MGMT 2110:

Organizational Behavior

PROFESSOR MELODY CHAO

Topic 5: Motivation
From the syllabus… L4&L5

Send us your questions (if any)

by September 26, 12noon.

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Exam I: Topics 1-5;
MC
From the syllabus… L6

Send us your questions (if any)

by September 26, 12noon.

Exam I: Topics 1-5;

MC

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4
 Learning objectives
• Basic concepts
• Major theories of motivation
• Job Characteristics Model

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 What is motivation?
• Psychological forces that cause people to invest effort into
action….
• Direction (what should I do?)
• Intensity (how hard should I work?)
• Persistence (how long should I work?)
• When people are motivated, they have a desire to expend effort
• This often results in outcomes of higher:
• Performance: quality of work produced
• Productivity: quantity of work produced

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 Learning objectives
• Basic concepts
• Major theories of motivation
• Job Characteristics Model

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 Motivation Theories
Major theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Reinforcement theory
• Social learning theory
• Goal setting theory
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory 8
 Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs theory (1943)
• There is a hierarchy of five needs:
physiological, safety, social, esteem,
and self-actualization.

• As each need is substantially

satisfied, the next need becomes
dominant.

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 Contributions of Maslow’s theory
• Spiritual father of humanistic movement
• It encourages viewing ourselves as a "whole person" greater than the
sum of our parts and encourages self exploration rather than the study
of behavior in other people.
• It adopts a holistic approach to human existence
• Needs should be studied together
• E.g., lowest unmet need has strongest effect, when lower need is
satisfied, next higher need becomes the primary motivator

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 Limitations of Maslow’s theory

• Lack of scientific support

• Needs may change rapidly with situation
• Primary needs aren’t always lowest in the hierarchy
• Needs hierarchy might vary from one person to the next
(not universal)

1
 Motivation Theories
Major theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Reinforcement theory
• Social learning theory
• Goal setting theory
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory 12
 Reinforcement Theory

• Reinforcement theory: behavior is a function of its

consequences (NOT involve any cognition!!!).
• Operant conditioning theory: people learn to behave to get
something they want or to avoid something they don’t
want.
• B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism (video)
7-13
 Types of reinforcement

Consequence Consequence
No consequence
introduced removed

Behavior
Positive Negative
increases/
reinforcement reinforcement
maintained

Behavior
Punishment Extinction
decreases

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 Types of Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcement
• Providing a reward for a desired behavior.
• Negative reinforcement
• Removing an unpleasant consequence when the desired behavior occurs.

You submit your

assignment on time You continue to
Your team members work hard in the
praise you future

You submit your

assignment on time You continue to work
To avoid being blamed hard in the future
by other team members
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 Types of reinforcement

Consequence Consequence
No consequence
introduced removed

Behavior
Positive Negative
increases/
reinforcement reinforcement
maintained

Behavior
Punishment Extinction
decreases

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 Types of Reinforcement
• Punishment
• Applying an undesirable condition to eliminate an undesirable
behavior.

You are 30min late to

a group meeting. You will not be late
You need to pay $5 per again in the future.
min for being late.

You did not submit your

work to your team You are not allowed to You will not do that
leader on the due date. join the project again in the future.
completion party.

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 Types of reinforcement

Consequence Consequence
No consequence
introduced removed

Behavior
Positive Negative
increases/
reinforcement reinforcement
maintained

Behavior
Punishment Extinction
decreases

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 Types of Reinforcement
• Extinction
• Withholding reinforcement of a behavior to
cause its cessation.

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 Reinforcement Theory

• Stimulus  Response
• B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism

[Exercise] What do you think about this theory?

Do you think it captures how you behave?

Based on this theory, what can be done to increase engagement (e.g., speaking
up, sharing thoughts, taking initiatives, etc.) of your team members?
 Intrinsic / extrinsic motivation
• Extrinsic motivation
• e.g., I study… because I want to get a good grade… because my
parents would give me $500 for every A that I get…

• Intrinsic motivation
• e.g., I study because I want to learn more… because I want to
understand about human behavior…
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 Cognitive Evaluation Theory

• Reinforcement might not work!

• Allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior that had been
previously intrinsically rewarding tends to decrease the
overall level of motivation
• E.g., Speaking up…

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 Cognitive Evaluation Theory
• The “color pencil” experiment
• Children were given color pencil to draw pictures
• Conditions
• Reward: “If you draw pictures, you can bring home these nice color pencils…”
• No reward
• Later on, let the children draw again
• What would the children do?

