A Question of Motivation

CASE: A Question of Motivation

Summary

There are two college going students, name Alex and Stephanie, and at super market. To make
ends meet and help pay for college fee. Both work for different departmental supervisor Dan and
Jonathan respectively. Alex's supervisor Dan him the same work for days as he assigns that
practicing the same thing and again master the job. Alex was being de-motivated by doing the
same work every day.

At the same time Stephanie's supervisor Jonathan takes care of his employees interests and use to
assign them work each week. The outcome of this practice was that his employees were
motivated and were satisfied with the work assigned to them because they were having different
task to perform each week that they were more enthusiastic towards the work.

It was observed by the employees of the supermarket that Alex's supervisor Dan was being
biased with his employees. For, instance, he was providing 2 more dollars pay to a girl who used
to say good and sweet things to him as compare to Alex. He was also strict with lunch timing
which was 45 minutes for all employee of the supermarket but he expects his employees to finish
it within 30 minutes.

On the other hand Stephanie's supervisor Jonathan motivates his employees by giving them an
opportunity and responsibility to complete certain task without interfering in them and by also
providing them bonus for completion of work in given time.

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 A Question of Motivation

Question: 1 How can expectancy theory be used to explain the differences in

motivation between Alex and Stephanie? What specifies from the case apply
to expectancy theory?

Answer:

Victor Vroom's expectancy theory:

This theory generally focuses on three relationships in context to individual efforts.

(1) Effort-performance relationship

(2) Performance-reward relationship

(3) Reward-personal goal relationship

Individual effort

Individual performance

Organizational reward

Personal goals

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 A Question of Motivation

Expectancy theory helps understand how the workers who motivated & can exert maximum
outcome by that. This can be understood by following questions

First , “If I give a maximum effort, will it be recognized in my performance appraisal?

Here, it's given in the case that Alex is highly de-motivated with his supervisor's biased behavior
that he thinks that no matter how hard he will work his efforts will not be recognized by Dan. He
will not get any performance appraisal in terms of bonuses, salary increases or promotions.

In contrast Stephanie is highly motivated with a job as she is getting fair performance appraisal
from her supervisor Jonathan. As bonus and at the same time she is given the opportunity to
perform a certain task without any interference.

There for Alex's performance relationship is not working well due to de-motivation at the same
time Stephanie's effort performance relationship is well established.

Second, “ If I get a good performance appraisal, will it lead to organizational rewards?”

The situation is that Alex is totally de-motivated with his work as well as his supervisor Dan. He
is not even getting proper recognition so getting organizational reward is seemingly to be out of
question.

On the other hand, Stephanie's efforts are being fairly recognized by her supervisor Jonathan and
he is also providing her organizational rewards in terms of bonus. Because of the given
opportunity she was feeling a sense of responsibility with regards to her job.

Here, Stephanie's performance relationship is again well furnished. Because of her satisfaction
with the job where as Alex is not at all getting any recognition with his supervisor Dan.

Thirdly , “If I'm rewarded, are the rewards ones that I find personally attractive?”

Employee expects different reward based on their need. It is manager who has to focus on basis
of motivation of each employee's need. By doing this they can easily uplift the level of
motivation and satisfy employees by giving them expected rewards. Same is the case of Alex
also. He want that he should be allowed to work in different area. He also expects that as he is a

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 A Question of Motivation

senior he must be promoted or should be paid well compared to other fresher (Denise). Dan must
be able to recognize Alex's basis of Motivation and provide him various opportunities for
exploring his talent.

In short, different employees have different basis of motivation which a manager must be able to
recognize.

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 A Question of Motivation

Question 2: Alex states that he is underpaid for the work he does. What
motivational theory does this apply to and how would it explain Alex's
behavior?

Answer:

Alex is an experienced guy working under Dan – his boss since 2 years. His work is
monotonous. He compares himself with his mate Denise who is fresher graduate. Though Denise
is fresher she earns $2 per hour more than Alex who is senior compared to Denise. Dan's
1inclination is more towards Denise as he allows her to work in different areas and also pay her
more than Alex. Partial behavior of Dan hurts Alex. This is may be because of Denise's behavior
with Dan as she praises say nice things about his looks and his stuffs like car an all.

By referring the above points we can apply Equity Theory of Motivation. This
theory studies about Worker's Behavior in an Organization. This theory generally
focuses on input of the worker and outcome that worker expects. If an input
provided by the worker does not fetch the expected outcome, feeling of
dissatisfaction is generated among workers. There are 3 levels of Equity in an
organization.

1. Self Outcome Other's Income

Input Input

2. Self Outcome Other's Income

Input Input

3. Self Outcome Other's Income

Input Input

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 A Question of Motivation

In this case Alex's output and input compared to Denise is less (3 rd

Situation). So, Alex is not
satisfied with his organization and especially with behavior of boss Dan. Alex is experienced and
doing his job well than too his efforts are not appreciated and fewer opportunities are provided to
him compared to other employees.

