two-factor theory.– Theory may be method bound.– Theory fails to:

• Account for individual differences.• Link motivation and needs to both satisfaction and

performance.• Consider cultural and professional differences.

– These failures also apply to other content theories.


What do the process theories suggest about individual motivation?

Equity theory.– Workplace development by J.Stacy Adams.– People gauge the fairness of their work

outcomes in relation to others.– Perceived inequity occurs when there is an

unfavorable social comparison of work outcomes.

– When perceived inequity occurs, people will be motivated to remove the discomfort.



Equity theory — cont.

– Felt negative inequity.

• Individual feels he/she has received relatively less

than others in proportion to work inputs.

– Felt positive inequity.

• Individual feels he/she has received relatively

more than others in proportion to work inputs.



Equity restoration behaviors.– Change work inputs.– Change the outcomes received.– Leave the situation.– Change the comparison points.– Psychologically distort the comparisons.– Take actions to change the inputs or outputs of

the comparison person.



Equity theory implications.– Inequity perceptions are entirely from reward

recipient’s perspective, not from reward giver’s perspective.

– The equity process must be managed so as to influence the reward recipient’s equity perceptions.



Research evidence on equity theory.

– Overpayment (felt positive inequity) results in

increased quantity or quality of work.

– Underpayment (felt negative inequity) results

in decreased quantity or quality of work.

– Stronger support for underpayment results.



Research evidence on equity theory —

cont.

– Overpayment and underpayment results are

closely tied to individualistic cultures.

– Collectivist cultures emphasize equality rather

than equity.



Expectancy theory.– Developed by Victor Vroom.

– A person’s motivation is a multiplicative function of:

• Expectancy.

• Instrumentality

• Valence.



Expectancy.– The probability assigned by an individual that work

effort will be followed by a given level of task accomplishment.

Instrumentality.– The probability assigned by the individual that a given

level of achieved task performance will lead to various work outcomes.

Valence.– The value attached by the individual to various work

outcomes.



Motivational implications of expectancy theory.– Motivation is sharply reduced when,

expectancy, instrumentality or valence approach zero.

– Motivation is high when expectancy and instrumentality are high and valence is strongly positive.



Managerial implications of expectancy

theory.

– Managers should act to maximize

expectancies, instrumentalities, and valences

that support organizational objectives.



Research evidence on expectancy theory.– Theory has received substantial empirical

support.– Multiplier effect is subject to some question.– May be useful to distinguish between extrinsic

rewards and intrinsic rewards.– Does not specify which rewards will motivate

particular groups of workers, thereby allowing for cross-cultural differences.


How can satisfaction and its linkage with performance help tie together insights of the motivation theories into

an integrated motivational model?

Job satisfaction.

– The degree to which individuals feel

positively or negatively about their jobs.

– Job satisfaction can be assessed:

• By managerial observation and interpretation.

• Through use of job satisfaction questionnaires.




Key decisions that people make about their

work.

– Joining and remaining a member of an

organization.

– Working hard in pursuit of high levels of task

performance.




Joining and remaining a member of an

organization.

– Concerns attendance and longevity at work.

– Dissatisfied workers are more likely than

satisfied workers to be absent and to quit their

jobs.




Working hard in pursuit of high levels of task performance.– Concerns the relationship between job

satisfaction and performance.– Alternative points of view.

• Satisfaction causes performance.• Performance causes satisfaction.• Rewards cause both performance and satisfaction.




Argument: satisfaction causes performance.– Managerial implication — to increase

employees’ work performance, make them happy.

– Job satisfaction alone is not a consistent predictor of work performance.




Argument: performance causes satisfaction.– Managerial implication — help people achieve

high performance, then satisfaction will follow.

– Performance in a given time period is related to satisfaction in a later time period.

– Rewards link performance with later satisfaction.




Argument: rewards cause both satisfaction and performance.– Managerial implications.

• Proper allocation of rewards can positively influence both satisfaction and performance.

• Satisfaction and performance are separate but interrelated work results that are affected by reward allocation.




Sat

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Amount & schedule of contingent extrinsic rewards

Net amount of valent intrinsic rewards

Equity comparison

Per

form

ance

Mot

ivat

ion

Work effort needed

Individualattributes

Organizational support

An Integrated Model of Individual Motivation to Work

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Documents

organizational behavior

individual motivation

persistence of motivation

individual behavior

motivation determinants

individuals behavior

observable behavior

reinforcement theories