Motivating People

Compiled
by
Prof. Rajiv Kumar
IIM Calcutta
Basics

 Motivation: Direction, Intensity, Persistence

 Performance = Ability x Motivation x
Opportunity
 Three main clusters:
Individual Social Setting

Job
 Hierarchy of Needs Theory
(Maslow)
Lower-Order Needs Higher-Order Needs
Needs that are satisfied externally S.Act. Needs that are satisfied internally

Esteem

Social

Safety

Physiological
More on Self-Actualization
(1)
 Self-Actualizing Individual:
 Work is so satisfying that it is like play
 Congruence between feelings and behaviors
 For whom  Life = Growth
 Ways of self-actualizing:
 Experiencing fully, without self-consciousness and
defences
 Taking the growth choice
 Movement toward safety or comfort is often not a growth
choice
More on Self-Actualization
(2)
 Ways of self-actualizing:
 Letting the self emerge
 Listening to the impulse voice rather than some authority
figure
 Rejecting the opinions of “connoisseurs”
 When in doubt, do not play games or pose
 It is a journey, not a destination
McClelland’s Theory of
Needs
 Need for achievement:
 The need to excel, to achieve a set of standards
 Need for affiliation:
 The need for close friends and relationships
 Need for power:
 For self
 For social purposes
Herzberg’s Two-Factor
Theory
 Two Factors:
 Hygiene factors: Company policies, Supervision
 Motivating factors: Achievement, recognition,
work itself, responsibility
 Money more of a hygiene factor
Expectancy Theory
 Three links for motivation to occur

 Different motivation levels of a person across

time vs. motivation levels of different people
at a given time
Some More Viewpoints
 Money can reduce motivation:
 Loss of control and causation
 Goal-setting:
 Goals: Specific and difficult
 Employee:
 Committed to goal: Participative vs. assigned goal
 Independent vs. interdependent task
 Self-efficacy:
 Ways of increasing self-efficacy
Equity Theory in a Nutshell
Choosing Comparators

 Who are the comparators?

 Self-inside
 Self-outside
 Others-inside
 Others-outside
 Comparators who resemble in terms of
 Tenure/age
 Qualification
 Gender
 Justice Theory

Traditional Focus
of
Equity Theory

Importance of
Procedural Justice
When Less or No
Distributive Justice
The Job Characteristics
Model

Employee’s Desire
for
Self-esteem and self-actualization
(~40%)

Source: J.R. Hackman and G.R. Oldham, Work Design (excerpted from pp. 78–80). © 1980 by Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc.