CHAPTER SIX: MOTIVATIONAL NEEDS, PROCESSES, AND APPLICATIONS

CASE 1: WHAT DO THEY WANT?

Pat Riverer is vice president of manufacturing and operations of a medium-size pharmaceutical firm in
the Midwest. Pat has a Ph.D. in chemistry but has not been directly involved in research and new-
product development for 20 years. From the “school of hard knocks” when it comes to managing
operations, Pat runs a “tight ship.” The company does not have a turnover problem, but it is obvious to
Pat and other key management personnel that the hourly people are putting in only their eight hours a
day. They are not working anywhere near their full potential. Pat is very upset with the situation
because, with rising costs, the only way that the company can continue to prosper is to increase the
productivity of its hourly people.
Pat called the human resources manager, Carmen Lopez, and laid it on the line: “What is it with our
people, anyway? Your wage surveys show that we pay near the top in this region, our conditions are
tremendous, and our fringes choke a horse. Yet these people still are not motivated. What in the world
do they want?” Carmen replied: “I have told you and the president time after time that money,
conditions, and benefits are not enough. Employees also need other things to motivate them. Also, I
have been conducting some random confidential interviews with some of our hourly people, and they
tell me that they are very discouraged because, no matter how hard they work, they get the same pay
and opportunities for advancement as their coworkers who are just scraping by.” Pat then replied:
“Okay, you are the motivation expert; what do we do about it? We have to increase their performance.”
1. Explain the “motivation problem” in this organization in terms of the content models of
Maslow and Herzberg. What are the “other things” that the human resources manager is
referring to in speaking of things besides money, conditions, and fringe benefits that are needed
to motivate employees?
2. Explain the motivation of the employees in this company in terms of one or more of the
process models. On the basis of the responses during the confidential interviews, what would
you guess are some of the expectancies, valences, and inequities of the employees in this
company? How about Pat?
3. How would you respond to Pat’s last question and statement if you were the human
resources manager in this company?

Page 1 of 6
 CHAPTER NINE: STRESS AND CONFLICT
CASE 2: ROUND-THE-CLOCK STRESS
Many employees feel that on-the-job stress is difficult to control, but at least when they get home
they can relax. However, as the nature of work changes, the home is no longer the sanctuary it once
was. With advanced information technology and customer demands for 24-hour service, an increasing
number of employees are on call at all times or working the “graveyard” shift that used to exist only for
factory workers. For example, today there are numerous Wal-Mart stores, Walgreens drugstores, and
supermarkets that never close. And consider the Heartland Golf Park in Deer Park, Long Island. A golfer
who wants a late evening tee-off time can get one up to 3:00 A.M. The strategy has proven so popular
that within 90 days of the time it was introduced, the wait time at midnight had grown to two and a half
hours. Avid golfers do not mind, however, as the course is well lit and they can play as if it were high
noon.
All around the country, businesses are realizing that there is a great deal of profit that can be
added to the bottom line if they remain open outside of “normal” hours. One research firm estimates that
this strategy can add 5 percent to overall profits, a hefty sum given that more and more businesses are
finding their profit margins being narrowed by the competition.
In some cases, the decision to expand working hours has been a result of customer needs.
Kinko’s Inc. moved to a 24-hour schedule when people literally started banging on their doors after
regular business hours and asking them to let them come in for desperately needed photocopies. As a
news article recently put it, “The company’s . . . stores are magnets for ambassadors of the night:
everyone from dreamers pursuing secret schemes and second careers to executives putting the final
touches on tomorrow’s presentation.” In Chicago, Kinko’s set up an office in the lobby of the Stouffer
Renaissance Hotel, a favorite spot of international executives. Customers from different time zones had
been coming down at odd hours to ask the hotel to fax materials abroad and to help them with their
desktop publishing. The hotel was not equipped to provide these services, so it asked Kinko’s to help
out. The guests are delighted with the new service, and the hotel is happy to be able to accommodate
them thanks to their profitable arrangement with Kinko’s.
Banks have also begun to offer 24-hour service. In addition to their ATM machines, which can be
found just about everywhere, some banks now offer round-the-clock service: customers can call in and
find out within 10 minutes whether they qualify for a new-car loan. A growing number of banks also offer
after-hours customer services ranging from safe deposit boxes to $1,000 credit lines to overdraft
protection. All the customer has to do is call in at any hour and provide the necessary information.
Some critics are concerned that this development will result in increasing costs to business and added
stress to employees. After all, when people work late at night or put in a 15-hour day, they are likely not
only to make far more mistakes than if they were on a 9-to-5 schedule but also to become fatigued and
burned out. Nevertheless, at the present time approximately two thirds of all U.S. workers, around 75
million people, do not work traditional 9-to-5 hours—and the number is definitely growing. Additionally,
organizations that are engaged in international business, such as brokerage firms, are finding that their
operations in Europe and Asia require them to keep odd hours. A U.S.-based broker must be up or on
call in the wee hours of the morning because Europe’s stock exchanges are doing business. By the time
the broker wraps up trading on the Pacific Stock Exchange in the early evening (Eastern Standard Time),
there are only a few hours before the Asian stock exchanges open. Simply put, in an increasing number
Page 2 of 6
of businesses, it is possible to work round-the-clock—and, of course, to pick up the stress that goes
along with this lifestyle.
1. How would a Type A personality feel if his or her organization suddenly announced that
everyone was to be on call 24 hours a day because the company was moving to round-the-clock
customer service?
2. How would psychological hardiness help people deal with these emerging round-the-clock
operations?
3. What are some ways employees and their organizations could cope with the stress caused by
these new round-the-clock developments?

