Chapter 6
What is impact?
The sense that a persons actions "make a a difference" - that progress is being made toward some important purpose.
How do the three components of motivation fit into this Expectancy theory?
Helps increase a person's intensity, persistence, and direction since individuals need to perceive that their effort leads to performance and their performance should lead to important outcomes.
How do the three components of motivation fit into Equity theory?
Helps increase direction, persistence, and effort by comparing inputs and outcomes to others from your own mental ledger.
How do the three components of motivation fit into psychological empowerment theory?
Helps increase direction, persistence, and effort by creating motivation through the task itself being intrinsically rewarding to the employee.
How do the three components of motivation fit into Goal Setting theory?
Helps increase direction, persistence, and effort since they are tied to setting difficult and specific goals since people have to have clear expectations as to what they have to do to perform.
What steps can organizations take to increase employee motivation at the organization-level?
- Profit-Sharing
What is psychological empowerment?
An energy rooted in the belief that tasks are contributing to some larger purpose.
What are external comparisons?
Comparing oneself to someone in a different company.
What are internal comparisons?
Comparing oneself to someone in the same company.
What is expectancy theory?
A theory that describes the cognitive process employees go through to make choices among different voluntary responses.
What is equity theory?
A theory that suggests employees a mental ledger of the outcomes they receive for their job inputs, relative to some comparison other.
What is feedback and how does it affect motivation?
- Refers to the progress updates on work goals. - Motivates employee to try harder based on other employees feedback or performance.
What is goal setting theory?
A theory that views goals as the primary drivers of the intensity and persistence of effort.
What are task strategies?
Learning plans and problem-solving approaches used to achieve successful performance.
How do extrinsic sources of motivation relate to different work-related outcomes?
- Rewarding for employee. - Ex: Pay, bonuses, promotions, benefits and perks, spot awards, praise, job security, support, free time, lack of disciplinary actions, lack of demotions, and lack of terminations.
How do intrinsic sources of motivation relate to different work-related outcomes?
- Rewarding for organization and employee. - Ex: Enjoyment, interestingness, accomplishment, knowledge gain, skill development, personal expression, lack of boredom, lack of anxiety, and lack of frustration.
What are the two qualities that make goals strong predictors of task performance?
- Specific and Difficult Goals: Goals that stretch an employee to perform at his or her maximum level while still staying within the boundaries of his or her ability.
How do different forms of compensation and recognition affect motivation?
- Tangible recognition does not work very well. Ex: Pay gets blended with other pay and used for pedestrian expenses. - Non-tangible rewards work well with high return on investment. Ex: Recognition has transformative psychological and physiological effects that is a powerful motivator.
What is valence?
- The anticipated value of the outcomes associated with successful performance. - Can be positive (preferring an outcome), negative (not preferring an outcome), and zero (not interested in outcome).
What is self-efficacy and what role does self-efficacy play in expectancy theory?
- The belief that a person has the capabilities needed to perform the behaviors required on some task. - Employees who are more "efficacious" or self-confident for a particular task will tend to perceive a higher level of expectancy and also exert more effort.
What is expectancy?
- The belief that exerting a high level of effort will result in the successful performance of some task. - On a scale from 0 (no chance) to 1 (mortal lock). - E (Effort) to P (Performance).
What is instrumentality?
- The belief that successful performance will result in the attainment of some outcomes. - On a scale from 0 (no chance) to 1 (mortal lock). - P (Performance) to O (Outcomes).
What is goal commitment and how does it affect motivation?
- The degree to which a person accepts a goal and is willing to reach it. - When goal commitment is high, assigning specific and difficult goals will have significant benefits for task performance.
What is task complexity and how does it affect motivation?
- The degree to which the information and actions needed to complete the task are complicated. - The effects of specific and difficult goals are almost twice as strong on simple tasks as on complex tasks. - Effects of goals remain beneficial even in complex cases.
How important is employee participation in goal setting?
- There was previously some disagreement about whether you needed to have an employees (the people for whom goals were set) participate in the setting of the goal in order for them to be committed. - The study found that you actually don't. Goals can be set by others, but the recipients of the assigned goal have to be sold on the importance of the goals.
What is the takeaway from participation?
- You don't need participation - But you have to "tell and sell," not just "tell"
Underreward Inequity & Outcome
- Your Outcomes & Inputs are less than Other's Outcomes & Rewards - Grow your outcomes by talking to your boss or by stealing from the company. - Shrink inputs by lowering the intensity and persistence of effort.
Overreward Inequity & Outcome
- Your Outcomes & Inputs are more than Other's Outcomes and Inputs - Shrink your outcomes. - Grow your inputs through more high quality work or through some "cognitive distortion."
Equity & Outcome
- Your Outcomes & Inputs equal Other's Outcomes & Inputs - No actions needed.
What steps can organizations take to increase employee motivation at the individual-level?
- Piece-rate - Merit Pay - Lump-Sum Bonuses - Recognition Awards
What do we know about extrinsic sources of motivation in organizations?
