Celesti Colds Fechter, Ph.D.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

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Theories of Motivation Recap:
Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow): Lower order needs
-physiological, safety. Higher order needs-
social, esteem, self-actualization.

Theory X, Theory Y (McGregor): Theory X view

work negatively, Theory Y view work positively.

Two-factor theory (Herzberg): presence of

recognition, advancement, growth, good salary
enhance satisfaction; absence of good
supervision, good working conditions, status,
etc. lead to dissatisfaction.

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Theories of Motivation Recap (cont):
McClellands Three Needs: Achievement
(nAch), Power (nPow), Affiliation (nAff).

Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan):

people want to feel that they choose their
own actions.

Social Learning Theory (Bandura): we learn by

imitation.

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McClellands Theory of Needs
Consider this scenario:

There are five targets, each farther away than

the last.

Target A-almost within arms reach. It is a sure

thing. It pays $2.

Target B-a bit farther. Eighty percent of people

can hit it. It pays $4.

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McClellands Theory of Needs (cont)

Target C-father still. Fifty percent of people

can hit it. It pays $8.

Target D-even farther. Very few people can hit

it. It pays $16.

Target E-almost impossible to hit. It pays $32.

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McClellands Theory of Needs (cont)

In McClelland theory, which focuses mainly on nAch (high

achievers). High achievers perform best when they perceive
that they have a 50-50 chance of success.

High achievers dislike gambling with high odds, because

they get no satisfaction from succeeding purely by being
lucky.

High achievers also dislike low odds because there is no

challenge with a sure thing.

Which of the targets in the previous scenario would nAch

select?

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Job characteristic model (JCM) Any job can be
described in terms of five core dimensions:

1. Skill variety degree to which a job requires a

variety of different activities.
2. Task identity degree to which a job requires
completion of a whole identifiable piece of work.
3. Task significance degree to which a job has an
impact on lives and work of others
4. Autonomy degree to which job provides freedom
and workers discretion in how to do it
5. Feedback degree to which doing work activities
results in getting information about performance

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 The core dimensions of the job characteristics
model (JCM) can be combined into a single
predictive index called the motivating potential
score (MPS).

Evidence supports the JCM concept that the

presence of a set of job characteristics does
generate higher and more satisfying job
performance.

A few studies have tested the JCM in different

cultures, but the results arent very consistent.

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Ways to Redesign Jobs
Job Rotation, i.e., periodic shifting from one
task to another. Requires cross-training.

Pros: reduces boredom, increases motivation,

and helps employees better understand their
work contributions.

Cons: creates disruptions, requires extra time

for supervisors addressing questions and
training time, and reduced efficiencies.

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Ways to Redesign Jobs
Flex Time, i.e., employees start and end work
at different times

Pros: employees may work during hours they

prefer, businesses may extend hours they are
open.

Cons: Employers may not be able to get

coverage for all hours. Employees may not be
able to get the hours they want.

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Ways to Redesign Jobs (cont)
Relational Job Design, i.e.., connecting employees with
the beneficiaries of their work to make jobs more
prosocial and fosters high levels of commitment.

Relate stories from customers who have found the

companys products or services to be helpful.
Meet beneficiaries firsthand.
Employees see that their actions affect a real person,
and that their jobs have tangible consequences.
Connections make customers or clients more
accessible in memory and more emotionally vivid.
Leads employees to consider the effects of their
actions more.

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Ways to Redesign Jobs (cont)
Job Sharing, i.e.., two or more people split a 40-
hour-a-week job.

Pros: Increases flexibility and can increase

motivation and satisfaction when a 40-hour-a-
week job is just not practical.

Cons: Can be difficult to find compatible pairs of

employees who can successfully coordinate the
intricacies of one job.

Declining in use.

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Ways to Redesign Jobs (cont)
Telecommuting - Employees who do their work
at home at least two days a week on a
computer that is linked to their office.

Virtual office

Well-known organizations actively encourage

telecommuting (but not according to Marissa
Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!)

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Ways to Redesign Jobs (cont)
Telecommuting Advantages:

Larger labor pool

Higher productivity
Less turnover
Improved morale
Reduced office-space costs

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Ways to Redesign Jobs (cont)
Telecommuting Disadvantages:
For Employer
Less direct supervision of employees.

Difficult to coordinate teamwork.

Difficult to evaluate non-quantitative

performance.
For Employee
May not be noticed for his or her efforts.

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The Social and Physical Context Of Work

The job characteristics model shows most

employees are more motivated and satisfied
when their intrinsic work tasks are engaging.

Research demonstrates that social aspects

and work context are as important as other
job design features.