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Cognitive Evaluation Theory

• The study about artists

• Experts rated the quality of paintings
• Some paintings: Artists were paid to do
• Other paintings: Artists did not get paid to do
• What do they find?

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 Cognitive Evaluation Theory
• Why we shouldn’t trust markets with our civic life (Michael Sandel)
• https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_why_we_shouldn_t_trust_markets_with_our_ci
vic_life?language=en

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Allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior that had been
previously intrinsically rewarding tends to decrease the
overall level of motivation (especially in the long run).

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 Motivation Theories
Major theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Reinforcement theory
• Social learning theory
• Goal setting theory
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory 27
 Social learning theory

• Learning by observing
• Importance of perception in learning
• Behavioral modeling
• Observing and modeling behavior of others
• Learning behavior consequences
• Observing consequences that others experience
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 Social Learning Theory

 An approach proposing that humans learn many

kinds of responses by observing others
 Learn aggressive behaviors by observing others
being rewarded/not being punished for their
aggressive actions and then imitate or model those
responses
 Classic experiment (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963):
Bobo dolls, nursery school children (3-5 yrs. old)
• 1 of 4 conditions: Aggressive adult model;
Aggressive adult model on film; Cartoon version;
Control: no aggressive models
• Then?
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What happened?

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Social learning process
Recognize and pay attention to the
Attention role model’s behaviors

Retention Remember the role model’s actions

Motor
Convert watching to doing
reproduction
Positive incentives and rewards 
Reinforcement Encourage the modeled behavior
Punishments  Inhibit the behavior
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 Motivation Theories
Major theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Reinforcement theory
• Social learning theory
• Goal setting theory
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory 32
 Goal setting theory
• What is a goal?
• Cognitive representation of a target for behavior

• Why do goals increase motivation?

• Direct attention
• Energize effort
• Sustain effort
• Promote discovery of task-relevant knowledge,
skills, strategies

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 Setting goals to increase motivation
• Specific goals
• The more specific the goal,
the easier it is to…
• Form plans
• Judge progress
• Difficult goals
• The more difficult the goal, the
more motivated people are to…
• Mobilize effort
• Develop plans
• Seek to improve their knowledge and skills
3 Locke & Latham, 2002
 Goal setting effects on productivity
• Truck drivers transporting logs
• 6 logging operations (6 trucks & drivers each)
• Specific, difficult goals led loggers to increase logs loaded on
their trucks
• From 60% to 90% of legal allowable weight
• Saved the company $250,000 in 9 months

Locke & Latham, 2002

 Goal setting effects on productivity
• 74 truck drivers
• 39 received difficult, specific goals to increase # of
daily trips to the mill
• 35 in a control group
• Results
• 15% increase in # of trips per day for difficult,
specific goal group
• Saved company $2.7 million in less than 4 months
Locke & Latham, 2002
 Goal setting at Microsoft

• SMART
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
“By December, your monthly
• Realistic / Results-based
• Time-specific sales average should be …”
• “Dumb” goal
• “Do your best”, “Increase your sales volume”
Shaw, 2004
 Goal setting at Goldman Sachs
• Vertical stretch goals = goals aligned with current responsibilities
• Example: Raise annual sales in your department by 45%, rather
than 15%
• Horizontal stretch goals = individual or work unit takes on
significantly different responsibilities than before
• Example: Sales manager leads task force whose purpose is to
invent a new process for product development

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 Goal-Setting Theory
• Other factors influencing the goals–performance
relationship
• Goal commitment
• Self-efficacy
• Belief in one’s ability to…
• Perform the task
• Achieve the desired level of performance
• Expectancy
• Belief that effort will lead to outcome
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 Goal-Setting Theory: Re-think 1
• Factors influencing the goals–performance
relationship
• Personal choice?
• “Provision of personal choice increase intrinsic
motivation, greater persistence, and better
performance”
• Do you think that is true or false?
• Let’s vote! 40
 Goal-Setting Theory
“Provision of personal choice increase intrinsic
motivation, greater persistence, and better
performance”

Do you think that is true or false?

