Chapter 9

Employees Motivation
Hernandez, Rudy A.
 work motivation as the internal force that drives a worker to action as well as the external factors
that encourage that action (Locke & Latham, 2002).
 Ability and skill determine whether a worker can do the job, but motivation determines whether the
worker will do it properly. Although actually testing the relationship between motivation and
performance is difficult,
 psychologists generally agree that increased worker motivation results in increased job
performance.
 Three individual
difference traits

INTRINSIC NEED FOR

SELF-ESTEEM
MOTIVATION ACHIEVEMENT
Self-Esteem

 Self-esteem is the extent to which a person views himself as valuable and worthy.
 In the 1970s, Korman (1970,1976)) theorized that employees high in self-esteem are
more motivated and will perform better than employees low in self-esteem.
 According to Korman’s consistency theory, there is a positive correlation between self-
esteem and performance. That is, employees who feel good about themselves are
motivated to perform better at work than employees who do not feel that they are
valuable and worthy people.
 employees try to perform at levels consistent with their self-esteem level. This desire to
perform at levels consistent with self-esteem is compounded by the fact that
employees with low self-esteem tend to underestimate their actual ability and
performance (Lindeman, Sundvik, & Rouhiainen, 1995).
Three types of self-esteem.

Chronic self-esteem Situational self-esteem

 Situational self-esteem (also called self-
 Chronic self-esteem is a person’s overall
efficacy) is a person’s feeling about himself in
feeling about himself.
a particular situation such as operating a
machine or talking to other people

Socially influenced self-esteem

 Socially influenced self-esteem is how a person

feels about himself on the basis of the
expectations of others.
Self-Esteem Workshops

 To increase self-esteem, employees can attend workshops in which they are given insights into
their strengths. It is thought that these insights raise self-esteem by
 showing employees that they have several strengths and are good people. Outdoor experiential
training is another approach to increasing self-esteem (Clements, Wagner, & Roland, 1995). In
training programs such as Outward Bound or the “ropes course,” participants learn that they are
emotionally and physically strong enough to be successful and to meet challenges.
Experience with Success

 With the experience-with-success approach, an employee is given a task so easy that he will
almost certainly succeed. It is thought that this success increases self-esteem, which should
increase performance, which further increases selfesteem, which further increases performance,
and so on. This method is based loosely on the principle of the self-fulfilling prophecy, which
states that an individual will perform as well or as poorly as he expects to perform.
 This relationship between self-expectations and performance is called the Galatea effect.
Supervisor Behavior

 train supervisors to communicate a feeling of confidence in an employee. The idea

here is that if an employee feels that a manager has confidence in him, his self-esteem
will increase, as will his performance. Such a process is known as the Pygmalion effect
 Golem effect occurs when negative expectations of an individual cause a decrease in
that individual’s actual performance
 The Pygmalion and Golem effects can be explained by the idea that our expectations of
others’ performance lead us to treat them differently
Intrinsic Motivation

 intrinsically motivated, they will seek to perform well because they either enjoy performing the
actual tasks or enjoy the challenge of successfully completing the task.
 When they are extrinsically motivated, they don’t particularly enjoy the tasks but are motivated to
perform well to receive some type of reward or to avoid negative consequences
Employee’s Values and Expectations

 Our work motivation and job satisfaction are determined by the discrepancy between what we
want, value, and expect and what the job actually provides.
 Potential discrepancies between what employees want and what the job gives them affect how
motivated and satisfied employees will be with their jobs
Job Expectations

 A discrepancy between what an employee expected a job to be like and the reality of the job can
affect motivation and satisfaction.
 Employees compare what the organization promised to do for them (e.g., provide a computer,
support continued education) with what the organization actually does.
 Though being honest about the negative aspects of a job may reduce the applicant pool, it
decreases the chances of hiring a person who will later lose motivation or become dissatisfied.
Job Characteristics

 employees desire jobs that are meaningful, provide them with the opportunity to be personally
responsible for the outcome of their work (autonomy), and provide them with feedback of the
results of their efforts
 jobs will have motivation potential if they allow employees to use a variety of skills (skill variety)
and to connect their efforts to an outcome (task identification) which has meaning, is useful, or is
appreciated by coworkers as well as by others in society (task significance).
Needs, Values, and Wants

