Module 11 Motivating

1. What is motivation?
-Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of effort to reach organizational goals,
conditioned by the ability of the effort to satisfy some individual needs.
2. What are the three key elements of motivation?
-Effort
-the intensity or drive (high or low)
-Organizational goals
- the effort is channeled in a direction that benefits the organization
-Needs
-an internal state that makes certain outcome appear attractive
-an unsatisfied need creates tension that stimulates drives within an individual
3. Describe a motivated person?
-A motivated person is in a state of tension
-To relieve this tension, he/she exerts effort
-The higher the tension, the higher the effort level
-The effort direction must be directed towards the attainment of organizational goals
-The individual employee’s needs must be compatible with organizational goals
4. How does motivation happen?
Motivation Process
-Unsatisfied need
-Tension
-Effort: intensity/direction/persistent
-Satisfied need
-Tension reduction
5. Current Theories of Motivation
-David McClelland Three needs Theory
 Need for Achievement
-the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards
-to strive to succeed
-high achievers differentiate themselves by trying to do things better
-they seek situations that they can take personal responsibility for finding solutions to
problems
-they seek situations in which they can receive rapid and unambiguous feedback on their
performance
-high achievers perform best when they perceive their probability of success is 50-50
 Need for Power
-the need to make others behave in a way they would not have otherwise behaved
-the desire to have an impact and to be influential
-Enjoy being in charge
-Strive for influence over others
-Prefer to be in competitive and status-oriented situations
 Need for Affiliation
-The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships
-The desire to be liked and accepted by others
-Strive for friendship and a high degree of mutual understanding
-Prefer cooperative situations rather than competitive ones
-Goal-setting Theory
 -Specific goals increase performance
-An individual’s purpose directs his/her actions
-Difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than easy goals
-Intention to work toward a goal is a major source of job motivation
-Participation in goal-setting is preferable to assigning goals when you expect resistance
to accepting difficult challenges
-Factors that influence goal-performance relationship
 Feedback
-helps to identify gaps between what they have done and what they want to do
-acts to guide behavior
-self-generated feedback is more powerful that externally generated feedback
 Goal commitment
-commitment is most likely to occur when goals are made public
-commitment is most likely to occur when goals are self-set rather than assigned
 Self-efficacy
-a belief that he/she is capable of performing a task
-the higher the self-efficacy, the more confidence you have in your ability
-people with low self-efficacy are likely to lessen their effort or give up altogether,
whereas those with high efficacy will try harder to master the challenge
-individuals with high efficacy respond to negative feedback with increased effort
and motivation, whereas those with low efficacy are likely to lessen their effort or
simply give up
 National culture
-in cultures where goal-setting is part of their way of life, subordinates are
reasonably independent and can be expected to lead to higher manager/employee
performance
-in a culture where the score on power distance is not too high, managers and
subordinates seek challenging goals or
-in cultures where they are low in uncertainty avoidance they are likely to be
performance oriented
-Reinforcement Theory (B. F. Skinner)
 And individual’s behavior is externally caused
 What controls behaviors are reinforcers
 It focuses solely on what happens to a person when he/she takes some action
 People will most likely engage in desired behavior if they are rewarded for doing so
 These rewards are most effective if they immediately follow a desired response
 Behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is less likely to be repeated
 Punishment may only temporarily eliminate undesired behavior. It may lead to
unpleasant side effects like workplace conflicts, absenteeism, turnover, termination
or resignation
-Equity Theory
 An employee compares his job’s inputs-outcomes ration with that of relevant others
(referents: persons or systems) and then corrects an inequity
-Expectancy Theory
-An individual tends to act in 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 or Effort-Performance Linkage
 -the probability perceived by the individual that exerting a given amount of effort
will lead to a certain level of performance
 Instrumentality or Performance-Reward Linkage
-the degree to which the individual believes that performing at a particular level is
instrumental in leading to the attainment of a desired outcome
 Valence or Attractiveness of Reward
-the importance that the individual places on the potential outcome or reward that
can be achieved on the job.
-valence considers both the goals and needs of the individual

6. What are the six elements of designing motivating jobs?

-Job Design
 The way tasks are combined to form complete jobs
 The design should reflect the demands of changing environment, organization’s
technology, skills, and abilities and preference of its employees
-Job Scope
 The number of different tasks required in a job
 The frequency with which those tasks are repeated
-Job Enlargement
 The horizontal expansion of a job
 An increase in job scope
-Job Enrichment
 Vertical expansion of a job by adding planning, and evaluating responsibilities
-Job Depth
 The degree of control employees have over their work
-Job Characteristics Model
 A framework for analyzing and designing jobs
 Identifies five primary job characteristics, their interrelationship and their impact on
outcome variables (JCM)
 Skill variety: the degree to which a job requires a variety of activities so that an
employee can use a number of different skills and talents
 Task identity: the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and
identifiable piece of work
 Task significance: the degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the
lives or work of other people
 Autonomy: the degree to which a job has a substantial freedom, independence,
and discretion to an individual in scheduling and carrying out his or her work
 Feedback: the degree to which carrying out the work activities required by a job
results in an individual’s obtaining direct and clear information about the
effectiveness of his or her performance
7. What are the five suggested guidelines for job design?
-Combine Tasks
-Managers should put existing fragmented task back together to form a new, large
module of work (job enlargement) to increase skill variety and task identity
-Create Natural Work Units
 -Managers should design tasks that form an identifiable and meaningful whole to
increase employee “ownership” of the work and encourage employees to view their
work as meaningful and important rather than as irrelevant and boring
-Establish Client Relationships
-The client is the user of the product or service that the employee works on, and the
client could be internal organizational unit or person as well as an external customer
-Whenever possible, managers should establish direct relationships between workers
and their clients to increase skill variety, autonomy, and feedback for the employee
-For instance, at San Francisco Park Lane Hotel’s International, guests nominate their
favorite staffers for award, which include Sony television and free nights at the hotel
-Expand Job Vertically
-Vertical expansion (job enrichment) gives employees responsibilities and controls that
were formerly reserved for management.
-It partially closes the gap between the “doing” and the “controlling” aspects of the job
and increases employee autonomy
-Open Feedback Channels
-Feedback lets employees know not only how well they are performing their jobs but
also whether their performance are improving or deteriorating or remaining at constant
level.
-Ideally, employees should receive performance feedback directly as they do their jobs
rather than from management on an occasional basis
-For example, frequent fliers at Continental Airlines bestow Pride in Performance
certificates to employees who have been helpful. Employees can then redeem the
coupon for valuable merchandise