Management

Leadership – motivation

Useful vocabulary

• Job design• Job scope• Job enlargement• Job enrichment• Job depth• Skill variety• Task identity• Task significance• Autonomy• Feedback

• Relational • Proactive • High-involvement • Equity theory• Expectancy theory• Open-book

management• Employee recognition

programs

Today’s lecture

We will:

•Define motivation

•Compare and contrast early theories of motivation

•Compare and contrast contemporary theories of motivation

•Discuss current issues in motivation

What is motivation?

• Motivation - the process by which a person’s efforts are energised, directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal.

• Motivation, or, to put it another way – why people do what they do – is behind most of our actions. We all do things for a reason; however, that reason is not always clear.

3 elements of motivation

• Intensity – how hard a person tries

• Direction – effort that is channeled toward, and consistent with, organisational goals

• Persistence – how long a person can maintain effort

RSA video

• Fun and interesting video on motivation:

http://www.thersa.org/events/video/animate/rsa-animate-drive

Early motivation theories

Early theories of motivation

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• McGregor’s Theories X and Y

• Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

• McClelland’s Three Needs Theory

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Maslow’s theory is that people are motivated by needs. Once people have what they need, their needs change and develop.

In the next diagram, you can see that these start at the bottom with basic physiological needs such as food and water. They then progress and change until self-actualisation is achieved.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - diagram

What does it mean?

Maslow’s hierarchy looks at a person’s whole life, not just their work life. However, work can fulfil some of a person’s needs to help them be more fulfilled and therefore more motivated.

The next diagram offers suggestions of how to interpret Maslow’s needs in a workplace context.

What does this mean?Maslow Fulfilment activities Workplace fulfilment

activities

Physiological Food, water, sleep, sex Money, working conditions, kitchen

Safety Safety, security, stability, protection

Safe environment, job security, benefits

Social Love, affection, belonging Friendly supervision, good relationship with colleagues, membership of groups

Esteem Self-esteem, self-respect, prestige, status

Job status, job title, positive feedback, recognition

Self-actualisation

Growth, advancement, creativity

Challenging work, opportunities for autonomy, achievement, promotion

Criticisms of Maslow

• People can be on multiple steps at the same time

• People will move between different stages in both directions

• Not based on research

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

• Theory X - the assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, avoid responsibility, and must be coerced to perform.

• Theory Y - the assumption that employees are creative, enjoy work, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.

Criticisms of McGregor

• Managers used a set of assumptions based on their view

• The assumptions moulded their behaviour toward employees

• No empirical evidence to support this theory.

Herzberg’s two factor theory

Two-factor theory (motivation-hygiene theory) - the motivation theory that claims that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction and motivation, whereas extrinsic factors are associated with job dissatisfaction.

•Hygiene factors - factors that eliminate job dissatisfaction, but don’t motivate.

•Motivators - factors that increase job satisfaction and motivation.

Herzberg’s two factor theoryHerzberg’s theory is in some ways similar to Maslow’s. He puts forward the suggestion that people have two sets of factors which contribute to their motivation:

Extrinsic and Related to

Dissatisfaction

Intrinsic and Related to Satisfaction

Herzberg’s two factor theory

McClelland’s achievement motivation theory

He suggests that there are four main needs that everyone has:

•The Achievement motive (n-Ach)

•The Power motive (n-Pow)

•The Affiliate motive (n-Affil)

•The Avoidance motive (n-Avoid)

McClelland’s four needs

He suggests that everyone has a combination of these needs but that one tends to dominate.

•The Achievement motive (n-Ach)

People with a high achievement need like to be successful and have positive feedback.

• The Power motive (n-Pow)

People with a high power need like to be in charge of people and/or organisations.

• The Affiliate motive (n-Affil)

People with a high affiliation need prefer to work with other people in teams and groups.

• The Avoidance motive (n-Avoid)

People with a high avoidance need will avoid situations which may provoke negative emotions in them.

Criticisms of McClelland

• Focus in the research was mostly on nAch

• Not very practical to use in organisations as a tool because of time taken to undertaken and expertise needed

• Motivators are internal and difficult to identify and measure

Thematic Apperception Tasks - TAT pictures

Criticisms of McClelland

• Focus in the research was mostly on nAch

• Not very practical to use in organisations as a tool because of time taken to undertaken and expertise needed

• Motivators are internal and difficult to identify and measure

Activity – individual reflection

• What motivates you?

• What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

• What makes you attend lectures?

• What makes you want to do well?

Select a theory and analyse your own motivations.

Contemporary theories of motivation

• Goal-Setting Theory• Reinforcement Theory• Equity Theory• Expectancy Theory• Self-Determination Theory• Management by Objectives (MBO)• Self-Efficacy Theory• Social Cognitive Theory or Social Learning

Theory

Contemporary Theories of Motivation

Goal setting theory

That specific and difficult goals, with self-generated feedback, lead to higher performance

Difficult Goals:•Focus and direct attention•Energize the person to work harder•Difficulty increases persistence•Force people to be more effective and efficient

Relationship between goals and performance depends on: •Goal commitment (the more public the better!)•Task characteristics (simple, well-learned)•Culture (best match is in North America)

Goal setting theory

Reinforcement theory

• Reinforcement theory - the theory that behaviour is a function of its consequences.