It depends on the cultural norms

E.g., The “Anagram” study
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 The anagram study
• Anagram
1. aemg  game
2. lpaep  apple
3. tessdntu  students
4. detttaiu  attitude
5. nrgaatinooiz  organization
6. rnoaeg  orange
7. aseiscnond  dissonance
8. pyahp  happy
9. gceixnit  exciting
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 The anagram study
• Procedure
• Asian-/European-American Children presented with:
• 6 pile of index cards
• 15 anagrams each (from easy to difficult)
• With labels denoting the category of the pile (e.g., animals,
family, house, and food)
• 6 markers
• Conditions
1. Personal choice
2. Experimenter choice
3. Mom choice
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 The anagram study

• Procedure
• Each child was given 6 min to complete
the anagrams.
• Experimenter collected the anagrams and
told the child that he/she can “free play”

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 The anagram study
• Procedure
• The apparently busy, and disinterested-looking
experimenter observed
• Measures
• Children’s performance on the anagrams
• How many correct?
• Children’s intrinsic motivation
• Amount of time spent on the anagram task during “free play”
• Question for you
• How to interpret the graphs in the next two slides? 45
 Performance

Figure 1. Measure of
performance. Mean number of
anagrams completed correctly by
experimental condition, out of 15
possible.

Iyengar & Lepper (1999) 46

Motivation

Figure 2. Measure of
intrinsic motivation. Mean
time spent on anagrams
during a free-play period
by experimental condition.
Scores are in seconds, out
of a possible total of 360 s.

Iyengar & Lepper (1999) 47

 Self-determination theory

• People prefer to feel they have control over their

actions.
• It works for some, but not all?
• When autonomy backfire?

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 “Provision of personal choice increase intrinsic
motivation, greater persistence, and better performance”

• Is NOT always true! What does this mean then?

• Need to understand values (e.g., autonomy, personal choice)
in context
• Cultural values: Facilitate adaptation to the environment
• Questions to ask:
• “What is correct?” or “What is best fit?”
• “What is the strongest?” or “What is the fittest?”

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 Goal-Setting Theory: Re-think 2
• Goal-setting may motivate unethical behavior
• Anagram task:
• “Do your best” general goal condition
• Specific goal condition (create 9 words)
• Specific goal + reward condition (create 9 words + $2 bonus)
• Results:
• People with unmet specific goals more likely to cheat than those
with “do your best” goals
• Even when there were NO REWARDS.
• People who failed to reach their goals by a small margin were
more likely to cheat

50 Schweitzer, Ordonez, & Douma, 2004

 Goal-Setting Theory: Re-think 3
• How to respond to failures?
• Possible solution? No binary measure of success vs. failure. Look at
whether meaningful progress has been made.
• Interdependence of organizational units (e.g., optimistic sales
targets create problems for manufacturing)
• Possible solution? Don’t punish failures.
• Resistance—cost of taking employees away from normal
responsibilities, asking people to work outside their comfort zone,
putting in their personal time
• Possible solution? Organizational support (e.g., coaching). Provision of
resources.
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 Motivation Theories
Major theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Reinforcement theory
• Social learning theory
• Goal setting theory
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory 52
 Expectancy Theory
 Rational decision model of employee motivation
 Work effort is directed toward behaviors that people
believe will lead to desired outcomes

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 Expectancy Theory
 Explain why workers aren’t motivated and do only the minimum.
 Three questions employees need to answer in the affirmative if their motivation
is to be maximized:
 If I give maximum effort, will my performance be recognized?
 If I get a good performance appraisal, will it lead to organizational rewards?
 If I’m rewarded, are the rewards attractive to me?

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Expectancy and the 4-minute mile
• 1950s common belief: it is physically
impossible for a human to run a mile
in less than 4 minutes

• May 6, 1954: medical student / track

star Roger Bannister runs a mile in
3:59.4

• What does this have to do with

expectancy?

55
 Expectancy and the 4-minute mile
• Before May 6, many world-class
athletes had failed to break the Hicham El Guerrouj
barrier July 7, 1999, Rome
• Just 6 weeks after Bannister’s success,
John Landy ran a 3:57.9
• In the following 3 years, 16 different
runners broke the 4-minute barrier
• Why?
• Bannister’s feat increased E-P beliefs:
“If I train harder, I can run faster”
• Today’s world record: 3:43.13 (1999)

