Motivating Employees (Theory & Practice)

Fairness Theory

- Expands on equity theory - Three perceptions of fairness: 1) Distributive: equity theory 2) Procedural: ways to decide 3) Interactive: kindness, respect RELEVANCE TO MANAGERS: efforts to be fair multi-faceted, helps avoid serious problems.

Goals work best when:

- Goals are difficult & specific - Person is committed to pursuit - Person has confidence in attainment - Feedback is provided - Task is fairly well learned

Job Performance =

Ability (can do) x Motivation (will do) x Situational Constraints

What practical steps can managers take to use expectancy theory to motivate employees?

First, they can systematically gather information to find out what employees want from their jobs. Second, managers can take specific steps to link rewards to individual performance in a way that is clear and understandable to employees Finally, managers should empower employees to make decisions if management really wants them to believe that their hard work and effort will lead to good performance.

How managers should correctly administer punishment in order to reduce backlash

Managers should correctly administer punishment in order to reduce backlash. To be effective, punishment must be administered each time the unwanted behavior occurs and as soon as possible following the undesirable behavior. The punishment should also be strong enough to stop the undesired behavior, apply to all employees, and coincide with a clear explanation as to what the desired behavior is. Ex. As a result, you should advise Aida to punish every instance of tardiness and soon after it happens.

McClelland's Theory of Needs

McClelland's Learned Needs Theory suggests that people are motivated by: - the need for affiliation (nAff) (to be liked and accepted), - the need for achievement (nAch)(to accomplish challenging goals), or - the need for power (nPow) (to influence others) McClelland argues that the degree to which particular needs motivate varies tremendously from person to person, with some people being motivated primarily by achievement and others by power or affiliation.

Instrumentality

Perceived relationship between performance and rewards.

Latham and Baldes study (what did it show?)

Showed that: 1) there was a drastic increase in performance once a goal was set 2) performance was sustained seven years after goal set.

Valence

Simply the attractiveness or desirability of various rewards or outcomes.

What practical steps can managers take to use equity theory to motivate employees?

They can start by looking for and correcting major inequities. Among other things, equity theory makes us aware that an employee's sense of fairness is based on subjective perceptions. Second, managers can reduce employees' inputs. Increasing outcomes is often the first and only strategy that companies use to restore equity, yet reducing employee inputs is just as viable a strategy. Finally, managers should make sure decision-making processes are fair. Equity theory focuses on distributive justice, the perceived degree to which outcomes and rewards are fairly distributed or allocated.

Equity Theory

a theory that states that people will be motivated when they perceive that they are being treated fairly

Evaluate

assessing the extent to which the intervention actually changed workers' behavior.

Analyze

studying the causes and consequences of these behaviors.

Individual motivation

the set of forces that initiates, directs, and makes people persist in their efforts to accomplish a goal

Extrinsic rewards

those that are tangible and visible to others, like having equity in a company that becomes vested after a year of employment or receiving compensation for a successful trip

Intrinsic rewards

less visible to others and are natural rewards a person associates with performing a job for its own sake, like being excited about planned trips, the belief that taking people on trips is a worthwhile endeavor, and having fun at your job.

Variable ratio schedule of reinforcement

- With a variable ratio schedule, consequences follow a different number of behaviors that vary around an average number of behaviors. - This means sometimes a smaller number of behaviors must be performed to gain a consequence and sometimes more. Ex. Aida is following this schedule by docking pay after an average of five instances of tardiness.

Alderfer's ERG Theory

A human needs theory postulating that people have three basic sets of needs that can operate simultaneously - (E) existence (safety and physiological needs), - (R) relatedness (belongingness), and - (G) growth (esteem and self-actualization realize full potential) - By contrast, Alderfer says that people can be motivated by more than one need at a time. - Furthermore, he suggests that people are just as likely to move down the needs hierarchy as up, particularly when they are unable to achieve satisfaction at the next higher need level.

Goal specificity

Ex. Prob: Vonda is frustrated with her manager, Glenda. Last week, when Vonda asked about Glenda's expectations, Glenda said, "Just do your best." But Vonda doesn't know exactly what to do, and as a result, she isn't very motivated. Cause: Vonda is frustrated with her manager, Glenda. Last week, when Vonda asked about Glenda's expectations, Glenda said, "Just do your best." But Vonda doesn't know exactly what to do, and as a result, she isn't very motivated.

Goal acceptance

Indicates employee buy-in for goals. Employees are more committed to goals when they have helped set them and when they feel that the goals are attainable. Ex. Prob: Lyle's manager just handed him a list of goals for the year. Because Lyle had no say in setting these goals, he isn't sure that they are the right ones for him, and as a result, he isn't very motivated to accomplish them. Cause: Lyle is having a problem with goal acceptance. When employees understand and agree to goals, they are better motivated to accomplish them.

Maslow's need theory

Suggests that people are motivated by: - physiological (food and water), - safety (physical and economic), - belongingness (friendship, love, social interaction), - esteem (achievement and recognition), and - self-actualization (realizing your full potential) needs. - Needs are arranged in a hierarchy from low (physiological) to high (self-actualization). - Within this hierarchy, people are motivated by their lowest unsatisfied need. - As each need is met, they work their way up the hierarchy from physiological to self-actualization needs

Expectancy theory (Sec. 13-3a) (Text only)

The theory that motivation will be high when workers believe that high levels of effort lead to high performance and high performance leads to the attainment of desired outcomes. - Employees are energized to take action when rewards are attractive (valence) and linked to performance (instrumentality). - This means that employees are motivated to work hard when they are given rewards that they want. - This intended effort is then converted to actual work when employees believe that their hard work will actually allow them to perform their jobs successfully (expectancy).

What practical steps can managers take to use reinforcement theory to motivate employees?

There are five steps to motivating workers with reinforcement theory: Identify, measure, analyze, intervene, and evaluate critical performance-related behaviors.

Greenberg study

When employees feel that they are not being treated fair they will steal form you People will be more accepting of unfair outcomes if they feel like there is lot of procedural fairness

Reinforcement Theory (sec. 13-1b) (Text only)

behavior is a function of its consequences, that behaviors followed by positive consequences (that is, reinforced) will occur more frequently, and that behaviors either followed by negative consequences or not followed by positive consequences will occur less frequently. Ex. from quiz: As pointed out in the question, reinforcement theory suggests that there are two ways to decrease behaviors: extinction and punishment. Extinction means that a behavior that is not rewarded will go away. When Dustin ignores Jacinta, she is less likely to whine, because she doesn't get rewarded for it with attention. Likewise, if the whining behavior is punished, it is also likely to stop.

Intervene

changing the organization by using positive and negative reinforcement to increase the frequency of these critical behaviors.

Measure

determining the baseline frequencies of these behaviors. In other words, find out how often workers perform them.

Identify

singling out critical, observable, performance-related behaviors. These are the behaviors that are most important to successful job performance

Job Characteristics Model

skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback