Human Resource ManagementHuman Resource Management

Chapter Fourteen

Motivating and Satisfying Employees

and Teams

What Is Motivation?

• The individual internal process that energizes, directs, and sustains behavior; the personal “force” that causes us to behave in a particular way

• Morale– An employee’s feelings about his or her job and

superiors and about the firm itself– High morale results from the satisfaction of needs or

as a result of the job and leads to dedication and loyalty

– Low morale leads to shoddy work, absenteeism, and high turnover rates

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

A sequence of human needs (personal requirements) in the order of their importance

• Physiological needs—survival• Safety needs—physical and emotional safety• Social needs—love and affection and a sense of

belonging• Esteem needs—respect, recognition, and a sense of

our own accomplishment and worth• Self-actualization needs—to grow and develop and

become all that we are capable of being

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory

Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are separate and distinct dimensions

• Motivation factors– Job factors that increase motivation but whose

absence does not necessarily result in dissatisfaction

• Hygiene factors– Job factors that reduce dissatisfaction when

present to an acceptable degree but that do not necessarily result in higher levels of motivation.

Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory

Douglas McGregorSets of assumptions about managerial attitudes

and beliefs about worker behavior– Theory X

• Generally consistent with Taylor’s scientific management

• Employees dislike work and will function only in a controlled work environment

– Theory Y• Generally consistent with the human relations

movement• Employees accept responsibility and work toward

organizational goals if they will also achieve personal rewards

Theory X and Theory Y

Theory Z

• Some middle ground between Ouchi’s Type A (American) and Type J (Japanese) practices is best for American business

• Emphasis is on participative decision making with a view of the organization as a family

The Features of Theory Z

Reinforcement Theory• Behavior that is rewarded is likely to be

repeated, whereas behavior that is punished is less likely to recur– Reinforcement: an action that follows directly from a

particular behavior– Types of reinforcement

• Positive reinforcement: strengthens desired behavior by providing a reward

• Negative reinforcement: strengthens desired behavior by eliminating an undesirable task or situation

• Punishment: an undesirable consequence of undesirable behavior

• Extinction: no response undesirable behavior in order to discourage its occurrence

Equity Theory

• People are motivated to obtain and preserve equitable treatment for themselves

• Equity: the distribution of rewards in direct proportion to the contribution of each employee to the organization

• Workers compare their own input-to-outcome (reward) ratios to their perception of others’

• Workers who perceive an inequity may– Decrease their inputs– Try to increase outcome (ask for a raise)– Try to get the comparison other to increase inputs or receive

decreased outcomes– Leave the work situation (quit)– Switch to a different comparison other

Expectancy Theory (Victor Vroom)

• Motivation depends on how much we want something and on how likely we think we are to get it

• Implications are that managers must recognize that– Employees work for a variety of reasons– The reasons, or expected outcomes, may

change over time– It is necessary to show employees how they

can attain the outcomes they desire

Expectancy Theory

Goal-Setting Theory

• Employees are motivated to achieve goals they and their managers establish together

• Goals should be very specific, moderately difficult, and ones that the employee will be committed to achieve

• Rewards should be tied directly to goal achievement

Management by Objectives

Advantages– Motivates

employees by involving them actively

– Improves communication

– Makes employees feel like an important part of the organization

– Periodic review enhances control

Disadvantages– Doesn’t work if the

process doesn’t begin at the top of the organization

– Can result in excessive paperwork

– Some managers assign goals instead of collaborating on creating them

– Goals should be quantifiable

Key Motivation Techniques (cont’d)

• Job enrichment– Provides employees with more variety

and responsibility in their jobs• Job enlargement

– The expansion of a worker’s assignments to include additional but similar tasks

• Job redesign– A type of job enrichment in which work

is restructured to cultivate the worker-job match

Key Motivation Techniques (cont’d)

• Behavior modification– A systematic program of reinforcement to encourage

desirable behavior• Steps in behavior modification

– Identify the target behavior to be changed– Measure existing levels of the behavior– Reward employees who exhibit the desired behavior– Measure the target behavior to check for desired change

• If no change, consider changing reward system• If change has occurred, maintain reinforcement

Key Motivation Techniques (cont’d)

• Flextime– A system in which employees set their own work hours within

employer-determined limits– Typically, there are two bands of time

• Core time, when all employees are expected to be at work• Flexible time, when employees may choose whether to be

at work– Benefits

• Employees’ sense of independence and autonomy is motivating

• Employees with enough time to deal with nonwork issues are more productive and satisfied

– Drawbacks• Supervisors’ jobs are complicated by having employees

who come and go at different times• Employees without flextime may resent coworkers who

have it

Key Motivation Techniques (cont’d)

• Part-time work– A permanent employment situation in which

individuals work less than a standard workweek– Disadvantage: often does not provide the benefits

that come with a full-time position• Job sharing

– An arrangement whereby two people share one full-time position

– Companies can save on expenses by reducing benefits and avoiding employee turnover

– Employees gain flexibility but may lose benefits– Sharing can be difficult if work is not easily divisible

or if two people cannot work well together

Key Motivation Techniques (cont’d)

• Telecommuting– Working at home all the time or for a portion of the work week– Advantages

• Increased employee productivity• Lower real estate and travel costs• Reduced absenteeism and turnover• Increased work/life balance and improved morale• Access to additional labor pools

– Disadvantages• Feelings of isolation• Putting in longer hours• Distractions at home• Difficulty monitoring productivity

Key Motivation Techniques (cont’d)

• Employee empowerment– Making employees more involved in their jobs by increasing their

participation in decision making– Management must be involved to set expectations, communicate

standards, institute periodic evaluations, guarantee follow-up– Benefits

• Increased job satisfaction• Improved job performance• Higher self-esteem• Increased organizational commitment

– Obstacles• Management resistance• Workers’ distrust of management• Insufficient training• Poor communication between management and employees

Teams and Teamwork

• Teams– Groups of employees functioning together as a unit to

complete a common goal or purpose– Types of teams

• Problem-Solving • Self-Managed • Cross-Functional • Virtual

– Stages of team development • Forming• Storming• Norming• Performing• Adjourning

Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Managed Teams

Teams and Teamwork (cont’d)

• Roles within a team– Task-specialist role– Socioemotional role– Dual role– Nonparticipant role

• Team cohesiveness– For a team to be successful, members must learn how to

resolve and manage conflict

• Team conflict and how to resolve it– Middle ground resolution satisfies each party to some

extent

• Benefits and limitations of teams

Stages of Team Development