Ch 8 quiz
According to Maslow, how do needs motivate a person to action?
According to Maslow, a need must be unmet to be motivating, and people are motivated by the lowest level need that is unmet at the moment. That is, if two levels of needs are unmet, the lower level need will dominate. Thus, a hungry person would not be concerned with danger and might risk stealing food even though the punishment for theft is severe. A person with unmet safety needs would not be concerned about going to a party and having a good time with friends. Maslow recognized, however, that there can be exceptions to the hierarchy, and that some individuals find certain higher order needs to be more important than lower level ones. Furthermore, many individuals in Western society have the first four needs met and may never have experienced deprivation of one or more of them, especially food. Therefore, the basic needs are not motivating
Describe action theory and how it works to motivate people to action.
Action theory describes the action process linking a hierarchy of cognitions both to actions and to feedback from the environment. It begins with an initial desire to accomplish or have something, and that desire leads to specific goals and objectives to acquire it. These goals in the workplace are often tied to tasks (similar to tasks in a job analysis) that define the nature of what the individual employee is supposed to accomplish at work. The theory points out that there is an important distinction between external tasks and internal tasks. An external task is assigned by the organization to the employee, whereas an internal task is chosen by the employee. An important element is the redefinition process whereby the employee translates an external task to an internal one. In other words, the employee changes the assigned task to suit him or herself. The next step after goals are set is to translate them into plans. Plans are specific steps chosen to accomplish the goals, and are specifications of actions and sequences of actions. Next, the plan is executed, and execution involves actions. Finally, the person receives feedback either from the environment itself or from other people. This feedback indicates whether progress is being made toward the goal.
______________ is the part of motivation that refers to the choice of specific behaviors from a large number of possible behaviors.
Direction
_______________ motivation theories deal with processes that are far removed from the behavior, but _______________ motivation theories deal with processes that are close to the behavior.
Distal, proximal
__________________ theory can predict a person's choice of behavior from two or more options.
Expectancy
_______________ attempts to explain how rewards lead to behavior by focusing on internal cognitive states that lead to motivation.
Expectancy theory
What are some uses of expectancy theory? Does research support its utility?
Expectancy theory can predict a person's choice of behavior from two or more options. Suppose that you have a dinner date, and you must choose between working overtime and going on the date. For each possible course of action, there will be an expectancy, valences, and instrumentalities. Thus, there will be a force to work overtime and a force to go on the date. The course of action with the greater force is the one, in theory, that you will take. There has been research support for the predictions of expectancy theory. Studies have shown that performance is related to the individual components of expectancy theory, as well as to the multiplicative combination (Van Eerde & Thierry, 1996). In the typical study, a sample of employees is surveyed and asked to indicate their expectancies that they can perform the job, as well as their valences and instrumentalities for each of a number of possible outcomes. In addition, supervisors are asked to provide job performance ratings for each employee. The total force score is then correlated with performance.
_______________ occurs when people's beliefs about their own capabilities lead them to perform better, as in a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Galatea effect
What do research findings say about goal setting?
Goal-setting theory is well supported by research (Locke & Latham, 1990). Not only have its propositions been the subject of considerable research, but goal setting is a popular means of increasing job performance. For example, Klein, Wesson, Hollenbeck, and Alge (1999) describe a meta-analysis of 83 studies, showing that greater goal commitment is associated with better performance. The theory and research surrounding goal-setting theory underscore important factors (shown in Table 8.2) that should be incorporated into a goal-setting program. Yearta et al. (1995) noted that most goal-setting studies involve single goals, such as increased production in a factory. They showed that with more complex jobs and multiple goals, performance was lower when goals were difficult. Doerr, Mitchell, Klastorin, and Brown (1996) showed that group goals were better than individual goals for increasing speed of production in a fish processing plant (see Research in Detail). Ambrose and Kulik (1999) listed several drawbacks of goal-setting. The most important were that employees sometimes focus so much on the goals that they ignore other equally important aspects of the job, and goals can conflict so that working on one prevents achievement of another. Finally, Drach-Zahavy and Erez (2002) discussed how difficult goals can actually lead to worse performance when stress is high. Putting all this together suggests that difficult goals work best when situations are relatively simple (single goals and simple jobs) and there are low levels of stress.
_______________ is the subjective probability that a given behavior will result in a particular reward.
Instrumentality
_______________ is generally defined as an internal state that induces a person to engage in particular behaviors.
Motivation
_______________ are the rewards, or everything of personal value that an employee gets from working for an organization, including pay, fringe benefits, good treatment, enjoyment, and status. _______________ are the contributions made by the employee to the organization.
Outcomes, inputs
_______________ theory describes how rewards or reinforcements can affect behavior.
Reinforcement
What is self-efficacy theory and how does it differ from expectancy theory?
Self-efficacy theory states that motivation and performance are determined in part by how effective people believe they can be (Bandura, 1982). In other words, people with high self-efficacy believe they are capable of accomplishing tasks and will be motivated to put forth effort. People with low self-efficacy do not believe they can accomplish tasks; they will not be motivated and will not put forth the effort. In a way, this is like a self-fulfilling prophecy in which one behaves in a manner that fulfills one's initial belief. The self-efficacy concept is concerned with specific tasks or courses of action, and people vary in their self-efficacy across different tasks. Self-efficacy is much like the concept of expectancy. The major difference is that expectancy is concerned with a specific activity at a particular point in time, whereas self-efficacy is concerned with the general feeling that a person is or is not capable in some domain of life, such as playing tennis. Self-efficacy theory and expectancy theory are compatible in predicting that people will do well at tasks when they believe they can succeed. Expectancy theory also considers the influence of rewards on motivation, a subject that is not addressed by self-efficacy theory.