Basically there are 4 different references that an employee selects ads to the complexity of
Equity Theory.

1. Self Inside
2. Self Outside
3. Other Inside
4. Other Outside

Employees might compare themselves to friends, neighbors, co-workers, or colleagues in other

organizations or compare their present job with past jobs they themselves have had. Which
referent an employee chooses will be derived by the information the employee holds about
referents as well as by the attractiveness of the referent. Four moderating variables are gender,
length of tenure, level in the organization, and amount of education or professionalism.

There are 4 moderating variables.

1. Gender

In general male get more salary than female. But, here Alex gets less salary than Denise though
the work of both is same.

2. Length of Tenure

In general salary is paid according to seniority basis. But, here Alex is working from two years
and Denise is fresher than also Alex gets less salary than Denise.

3. Level in Organization

Alex and Danish both are working at the same level and both are graduates. Then also salaries of
both are different.

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 A Question of Motivation

4. Amount of Education

In general more educated people get more salary in compression of less educated people. Here,
Alex and Denise both are graduate than also both are getting different salary.

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 A Question of Motivation

Question 3: Using concepts from organizational justice, explain why Alex

knocks his boss's lunch to the floor. What should Alex's boss do to improve
the fairness of his treatment?

Answer:

Dan, Alex's boss is found to be bias regarding his behavior with Denise. In case we come across
instance like, Denise being allowed to work at different place and also being paid more although
she's fresher. Dan's behavior might be driven in that manner because of compliments given by
Denise.

Relating this case to organizational justice theory we can notice that the environment of justice is
lacking somewhere from Dan's side. He fails to include all three levels of justice which actually
employees demand. Alex had a perception that his boss is partial to him and treats him with bias.
His perception is right because Dan is not a supervisor who treats all employees equally.

Historically, equity theory focused on distributive justice, the employee's perceived fairness of
the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals. But increasingly we think of equity
from the standpoint of organizational justice, a larger perception of what is fair in the workplace.
Employees perceive their organizations as just when they believe the outcomes they have
received and the way they received them are fair.

One key element of organizational justice is an individual's perception of justice.

For Example, There are few workers work in a factory. Manager tries to treat everyone equally.
But the workers think that the manager biases between the workers. But sometimes it actually
happens that employee's perception is right. They use their cognition and relate themselves with
other employees. While relating they found that they are not treated fair as compared to other
employees in organization. In each and every term they compare themselves with other
employees pay, rewards, choice of work etc.

In our case also the same situation has occurred. Alex compares himself with Denise and founds
that he is treated in unfair manner. Organizational justice theory helps us to understand this.

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 A Question of Motivation

Due to Dan's behavior Alex's frustration was triggered and converted into anger. This anger lead
Alex to throw his boss's lunch box. This behavior of Alex is all due to Dan and he must do
something to control this behavior because today it is Alex tomorrow there may be some other
employee.

Model of Organizational Justice

Distributive Justice

Perceived fairness of outcome

Ex. I got the pay raise I deserved.

Organizational Justice

Overall perception of what is fair in

the workplace.

Procedural Justice Ex. I think this is a fair place to

work.
Perceived fairness of process used to
determine outcome.

Ex. I received the raise I did.

Interactional Justice

Perceived degree to which one is

treated with dignity and respect.

Ex. When telling me about my raise,

EASY
my supervisor was very nice.

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 A Question of Motivation

An should follow following steps to improve behavior of Alex:

 He should not be partial with employees.

 He can improve his employee performance by giving them bonus and incentive.
 Discuss all problems of his employees and try to solve them as soon as possible.
 Employer Dan should behave in friendly manner with his employee and maintain a good
Superior – Subordinate relationship.
 He should give his employee opportunity to explore and motivate them by giving them
reward for their work.
 The pay should be raised as per the Alex deserve. Rewards should be given to motivate
such employee.
 The process of used to determine the overall outcome should be fair.

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 A Question of Motivation

Question 4: Using concepts from the emotions and moods chapter, explain
why Alex responds towards his supervisor. Was his behavior driven purely by
emotion, or did cognition also play a role? How so?

Answer:

Emotions Moods

Caused by specific Event. Cause is often general and

unclear.
Very brief in duration.
Last longer than emotions.
Specific and numerous in
nature. More general.

Usually accompanied by Generally not indicated by

distinct facial expressions. distinct expressions.

Action oriented in nature. Cognitive in nature.

Dan was quite the stickler about keeping lunch to a minimum. Although store policy
allowed employees 45 minutes for lunch, Dan often pushed his employees to keep it to 30
minutes. When Alex and Stephanie were communicating with each other Dan entered
and said, “I thought that college students were supposed to be smarter than this. At the
very least I would hope that they could tell time.”