 A discrepancy between an employee’s needs, values, and wants, and what a job offers can also
lead to low levels of motivation and satisfaction
Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy

 Most famous theory of motivation was developed by Abraham Maslow

 It is helpful to look at a hierarchy as if it were a staircase that is climbed one step at a time until
the top is reached.
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Basic Biological Needs Ego Needs

 an individual first seeks to satisfy basic  These are needs for recognition and success,
biological needs for food, air, water, and and an organization can help to satisfy them
shelter. through praise, awards, promotions, salary
Safety Needs increases, publicity, and many other ways.

 a job that merely provides food and shelter

will no longer be satisfying. Employees then Self-Actualization Needs
become concerned about meeting their  “Be all that you can be.” An employee striving
safety needs. for self-actualization wants to reach her
potential in every task.
Social Needs
 working with others, developing friendships,
and feeling needed.
Employees Achievable Goals

 For goal setting to be most successful, the goals themselves should possess certain qualities
represented by the acronym SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound
 Specific Difficult but Attainable
 Properly set goals are concrete and specific.  Properly set goals are high but attainable
 The more specific the goal, the greater the Relevant
productivity.
 Properly set goals are also relevant.
 The problem with such a goal is its ambiguity
and lack of specific guidelines. Time-Bound
 Goals work best when there is a time frame
Measurable for their completion.
 Properly set goals are measurable. Employee’s Participation
 only 40% of the goals set by employees were
 although performance would increase if the
measurable
supervisor set the employee’s goal, it would
increase even more if the employee
participated.
Employees Receiving Feedback on Their
Goal Progress

 To increase the effectiveness of goal setting, feedback should be provided to employees on their
progress in reaching their goals
 Feedback can include verbally telling employees how they are doing, placing a chart on a wall, or
using nonverbal communication such as smiles, glares, and pats on the back. Feedback best
increases performance when it is positive and informational rather than negative and controlling
 supervisors should indicate their willingness to provide feedback and then reinforce employees
who seek it
 Feedback is constructive when it is given positively with the goal of encouraging and reinforcing
positive behavior. F
Self-Regulation Theory

 Employees monitor their own progress toward attaining goals and then make the necessary
adjustments; that is, they self-regulate.
 With multiple complex goals, self-regulation becomes more difficult, and employees must make
a conscious effort to be aware of their goals, monitor their goal progress, and set priorities
Employees Reward for Achieving Goals

 provide an incentive for employees to accomplish the goals set by an organization.

 Working overtime or on weekends, making suggestions, referring applicants, staying with the company
(length-of-service awards), coming to work (attendance bonuses), not getting into accidents, and
performing at a high level
 The basis for these incentive systems are operant conditioning principles, which state that employees
will engage in behaviors for which they are rewarded and avoid behaviors for which they’re
punishment.
 Six factors must be considered in determining the effectiveness of incentive programs:
 timing of the incentive
1. contingency of the consequences
2. type of incentive used
3. use of individual-based versus group-based incentives
4. use of positive incentives (rewards) versus negative incentives (punishment)
5. fairness of the reward system (equity).
Timing of the Incentive

 Research indicates that a reinforcer or a punisher is most effective if it occurs soon after the
performance of the behavior.
Contingency of Consequences

 If the reward or punishment cannot be administered immediately, the employee must be told the
purpose of the consequence so that the link between behavior and outcome is clear.
Type of Incentive Used

 The discussion of Maslow’s hierarchy, different employees have different values, which is why
supervisors should have access to and be trained to administer different types of reinforcers. For
example, some employees can be rewarded with praise, others with awards, others with
interesting work, and still others with money
 Found that financial, nonfinancial, and social rewards all resulted in increased levels of
performance. It is important to conduct periodic employee surveys about what employees want
because supervisors and employees often have different ideas about what is rewarding and
important
 The need for variety in rewards is also true of punishment. Threatening an employee with a
three-day suspension will be effective only if he needs the money or doesn’t like being off work
Premack Principle

