Chapter 6: Motivation

Positive Valence

"I would prefer having outcome X to not having it."

Negative Valence

"I would prefer not having outcome X to having it."

Zero Valence

"I'm bored...are we still talking about outcome X?"

Motivation

is defined as the set of energetic forces that originates both within and outside an employee, initiates work-related effort, and determines its direction, intensity, and persistence

How important is motivation?

strongest performance effect is self-efficacy/competence b/c people who feel a sense of internal self-confidence tend to outperform those who doubt their capabilities

Equity Theory

suggests that employees create a "mental ledger" of the outcomes (or rewards) they get from their job duties

Specific and Difficult goals

assigning employees with these goals will result in high levels of performance than assigning no goals, easy goals, or "do-your-best" goals

Motivation determines what else?

For how long, or the persistence of effort

Motivation also determines

How hard an employee works-the intensity of effort

Motivations determines what?

What employees do at a given moment-the direction in which their effort is channeled

Instrumentality

a set of subjective probabilities, each ranging from 0 to 1 that successful performance will bring a set of outcomes (abbreviated P ---> O)

Expectancy

a subjective probability, ranging from 0 to 1 that a specific amount of effort will result in a specific level of performance (abbreviated E ---> P)

Equity Theory

acknowledges that motivation doesn't just depend on your own beliefs and circumstances, but also on what happens to other people

Equity Distress

created by any imbalance in ratios-an internal tension that can only be alleviated by restoring balance to the ratios

Self-efficacy

defined as the belief that a person has the capabilities needed to execute the behaviors required for task success (self-confidence or a task-specific version of self-esteem)

Expectancy Theory

describes the cognitive (thought) process that employees go through to make choices among different voluntary responses

2nd most powerful motivating force

difficult goals; people who receive such goals outperform the recipients of easy goals

Comparison Other

equity theory argues that you compare your ratio outcomes and inputs to the ratio of another-some person who seems to provide an intuitive frame of reference for judging equity

weaker effect on task performance?

perceptions of equity

Valence

reflects the anticipated value of the outcomes associated with performance (abbreviated V)

Expectancy

represents the belief that exerting a high level of effort will result in the successful performance of some task

Instrumentality

represents the belief that successful performance will result in some outcome(s)

Goal setting theory

views goals as the primary drivers of the intensity and persistence of effort