Organizational Behavior Project

Organizational Behavior

Interdisciplinary field dedicated to better understanding and managing people at work

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LO.1 Contrast Maslow’s, Alderfer’s, and McClelland’s need theories.

LO.2 Explain the practical significance of Herzberg’s distinction between motivators and

hygiene factors.

LO.3 Discuss the role of perceived inequity in employee motivation.

LO.4 Explain the differences among distributive, procedural, and interactional justice.

LO.5 Describe the practical lessons derived from equity theory.

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Motivation

psychological processes cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal directed

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Content theories of motivation

focus on identifying internal factors such as instincts, needs, satisfaction, and job characteristics that energize employee motivation.

Process theories of motivation

focus on explaining the process by which internal factors and cognitions influence employee motivation

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Table 8–1 provides an overview of the various content and process theories

discussed in this chapter. As you study these seven theories, remember that they

offer different recommendations about how to motivate employees because they

are based on different sets of assumptions regarding the causes of motivation.

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Motivation is a function of five basic needs – physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization

Human needs emerge in a predictable stair-step fashion

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Maslow proposed that motivation is a function of

five basic needs. These needs are

1. Physiological. Most basic need. Entails having enough food, air, and water to

survive.

2. Safety. Consists of the need to be safe from physical and psychological harm.

3. Love. The desire to be loved and to love. Contains the needs for affection and

belonging.

4. Esteem. Need for reputation, prestige, and recognition from others. Also

contains need for self-confidence and strength.

5. Self-actualization. Desire for self-fulfillment—to become the best one is capable

of becoming.

Maslow said these five needs are arranged in the prepotent hierarchy shown

in Figure 8–1 .

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Existence needs (E)

the desire for physiological and materialistic wellbeing;

Relatedness needs (R)

the desire to have meaningful relationships with significant others

Growth needs (G)

the desire to grow as a human being and to use one’s abilities to their fullest potential

Managers should keep in mind that employees may be motivated

to pursue lower-level needs because they are frustrated with a higher-order need.

People are motivated

by different needs at different times in their lives

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Need for achievement

Desire to accomplish something difficult.

Need for affiliation

spend more time maintaining social relationships, joining groups, and wanting to be loved

Need for power

Desire to Influence, coach, teach, or encourage others to achieve.

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The answer is “B” – achievement. See next slide.

AACSB:  Group-individual dynamics Bloom's Taxonomy:  Application Difficulty:  Medium Page:  148

Herzberg hypothesized that motivators

cause a person to move from a state of no satisfaction to satisfaction (see Figure 8–2 ).

Therefore, Herzberg’s theory predicts managers can motivate individuals by incorporating

“motivators” into an individual’s job. At best, according to Herzberg’s interpretation, an

individual will experience no job dissatisfaction when he or she has no grievances

about hygiene factors (refer to Figure 8–2 ).

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Motivators

job characteristics associated with job satisfaction

Hygiene factors

job characteristics associated with job dissatisfaction

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Negative inequity

Comparison in which another person receives greater outcomes for similar inputs.

Positive inequity

Comparison in which another person receives lesser outcomes for similar inputs.

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Equity theory

model of motivation that explains how people strive for fairness and justice in social exchanges or give-and-take relationships

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The correct answer is “C” – positive inequity.

AACSB:  Group-individual dynamics Bloom's Taxonomy:  Application

Difficulty:  Hard Page:  214-5

Goals direct attention

Goals regulate effort

Goals increase persistence

Goals foster the development and application of task strategies and action plans

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• Specific high goals lead to greater performance

Goal specificity – quantifiability of a goal

• Feedback enhances the effect of specific, difficult goals
• Participative goals, assigned goals, and self-set goals are equally effective.

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• Action planning facilitates goal accomplishment.

Action plan outlines the activities or tasks that need to be accomplished in order to obtain a goal.

• Goal commitment and monetary incentives affect goal-setting outcomes

Goal commitment – extent to which an individual is personally committed to achieving a goal

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The correct answer is “C” - goal

AACSB:  Group-individual dynamics Bloom's Taxonomy:  Application

Difficulty:  Easy Page:  222

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Employees today are knowledge workers and new generations are entering the workforce. This requires employers to provide different and often creative incentives to be motivated. Employers can’t simply tell their employees to do it or else… The labor market will soon be a sellers market favoring the worker - employers have to retain their employees and keep them happy…

Employers are offering their employees everything from food items to barbeque grills to vacation packages as incentive. As illustrated in the video case, a little personal touch by way of a picture of the employee on a chocolate is sure to “sweeten them up”…

Motivation is crucial to the organization’s survival. We are in a global marketplace and organizational efficiency and effectiveness is necessary for its survival in these market conditions. The key to efficiency and effectiveness is the employee - it is the employee who makes the organization run and if they are not motivated, the firm will not be as good as it could be…

Despite the fact that reward systems vary widely, it is possible to identify and

interrelate some common components. The model in Figure 9–2 focuses on three

important components: (1) types of rewards, (2) distribution criteria, and (3) desired

outcomes.

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Extrinsic rewards

financial, material, or social rewards from the environment

Intrinsic rewards

self-granted, psychic rewards

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The correct answer is “D” - intrinsically

AACSB:  Group-individual dynamics

Bloom's Taxonomy:  Application Difficulty:  Hard Page:  250

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1. Too much emphasis on monetary rewards.

2. Rewards lack an “appreciation effect.”

3. Extensive benefits become entitlements.

4. Counterproductive behavior is rewarded. (For example, “a pizza delivery

company focused its rewards on the on-time performance of its drivers, only

to discover that it was inadvertently rewarding reckless driving.”) 68

5. Too long a delay between performance and rewards.

6. Too many one-size-fits-all rewards.

7. Use of one-shot rewards with a short-lived motivational impact.

8. Continued use of demotivating practices such as layoffs, across-the-board

raises and cuts, and excessive executive compensation.

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Pay for performance

monetary incentives linking at least some portion of the paycheck directly to results or accomplishments

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Tie praise, recognition, and noncash awards to specific results.

Make pay for performance an integral part of the organization’s basic strategy

Base incentive determinations on objective performance data.

Have all employees actively participate in the development, implementation, and revision of the performance-pay formulas

Reward teamwork and cooperation whenever possible

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This questions is almost impossible to universally answer. The answer will be directly tied to one’s view of work as well as their generation. One has to consider that we have a knowledge based economy today and there is often times no tangible product of our work. People from the days of a manufacturing economy may just not be able to recognize the products of a knowledge worker as being productivity.

One could argue that more is expected of workers today given that technology can serve as an electronic leash for some people. As mentioned in the case, people allow their social life to bleed into their work life and their work life to bleed into their home life. In the past, when the worker left work, they were done for the day.

The question concerning whether or not we are less productive today is also difficult to answer. This may also be the product of one’s vantage point (i.e. what generation they belong to).

Work today is very different than it was in the past. As previously mentioned, we are working in a knowledge based economy that has different products of “labor” than did a manufacturing economy. This could certainly be part of the issue as was previously mentioned.