CASE 3: A GNAWING STOMACHACHE

Sandy Celeste was 40 years old when her divorce became final. She was forced to go to work to support
her two children. Sandy got married right after graduating from college and had never really held a full-
time job outside the home. Nevertheless, because of her enthusiasm, education, and maturity, she
impressed the human resources manager at Devon’s Department Store and was immediately hired. The
position involves super vising three departments of men’s and women’s clothing. Sandy’s training
consisted of approximately two months at another store in the Devon chain. She spent this training
period both selling merchandise and learning the supervisor’s responsibilities. On the first day of her
supervisory job, Sandy learned that, because of size constraints at the store, six clothing departments
are all located in the same area. In addition to Sandy, there are two other supervisors in the other
departments. These three supervisors share the service of 28 full- and part time salespeople. Because
the various departments are so jammed together, all the salespeople are expected to know each
department’s merchandise. Devon’s merchandising philosophy is that it will not finish one department
or storewide sale without starting another. Both the clerks and the supervisors, who work on a
commission and salary basis, are kept busy marking and remarking the merchandise as one sale stops
and another starts. To make matters worse, Devon’s expects the employees to re-mark each item just
prior to closing time the night after a big sale. The pressure is intense, and customers are often neglected
and irritated. However, all the salespeople realize that when the customer suffers, so do their
commissions. As a supervisor, Sandy is expected to enforce the company’s policy rigidly. Soon after
taking the position as supervisor, Sandy began to experience severe headaches and a gnawing
stomachache. She would like to quit her job, but realistically she can’t because the pay is good and she
needs to support her children.
1. To what do you attribute Sandy’s health problems? What are some possible
extraorganizational, organizational, group, and individual stressors?
2. Is there anything that this company could do to alleviate stress for its supervisors? What
individual coping strategies could Sandy try?

Page 3 of 6
 CASE4: SORRY, NO SEATS ARE LEFT; HAVE A NICE FLIGHT
Jim Miller has been a ticket agent for Friendly Airlines for the past three years. This job is really getting
to be a hassle. In order to try to reduce the mounting losses that Friendly has suffered in recent months,
management have decided to do two things: (1) overbook their flights so that every seat possible will be
filled and (2) increase their service to their customers and live up to their name. Jim, of course, is at the
point of application of this new policy. When checking in passengers, he is supposed to be very
courteous and friendly, and he has been instructed to end every transaction with the statement, “Have
a nice flight.” The problem, of course, is that sometimes there are more passengers holding confirmed
reservations checking in than there are seats on the plane. Rightfully, these people become extremely
upset with Jim and sometimes scream at him and even threaten him. During these confrontations Jim
becomes “unglued.” He breaks into a sweat, and his face turns bright red. The company guidelines on
what to do in these situations are very vague. When Jim called his supervisor for advice, he was simply
told to try to book passengers on another flight, but be friendly.
1. Is Jim headed for trouble? What would be some physical, psychological, and behavioral
outcomes of this type of job stress?
2. What could the company do to help reduce the stress in Jim’s job?
3. What individual coping strategies could Jim try in this situation?

