Download - Chapter Four Motivation in Organizations. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.4-2 Chapter Objectives Characterize the nature of

Chapter Four

Motivation in Organizations

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 4-2

Chapter Objectives

• Characterize the nature of motivation, including its importance and basic historical perspectives.

• Describe the need-based perspectives on motivation.

• Explain the major process-based perspectives on motivation.

• Describe learning-based perspectives on motivation.


The Nature of Motivation

• Motivation– The set of forces that leads people to behave in a

particular way.

• The Importance of Motivation– Managers strive to motivate the organization’s

people to perform at high levels. – Job performance depends on ability, motivation,

and environment.– P = M + A + E when:

P = performance M= motivation A = ability E = environment


Figure 4.1: The Motivational Framework


Historical Perspectives on Motivation

• The Traditional Approach– Assumption: Employees are economically

motivated to work to earn as much money as they can.

• Conclusion: Incentive pay systems are a good motivation

– Assumption: work is inherently unpleasant and the money earned is more important to employees than the nature of the job they are performing.

• Conclusion: People can be expected to perform any kind of job if they are paid enough.


Historical Perspectives on Motivation (continued)

• The Human Relations Approach– Suggests that favorable attitudes result in

motivation to work hard.• Assumption: Employees want to feel useful and

important; employees have strong social needs; and those needs are more important than money when motivating employees.

• Conclusion: Managers should make workers feel important and allow them a modicum of self-direction and self-control in carrying out routine activities.


Historical Perspectives on Motivation (continued)

• The Human Resource Approach– Assumption: Employees want and are able to

make genuine contributions to the organization.• Whereas the human relationists believe the illusion of

contribution of and participation will enhance motivation, the human resources view assumes the contributions themselves are valuable to both individuals and organizations.

– Management’s task is to:• encourage participation • create a work environment that makes full

use of the human resources available


Need-Based Perspectives on Motivation

• Needs-Based Theories– Humans are motivated primarily by deficiencies in

one or more important needs or need categories.– Need theorists have attempted to identify and

categorize the needs that are most important to people.

– The best known need theories are the hierarchy of needs, ERG, and dual-structure theories.


Hierarchy of Needs Theory

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs– Assumes human needs are arranged in a

hierarchy of importance, as shown in Figure 4.2 on the next slide.

– Maslow believed each need level must be satisfied before the level above it can become important.


Figure 4.2: The Hierarchy of Needs


ERG Theory

• ERG Theory of Motivation– Extends and refines Maslow’s needs hierarchy

concept– Describes existence, relatedness, and growth needs– In contrast to Maslow’s approach, ERG theory

includes a satisfaction progression component and a frustration-regression component.

• The satisfaction-progression component suggests that after satisfying one category of needs, a person progresses to the next need.

• The frustration-regression component suggest that a person who is frustrated by trying to satisfy a higher level of needs eventually will regress to the preceding level.


Dual-Structure Theory

• Development of the Theory– Frederick Herzberg and his associates developed the dual-

structure theory in the late 1950s and early 1960s.– Herzberg asked a group of participants in a study to recall times

when they felt especially satisfied and motivated by their jobs and times when the felt particularly dissatisfied and unmotivated.

• To his surprise, Herzberg found that entirely different sets of factors were associated with the two kinds of feelings about work, which he called motivation factors and hygiene factors.

• Motivation factors -- intrinsic to the work itself and include factors such as achievement and recognition.

• Hygiene factors -- extrinsic to the work itself and include factors such as pay and job security.


Figure 4.3: The Dual-Structure Theory of Motivation


Outcome of the Dual-Structure Theory

• Motivation Factors– Motivation factors, such as achievement and

recognition, were often cited as primary causes of satisfaction and motivation.

• Hygiene Factors– Hygiene factors, such as pay, job security,

supervisors, and working conditions, could lead to dissatisfaction and lack of motivation.


Other Important Needs

• The Need for Achievement– The desire to accomplish a task or goal

more effectively than in the past.

• The Need for Affiliation– The need for human companionship.

• The Need for Power– The desire to control the resources in one’s

environment


Process-Based Perspectives on Motivation

• Process-Based Theories– Deal with how motivation occurs – Rather than attempting to identify motivational

stimuli, process perspectives focus on why people choose certain behavioral options to satisfy their needs and how they evaluate their satisfaction after they have attained those goals.

• Useful Process Perspectives– Three useful process perspectives are equity

theory, expectancy and theory, and goal setting theory.


Equity Theory of Motivation

• Equity Theory– Is the belief that one is being treated fairly in

relation to others; inequity is the belief that one is being treated unfairly in relation to others.

• Social Comparisons– Involves evaluating our own situation in terms of

others’ situations.

• Four Step Process– People in organizations form perceptions about the

equity of their treatment through a four-step process.


Forming Equity Perceptions

• Step 1: A person evaluates how he or she is being treated by the firm.

• Step 2: The person forms a perception of how a “comparison other” is being treated.

• Step 3: The person compares his or her own circumstances with those of the comparison other to form an impression of either equity or inequity.

• Step 4: On the strength of this feeling, the person may choose to pursue one or more alternatives.


Figure 4.4: Responses to Perceptions of Equity and Inequity


Evaluation and Implications of Equity Theory

• Managerial Implications– Everyone in the organization needs to understand

the basis for rewards.– People tend to take a multifaceted view of their

rewards; they perceive and experience a variety of rewards, some tangible and others intangible.

– People base their actions on their perceptions of reality. If two or more people make exactly the same salary, but each thinks the other makes more, each will base his or her experiences of equity on the perception, not the reality.


Expectancy Theory of Motivation

• The Basic Expectancy Model– Suggests that people are motivated by how

much they want something and the likelihood they perceive of getting it.

• Effort-to-Performance Expectancy– A person’s perception of the probability

that efforts will lead to performance.


Expectancy Theory of Motivation (continued)

• Performance-to-Outcome Expectancy– An individual’s perception of the probability that

performance will lead to certain outcomes.

• Outcomes and Valences– An outcome is anything that results from

performing a particular behavior.– Valence is the degree of attractiveness or

unattractiveness a particular outcome has for a person.


Figure 4.5: The Expectancy Theory of Motivation


The Porter-Lawler Model

• Since its original conception, the expectancy theory model has been refined and extended many times.

• Although convention wisdom argues that satisfaction leads to performance, Porter and Lawler argued the reverse: If rewards are adequate, high levels of performance may lead to satisfaction.


The Porter-Lawler Model (continued)

• According to the model, at the beginning of the motivational cycle, effort is a function of the value of the potential reward for the employee (its valence) and the perceived effort-reward probability (an expectancy).

• Effort then combines with abilities, traits, and role perceptions to determine actual performance.


Figure 4.6: The Porter-Lawler Model


Evaluation and Implications of Expectancy Theory

Expectancy Theory offers several important guidelines for the practicing manager.

1. Determine the primary outcomes each employee wants.

2. Decide what levels and kinds of performance are needed to meet organizational goals.

3. Make sure the desired levels of performance are possible.

4. Link desired outcomes and desired performance.

5. Analyze the situation for conflicting expectancies.

6. Make sure the rewards are large enough.

7. Make sure the overall system is equitable for everyone.


Learning-Based Perspectives on Motivation

• Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or behavioral potential that results from direct or indirect experience.

• It is a key component in employee motivation.• In any organization, employees quickly learn

which behaviors are rewarded and which are ignored or punished.

• Thus, learning plays a critical role in maintaining motivated behavior.


How Learning Occurs

• The Traditional View: Classical Conditioning– Classical conditioning is a simple form of learning

the links a conditioned response with an unconditional stimulus. Learning theorists soon recognized that although classical conditioning offered some interesting insights into the learning process, it was inadequate as an explanation for human learning.


How Learning Occurs (continued)

• The Contemporary View: Learning as a Cognitive Process– Contemporary learning theory generally

views learning as a cognitive process; that is, it assumes people are conscious, active participants in how they learn. One of the most well-known contemporary views of learning is reinforcement theory.


Reinforcement Theory and Learning

• Based on the idea that behavior is a function of its consequences.

• Behavior that results in pleasant consequences is more likely to be repeated, and behavior that results in unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated.– Assumes people consciously explore different

behaviors and systematically choose those that result in the most desirable outcome.


Types of Reinforcement in Organizations

• Positive Reinforcement – A reward or other desirable consequence

that a person receives after exhibiting behavior.

• Avoidance, or negative reinforcement– The opportunity to avoid or escape from an

unpleasant circumstance after exhibiting behavior.


Types of Reinforcement in Organizations (continued)

• Extinction– Decreases the frequency of behavior by

eliminating a reward or desirable consequence that follows that behavior

• Punishment– Is an unpleasant, or aversive,

consequence that results from behavior.


Table 4.1: Schedules of Reinforcement


Related Aspects of Learning

• Social Learning– Occurs when people observe the

behaviors or others, recognize the consequences, and alter their own behaviors as a result.

• Organizational Behavior Modification– Or OB mod, is the application of

reinforcement theory to people in organizational settings.


Figure 4.7: Steps in Organizational Behavior Modification

Source: Steps in Organizational Behavior Modification from Personnel (July-August 1974). Copyright © 1974 American Management Association. Reproduced with permission of the American Management Association via CopyrightClearance Center.


The Effectiveness of OB Mod

• OB Mod is a valuable method for improving employee motivation in many situations.

• Not all applications have worked.• Managers frequently have only limited means

for providing meaningful reinforcement for their employees. – If OB mod works for a while, the impact of the

positive reinforcement may wane one the novelty has worn off, and employees may come to view it as a routine part of the compensation system.


The Ethics of OB Mod

• The primary ethical argument is that use of OB mod compromises individual freedom of choice.

• Managers may tend to select reinforcement contingencies that produce advantages for the organization with little or no regard for what is best for the individual employee.

• OB mod also involves an element of manipulation.


Reinforcement Theory and Learning

• Based on the idea that behavior is a function of its consequences.

• Behavior that results in pleasant consequences is more likely to be repeated, and behavior that results in unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated.– It assumes people consciously explore different

behaviors and systematically choose those that result in the most desirable outcome.

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