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 Motivation Theories
Major theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Reinforcement theory
• Social learning theory
• Goal setting theory
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory 57
 Equity Theory
• Individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those
of others and then respond to eliminate any inequities.
• Three elements
• Outcome/Input ratio
• Inputs: what employee contributes (e.g., skill)
• Outcomes: what employee receives (e.g., pay)
• Comparison with other
• Person/people against whom we compare our ratio
• Not easily identifiable
• Equity evaluation
• Compare outcome/input ratio with the comparison other 58
 Overreward vs Underreward Inequity
Comparison
You
Other

Underreward Outcomes
Inequity Outcomes

Inputs Inputs

Outcomes
Overreward Outcomes
Inequity
Inputs Inputs
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 Correcting Inequity Feelings
 When employees perceive an inequity, they can be
predicted to make one of six choices:
1. Change their inputs.
2. Change their outcomes.
3. Distort perceptions of self.
4. Distort perceptions of others.
5. Choose a different referent.
6. Leave the field.

Remember how people reduce cognitive dissonance?

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Model of Organizational Justice
 Motivation Theories
Major theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Reinforcement theory
• Social learning theory
• Goal setting theory What have we learned?
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory 62
 Implications for Managers

• Reinforcement theory & social learning theory

• Make sure extrinsic rewards for employees are not viewed as
coercive
• Goal-setting theory
• Clear and difficult goals can lead to higher levels of employee
productivity
• Provide information about competence and relatedness
• Think beyond performance goal…
7-63
 Implications for Managers

• Expectancy theory
• Increase expectancy
• Provide training, ensure rewards are valued
• Equity theory
• Help understand productivity, satisfaction, absence, and turnover
• Perceive justice (fairness)

7-64
What is the major disagreement between…?
 What is the major disagreement between…?
Goal setting theory Expectancy theory
• Specific & difficult goal  • Effort-to-Performance,
higher performance Performance-to-Reward
Expectancies

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 What is the major discrepancy between…?
Expectancy theory Equity theory

• Effort-to-Performance, • Compare with other; eliminate

Performance-to-Reward inequalities
Expectancies

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 Motivation Theories
Major theories
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Reinforcement theory
• Social learning theory
• Goal setting theory
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory 68
 Learning objectives
• Basic concepts
• Major theories of motivation
• Job Characteristics Model

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 Job Characteristics Model

Skill variety
Task identity Meaningfulness
Task significance
Motivation

Autonomy Responsibility Satisfaction

Performance
Feedback Knowledge of
Results
Source: Based on J. L. Pierce, I. Jussila, and A. Cummings, “Psychological Ownership within the Job Design Context:
Revision of the Job Characteristics Model,” Journal of Organizational Behavior 30, no. 4 (2009): 477–96.
 How can we improve jobs using this theory?
• Job Rotation
• The periodic shifting of a worker from one task to another
• Job Enlargement
• The horizontal expansion of jobs, increasing the number and variety of tasks
that an individual performs = more skill variety
• Job Enrichment
• The vertical expansion of jobs: more feedback, significance and autonomy
• Alternative work arrangements
• Flextime, telecommuting

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 Motivating fundraising callers

• Callers soliciting university alumni donations:

• Big turnover
• Repetitive calls
• Standardized script
• Frequent rejections

• Tough job!
7 Grant, 2008
 How can we motivate them?
• Standard approaches
• Goal-setting: assign difficult, specific objectives
• Expectancy, Equity and Reward theories: provide compensation
• Job design: Enrich tasks
• Callers receive little information about how the funds they raise are used
• Can introducing them to scholarship students enable them to see how
their work makes a difference?
• Can this increase their motivation to perform this difficult job?

7 Grant, 2008
 Research study
• Callers divided into two groups:
• No exposure to scholarship student
• Direct contact with scholarship student

• Motivation measures: Persistence Performance

7
 Number of calls made in the First week

38.12

40
35
30
25 13.94
20
15
10
5
0
Scholarship students No exposure

75 Grant, 2008
 Number of pledges obtained in the First week

27.90

30

25 15.85

20

15

10

0
Scholarship students No exposure

7 Grant, 2008
 Why?
• Increase in task significance
• Increases their confidence in their abilities to benefit scholarship
students and their feelings that their efforts make a difference

7 Grant, 2008
 Learning objectives
• Basic concepts
• Major theories of motivation
• Job Characteristics Model

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 Before Next Class

• Topic 6: Perception (For Exam 2)

• Readings: Chapter 5 / 6
• Continue to work on your project
• Exam 1: Oct. 4 Wed. LT-A at 6:15 pm