MBA3810

The Behaviour and motivation of individuals at

work
 Introduction to Your Programme
 Your ITO Programme
 About me
 Approach to the teaching: lectures; tutor
input; group and practical exercises to
support learning
 Opportunities to reflect on your own
Organisation: to identify ‘good practice’
 The importance of wider reading and
research
 Overview of your Programme
 The following areas will be covered:

 Behaviour and motivation ( Weeks 1 – 2 )

 Perceptions and assumptions of people in organisations
( Weeks 3 – 4 )
 Individual and organisational learning ( Weeks 5 – 6 )
 The role of managers and leaders ( Week 7)
 Empowerment – concept and strategies ( Week 8)
 Communication / cultural aspects and dimensions ( Weeks
9 – 10 )
 About me:
Andrew Caswell
 Initially graduated in economics
 Higher degrees in Education and Management
 Extensive work experience in HRM
 Now: Run own Consultancy and contriute to
many post grad programmes
 Current clients include public and privae sector
 Travelled and worked overseas – delivering
programmes in Brunei; Barbados, Athens, Prague,
Lagos etc
 Learning objectives:
By the end of this session…
 You should be able to:
 Critically reflect on the nature of motives
and motivation processes as influences on
behaviour
 Critically assess, compare and contrast
various theories of motivation
 Understand the importance for your exam
and typical qustions
 How we work to achieve
success for you
 Please print off; read and bring my notes to the
lecture – they are for your benefit
 Turn off mobiles – this is strict CT policy
 Please focus on the lecturer and discussions –
put away any distractions ( newspapers etc)
 You learn by being actively involved – ie by
entering the discussions – listen to your
 colleagues
 Cont
 It is critical you complete the class exercises
– they are all exam focussed and will make
the difference between pass and fail
 Because of your groups – it is essential that
you listen to me. Please avoid questioning /
discussions with each other. It is also a mark
of respect for me and for your colleagues to
listen.
 Finally
 I stress you will only have any chance of
passing if you:

 Get and read a text book

 Read my material
 Attend and engage with the lecturers
 Complete the exercises in class
 Reflective exercise 1
 What factors motivate you ?

 Importantly – now, how can an Organisation

provide these ? Or remove / limit these ?

 Think strategically for this exercise - what

should senior managers strive to achieve ?
Some general introductory terms and
definitions: The importance of
‘Drives’:
 1.Are innate, biological determinants of
human behaviour activated by need

 2.The concept of drive is related to that of

instinct
 We have innate cognitive
drives concerning…
 1. Sense making
 2. Effectance or competency
 3. Self-understanding
 4. Curiosity
 5. Order and meaning
It is difficult to sustain a clear-
cut division between…
 1.Biological drives
 2.Cognitive drives
 3. Social drives
 Motives are…
 Learned needs, which influence our behaviour
by leading us to pursue particular goals because
they are socially valued.

 But what is ‘socially valued’ ?

Achievement in business; in family life; in
society generally ?
Recognise ‘deviant sub-cultures’
 Why do we need motivated
employees ?
 Why in general terms do organisations required
motivated employees ? In the last exercise you
focussed on the factors motivating yourself. Now focus
on organisational needs

 What can managers do to provide this ? In the previous

exercise you focussed on strategic issues – now
consider the more ‘operational’ policies and practices

 What should be the role of HRM here ?

What should be the role of
HRM here?
 Why do we need motivated
employees?
The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). Motivated employees
are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated
employees help organizations survive. Motivated employees
are more productive.
To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates
employees within the context of the roles they perform. Of all
the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is
arguably the most complex. This is due, in part, to the fact that
what motivates employees changes constantly (Bowen &
Radhakrishna, 1991). For example, research suggests that as
employees' income increases, money becomes less of a
motivator (Kovach, 1987). Also, as employees get older,
interesting work becomes more of a motivator.
 Evolution of theories
 Content (need) theories 1950s and early 60s
 Process theories mid 1960s (expectancy
theory, Vroom, 1964)
 Goal setting theory (Locke, 1968)
 Self efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977)
 1.Content theories of
motivation
 Content theories of motivation define motivation
in terms of satisfaction of needs.
 Maslow. ‘Hierarchy of Needs’
 Hertzberg's Motivation-Hygene factors and
motivators

 McClelland's Acquired Needs Theory is also a

three-need model.
 Mumford's needs: four basic needs of workers.
Abraham Maslow
(1908 –1970)
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Transcendence
Self-actualisation
Aesthetics
Knowing & understanding
Esteem
Affiliation
Safety
Biological requirements
 Just to complicate matters
further…
 Maslow’s ninth need:
 The need for freedom of enquiry and
expression
 He argues that this is an essential
prerequisite for the satisfaction of the other
needs
 The hierarchy has a number
of interesting properties…
 A need is not an effective motivator until those
lower in the hierarchy are more or less satisfied
 A satisfied need is not likely to be a strong motivator
 Dissatisfaction of these needs affects our mental
health
 We have an innate desire to work our way up the
hierarchy
 The experience of self-actualisation stimulates the
desire for more.
These needs can be met by…
These needs: Can be met by:
Self-actualisation Challenging new job
assignments
Discretion over core
activities
Scope to develop &
introduce new ideas
promotion opportunities
These needs can be met by…
Aesthetics Encouraging & rewarding creativity
Well designed organisational buildings
Well-designed working environments

