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Chapter Overview

Motivation is one of the major areas of interest in organizational behavior (OB). Properly motivating a workforce can lead to gains in productivity, innovation, and employee retention. This chapter will review the basics of motivation, assess the number of motivation theories, and provide an integrative model that shows how the best of these theories fits together.

Introduction

Motivation is a problem in the U.S. workforce. Poorly motivated workers express themselves through detrimental behaviors such as time wasting, absenteeism, and high turnover. It is important that motivational theories are understood and applied in the workplace.

Motivation

· Motivation: the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal, specifically for OB, toward attaining an organizational goal.

· Three Key Elements in the Definition:

1. Intensity: how much effort a person puts forth to meet a goal.

2. Direction: efforts are channeled toward organizational goals.

3. Persistence: how long a person maintains effort toward a goal.

Early Theories of Motivation

Three early theories of employee motivation formulated during the 1950s, although now of questionable validity, are probably the best known. We discuss more valid explanations later, but these represent a foundation, and practicing managers still use their terminology.

Hierarchy of Needs Theory.

· In this, perhaps best known (and least supported) of all motivational theories, Abraham Maslow proposed that there are five levels of human needs.

1. As each of the lower level needs are satisfied, the next unsatisfied need becomes dominant.

a. Recently, a sixth need has been proposed for a highest level—intrinsic values—which is said to have originated from Maslow, but it has yet to gain widespread acceptance.

2. Satisfied needs no longer motivate; only unsatisfied needs motivate people. In cultures that do not share American traits, the hierarchical order of needs may be out of sequence.

a. Physiological: lower order need, includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily needs. Lower order needs are satisfied externally, through forces outside of the person.

b. Safety-security: lower order need, includes security and protection from physical and emotional harm.

c. Social-belongingness: upper order need, includes affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship. Upper order needs are satisfied internally, that is, from within the person.

d. Esteem: upper order need, includes internal (self-respect, autonomy, and achievement) and external (status, recognition, and attention) esteem factors.

e. Self-actualization: upper order need, defined as the drive to “be all one can be,” it includes growth, achieving one’s potential, and self-fulfillment.

Two-Factor Theory.

· Frederick Herzberg proposed that an individual’s relation to work is basic and that one’s attitude toward work can very well determine success or failure. In other words, things that people feel good about at work are motivating and those things they don’t feel good about are de-motivating. This two-factor theory is also known as the motivation-hygiene theory.

1. In his research, Herzberg realized that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction; rather there are two different factor scales, one ranging from satisfaction to no satisfaction and the other from dissatisfaction to no dissatisfaction. When he related a number of workplace factors against these two scales, he realized they were very different concepts. He called the first set of factors motivation factors and the second hygiene factors.

a. Hygiene Factors: These workplace factors, when not met, lead to job dissatisfaction. When they are met, they do not lead to job satisfaction, but rather, to a lack of dissatisfaction. Therefore, meeting hygiene factors does not increase motivation; it merely placates the workers. Hygiene factors include quality of supervision, pay, company policies, physical working conditions, relations with others, and job security.

b. Motivation Factors: These are intrinsically rewarding factors in the work environment such as promotion and personal growth opportunities, recognition, responsibility, and achievement. Meeting these factors will increase motivation by creating a satisfying work environment.

2. As with the other two main motivational theories, this very popular theory is also not well supported in the research literature. There are many criticisms of the Two-Factor Theory, mostly dealing with the methodology Herzberg used in his initial studies.

McClelland's Theory of Needs.

· David McClelland and his associates created a theory based on three subconscious needs:

1. Need for Achievement (nAch): the drive to excel and to achieve in relation to a set of standards. High achievers perform best when they have a 50-50 chance of success. High achievers perform best in jobs with a high degree of personal responsibility and feedback with an intermediate degree of risk.

a. High achievers tend to be successful entrepreneurs.

b. A high need for achievement does not necessarily mean the person would be a good manager for larger organizations, as his or her desire for personal recognition supersedes his or her concern for the organization.

2. Need for Power (nPow): the need to make others behave in a way they would not have behaved otherwise.

3. Need for Affiliation (nAff): the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.

a. The best managers appear to be those with a high need for power and a low need for affiliation.

4. The need for achievement presupposes certain cultural characteristics such as moderate degree of risk acceptance and a concern with performance. These two cultural characteristics are not universal, and therefore, the need for achievement may not be as powerful in other cultures.