• Reinforcers - consequences immediately following a behaviour which increase the probability that the behaviour will be repeated. (reward, punishment, ignore)

Equity theory

Equity theory - the theory that an employee compares his or her job’s input-outcome ratio with that of relevant others and then corrects any inequity.•Referents - the persons, systems, or selves against which individuals compare themselves to assess equity.•Distributive justice - perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.

Can be four different situations:

Self-Inside•The person’s experience in a different job in the same organisation

Self-Outside•The person’s experience in a different job in a different organisation

Other-Inside•Another individual or group within the organisation

Other-Outside•Another individual or group outside of the organisation

Equity theory’s “Relevant Others”

Reactions to inequity

Employee behaviours to create equity:

• Change inputs (slack off)• Change outcomes (increase output)• Distort/change perceptions of self• Distort/change perceptions of others• Choose a different referent person (focus

on another person to reference)• Leave the field (quit the job)

Reactions to equity

Propositions relating to inequitable pay:

Paid by time: •Over-rewarded employees produce more •Under-rewarded employees produce less with low quality

Paid by quality: •Over-rewarded employees give higher quality•Under-rewarded employees make more of low quality

Expectancy theory

• Expectancy theory - the theory that an individual tends to act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.

Expectancy Theory

• The strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of the outcome to the individual.

• ie, people will do more if they believe there is a good reward

Expectancy theory details

Expectancy Relationships

•Expectancy (effort-performance linkage)– The perceived probability that an individual’s effort will

result in a certain level of performance.

•Instrumentality– The perception that a particular level of performance

will result in attaining a desired outcome (reward).

•Valence– The attractiveness/importance of the performance

reward (outcome) to the individual.

Expectancy model

Global ImplicationsMotivation theories are often culture-bound:

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory•Order of needs is not universal

McClelland’s Three Needs Theory•nAch presupposes a willingness to accept risk and performance concerns – not universal traits

Equity Theory•a desire for equity is not universal•“Each according to his need” – socialist/former communists•desire for interesting work seems to be universal.

There is some evidence that the intrinsic factors of Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory may be universal

Designing motivating jobs

Designing motivating jobs (1)

• Job design - the way tasks are combined to form complete jobs.

• Job scope - the number of different tasks required in a job and the frequency with which those tasks are repeated.

• Job enlargement - the horizontal expansion of a job that occurs as a result of increasing job scope.

Designing motivating jobs (2)

• Job enrichment - the vertical expansion of a job that occurs as a result of additional planning and evaluation of responsibilities.

• Job depth - the degree of control employees have over their work.

• Job characteristics model (JCM) - a framework for analyzing and designing jobs that identifies five primary core job dimensions, their interrelationships, and their impact on outcomes.

Five core job dimensions• Skill Variety: degree to which the job incorporates a

number of different skills and talents

• Task Identity: degree to which the job requires the completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work

• Task Significance: how the job impacts the lives of others

• Autonomy: identifies how much freedom and independence the worker has over the job

• Feedback: how much the job generates direct and clear information about the worker’s performance

Job characteristics model

Contemporary job design approaches (1)

• Relational perspective - focuses on how people’s tasks and jobs are increasingly based on social relationships.

• Proactive perspective - in which employees take the initiative to change how their work is performed.

• High-involvement work practices - work practices designed to elicit greater input or involvement from workers.

Guidelines for job re-design

Current issues in motivation

Integrating modern theories of motivation

Global issues in motivation (1)

• Motivational programs are most applicable in cultures where individualism and achievement are cultural characteristics (eg USA).

• Uncertainty avoidance of some cultures inverts Maslow’s needs hierarchy– Eg, security needs – Japan, Greece Mexico– Eg, social needs – Denmark, Sweden, Norway,

Finland, Netherlands

Global issues in motivation (2)

• The need for achievement (nAch) is lacking in other cultures (eg, Chile, Portugal)

• Collectivist cultures view rewards as “entitlements” to be distributed based on individual needs, not individual performance (eg, socialist countries)

Motivating a diverse workforce

• Motivating a diverse workforce through flexibility:– Men desire more autonomy than do women.– Women desire learning opportunities, flexible

work schedules, and good interpersonal relations

– Gen Y and older workers have different needs

Motivating a diverse workforce (2)

Compressed workweek•Longer daily hours, but fewer days

Flexible work hours (flextime)•Specific weekly hours with varying arrival, departure, lunch and break times around certain core hours during which all employees must be present

Job Sharing•Two or more people split a full-time job

Telecommuting•Employees work from home using computer links

Motivating unique groups of workers (1)

Motivating Professionals•Characteristics of professionals

– Strong and long-term commitment to their field of expertise

– Loyalty is to their profession, not to the employer

– Have the need to regularly update their knowledge

– Don’t define their workweek as 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Motivating unique groups of workers (2)

Motivating Contingent Workers•Opportunity to become a permanent employee•Opportunity for training•Equity in compensation and benefits

Motivating Low-Skilled, Minimum-Wage Employees•Employee recognition programs•Provision of sincere praise

Designing appropriate rewards

• Open-book management - a motivational approach in which an organisation’s financial statements (the “books”) are shared with all employees.

• Employee recognition programs - programs based on personal attention and expression of interest, approval, and appreciation for a job well done.

• Pay-for-performance programs - variable compensation plans that pay employees on the basis of some performance measure.

Summary

Today:•Early motivation theories•Modern motivation theories•Designing motivating jobs•Contemporary issues in motivation

Tomorrow:•Leading - communication

Reading

•Please read Chapter 15 before tomorrow’s lecture.