Knowing & Opportunities & encouragement for

understanding learning
Open communication, across hierarchy
Access to information, at all levels
Regular constructive feedback on
performance
These needs can be met by…
Esteem Regular positive feedback
Prestige job title
Your photograph in the in-house
magazine
promotion
Affiliation Sports & social clubs and events
Office parties, barbecues, outings
Encouraging open communication
developing
These needs can be met by…
Safety Safe working conditions
‘no redundancy’ policy
Attractive pension provisions
Private health insurance cover
Biological Good working conditions (warm,
Requirements dry, well-lit)
Attractive wage or salary
Subsidised or free catering
 Two main problems with
Maslow’s hierarchy…
 1. The theory is vague …
 Difficult to see how it can predict behaviour
 Difficult to define and measure the amount
of satisfaction to be achieved before
progressing to the next level
 2. This psychological theory is more like a
social philosophy
 Herzberg’s two factor theory
of motivation ( our second
content theory )
 The events which led to satisfaction (the
motivators or content factors):
 Achievement, advancement, recognition,
growth, responsibility, the work itself
 The events which led to dissatisfaction (the
hygiene or context factors):
 Salary, status, company policy, security,
supervision, working conditions
 Herzberg concluded that…
 Improvement in hygiene factors might
remove dissatisfaction, but would not
increase satisfaction and motivation.
 The Importance of ‘non
financial ‘ (intrinsic) factors
 Recognition

 Praise

 Development

 Training
 Student reflection:
 Consider how effectively organisations you
have experienced have managed ‘non
financial rewards’

 How could the situation have been

improved ?
 The importance of ‘total
reward’
 Contemporary practice emphasises the
importance off:

 Financial and non financial rewards

 Individualisation
 A Practical perspective
 total reward is now important both as a
concept and in practice

 The benefits to the organisation are:

 Employee commitment
 Employer branding
 Employee discretion / choice
However, you should know the problems /
disadvantages
 Critically the administrative / management costs
 Does total reward motivate in the long term or
does it become a ‘hygiene factor’ ie taken for
granted ? - also mixed research evidence relating
to the effectiveness of PRP
 Employees do not generally know / appreciate the
value of the components of their reward package
Herzberg’s seven vertical job
loading factors …
 To achieve job enrichment:
 1. Remove controls
 2. Increase accountability
 3. Create natural work units
 4. Provide direct feedback
 5. Introduce new tasks
 6. Allocate special assignments
 Grant additional authority
 2.Process theories of
motivation
 Process theories of motivation define in terms
of a rational cognitive process. ie we can make
rational decisions
 Adams' Equity Theory: Balanced give and
take.
 Vroom's Expectancy Theory: We expect what
we predict.
 Kahler's drivers: I must be perfect, strong, etc.
 2. ( The second main group )Process theories
In contrast to content – assume we can make
judgements
 Produced in 1964 the first systematic
formulation of an expectancy theory of
work motivation Vroom
 His approach offers a way of measuring
human motivation, using the two key
concepts of valence ( importance ) and
subjective probability (likelihood of the
event happening )
 Equity Theory: Adams
 Identifies a sense of ‘fairness’ as a
motivator

 Thus critical HR and management

impliations
 Group Exercise
 Identify the strategies an organisation can
adopt in order to achieve ‘fairness’
(Vroom) Expectancy theory therefore
states that…
behaviour results from a conscious
decision making process based on the
individual's subjective probability – the
perceptions that the individual has about
the different results of alternative
behaviour.
 Expectancy theory…
 Because it is based on individual perceptions,
helps to explain individual differences in
motivation and behaviour
 It attempts to measure the strength of the
individual’s motivation to behave in particular
ways
 It is based on the assumption that behaviour is to
some degree rational, and that we are consciously
aware of our goals or motives. Expectancy theory
attempts to predict individual behaviour
 As an example:
 Motivating behaviour has two dimensions:

1. How much you desire an action ( for example –

promotion at work )
2. The chances / perceptions you have of it
happening
Both are critical for effective motivation
 Expectancy theory…
 Can be used to aid understanding of a range
of human behaviours.
 Edward Lawler and his colleagues have
been mainly concerned with its relevance to
questions of work motivation and
performance
 Julian B Rotter (1916)

Locus of control

The Social Learning Theory

 Locus of control
 External Locus of Control
 Individual believes that his/her behaviour
is guided by fate, luck, or other external
circumstances
 Internal Locus of Control
 Individual believes that his/her behaviour is
guided by his/her personal decisions and
efforts.