By

Hannah Smith, Paul Taylor, & Jeremy Bourne

Define motivation, and explain it as a psychological process.

Examine the hierarchy-of-needs, two-factor, and achievement motivation theories, and assess their value to international human resource management.

Discuss how an understanding of employee satisfaction can be useful in human resource management throughout the world.

Examine the value of process theories in motivating employees worldwide.

Relate the importance of job design, work centrality, and rewards to understanding how to motivate employees in an international context.

Define Motivation 3 Context Theories:

o Hierarchy-of-Needso Two-Factoro Achievement Motivation

Process Theories:o Equity Theoryo Goal-Setting Theoryo Expectancy Theory

Motivation Appliedo Job Designo Work Centralityo Rewards and Incentives

Defined:o A psychological process through which unsatisfied wants

or needs lead to drive that are aimed at goals or incentives

Figure 12-1

Unsatisfied Need

Attainment of goal (need

satisfaction)

Drive toward goal to satisfy

need

intrinsic: by which an individual experiences fulfillment through carrying out an activity and

helping others

extrinsic: by which the external environment and result of the activity are of greater importance due to

competition and compensation or incentive plans

The universal assumption is that the motivation process is universal, that all peple are motivated to pursue goals they value

these “high valence” goals vary from culture to culture

Pp. 394

“Unfortunately, American as well as non-American managers have tended to treat American theories as the best or only way to understand motivation. They are neither. American motivation theories, although assumed to be universal, have failed to provide consistently useful explanations outside the United States. Manager must therefore guard against imposing domestic American theories on

their multinational business practices. “

Work motivation theories can be broken down into two general categories: content and process.

Content theories: explain work motivation in terms of WHAT arouses, energizes, or initiates behavior.

Process theories: explain HOW employees behavior is initiated, redirected, and halted.

everyone has 5 basic needs which constitute a need hierarchy in ascending order

water, food, clothing, and shelter. The need to satisfy these needs is greater than any other. In context of work motivation, these physiological needs often are satisfies through the wages and salaries paid by the organization.

desires for security, stability, and avsence of pain. This is satisfied by organizations through safety programs, medical insurance, equipment, unemployment and retirement plans.

Needs to interact and affiliate with others and the need to feel wanted by others. This desire for “belongingness” often is satisfied on the job through social interaction within work groups in which people give an receive friendship

Needs for power and status. Individuals need to feel important and receive recognition from others. Promotions, awards, and feeback from the boss lead to feelings of self confidence prestige, and self importance

Needs for power and status. Individuals need to feel important and receive recognition from others. Promotions, awards, and feeback from the boss lead to feelings of self confidence prestige, and self importance

Do people throughout the world have needs similar to those described in Maslow’s need hierarchy?

What does your answer reveal about using universal assumptions across motivation?

1. Lower level needs must be satisfied before higher level needs

2. If a need is satisfied, it no longer serves as a motivator.

3. There are more ways to satisfy higher-level needs

than there are ways to satisfy lower level needs.

These assumptions have driven much of the international research on the theory.

Autonomy and self-actualization were the most important needs for Latin Europe, US, UK, and Nordic Europe

Does this apply to collectivist culture?

holds that two sets of factors influence job satisfaction: hygience factors and motivators

Motivators & heigene factors: What makes you want to work?

Motivators: achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the work itself

-hygiene factors: salary, interpersonal relations, technical supervision

Relationship between Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s two factor theoryo Table 12-4

Figure 12-4

Interpret Figure 12-6

Definitions:o Job-context factors: in work motivation, those factors

controlled by the organization, such as condition, hours, earnings, security, benefits, and promotions

o Job-content factors: in work motivation, those factors internally controlled, such as responsibility, achievement, and the work itself

Theory which holds that individuals can have a need to get ahead, to attain success, and to reach objectives.

Characteristic high achievers:1.Personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems2.Moderate risk takers3.Concrete feedback on their performance4.Do not form warm, close relationships

Need for achievement is learned! Tips for learning:o Obtain feedback on performanceo Emulate successful achieverso Develop internal desire for success and challengeso Daydream in positive terms

Shortcomings:o Relies on personality Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

which has been recently criticized.o Culture-bound – grounded in individual effort, so theory

isn’t helpful in countries where group harmony and cooperation are valued over individual, entrepreneurial efforts (Ex: China, Russia, Eastern Europe)

• Works best for countries with weak uncertainty avoidance and moderate-to-high masculinity, pg. 408 upper-left quadrant

• For the other quadrants, MNCs have to change strategy or put people through achievement motivation training programs

Process theories – explain how employee behavior is initiated, redirected, and halted.

1. Equity Theory2. Goal-Setting Theory3. Expectancy Theory

Focuses on how motivation is affected by people’s perception of how fairly they are being treated.o If people feel they are treated fairly, there is a positive

effect on job performance and satisfaction.o If people feel they are not being treated fairly, there is a

negative effect and dissatisfaction, and they will strive to restore equity.

Article - Why Income Inequality Matters: Motivation Shortcoming: culture-bound, different cultures

respond differently to inequity (Ex: Asian and Middle Eastern women)

Focuses on how individuals go about setting goals and responding to them and the overall impact of this process on motivation. Important components:o Level of participation in goal settingo Goal difficultyo Goal specificityo Importance of objective, timely feedback

Shortcoming: culture-bound, very applicable to US but not to Asian and Latin cultures where collectivism is high

Activity: write down your goals, pick one and tell the class how it motivates you

Postulates that motivation is influenced by a person’s belief that a) Effort will lead to performanceb) Performance will lead to specific outcomesc) The outcomes will be of value to the individual

Predicts that high performance followed by high rewards will lead to high satisfaction

Based on employees having considerable control over environment

Shortcoming: culture-bound, not applicable in places like Asia where employees don’t have control

Desires to reach one’s full potential, to become everything that one is capable of becoming as a human being. And individual may achieve self actualization not through promotion but instead by mastering his or her environment and setting and achieving goals.

Job Design

Work Centrality

Reward Systems and Incentives

A job’s content, the methods that are used on the job, and the way the job relates to other jobs in the organization

• Quality of Work Life (QWL)- Cultural differences

• Ex. Japan USA Sweden

Discussion question:o A US manufacturer is planning to open a plant in

Sweden. What should this firm know about the quality of work life in Sweden that would have a direct effect on job design in the plant? Give an example.

Answer:o The manufacturer should look into potentially

problematic areas such as:• Factory conditions- what are they used to?• Over-crowding/under-staffing• Work hours

• Time off

• Union strength• Production rates (on a per country basis)

Sociotechnical Job Designs - job designs that blend personnel and technology

The importance of work in an individual’s life relative to other areas of interesto Cultural differences

Karoshi - a Japanese term that means “overwork” or “job burnout”

Effects of Overworking

Cultural differences can play huge roles

Discussion question: What do international managers need to know about the use of reward incentives to motivate personnel? What role does culture play in this process?

Answer:o Some rewards programs have a “one-size-fits-all”

design, which can insult employees from different cultural backgrounds

o The optimal way to set up a rewards system, is to offer a locally-based, gift card type program

o Allows for personalization on a region-by-region/employee-by-employee level

Question 1:o When motivating the personnel in London and Tokyo, is

the company likely to find that the basic hierarchical needs of the workers are the same? Why or why not?

Answer:o Most likely NOo The Japanese business structure is much more rigid and

hierarchical than the UK’s; the top of the pyramid makes all the decisions

o The UK hierarchical system is similar to the US’s, in that the hierarchy exists, but decisions are diffused downward to lower-level managers

Question 2:o How could an understanding of the two-factor theory of

motivation be of value for motivating the personnel at both locations? Would hygiene factors be more important to one of these groups that to the other? Would there be any difference in the importance of motivators?

Answer: