Motivation is psychological forces that determine the direction of an individual's behaviour, effort, and persistence when facing obstacles. People are motivated to obtain desired outcomes.
A. Intrinsically motivated behaviour -- is performed for its own sake, to receive outcomes such as autonomy, accomplishment, interesting work, etc.
B. Extrinsically motivated behaviour –is performed to earn rewards (social or material, such as pay, vacation, benefits, etc.), or avoid punishment
C. Prosocially motivated behaviour – is performed to benefit or help others.
D. Managers strive to motivate members to contribute inputs by making sure they obtain the outcomes they desire.
II. Need Theories
A need is a requirement for survival and well-being. Managers must determine a person's needs and provide outcomes that satisfy them.
A. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
1. all people try to satisfy five basic needs: physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization.
2. Maslow proposed that lower level needs must be satisfied before higher level needs act as motivators, in hierarchical order
3. hierarchical part not supported; key is that people's needs differ
B. Herzberg's Motivator-Hygiene Theory
1. Motivator needs – related to the nature of the work itself (challenge, autonomy, responsibility, growth and development, a sense of accomplishment) – motivation and job satisfaction high when met
2. Hygiene needs – related to the context in which the work is performed (working conditions, pay, job security, relationships with coworkers, type of supervision). When met, workers will not be dissatisfied, which is not the same as satisfied.
C. Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham): 5 dimensions
1. Skill Variety, Task Identity (involved in part or whole process), Task Significance (relevance and importance), Autonomy and Feedback (built into the job, not from external sources)
2. jobs high in these are motivating for those with high growth needs
D. McClelland's Needs for Achievement (personal standards for excellence and desire for challenge), Affiliation (concern for good interpersonal relationships), and Power (the desire to influence others)
1. importance varies with position
E. There can be many other needs, such as work-life balance and exposure to nature.
III. Process Theories of Motivation
III.1 Expectancy Theory
Expectancy theory (Vroom) is a process theory that explores how one is motivated. Expectancy theory assumes that workers believe that high effort will lead to high performance and that high performance will lead to desired outcomes.
A. Expectancy – perception that effort will result in a certain level of performance
B. Instrumentality – perception that a certain level of performance will lead to desired outcomes. Enhanced when managers link performance to rewards.
C. Valence – the desirability of each outcome to the worker
D. Bringing it all together – the theory assumes that high motivation results from high expectancy, high instrumentality, and high valence
III.2 Equity Theory
Equity theory concentrates on people's perceptions of the relative fairness of their work outcomes in proportion to their work inputs.
A. Equity – justice, impartiality and fairness
1. a person perceives their outcome/input ratio as equal to that of a referent
B. Inequity – a lack of fairness exists when a person's outcome/input ratio is perceived as not equal to that of a referent
1. Underpayment inequity – a person's outcome/input ratio is perceived as less than the ratio of a referent
2. Overpayment inequity – a person's outcome/input ratio is perceived as greater than the ratio of a referent
C. Ways to Restore Equity – reduce one's working hours or put forth less effort, ask for a raise, change one's perception of his own or the referent's inputs or outcomes, choose a more appropriate referent, or quit.
III.3 Goal-setting Theory
A. Goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham) focuses on identifying the types of goals that are effective and why they work.
B. Specific, difficult goals that are accepted result in high motivation. Participation in goal setting boosts acceptance of the goals.
C. Feedback is also important.
IV. Learning Theories
A. Learning is a change in knowledge or behaviour resulting from practice and experience
B. Operant Conditioning Theory (reinforcement theory) by B. F. Skinner suggests that linking specific behaviour to specific consequences leads to learning to perform behaviours that lead to desired consequences.
A reinforcer is a stimulus that causes a given behaviour to be repeated
1. Positive reinforcement gives desired outcomes when people perform well.
2. Negative reinforcement is eliminating or removing undesired outcomes when people perform the desired behaviours.
3. Extinction is stopping the performance of dysfunctional behaviours by eliminating whatever is reinforcing them.
4. Punishment is administering an undesired or negative consequence when dysfunctional behaviour occurs.
C. Social learning theory – motivation results from rewards and punishments and also from the individual's thoughts and beliefs.
1. Vicarious learning – becoming motivated by watching another person perform a behaviour and being positively reinforced for doing so
2. Self-reinforcers – desirable outcomes that people give to themselves for good performance.
3. Self-efficacy – the individual's belief about his ability to perform a behaviour successfully.
V. Total Reward Strategy
A. A Total Reward Strategy encompasses extrinsic and intrinsic factors that must be tailored to individual needs.
B. In employee recognition programs, managers express interest, approval and appreciation for a job well done.
C. Pay can be used to satisfy many kinds of needs, especially physiological, and needs to be adequate to prevent dissatisfaction.
D. Most theories suggest pay should be linked to performance.
E. The use of merit pay plans (variable-pay programs) are increasing and can be based on individual, group, or organizational performance.
F. Can be salary increases, bonuses, employee stock options, piece-rate pay, commission pay, or profit sharing.