- (Motivation) Desire to put forth work effort due to some contingency that relies on task performance. - Ex: Bonuses, promotions, praise; results from other people acknowledging successful performance. - Financial incentives often have a stronger impact on motivation because it satisfies more needs (Meaning of Money). - Different across cultures.
What do we know about intrinsic sources of motivation in organizations?
- (Motivation) Desire to put forth work effort due to the sense that task performance serves as its own reward. - Ex: Enjoyment, interestingness, and personal expression, are generated originating in the mere act of performing the task. - Different across cultures
What are SMART goals?
- Acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Based, and Time-Sensitive goals.
What are the three components of motivation?
- Direction of Effort: What you are doing. - Intensity of Effort: How hard you are working. - Persistence of Effort: How long you are working.
What do we mean by inputs for equity theory?
- Employee's contributions and investments they put into their job duties. - Ex: Effort, performance, skills and abilities, education, experience, training, seniority.
What do we mean by outputs for equity theory?
- Employee's rewards they get from their job duties. - Ex: Pay, seniority benefits, fringe benefits, status symbols, satisfying supervision, workplace perks, and intrinsic rewards.
What are the three possible outcomes of when comparisons are made?
- Equity - Underreward Inequity - Overreward Inequity
What kind of needs do people have that are the most important?
- Existence (Physiological, Safety) - Relatedness (Love, Belongingness) - Control (Autonomy, Responsibility) - Esteem (Self-Regard, Growth) - Meaning (Self-Actualization)
What are the three beliefs that helped determine how work effort is directed?
- Expectancy - Instrumentality - Valence
What are the four main theories of motivation?
- Expectancy Theory - Goal Setting Theory - Equity Theory - Psychological Empowerment
How do the three beliefs that help determine how work effort is directed work together?
- Expectancy is between Effort to Performance (If I exert a lot of effort, will I perform well?) - Instrumentality is between Performance and Outcomes (If I perform well will I receive outcomes?) - Valence is within Outcomes (Will the outcomes be satisfying?)
What steps can organizations take to increase employee motivation at the unit-level?
- Gainsharing
What are the four beliefs that help foster psychological empowerment?
- Meaningfulness - Self-Determination - Competence - Impact
What is motivation's relationship with engagement?
- More engagement means higher levels of intensity and persistence in work effort. - "Engaged" employees inwardly invest themselves and outwardly invest their energies into their jobs. - Low levels of engagement can be contagious, crossing over from one employee to another.
How does motivation relate to job performance and organizational commitment?
- Motivation has a strong positive effect on job performance, higher levels of motivation have higher task performance. - Motivation has moderate positive effect on Organizational Commitment, people experiencing equity have more Affective and Normative commitment.
What makes an outcome have high valence?
- Outcomes are deemed more attractive when they help satisfy needs. - Needs: Groupings or clusters of outcomes viewed as having critical psychological or physiological consequences.
What influences self-efficacy?
- Past Accomplishments - Vicarious Experience - Verbal Persuasion - Emotional Cues
Existence (Physiological, Safety)
1) The need for the food, shelter, safety, and protection required for human existence.
Relatedness (Love, Belongingness)
2) The need to create and maintain lasting, positive, interpersonal relationships.
Control (Autonomy, Responsibility)
3) The need to be able to predict and control one's future.
Esteem (Self-Regard, Growth)
4) The need to hold a high evaluation of oneself and to feel effective and respected by others.
Meaning (Self-Actualization)
5) The need to perform tasks that one cares about and that appeal to one's ideals and sense of purpose.
What is cognitive distortion?
A reevaluation of the inputs an employee brings to a job, often occurring in response to equity distress.
What is self-determination?
A sense of choice in the initiation and continuation of work tasks.
What is motivation?
A set of energetic forces that determine the direction, intensity, and persistence of an employee's work effort.
What is engagement?
A term commonly used in the contemporary workplace to summarize motivation levels.
What is equity distress?
An internal tension that results from being overrewarded or underrwarded relative to some comparison other.
What is comparison other?
Another person who provides a frame of reference for judging equity.
What is meaningfulness?
Captures the value of a work goal or purpose, relative to a person's own ideals and passions.
What role do needs play in expectancy theory?
Needs help determine the level of attractiveness an outcome has in satisfying a need or number of needs for a particular persons expectations.
What are vicarious experiences?
Observations of and discussions with others who have performed some work task.
What is verbal persuasion?
Pep talks that lead employees to believe that they can "get the job done."
What are emotional cues?
Positive or negative feelings that can help or hinder task accomplishment.
What is competence?
The capability to perform work tasks successfully.
Meaning of Money
The idea that money can have symbolic value (e.g. achievement, respect, freedom) in addition to economic value.
What are self-set goals?
The internalized goals that people use to monitor their own practice.
What are past accomplishments?
The level of success or failure with similar job tasks in the past.