 Reinforcement is relative and that a supervisor can reinforce an employee with something that on
the surface does not appear to be a reinforcer. The best way to explain this principle is to
construct a reinforcement hierarchy on which an employee lists his preferences for a variety of
reinforcers.
 Premack Principle—rewarding performance of a very boring task by allowing us to perform a less
boring task.
Financial Rewards

 A compensation plan should include base pay and a benefits package to provide employees with
security; salary adjustments to cover such conditions as undesirable shifts and geographic areas
with high costs of living; and variable pay to provide an incentive to perform better.
 bonuses or prizes
Recognition

 many organizations reward employee behavior through recognition programs.

 In some organizations, recognition awards are given by peers.
 Informal recognition programs, called social recognition, can prove to be tremendous sources of
employee motivation. Social recognition consists of personal attention, signs of approval (e.g.,
smiles, head nods), and expressions of appreciation
Travel

 Offering travel awards

Individual Versus Group Incentives

 Individual Incentive Plans

 designed to make high levels of individual performance financially worthwhile
 Individual incentives help reduce such group problems as social loafing

 Three main problems

 difficulty in measuring individual performance.
 individual incentive plans can foster competition among employees.
 an incentive plan to effectively motivate employees, it is essential that employees understand the
incentive system.
Pay for performance

 Also called earnings-at-risk (EAR) plans, pay-for-performance plans pay employees according to
how much they individually produce. Simple pay-for- performance systems with which you are
probably familiar include commission (being paid for each unit of something sold) and piecework
(being paid for each unit of something produced).
Merit Pay

 merit pay systems base their incentives on performance appraisal scores

 merit pay is a potentially good technique for jobs in which productivity is difficult to measure.
Group Incentive Plans

 to get employees to participate in the success or failure of the organization. Rather than
encouraging individual competition, these plans reward employees for reaching group goals.
 The problems with group incentive plans are that they can encourage social loafing and can get
so complicated that they become difficult to explain to employees.
Profit Sharing

 provide employees with a percentage of profits above a certain amount.

 The profits to be shared can be paid directly to employees as a bonus (cash plans) or placed into
the employees’ retirement fund (deferred plans). Profit sharing will motivate employees only if
they understand the link between performance and profits and believe that the company has a
reasonable chance of making a profit.
Gainsharing

 ties groupwide financial incentives to improvements (gains) in organizational performance.

Stock Options

 most complicated organizational incentive plan

 employees are given the opportunity to purchase stock in the future, typically at the market price
on the day the options were granted. Usually stock options vest over a certain period of time and
must be exercised within a maximum time frame. The idea is that as a company does well, the
value of its stock increases, as does the employee’s profit.
 Stock options allow employees to share in the long-term success of an organization.
Expectancy Theory

 influential theory of worker motivation that integrates many of the factors

Reward Versus Punishment

 Though many psychologists advise against punishment, it is common, and managers generally
believe it to be effective
 Proponents of using punishment to change employee behavior argue that if applied properly,
punishment not only reduces undesired behaviors in a particular employee but also sets an
example for other employees.
 Opponents of punishment argue that punishment changes behavior only in the short run, does
not teach an employee proper behaviors, and causes resentment.
Are Rewards and Resources Given Equitably?

 extent to which employees perceive that they are being treated fairly.
 Equity theory is based on the premise that our levels of motivation and job satisfaction are
related to how fairly we believe we are treated in comparison with others.
 3 components involved in perception of faireness
 Inputs are those personal elements that we put into our jobs.
 Outputs are those elements that we receive from our jobs. A list of obvious outputs includes
pay, benefits, challenge, and responsibility. Less obvious outputs are benefits such as friends
and office furnishings.
 input/output ratio by dividing output value by input value.
Other Employees Motivated

 Employees observe the levels of motivation and satisfaction of other employees and then model
those levels.
Thank You