CHAPTER 11

Motivating
Employees

Prepared by Dr. C. McLarney, Dalhousie University

© 2022 McGraw Hill Limited

 Learning Objectives
1. Explain Taylor’s theory of scientific management, and
describe the Hawthorne studies and their significance to
management.
2. Identify the levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and
apply them to employee motivation. Contrast this with the
motivators and hygiene factors identified by Herzberg.
3. Differentiate between McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y.

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 Learning Objectives, Pt. 2
4. Explain the key principles of goal setting, expectancy,
reinforcement, and equity theories.
5. Show how managers put motivation theories into action
through such strategies as job enrichment, open
communication, and job recognition.
6. Show how managers personalize motivation strategies to
appeal to employees around the globe and across
generations.

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 The Value of Motivation
• Motivation refers to the overall desire to excel.
• The key to leadership success is: MOTIVATING OTHERS TO
DO THEIR BEST.
• Losing an employee is costly.
• Hiring and retaining good employees is a major function of
management.
• Happy workers lead to happy customers, and happy
customers lead to successful businesses.

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 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Rewards
• An Intrinsic Reward is the good feeling you have when you
have done a good job.
• An Extrinsic Reward is something given to you by someone
else as recognition for good work and includes pay increases,
praise, and promotions.

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 Evolution of Human Relations
Management Concepts
Scientific Behavioural
• Taylor • Mayo
• Gantt • Maslow
• Gilbreths • Herzberg
• McGregor
• Ouchi
• Vroom

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 Frederick Taylor
• Increase productivity by studying the most efficient
ways of doing things and then teaching workers
these methods; i.e., scientific management.
• Three elements of his approach were: time,
methods, and rules of work.
• Time and motion studies break down the tasks
needed to do a job and measure the time needed to
do each task.

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 Scientific Management
• SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT viewed people as MACHINES
that needed to be properly programmed.
• There was little concern for the psychological or human
aspects of work.
• Much emphasis in some companies is still placed on
conformity to work rules rather than on creativity, flexibility,
and responsiveness.

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 Scientific Management: Taylor
• Some of Taylor’s ideas are still being
implemented.
• Some companies still place more
emphasis on conformity to work rules
than on creativity, flexibility, and
responsiveness.
• For example, UPS tells drivers how
fast to walk (three feet per second),
how many packages to deliver per day
(average of 150-175),
and how to hold their keys (teeth up,
third finger).

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 The Hawthorne Effect
• Elton Mayo and his
colleagues from Harvard
University came to the
Hawthorne plant to test the
degree of lighting
associated with optimum
productivity.
• Mayo hypothesized that
human or psychological
factors caused increases in
worker performance.

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 Mayo: The Hawthorne Effect
• Hawthorne was a plant in Illinois
• The Hawthorne studies' results encouraged
researchers to study human motivation and the
managerial styles that lead to more productivity.
• The Hawthorne Effect refers to the tendency for
people to behave differently when they know
they're being studied.

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 Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs
• Motivation arises from need.
• One is motivated to satisfy unmet needs .
• When one need is satisfied, another higher-level
need emerges to be satisfied.
• A satisfied need is no longer a motivator.
• Lower-level needs can pop up at any time and take
attention away from higher-level needs.

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Pt. 2

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 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Pt. 3
• Physiological: Basic survival needs including the need to
drink, eat, and be sheltered from heat and cold.
• Safety: The need to feel secure at work and at home.
• Social: The need to feel loved, accepted, and part of the
group.
• Esteem: The need for recognition and acknowledgment from
others, as well as self-respect and a sense of status.
• Self-Actualization: The need to develop to your fullest
potential.

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 Herzberg’s Motivating Factors
• Psychologist Frederick Herzberg asked workers to rank
various job-related factors in order of importance relative
to motivation.
• The question was: What creates enthusiasm for workers
and makes them work to full potential?

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 Herzberg’s Motivating Factors, Pt. 2
The most important motivating factors were the
following:
1. Work itself
2. Sense of achievement
3. Earned recognition
4. Responsibility
5. Growth and advancement

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 Herzberg’s Motivating Factors, Pt. 3
• Herzberg noted that the factors
receiving the most votes were clustered
around job content.
• Workers like to feel that they contribute
to the company (sense of achievement was number one).
• They want to earn recognition (number two) and feel that
their jobs are important (number six).
• They want responsibility (which is why learning is so
important) and want recognition for that responsibility

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 Comparison of Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs and Herzberg’s Motivating Factors

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 McGregor’s Theories X and Y
The way in which managers go about motivating
people at work depends greatly on their attitudes
toward workers.
Management theorist Douglas McGregor observed
that managers’ attitudes generally fell into one of
two entirely different sets of managerial
assumptions, which he called Theory X and Theory Y

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McGregor’s Theories X and Y, Pt.
2
• Theory X
• Dislike Work
• Avoid Responsibility
• Little Ambition
• Forced/ Controlled/ Directed/
Threatened
• Motivated by Fear and Money

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McGregor’s Theories X and Y, Pt.
3
• Theory Y
• Like Work, Naturally work toward goals
• Seek responsibility
• Imaginative, Creative, Clever
• Motivated by Empowerment

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 McGregor’s Theories X and Y, Pt.
Theory X
4 Theory Y
1. Employees dislike work and will 1. Employees view work as a
try to avoid it. natural part of life.
2. Employees prefer to be 2. Employees prefer limited control
controlled and directed. and direction.
3. Employees seek security, not 3. Employees will seek
responsibility. responsibility under proper work
4. Employees must be intimidated conditions.
by managers to perform. 4. Employees perform better in
5. Employees are motivated by work environments that are non-
financial rewards. intimidating.
5. Employees are motivated by
many different needs.

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 Goal-Setting Theory (MBO)
MBO – Management by Objectives
Goal-setting theory is based on the idea that setting
ambitious but attainable goals can motivate workers
• and improve performance
• if the goals are accepted,
• accompanied by feedback,
• and facilitated by organizational conditions.

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Goal-Setting Theory (MBO), Pt. 2
Management by Objectives (1960s)
• is a system of goal setting and implementation that
involves a cycle of discussion, review, and evaluation
of objectives among top- and middle-level
managers, supervisors, and employees.

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 Management By Objectives
• MBO is most effective in relatively stable situations
in which long-range plans can be made and
implemented with little need for major changes.
• It is also important to MBO that managers
understand the difference between helping and
coaching subordinates.

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 Victor Vroom: Expectancy
Theory
• The amount of effort employees exert on a specific
task depends on their expectations of the outcome.
• Expectation varies from individual to individual.

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Expectancy Theory:
Employee Questions

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 How to Use Expectancy Theory
1. Determine what rewards employees value.
2. Determine each employee’s desired performance
standard.
3. Ensure that performance standards are
attainable.
4. Guarantee rewards tied to performance.
5. Be certain that employees consider the rewards
adequate.

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 Reinforcing Employee
Performance: Reinforcement
Theory
• According to reinforcement theory, positive
reinforcers, negative reinforcers, and punishers
motivate a person to behave in certain ways.
• In other words, motivation is the result of the carrot-
and-stick approach whereby individuals act to receive
rewards

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 Treating Employees Fairly:
Equity Theory
• Equity theory looks at how employees’ perceptions
of fairness affect their willingness to perform.
• It assumes employees ask, “If I do a good job, will it
be worth it?” and “What is fair?”
• Employees try to maintain equity between what
they put into the job and what they get out of it.

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 Putting Theory into Action
• Now that we have covered several theories, you may
have realized that they try to explain all behaviour, by
all people, all of the time.
• But this is impossible given the complexity of human
behaviour.
• The value of being briefly introduced to different
theories is that each theory offers some piece of the
puzzle.
• No theory is complete, as people are very complex.