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The Social and Physical Context Of Work

Employee Involvement: a participative process

that uses employees input to increase their
commitment to the organizations success.

Examples of Employee Involvement Programs

Participative management

Representative participation

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The Social and Physical Context Of Work

Participative management
Joint decision making.

Acts as a panacea for poor morale and low

productivity.
Trust and confidence in leaders is essential.

Studies of the participation-performance

have yielded mixed results.

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The Social and Physical Context Of Work

Representative participation
Workers are represented by a small group of
employees who actually participate in
decision making.
Almost every country in Western Europe
requires representative participation.
The two most common forms:
Works councils
Board representatives

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
What to Pay: Establishing a Pay Structure
Complex process that entails balancing
internal equity and external equity.
Some organizations prefer to pay leaders by
paying above market.
Paying more may net better-qualified and
more highly motivated employees who may
stay with the firm longer.

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
How to Pay: Rewarding Individual Employees
Through Variable-Pay Programs
Many organizations are moving away from paying
solely on credentials or length of service.
Piece-rate plans
Merit-based pay
Bonuses
Profit sharing
Gain sharing
Employee stock ownership plans
Earnings therefore fluctuate up and down.

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
Piece-Rate Pay
Workers are paid a fixed sum for each unit of
production completed.
A pure piece-rate plan provides no base salary
and pays the employee only for what he or she
produces.
Limitation: not a feasible approach for many
jobs.
Although incentives are motivating and relevant for
some jobs, it is unrealistic to think they can
constitute the only piece of employees pay.

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
Merit-Based Pay
Based on performance appraisal ratings.
Allows employers to differentiate pay based on
performance.
Creates perceptions of relationships between
performance and rewards.
Limitations:
Based on annual performance appraisal; merit
pool fluctuations based on economic conditions;
unions typically resist merit-based pay plans.

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
Bonuses
An annual bonus is a significant component of
total compensation for many jobs.
Increasingly include lower-ranking employees.

Many companies now routinely reward

production employees with bonuses when profits
improve.
Downside: employees pay is more vulnerable to
cuts.

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
Skill-Based Pay
Bases pay levels on how many skills employees
have or how many jobs they can do.
Increases the flexibility of the workforce.

Facilitates communication across the

organization because people gain a better
understanding of each others jobs.
Limitations:

People can top-out and learn all the skills.

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
Profit-Sharing Plans
Organization-wide programs that distribute
compensation based on some established
formula centered around a companys
profitability.
Appear to have positive effects on employee
attitudes at the organizational level.
Employees have a feeling of psychological
ownership.

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
Gainsharing
Uses improvements in group productivity from one
period to the next to determine the total amount of
money allocated.
Common among large manufacturing companies and
in some healthcare organizations.
Ties rewards to productivity gains rather than profits.
Employees can receive incentive awards even when
the organization isnt profitable.
Because the benefits accrue to groups of workers,
high performers pressure weaker ones to work
harder, improving performance for the group as a
whole.

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Pay Structure Affects Motivation
Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
A company-established benefit plan in which
employees acquire stock, often at below-
market prices, as part of their benefits.
Increases employee satisfaction and
innovation.
Employees need to psychologically
experience ownership.
Can reduce unethical behavior.

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Benefit Structure Affects Motivation
Flexible Benefits individualize rewards.
Allow each employee to choose the
compensation package that best satisfies his
or her current needs and situation.
Replaces the one-benefit-plan-fits-all
programs designed for a male with a wife and
two children at home that dominated
organizations for more than 50 years.

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Intrinsic Rewards
Employee Recognition Programs

Organizations are increasingly recognizing that

important work rewards can be both intrinsic and
extrinsic.
Rewards are intrinsic in the form of employee
recognition programs and extrinsic in the form of
compensation systems.
Financial incentives might be more motivating in
the short-term, but nonfinancial rewards are
more important in the long-term.

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What Should Managers Do?
Recognize individual differences.

Spend the time necessary to understand

whats important to each employee.
Design jobs to align with individual needs
and maximize their motivation potential.
Use goals and feedback.

Give employees firm, specific goals, and they

should get feedback on how well they are
faring in pursuit of those goals.

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What Should Managers Do?
Allow employees to participate in decisions that affect
them.
Employees can contribute to setting work goals,
choosing their own benefits packages, and solving
productivity and quality problems.
Link rewards to performance.
Rewards should be contingent on performance, and
employees must perceive the link between the two.
Check the system for equity.
Employees should perceive that experience, skills,
abilities, effort, and other obvious inputs explain
differences in performance and hence in pay, job
assignments, and other obvious rewards.

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