5. McClelland’s theory has the best research support,] but has the least practical effect of any of the early motivational theories.

Contemporary Theories of Motivation

· Unlike the historic theories of motivation, these current theories of motivation do have a reasonable degree of supporting documentation. It is important to remember that these are still theories. None of these has been totally proven true.

· Self-Determination Theory.

1. Self-determination theory, which proposes that people prefer to feel they have control over their actions, so anything that makes a previously enjoyed task feel more like an obligation than a freely chosen activity will undermine motivation.

2. Cognitive Evaluation Theory. Much research on self-determination theory in OB has focused on cognitive evaluation theory, which hypothesizes that extrinsic rewards will reduce intrinsic interest in a task.

a. When people are paid for work, it feels less like something they want to do and more like something they have to do.

3. Self-determination theory also proposes that in addition to being driven by a need for autonomy, people seek ways to achieve competence and positive connections to others.

a. A large number of studies support self-determination theory.

b. When organizations use extrinsic rewards as payoffs for superior performance, employees feel less like they are doing a good job because of their own intrinsic desire to excel and more like they are doing a good job because that’s what the organization wants.

1) If a computer programmer values writing code because she likes to solve problems, a reward for working to an externally imposed standard she does not accept could feel coercive, and her intrinsic motivation would suffer.

2) She may or may not increase her number of lines of code per day in response to the extrinsic motivator.

c. In support of the theory, one meta-analysis confirmed that intrinsic motivation contributes to the quality of work, while incentives contribute to the quantity of work.

d. Although intrinsic motivation predicts performance whether or not there are incentives, it may therefore be less of a predictor when incentives are tied to performance directly (such as with monetary bonuses) rather than indirectly.

4. Self-Concordance. A recent outgrowth of self-determination theory is self-concordance, which considers how strongly people’s reasons for pursuing goals are consistent with their interests and core values.

a. If individuals pursue goals because of an intrinsic interest, they are more likely to attain their goals and are happy even if they do not. Why? Because the process of striving toward them is fun.

5. OB research suggests that people who pursue work goals for intrinsic reasons are more satisfied with their jobs, feel like they fit into their organizations better, and may perform better.

6. What does all this mean?

a. It means choose your job for reasons other than extrinsic rewards.

b. For organizations, it means managers should provide intrinsic as well as extrinsic incentives.

1) They need to make the work interesting, provide recognition, and support employee growth and development. Employees who feel what they do is within their control and a result of free choice are likely to be more motivated by their work and committed to their employers.

· Goal-Setting Theory.

1. Goal-setting theory studies the effects goal specificity, challenge, and feedback have on performance. The study of goal setting has created the following general rules:

2. Difficulty and Feedback Dimensions. Specific goals produce a higher level of output than do generalized goals.

3. Typically, the more difficult the goal, the higher level of performance, assuming that goal has been accepted by the employee. This is because:

a. Difficult goals focus attention on the task and away from distractions.

b. Difficult goals energize employees.

c. Difficult goals tend to make people persist in efforts toward attaining them.

d. Difficult goals force employees to discover strategies to help them perform the task or job more effectively.

4. Feedback is important in goal-setting theory, especially self-generated feedback.

5. The question of whether participative goal setting increases motivation has not yet been resolved. The assumption is that when employees are involved in setting the goals, they have greater buy-in and therefore will have a higher level of commitment. When employees don’t participate in goal setting, the manager must take pains to explain the purpose and importance of the goal.

6. Goal Commitment, Task Characteristics, and National Culture Factors.

a. Goal Commitment. Commitment increases when goals are made public, when the individual has an internal locus of control, and when goals are self-set rather than assigned.

b. Task Characteristics. Goals are better in terms of performance on simple rather than complex tasks, when tasks are familiar, and when they are accomplished by a single individual.

c. National Culture. Goal-setting theory is culture-bound. It is important that the key components of goal-setting theory match the culture traits.

7. Individual and Promotion Foci. Research has found that people differ in the way they regulate their thoughts and behaviors during goal pursuit. Generally, people fall into one of two categories, though they could belong to both.

a. Those with a promotion focus strive for advancement and accomplishment, and they approach conditions that move them closer toward desired goals.

b. Those with a prevention focus strive to fulfill duties and obligations and avoid conditions that pull them away from desired goals.

c. Ideally, it’s probably best to be both promotion and prevention oriented.

8. Goal-Setting Implementation. One of the more effective ways to formalize goal-setting theory into an organization is through management by objectives (MBO). MBO emphasizes participatively set goals that are tangible, verifiable, and measurable. MBO operationalizes the concept of objectives by devising a process by which objectives cascade down through the organization. The result of MBO is a hierarchy of objectives that build toward organizational objectives. It also provides specific performance goals for individuals.

a. Four ingredients common to MBO programs:

1) goal specificity,

2) participation in decision making,

3) an explicit time period, and

4) performance feedback.

9. Goal Setting and Ethics. The relationship between goal setting and ethics is quite complex: If we emphasize the attainment of goals, what is the cost? The answer is probably found in the standards we set for goal achievement.

a. For example, when money is tied to goal attainment, we may focus on getting the money and become willing to compromise ourselves ethically.

b. If instead we are primed with thoughts about how we are spending our time when we are pursuing the goal, we are more likely to act ethically.

Other Contemporary Theories of Motivation

· Self-Efficacy Theory.

1. elf-efficacy theory (also known as social cognitive theory or social learning theory). Typically, people with high self-efficacy respond better to challenges and negative feedback than those with low self-efficacy. Self-efficacy: an individual's belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.

2. Goal-setting theory and self-efficacy theory complement each other. When managers set difficult goals for employees, this leads employees to have a higher level of self-efficacy and they set higher goals on their own. This is because when managers set difficult goals for people, it communicates their confidence in those people.

3. Increasing Self-Efficacy in Yourself. Four ways self-efficacy can be increased:

a. Enactive Mastery: gaining relevant experience with the task or job. Past success in a task increases future confidence.

b. Vicarious Modeling: becoming more confident because another person is observed doing the task.

c. Verbal Persuasion: confidence gained because another person convinces the target individual of the target's abilities.

d. Arousal: an energized state, which may drive a person to complete a task. Not always effective in tasks that require detail-orientation or finesse.

4. Personality and intelligence. While not part of self-efficacy theory, intelligence, conscientiousness, and emotional stability have all been shown to increase self-efficacy. In fact, the relationship is so strong that some researchers believe that self-efficacy itself is merely a reflection of the effects of a highly confident personality.

5. Influencing Self-Efficacy in Others. The best way for a manager to use verbal persuasion is through the Pygmalion effect, a term based on the Greek myth about a sculptor (Pygmalion) who fell in love with a statue he carved.

a. The Pygmalion effect is a form of self-fulfilling prophecy in which believing something can make it true. Here, it is often used to describe that what one person expects can come to serve a self-fulfilling prophecy.

b. Training programs often make use of enactive mastery by having people practice and build their skills. In fact, one reason training works is that it increases self-efficacy, particularly when the training is interactive and feedback is given afterward.

· Reinforcement Theory.

1. Goal setting is a cognitive approach, proposing that individuals’ purposes direct their actions.

2. Reinforcement theory, in contrast, takes a behavioristic view, arguing that reinforcement conditions behavior.

3. The two theories are clearly philosophically at odds. Reinforcement theorists see behavior as environmentally caused.

a. You need not be concerned, they would argue, with internal cognitive events; what controls behavior are reinforcers—any consequences that, when they immediately follow responses, increase the probability that the behavior will be repeated.

4. Reinforcement theory ignores the inner state of the individual and concentrates solely on what happens when he or she takes some action.

a. Because it is not concerned with what initiates behavior, it is not, strictly speaking, a theory of motivation.

b. But it does provide a powerful means of analyzing what controls behavior, and this is why we typically consider reinforcement concepts in discussions of motivation.

5. Operant Conditioning/Behaviorism and Reinforcement. Operant conditioning theory, probably the most relevant component of reinforcement theory for management, argues that people learn to behave a certain way to either get something they want or to avoid something they don’t want.

a. Unlike reflexive or unlearned behavior, operant behavior is influenced by the reinforcement or lack of reinforcement brought about by consequences.

1) The concept of operant conditioning was one of B.F. Skinner’s broader concepts of behaviorism, which argues that behavior follows stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner.

6. Social-Learning Theory and Reinforcement. Individuals can learn by being told or by observing what happens to other people, as well as through direct experience.

a. Much of what we have learned comes from watching models—parents, teachers, peers, film and television performers, bosses, and so forth. The view that we can learn through both observation and direct experience is called social-learning theory.

b. Although social-learning theory is an extension of operant conditioning—that is, it assumes behavior is a function of consequences—it also acknowledges the effects of observational learning and perception.

c. People respond to the way they perceive and define consequences, not to the objective consequences themselves.

