HRMN 495-Mini Case Study 3
matador
MotivationalStrategies.pdf
Motivational Strategies
Here you’ll study two methods for putting motivational theory into
practice: job models and goals. These two practices can be observed in
almost every organization, for‐profit and nonprofit alike. You’ll also see
some examples of how companies are implementing these practices
today.
Job Design and Job Characteristics Theory
Learning Resource
Motivational Strategies
1 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
UMGC (n.d). Motivational Strategies. Retrieved from https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/learning-resource- list/motivational-strategies.html#
Job design is an important prerequisite for motivation in the workplace. A
well‐designed job can encourage positive behaviors and create a strong
infrastructure for employee success. Job design involves specifying the
contents, responsibilities, objectives, and relationships required to satisfy
expectations of the role. Let's look at some established approaches to
help managers doing this thoughtfully and well:
Job Characteristics Theory
Proposed by Hackman and Oldham (1976), job characteristics theory
identifies five core characteristics that managers should keep in mind
when they are designing jobs. They proposed that these dimensions
relate to and help satisfy the employee, resulting in greater job
satisfaction and motivation, and less absenteeism and turnover:
• Skill variety. Doing the same thing day in and day out gets tedious.
The solution is to design jobs with enough variety to stimulate
ongoing interest, growth, and satisfaction.
• Task identity. Being part of a team is motivating, but so is having
some ownership of a set of tasks or part of the process. Having a
clear understanding of what one is responsible for, with some degree
of control over it, is an important motivator.
• Task significance. Feeling relevant to organizational success provides
important motivation for getting a task or job done. Knowing that
one’s contributions are important contributes to a sense of
satisfaction and accomplishment.
• Autonomy. No one likes to be micromanaged, and having some
freedom to be the expert is critical to job satisfaction. Companies
usually hire people for their specialized knowledge. Giving specialists
autonomy to make the right decisions is a win‐win.
• Feedback. Finally, everyone needs objective feedback on how they
are doing and how they can do better. Providing well‐constructed
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
2 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
feedback with tangible outcomes is a key component of job design.
In this TED Talk (https://www.ted.com/talks
/dan_pink_the_puzzle_of_motivation?language=en) , career analyst Dan
Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social
scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional external rewards
aren’t always as effective as we think; those that speak to a person’s
internal motivation are often more potent and lasting.
Psychological States
The following psychological states help employees feel motivated and
satisfied with their work:
• Experienced meaningfulness. This is a positive psychological state
that will be achieved if the first three job dimensions—skill variety,
task identity, and task significance—are in place. All three dimensions
help employees feel that what they do is meaningful.
• Experienced responsibility. Autonomy contributes to a sense of
accountability, which for most people is intrinsically motivating.
• Knowledge of results. Feedback provides a sense of progress,
growth, and personal assessment. Understanding one’s
accomplishments is a healthy state of mind for motivation and
satisfaction.
Work Outcomes
The combination of core job characteristics and psychological states
influences the following work outcomes:
• Job satisfaction. When employees feel that their jobs are meaningful,
their positive psychological state contributes to a sense of
satisfaction.
• Motivation. Employees who experience responsibility in their job, a
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
3 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
sense of ownership over their work, and knowledge of the results
tend to be more highly motivated.
• Decreased absenteeism. When employees are motivated and
satisfied, absenteeism and job turnover decrease.
Overall, the manager’s goal is to design the job so that the core
characteristics complement the worker’s psychological states of the
worker and lead to positive outcomes
Job Design Techniques
As a motivational force in the organization, managers must consider how
to design jobs that lead to empowered, motivated, and satisfied
employees. There are established methods to accomplish this objective:
• Job rotation. Since doing the same exact thing every day isn't
motivating, rotating jobs accomplishes two objectives: increasing
employee satisfaction and broadening employees’ skills.
• Job enlargement (horizontal). Giving employees the autonomy to
step back and assess the quality of their work, improve the efficiency
of their processes, and address mistakes contributes to satisfaction
in the workplace.
• Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Allowing employees autonomy helps
generate intrinsic rewards (e.g., self‐satisfaction) and motivation.
Extrinsic rewards (e.g., time off, a bonus, a commission) are also
motivating.
• Job enrichment (vertical). It’s important for managers to delegate
some of their planning to seasoned employees as they grow into
their roles. By turning over control of work‐task planning to
employees themselves, managers help workers feel a strong sense of
engagement, career progress, and ownership of their work outcomes.
Goal‐Setting Theory
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
4 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
Research shows that people perform better when they are committed to
achieving particular goals. Factors that help ensure commitment to goals
include
• the importance of the expected outcomes;
• self‐efficacy, or the belief that the goal can be achieved; and
• promises to others, which can strengthen commitment.
In a business setting, managers cannot constantly drive employees’
motivation or monitor their work from moment to moment. Instead, they
rely on goal setting to help employees regulate their own performance
and stay on track. Goal setting affects outcomes in the following
important ways:
• Choice. Goals narrow attention and prioritize goal‐relevant activities.
• Effort. Goals can lead to more effort (e.g., raising a worker’s
production from four widgets per hour to six).
• Persistence. People are more likely to work through setbacks if they
are pursuing a goal.
• Cognition. Goals can lead individuals to develop and change their
behavior.
Researcher Edwin Locke and his colleagues examined the behavioral
effects of goal setting, and they found that 90 percent of laboratory and
field studies involving specific and challenging goals led to higher
performance, whereas those with easy or no goals showed minimal
improvement. While some managers believe it is sufficient to urge
employees to “do their best,” these researchers learned that people who
are instructed to do their best generally do not. The reason is that if you
want to elicit a specific behavior, you need to give a clear picture of what
is expected. “Do your best” is too vague. A goal is important because it
establishes a specified direction and performance measure.