Briefly explain Equity theory
The Equity theory posits that employees form psychological comparisons of their own outcome/input ratios to those of other employees. That is, employees will psychologically evaluate how much they receive from the job (outcomes) in relation to their contributions (inputs), which is represented as a ratio. Employees then compare their ratios to the ratios of people they choose for comparison. These comparison people, or others, might be employees doing the same job inside or outside the organization. They might also be people who have different types of jobs. The comparison involves the entire ratio and not the individual outcomes or inputs. Thus, one may believe a situation is equitable even though one's outcomes are less than one's inputs. It is only when one believes that one's ratio is different from other people's ratios that inequity exists. This difference can be in either direction. That is, an employee who believes that other people get more outcomes for their inputs can experience underpayment inequity. When an employee believes that other people are getting fewer outcomes for their inputs, this is an instance of overpayment inequity.
How do incentive systems work? What does research say about their effectiveness?
With incentive systems, rewards are contingent on individual units of productivity. For jobs with countable output, it can be relatively easy to institute incentive systems. For other jobs, there can be specific, measurable performance-relevant behaviors that could be quantified. Research has shown that rewards can be effective in enhancing job performance. Stajkovic and Luthans (2003) conducted a meta-analysis of 72 studies of the effects of rewards, both monetary and nonmonetary, on job performance. They found that reward systems, on average, result in a 16% increase in performance, but monetary rewards had a bigger impact on performance (23%) than nonmonetary. Although rewards can enhance job performance under some conditions, such conditions do not always exist in organizations (Coch & French, 1948). Additional influences by other employees, constraints in the environment (e.g., inadequate equipment), and the indifference of employees to some types of rewards can result in the failure of incentive systems.
Research has found support for which aspect of Equity theory? a) underpayment b) overpayment c) equal payment d) all of the above
a
Which of the following motivational theories is concerned specifically with rewards, environmental influences, and human cognitive processes? a.) expectancy theory b.) self-efficacy theory c.) goal-setting theory d.) action theory
a
_______________ says that people are motivated to acquire certain categories of things, such as food or recognition. a.) need theory b.) two-factor theory c.) self-efficacy d.) reinforcement theory
a
A person who is _______________ oriented tends to follow the action process, setting goals, formulating plans, and then sticking with them until the goals are achieved.
action
According to Locke & Henne (1986), all these are important factors for goal setting to improve job performance EXCEPT which of the following factors? a.) specific goals b.) easy to attain goals c.) feedback on progress toward goals d.) goal acceptance by the employee
b
According to two-factor theory, job aspects relevant to animal needs are called _______________ factors and include pay, supervision, co-workers, and organizational policies. a.) job b.) hygiene c.) family d.) motivator
b
Motivation has to do with all of the following EXCEPT: a.) direction b.) usefulness c.) persistence d.) intensity
b
These type of motivational theories are concerned with values rather than needs, beliefs, or reinforcements. a) need theories b) justice theories c) goal theories d) reward theories
b
This represents the extent to which one wants or desires something. a.) force b.) valence c.) instrumentality d.) subjective probability
b
____________ is the subjective probability one has about his/her ability to perform a behavior. a) force b) expectancy c) valence d) instrumentality
b
_______________ is concerned with the fairness of the reward distribution process, as opposed to the results of the distribution. a.) equity justice b.) procedural justice c.) interactional justice d.) distributive justice
b
Thorndike's _______________ states that the probability of a particular behavior increases if it is followed by a reward or reinforcement. a.) law of needs b.) control theory c.) law of effect d.) incentive effect
c
Vroom's theory of motivation includes _______________, which represents the amount of motivation a person has to engage in a particular behavior or sequence of behaviors that are relevant to job performance. a.) expectancy b.) instrumentality c.) force d.) valence
c
Which motivational theory is a cognitive theory that explains how goals are translated into behaviors that persist until one reaches one's objective? a.) cognitive control theory b.) need theory c.) action theory d.) goal-setting theory
c
______________ refers to the motivation to continue engaging in a behavior over time. a.) direction b.) usefulness c.) persistence d.) intensity
c
According to Adams (1965), _________________ induces anger and _____________ induces guilt. a) overpayment, underpayment b) underpayment, equal payment c) equal payment, underpayment d) underpayment, overpayment
d
This theory builds on goal-setting theory by focusing on how feedback affects motivation to maintain effort toward goals. a) two-factor theory b) equity theory c) self-efficacy theory d) control theory
d
This theory focuses on the processes that link goals and intentions to actual behavior. a) two-factor theory b) action theory c) self-efficacy theory d) control theory
d
___________________ is concerned with the fairness with which rewards are allocated.
distributive justice
_____________ refers to whether people focus their goals on learning or performance.
goal orientation
The theory of motivation that has been the most useful for I/O psychologists is _______________.
goal-setting theory
With _________________, rewards are contingent on individual units of productivity.
incentive systems
People with high _______________ believe they are capable of accomplishing tasks and will be motivated to put forth effort.
self-efficacy
_______________ states that motivation comes from the nature of the job, not from external rewards or job conditions.
two-factor theory