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 Motivating Through Job
Enrichment
• Managers have extended both Maslow’s and
Herzberg’s theories through job enrichment, a
strategy that motivates workers through the job
itself.
• Work is assigned so that individuals can complete
an identifiable task from beginning to end and are
held responsible for successful achievement.

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 Motivating Through Job
Enrichment, Pt. 2
• Skill Variety. The extent to which a job demands different
skills.
• Task Identity. The degree to which the job requires doing a
task with a visible outcome from beginning to end.
• Task Significance. The degree to which the job has a
substantial impact on the lives or work of others in the
company.
• Autonomy. The degree of freedom, independence, and
discretion in scheduling work and determining
procedures.
• Feedback. The amount of direct and clear information that
is received about job performance.
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 Motivating Through Open
Communication
• Communication and information must flow freely
throughout the organization when employees are
empowered to make decisions—-they can’t make
these decisions in a vacuum.

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 Building Teamwork
• Open communication helps both top managers and
team members understand the objectives and work
together to achieve them.

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 Building Teamwork, Pt. 2
• Having teams creates an environment in which
learning can happen, because most learning
happens at the peer level.
• Teamwork does not happen by itself.
• The entire organization must be structured to make
it easy for managers and employees to talk to one
another.

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 Job Recognition: Recognizing a
Job Well Done
• A recent survey indicated that more than half of
employees who voluntarily left their jobs did so
because of lack of appreciation.
• Letting people know you appreciate their work is
usually more powerful than giving a raise or bonus
alone.

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 Personalizing Motivation
• Managers cannot use one motivational formula for all
employees.
• They have to get to know each worker personally and tailor
the motivational effort to the individual.

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 Motivating Employees
Around the Globe
• Different cultures experience motivational approaches
differently; therefore, managers study and understand
these cultural factors in designing a reward system.

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 Motivating Employees Across
Generations
Year Born
(Environics Term Year Born (Footwork Consulting
Research Group) Inc.)

1946 to 1964 Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers 1947 to 1966
1965 to 1976 Generation X

Generation X (subset of Baby Boomers) 1961 to 1966

Baby Bust 1967 to 1979
1977 to 1994 Generation Y / Millennials / Echo Boomers
The Baby-Boom Echo 1980 to 1995
1995 to Present Generation Z
The Millennium Busters 1996 to 2010
Sources: Based on “Generations Variables - 2013,” Environics Analytics, 2012, http://www.environicsanalytics.ca/docs/default-source/2014-variables/generations-variables---
2013.pdf; and Colonel James C. Taylor, “Whither march the cohorts: The validity of generation theory as a determinant of the sociocultural values of Canadian Forces personnel,”
Canadian Forces College, June 2008, http://www.cfc.forces.gc.ca/259/281/280/taylor.pdf, 6.

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 Motivating Employees Across
Generations, Pt. 2
• Age is among the most frequently used demographic
characteristic to determine the size and lifestyles of a
group of individuals. The terms “cohort” and
“generation” are often used interchangeably to refer
to such groups.
• Determining the size of these groups is challenging as
the year spans are widely debated.

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 Chapter Summary
1. Explain Taylor’s theory of scientific management
and describe the Hawthorne studies and their
significance to management.
2. Identify the levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
and apply them to employee motivation. Contrast
this with the motivators and hygiene factors
identified by Herzberg.
3. Differentiate between McGregor’s Theory X and
Theory Y.

© 2022 McGraw Hill Limited 42

 Chapter Summary, Pt. 2
4. Explain the key principles of goal setting,
expectancy, reinforcement, and equity theories.
5. Show how managers put motivation theories into
action through such strategies as job enrichment,
open communication, and job recognition.
6. Show how managers personalize motivation
strategies to appeal to employees around the
globe and across generations.

© 2022 McGraw Hill Limited 43