CHAPTER 8: MOTIVATION: FROM CONCEPTS TO APPLICATIONS

CASE 5: MOTIVATION FOR LEISURE
“When I have time I don’t have money. When I have money I don’t have time,” says Glenn Kelman,
Redfin CEO. He’s not alone. While many workers find themselves faced with 60-, 70-, or 80-hour weeks
(and sometimes more), others who are unemployed can find themselves with too much time on their
hands. Take Dennis Lee, a sales associate working in Chicago whose girlfriend is unemployed. She has
time to spare, but he says her unemployment makes it “financially impossible for me to support the both
of us, even if we just go on a small trip, like, to Wisconsin and get a small hotel and stay for a couple of
days.”
Those who are employed and who may have the financial means to take a vacation often leave those
vacation days on the table. The average U.S. worker gets 2.6 weeks of vacation a year, yet only 43
percent take that time. Although the reasons U.S. employees may not be motivated to take their vacation
time vary from a sense of job insecurity to heavy employer workload demands, some companies now
let employees trade vacation days for cash, essentially motivating them to sell the vacation hours they
do not intend to use.
The challenge of taking leisure time does not seem to be a problem for many European countries. Take
the French, who get 30 days of vacation and say they take all of them. In fact, if you work in the European
Union and get sick on vacation, the European Court of Justice says you are entitled to take a make-up
vacation.

Page 4 of 6
8-14. What is the average number of vacation days per year in your country? Should companies
allow their employees to trade vacation days for cash? Justify your answer
8-15. Why do you think U.S. workers often do not take all their allotted vacation time, even if they
may lose the benefit? Are these personal choices, or are they driven by society, or by
organizational culture?
8-16. If many unemployed are spending around 2 hours/day looking for work as some research
indicates, how would you evaluate the impact of unemployment on work motivation? How would
you spend your days if unemployed?

CHAPTER 18: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND STRESS MANAGEMENT

CASE 6: ATOS: ZERO EMAIL PROGRAM
The technology that gave us the smart phone, tablet, and laptop has enabled employees to access their
work from anywhere in the world. Communication has been enhanced by the use of texts, calls, instant
messages, email, and social networking sites. The burden of being an anytime–anywhere worker is
having a negative impact on the health of employees, family life, and productivity. Employees are
experiencing unmanageable workloads, the loss of face-to-face relationships with colleagues, and the
overuse of emails in managing difficult work-related issues. However, the future of work is changing
from a directive approach towards collaborative frameworks that cause employees to think and act
differently.
In 2011, Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of technology giant ATOS, launched a Zero Email program.
The organization focuses on business technology and helps organizations to develop into firms of the
future. Atos recognized that email is a barrier to collaborative transformation. Breton’s initiative was
launched to completely eliminate the use of email for internal communications and to use enterprise
social initiatives instead. Eliminating email is a key pillar of the organization’s internal wellbeing at work
initiative, which is designed to enhance working conditions. The aim was to move towards a social,
collaborative enterprise that shares knowledge and finds experts easily to respond to the needs of clients
quickly and efficiently, delivering tangible business results. The culture evolved from one based on
hierarchies and command-and-control to a more open environment. Leaders and employees can now
engage with each other quickly and easily. This challenged established way of working and the tools
that were used, and introduced new technologies and behaviours.
The focus of the Zero Email initiative was to reduce the overall messaging load on the 76,000 business
technologists who work for Atos in 52 countries. Emails that were previously used to assign employees
to tasks have been replaced by discussions in online communities where employees communicate,
share best practices, and develop new ideas. Collaborative operations have resulted in more efficient
teamwork: 25 percent of work time previously devoted to email activities is now spent on business
activities. Internal email disruption and overload has been reduced by 60 percent. In addition, Atos has
introduced a certification process that has resulted in the redesign of 220 business processes to become
email-free.

Page 5 of 6
Greater digital connectivity goes hand-in-hand with greater worker responsibility. According to
Randstad’s Workmonitor Global Report in 2015, 57 percent of employees surveyed stated that their
employer expects them to be available outside regular office hours. The results revealed that 89 percent
of Chinese workers believed that they should be available outside of working times in contrast to 40
percent of employees in Sweden. Globally, 47 percent of the respondents said that their employer
expects them to be available by phone and email during holidays.
Rather than getting rid of emails or texting, we must put them to better use. Organizations need to advise
employees on the acceptable times to email, how to avoid overload of information, the overuse of email
and the benefits of face-to-face communication. They must also address the need for work–life balance.
Recently, the French trade union that represents employees in the technology and consultancy sectors,
which includes divisions of Google, Facebook, and Deloitte, agreed to allow staff to shut off their phones
and computers after 6 pm. It was agreed that organizations cannot pressure their employees or make
them feel bad about not checking or responding to their email.
As employees across the world see their work days grow longer and the boundaries between their
personal and work lives getting increasingly blurred, firms—like Atos—must address this challenge by
implementing a cultural change supported by the adaptation of employee behavior and management
styles.
18-14. Consider the sources of stress in modern organizations such as Atos. Identify individual
differences that can moderate the effect of stress.
18-15. Describe the symptoms of stress that may be experienced by employees.
18-16. Recommend two further strategies that could be introduced in Atos to help employees
manage the demands of the “always on” working environment.

Page 6 of 6