Alex who was frustrated due to his boss's behavior got even more frustrated and that
frustration was converted into anger. He was already de-motivated by his boss, as he was
very bias with Alex. This behavior of Dan sprouted negative feeling in Alex about work
and environment in which he is working.

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 A Question of Motivation

Relating this to emotions we can say that partial behavior of Dan leads to negative
emotions and those emotions were particularly for Dan only. Reason behind throw the
Sandwich was Emotion, Alex has such an emotion about his boss Dan who made him to
do such unwanted thing as per the definition of emotion we can notice that, Alex
behavior towards Dan is rude and negative because of inequitable behavior of Dan for
Alex.
As per our understanding cognition also played a role in Alex's behavior. He was quite
aware about the things around him. He was knowing that his colleagues were paid more
than him though he is senior to all. Cognition helped to make sense about what is wrong
or right.

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 A Question of Motivation

Question 5: Comprehension and contrast Alex and Stephanie in terms of each

person's level of work stress. How might stress affect their attitudes and
behavior within their work environment?

Answer:
Alex and Stephanie both are college students and work for their needs and paying college fees.
They both work in the same super market and are working since last 2 years. But both are
working in different departments and reports different bosses. Alex reports Dan and Stephanie
reports Jonathan. Both bosses are different in nature and get work done in their own manner.

Here Alex is working under Dan who is not a person which provides freedom to workers to work
their own way. Alex works under Dan since last 2 years and is bored with monotonous job of
arranging stuffs on desk. He is not at all satisfied with his boss as well as he is not enjoying his
job. With a talk with Stephanie he compares himself with his colleague Denise who is a fresher
and is paid 2 $ more than Alex. Dan is more inclined towards boss Denise as she praises her in
several ways. This partial behavior of Dan builds negative attitude in mind of Alex. One more
reason of negativity is that store provide 45 min lunch break while Dan restricts his employees to
only 30 min.

Organizational factor plays an important role in any behavior of employee. Same goes with Alex
also. His demanding and insensitive boss is responsible for Alex's negative attitude and behavior.
He does not allow him to schedule his work in flexible manner and asks him to do a single job
repeatedly. Moreover, he does not treat his employees equally.

This is the reason why Alex feels high stress. When we compare Alex with that of Stephanie,
Stephanie is quite happy with his work. She is in fact happy with her boss who allows her to
work flexibly and allows her to work in different areas as per her choice. His boss is major factor
for positive attitude of Stephanie. Various challenging jobs are also accomplished by Stephanie
as her boss communicates regularly with her and guides her in the same direction. Stephanie
always wears a smile on her face and enjoys her job. The reason why Stephanie has positive
attitude is her boss Jonathan. She doesn't feel stressed and has no complaints about her boss. She
enjoys her job and accepts even challenging tasks. Circulation of her job role leads to low stress
level and high motivation.

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 A Question of Motivation

Due to high level of stress experienced by Alex, he is not motivated to work in supermarket. His
level of job satisfaction is also low compared to Stephanie as she is completely satisfied with her
work and type of work allocated to her. Stress affects job satisfaction and both.

In all, job satisfaction and attitude are closely related to the level of stress in organisation.

Question 6: Discuss Alex and Stephanie in terms of each person's job attitude.
What factor might be responsible for any differences?

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Answer:

Jobs are attitudes of various types. Some of job affective employees of organization in several
ways. Three component of job attitude also play a major role in defining attitude of each and
every employee. Here in this case cognitive component of attitude plays a major role as Alex has
a belief that his boss is partial towards him. Partial behavior of Dan creates negative attitude and
causes dissatisfaction.

There are different attitudes at work place. Job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational
commitment and perceived support are major job attitudes. When we talk about this case, Alex's
attitude towards his job is negative. He is not satisfied with his job because of his monotonous
boring job. This affects performance of Alex adverse. There are many other factors which are
closely related with Job satisfaction. Alex is not involved in his job as he thinks his job is
boredom. Organizational commitment is not seen in Alex as he doesn't find himself with his
employee organization. His expectations are not given importance.

Job attitude also includes perceived support, which Alex is not getting from his organization. Job
satisfaction is related to POS also. If organizations do not support their employee and do not care
for their well being employee's morale is low for work and is least motivated.

Now talking about Stephanie she is quite satisfied with her job. She feels positive about her job
means she has high level of job satisfaction. Her involvement in job is also high because her job
is not monotonous which keeps her motivation level high. She has a high level of organizational
commitment as she finds herself valuable in organization and considers her input to self worth.
Overall she is quite satisfied and has a positive job attitude.

A common factor which affects both of them is organization environment and nature of their
boss.

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