· Equity Theory — Organizational Justice.

1. quity theory holds that motivation can be affected by the comparisons employees make of their job inputs (effort, experience, education, confidence) and the job's outcomes (salary levels, raises, recognition) relative to the inputs and outcomes of other employees. If the ratios of inputs to outputs are roughly equal between employees, a state of equity is said to exist.

2. Based on equity theory, employees who perceive inequity will make one of six choices:

a. Change inputs (exert less effort if underpaid or more if overpaid).

b. Change outcomes (individuals paid on a piece-rate basis can increase their pay by producing a higher quantity of units at a lower quality).

c. Distort perceptions of self (“I used to think I worked at a moderate pace, but now I realize I work a lot harder than everyone else.”).

d. Distort perceptions of others (“Mike’s job isn’t as desirable as I thought.”).

e. Choose a different referent (“I may not make as much as my brother-in-law, but I’m doing a lot better than my Dad did when he was my age.”).

f. Leave the field (quit the job).

3. Although equity theory’s propositions have not all held up, the hypothesis served as an important precursor to the study of organizational justice, or more simply, fairness, in the workplace.

a. Organizational justice is concerned with how employees feel authorities and decision makers treat them. For the most part, employees evaluate how fairly they are treated along four dimensions.

4. Distributive Justice. Distributive justice is concerned with the fairness of the outcome, such as pay and recognition that employees receive.

5. Procedural Justice. Procedural justice focuses on the fairness of the process used to distribute rewards. The two key elements of procedural justice are:

a. Employees perceive that procedures are fairer when they are given a say in the decision-making process. Having direct influence over how decisions are made, or at the very least being able to present your opinion to decision makers, creates a sense of control and makes us feel empowered.

b. Employees perceive that procedures are fairer when decision makers follow several rules. It is important that managers be consistent, unbiased, use accurate information, and are open to appeals for procedural justice to work.

c. In the absence of distributive justice, research has shown that procedural justice becomes more important to employees.

6. Informational Justice. Informational justice reflects whether managers provide employees with explanations for key decisions and keep them informed of important organizational matters. The more detailed and candid managers are with employees, the more fairly treated those employees feel.

a. Though it may seem obvious that managers should be honest with their employees and not keep them in the dark about organizational matters, many managers are hesitant to share information. This is especially the case with bad news, which is uncomfortable for both the manager delivering it and the employee receiving it.

b. Explanations for bad news are beneficial when they take the form of post hoc excuses rather than justifications.

7. Interpersonal Justice. Interpersonal justice reflects the individual's perception of the degree to which he or she is treated with dignity, concern, and respect. This is a more interpersonal view of justice, normally related directly between supervisor and employee.

8. Justice Outcomes. When employees feel fairly treated, they respond in a number of positive ways.

a. All four types of justice have been linked to higher levels of task performance and citizenship behaviors such as helping coworkers, as well as lower levels of counterproductive behaviors such as shirking job duties.

b. Distributive and procedural justice are more strongly associated with task performance, while informational and interpersonal justice are more strongly associated with citizenship behavior. Even more physiological outcomes, such as how well employees sleep and the state of their health have been linked to fair treatment.

9. Ensuring Justice. How can an organization affect the justice perceptions and rule adherence of its managers? This depends upon the motivation of each manager.

a. It might be tempting for organizations to adopt strong justice guidelines in attempts to mandate managerial behavior, but this isn’t likely to be universally effective.

b. In cases where managers have more rules and less discretion, those who calculate justice are more likely to act fairly, but managers whose justice behavior follows from their affect may act more fairly when they have greater discretion.

· Culture and Justice. Across nations, the same basic principles of procedural justice are respected, and workers around the world prefer rewards based on performance and skills over rewards based on seniority.

a. One large-scale study of over 190,000 employees in 32 countries and regions suggested that justice perceptions are most important to people in countries with individualistic, feminine, uncertainty-avoidance, and low power-distance values.

b. Organizations can tailor programs to meet these justice expectations.

· Expectancy Theory.

1. The widely accepted expectancy theory explains motivation as a coupling of three beliefs:

a. Effort will lead to a good performance appraisal,

b. Good appraisals will lead to organizational rewards, and

c. Organizational rewards will satisfy the employee's personal goals.

d. The relationship between these three beliefs and the strength of the links between them are the focus of this theory.