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
5 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
You’ll recall from the discussion of SMART objectives that setting
effective goals and identifying the best ways to achieve them are
important aspects of the controlling function of managers. It turns out
that setting SMART goals is also a powerful way to motivate employees,
especially when employees can participate in setting their goals. Specific,
measurable, achievable, realistic, and time‐constrained goals give both
managers and employees clear direction and a way to measure
performance.
Goals and Feedback
Managers need to track performance so employees can see how effective
they have been in attaining their goals. Without proper feedback
channels, employees may find it impossible to adapt or adjust their
behavior. Goal setting and feedback go hand in hand; without feedback,
goal setting is unlikely to work.
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
6 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
Providing feedback on short‐term objectives helps sustain an employee’s
motivation and commitment. When giving feedback, managers should
• create a positive context,
• use constructive and positive language,
• focus on behaviors and strategies,
• tailor feedback to the needs of the individual worker, and
• make feedback a two‐way communication.
Goal setting is also closely tied to performance. Those who set realistic
but challenging goals are likely to perform better than those who do not.
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
7 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
Goal setting may have little effect if employees can’t evaluate their own
performance in relation to their goals. By giving accurate, constructive
feedback, managers can help employees evaluate whether they need to
work harder or change their approach.
Limitations
Although goal‐setting theory is useful in business, it does have
limitations. Using production targets to drive motivation may encourage
workers to meet those targets by any means necessary, resulting in poor
quality or, worse, unethical behavior. You may recall that this was the
case in the Wells Fargo scandal, where employees created millions of fake
bank accounts in order to hit sales targets. Another problem with goal
setting is that a manager’s goals may not be aligned with the
organization’s, and conflict may ensue, or the employees may feel
uncertain about which goals ought to be prioritized—the manager’s or
organization’s? Either way, performance can suffer. In addition, for
complex or creative tasks, it is possible for goal setting to actually hamper
achievement because the individual can become preoccupied with
meeting goals and distracted from completing tasks. This is especially true
if reviews and pay increases are strongly tied to goal achievement.
Videos: Motivation in Today’s Workplace
These videos contain examples of motivational theory at work in today’s
companies. As you watch, see if you recognize any of the theories you’ve
studied. Are they need based or process based? What are the results of
the motivational strategies these companies use?
• Starbucks Gives Employees Free College Education
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO6AWhDy_Ac&
feature=youtu.be)
• Flex Year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W18DXW8gYZA&
feature=youtu.be)
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
8 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
• Container Store Employee Benefits (https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=4hNu98BQFvI&feature=youtu.be)
(https://youtu.be/QO6AWhDy_Ac) (https://youtu.be/W18DXW8gYZA)
Putting It Together: Motivating Employees
Have you ever heard the expression “stubborn as a mule” to describe
someone who won’t change their mind or way of doing things? What
would it take to get this mulish person to change—to work in a different
way that would be more efficient and effective? Now that you have some
motivational theories under your belt, you probably have some ideas.
Being able to motivate people is an invaluable skill—in business and in
life—and it’s not surprising that the most effective leaders and managers
are those who can inspire others to work hard and get things done.
Think about what motivates you, how you motivate others, and which
strategies have worked (or not worked) for you. Can you identify the
motivational theories at work in your own motivations? Do you have a
better understanding of where your own motivation comes from?
One last thought: What motivates you might not motivate the person
working beside you. So, as you interact with people throughout your
personal and professional life, keep in mind that motivation is highly
variable. It doesn’t mean that the theories are wrong or completely
irrelevant—it’s just that everyone is motivated by a different set of needs,
wants, and aspirations. You’ll need to understand those differences to
creatively engage with others. Then, you’ll be well on your way to being
an effective leader and achieving great things.
The Hawthorne Effect
At the Western Electric Hawthorne Works plant in Cicero, Illinois, Elton
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
9 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
Mayo and his colleagues attempted to apply Taylor’s process of scientific
management through experiments in the workplace. Their discoveries are
known as the Hawthorne effect, which occurs when study subjects
change their behavior simply because they are being observed and
treated differently.
Need‐Based Theories
The first theories used to explain human motivation were need based.
These theories proposed that people are mainly motivated by trying to
meet certain needs. If you can understand people’s needs, you can better
motivate them. Among the need‐based theories are Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs, ERG theory, Herzberg’s two‐factor theory, and McClelland’s
acquired‐needs theory.
Process‐Based Theories
Process‐based theories of motivation view motivation as a more rational,
deliberate process. The three best‐known process‐based theories are the
equity, expectancy, and reinforcement theories.
Theory X, Theory Y, and Theory Z
Douglas McGregor theorized that worker motivation is closely linked to
the way managers view and treat their workers and that all managers
subscribe to either theory X or theory Y. Later, William Ouchi combined
Eastern and Western management practices to develop theory Z.
Strategies for Motivating Employees
Two methods of applying motivation theory in the workplace are job
models and goal setting. Beyond these two applications, companies have
become very aware of how motivated employees impact organizational
effectiveness and efficiency.
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
10 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
References
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of
work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human
Performance, 16(2), 250‐279.
doi:10.1016/0030‐5073(76)90016‐7
Licenses and Attributions
Chapter 10: Motivating Employees (https://courses.lumenlearning.com
/wm‐introductiontobusiness/chapter/introduction‐to‐strategies‐for‐
motivating‐employees/) by Linda Williams and Lumen Learning from
Introduction to Business is available under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses
/by/4.0/) license. UMGC has modified this work and it is available
under the original license.
© 2023 University of Maryland Global Campus
All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the
validity or integrity of information located at external sites.
Motivational Strategies https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/umuc/tus/hrmn/hrmn495/2225/lear...
11 of 11 3/17/2023, 5:24 PM
