Chapter 10
Chapter 10
This chapter points out that effective managers realize the importance of motivating employees. It
looks at some traditional theories of motivation and the relationship between motivation and
performance.
Managers know good people are essential to the company’s success, effective managers know good
people are essential to the company’s success so they spend much time and effort dealing with
human relations issues.
Human relations is the process by which the company manages and motivates people to achieve
effective performance.
Scientific management is the systematic study f the most efficient way to perform a job, training
employees in that method, selecting employees with suitable skills, and redesigning tools used on
the job.
When employees needs are not satisfied, an internal drive is created. Thus, employees might be
motivated by being given rewards that satisfy their needs when they perform the job behaviors their
managers desire.
One problem with motivating employee performance based on satisfying their needs is that when
the reward satisfies the need, the need is no longer unsatisfied. This means that the need-motivated
behavior will not recur until the need is once again unsatisfied.
Psychological needs are the most basic of all human needs. At work, people need adequate heating
and air conditioning, regular pay, and rest periods.
Safety needs is the need for a secure environment. At work, this need can be satisfied by secure jobs,
work rules that promote order, and jobs that are relatively free of hazards.
Social needs are the desire to be accepted by others. At work, these needs can be satisfied by
membership in a work group and by having friendly relationships with coworkers and supervisors.
Esteem needs include the desire to receive recognition and respect from others. At work, these
needs can be satisfied by praise from managers and coworkers.
Self-actualization needs include the desire for fulfillment and realizing all of one’s potential. At work,
jobs that provide opportunities to be creative, grow, make decisions, and use all of one’s talents and
skills generally satisfy this need.
The unique aspect of Maslow’s needs hierarchy is not the five needs themselves but
how they are related to one another
McClelland’s acquired or learned needs
David McClelland proposed that certain needs are not inborn as Maslow suggested; rather, people
acquire or learn them. These needs are:
To use McClelland’s concepts of needs, managers must give employees job assignments that appeal
to employees’ needs. Some employees prefer scientific jobs, some prefer managerial jobs, and some
prefer to work with people.
To be motivated, employees must first not be dissatisfied (hygiene factors are a must)
Job enrichment: the process of adding interest and challenge to job to make them more motivating
to employees.
Job enrichment is a very popular management process and has been successfully used by many
organizations to achieve higher levels of employee motivation and productivity. Some surveys have
found that employees rate interesting jobs far higher than good pay.
Reinforcement theory is a motivation theory of the relationship between a given behavior and its
consequences. How rewards are administered to encourage desired behaviors is the focus of this
theory. The impact that rewards and punishments have on behavior is governed by the law of effect,
which states that behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated, while behavior that is punished
tends to stop.
Positive reinforcement is the act of giving an employee a pleasant, valued consequence following a
desired behavior. Managers expect the reward will increase the likelihood that the employee will
repeat the behavior.
It is extremely important that the consequences be given very soon after the behavior occurs, and
employees should be told why they are being rewarded or punished.
Theory Y assumptions are basically the opposite. Employees like work, do not want to be controlled
or threatened, will seek responsibility, and are imaginative and creative at work.