Chapter Chapter

Motivating Employees

How Does Motivation Work?

Motivation-giving people incentives that

cause them to act in desired ways.

Familiarity with the best-known theories can

help supervisors think of ways to motivate

employees.

None of the theories are perfect, but all give

supervisors some guidance.

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Motivation + Ability = Performance

2 Main Schools of Thought:

Content Theories-focus on what things

motivate workers.

Money, time off, recognition, more

responsibility

Process Theories

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Content Theories

Content theories focus on the content of the

motivators.

Three researchers whose content theories

are widely used:

Abraham Maslow-hierarchy of needs; physical

needs must be met before other needs can be.

David McClelland-need for achievement, power,

and affiliation

Frederick Herzberg-hygiene factors (not happy if

you don’t have), and motivating factors (happy if

you do have).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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Share of 945 U.S. Companies Offering

Flexible Work Options

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McClelland’s Achievement-Power-Affiliation

Theory

1. The need for achievement – the desire to

do something better than it has been done

before.

2. The need for power – the desire to control,

influence, or be responsible for other

people.

3. The need for affiliation – the desire to

maintain close and friendly personal

relationships.

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Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

Hygiene Factors

Company policy and

administration

Supervision

Relationship with

supervisor

Relationship with peers

Working conditions

Salary and benefits

Relationship with

subordinates

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Motivating Factors

Opportunity for

achievement

Opportunity for

recognition

Work itself

Responsibility

Advancement

Personal growth

Process Theories

Process theories look at the process of

motivation instead of specific motivators.

Two major process theories:

Vroom’s expectancy-valency theory

Skinner’s reinforcement theory

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Vroom’s Expectancy-Valence Theory

Victor Vroom decided that the degree to which

people are motivated to act in a certain way depends

on two things:

Valence – the value a person places on the outcome

of a particular behavior.

Expectancy – the perceived probability that the

behavior will lead to the outcome.

Instrumentality-the perceived probability that reward

will be received.

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Vroom’s Expectancy Valence

Theory

Perceived Likelihood of Outcome and Probability of it Resulting in

Reward

Perceived Value of Outcome

Strength of Motivation

Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory The reinforcement theory maintains that

people’s behavior is influenced largely by

the consequences of their past behavior.

Reinforcement theory implies that

supervisors can encourage or discourage a

particular kind of behavior by the way they

respond to the behavior.

Reinforce-give a desired consequence

Punish-give an unpleasant consequence

Motivating people to behave in certain ways is

behavior modification. McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 11-12

Motivation Theories and the Law

Federal laws set requirements for overtime

pay, rest breaks, health insurance for

retirees, and many other areas.

The Family and Medical Leave Act can pose

a significant challenge to planning and

scheduling because of an employee’s leave.

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Money as a Motivator

When money motivates

Money motivates people when it meets their

needs.

Pay plans using financial incentives

Piecework system

Production bonus system

Commissions

Payments for suggestions

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Group Incentive Plans

Profit-sharing plan

Under this kind of plan, the company

sets aside a share of its profits earned

during a given period and divides

these profits among the employees.

Gainsharing

The company encourages employees

to participate in making suggestions

and decisions about improving the way

the company or work group operates.

As performance improves, employees

receive a share of the greater

earnings.

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Group incentive plan

A financial incentive

plan that rewards a

team of workers for

meeting or exceeding

an objective.

Secrecy of Wage and Salary Information

In private (nongovernment) organizations,

employees generally do not know one another’s

earnings.

Government employees’ earnings are public

information.

In private organizations, a typical compromise

between maintaining privacy and sharing information

is for the organization to publish pay ranges so

employees know what they can potentially expect to

earn.

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How Supervisors Can Motivate Making work interesting-variety and employee

control

Job rotation

Job enlargement

Job enrichment

Having high expectations

Pygmalion effect-direct relationship between

expectations and performance. High expectations, high

performance.

Providing rewards that are valued

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How Supervisors Can Motivate (continued)

Relating rewards to performance

The rewards a supervisor uses should be linked to employee

performance.

Rewards are most likely to motivate employees when the

employees view them as achievable.

Treating employees as individuals

A supervisor who wishes to succeed at motivating has to

remember that employees will respond in varying ways.

When a particular type of motivation does not seem to work

with an employee, a supervisor should try some other

motivator to see if it better matches the employee’s

needs.

Encourage employee participation in planning and decision

making- helps you to get to know what motivates them. McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 11-18

Job Characteristics Rated Important by

U.S. Workers

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How Supervisors Can Motivate (continued)

Encouraging employee participation

Employees tend to feel more committed when they can

contribute to decisions and solutions.

Asking subordinates for their advice about how tasks

should be accomplished is another way to increase

their involvement.

Providing feedback

Part of a supervisor’s job is to give employees

feedback about their performance.

Praise is an important kind of feedback.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 11-20

More Ways to Motivate