2. The Three Key Relationships:

a. Effort-Performance Relationship.

1) The probability perceived by the individual that exerting a given amount of effort leads to successful performance.

2) If the employee believes that effort will not result in successful performance or that the performance will not be accurately reflected in the performance appraisal, little effort will be expended.

b. Performance-Reward Relationship.

1) The degree to which the individual believes that performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome. Unless the relationship between strong performance appraisals and rewards is clear, little effort will be expended to achieve those high appraisal marks.

c. Rewards-Personal Goals Relationship.

1) The degree to which organizational rewards satisfy an individual's personal goals (or needs) and the attractiveness of those potential rewards for the individual.

2) Unless organizational rewards are tailored to individual employee wants and needs, they will not be very motivational and little effort will be expended.

d. While the research results are mixed, there is reasonable support for this theory.

1) It may be considered somewhat idealistic, considering the current realities of the workplace.

2) This theory may explain why such a large portion of the workforce exhibits low levels of effort in carrying out job responsibilities, as most companies do not reward for performance.

Job Engagement

· Job engagement is the investment of an employee’s physical, cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance.

1. When employees are engaged, organizations have higher levels of productivity, fewer safety incidents, and lower turnover.

2. People are more likely to be engaged in their jobs if they believe that it is meaningful to do so and when there is a match between their values and those of the organization. In addition, leadership behaviors that inspire workers to a greater sense of mission can also increase employee engagement.

3. In some cases, individuals may become so engaged in their work that family responsibilities become an unwelcome intrusion.

Integrating Contemporary Theories of Motivation

· Our job might be simpler if, after presenting a half-dozen theories, we could say only one was found valid. But many of the theories in this chapter are complementary. Exhibit 7-8 integrates much of what we know about motivation.

· We begin by explicitly recognizing that opportunities can either aid or hinder individual effort.

1. Note that the individual effort box on the left also has another arrow leading into it, from the person’s goals. Consistent with goal-setting theory, the goals–effort loop is meant to remind us that goals direct behavior.

· Expectancy theory predicts employees will exert a high level of effort if they perceive strong relationships between effort and performance, performance and reward, and rewards and satisfaction of personal goals. Each of these relationships is, in turn, influenced by other factors.

1. For effort to lead to good performance, the individual must have the ability to perform and perceive the performance appraisal system as fair and objective.

2. The performance–reward relationship will be strong if the individual perceives that performance (rather than seniority, personal favorites, or other criteria) is rewarded.

· If cognitive evaluation theory were fully valid in the actual workplace, we would predict that basing rewards on performance should decrease the individual’s intrinsic motivation.

· The final link in expectancy theory is the rewards–goals relationship. Motivation is high if the rewards for high performance satisfy the dominant needs consistent with individual goals.

· A closer look at Exhibit 7-8 also reveals that the model considers achievement motivation, job design, reinforcement, and equity theories/organizational justice.

1. A high achiever is not motivated by an organization’s assessment of performance or organizational rewards, hence the jump from effort to personal goals for those with high nAch.

2. Remember, high achievers are internally driven as long as their jobs provide them with personal responsibility, feedback, and moderate risks.

3. They are not as concerned with the effort–performance, performance–reward, or rewards–goal linkages.

· Reinforcement theory enters the model by recognizing that the organization’s rewards reinforce the individual’s performance.

1. If employees see a reward system as “paying off” for good performance, the rewards will reinforce and encourage good performance.

2. Rewards also play a key part in organizational justice research. Individuals will judge the favorability of their outcomes (for example, their pay) relative to what others receive but also with respect to how they are treated: When people are disappointed by their rewards, they are likely to be sensitive to the perceived fairness of the procedures used and the consideration given to them by their supervisors.

Summary and Implication for Managers

· Make sure extrinsic rewards for employees are not viewed as coercive, and recognize the importance of intrinsic motivators that appeal to employees’ desires for autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

· Consider goal setting theory: Clear and difficult goals often lead to higher levels of employee productivity.

· Consider reinforcement theory regarding quality and quantity of work, persistence of effort, absenteeism, tardiness, and accident rates.

· Consult equity theory to help understand productivity, satisfaction, absence, and turnover variables.

· Expectancy theory offers a powerful explanation of performance variables such as employee productivity, absenteeism, and turnover.

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