MGT 301 - Chapter 13: Motivation

Merit Pay

Marvin is a nurse at a hospital and receives merit pay, which is a raise in base pay based upon performance. Every year, Marvin's performance is assessed, and he is given a raise if he improves his performance during the past year. Of course, a problem with merit pay is that employees receive the increase in base pay even if their performance slips after the raise.

Formula for Performance

Performance = motivation x ability x support

Operant Conditioning

Psychologist B.F. Skinner used this notion to popularize the concept of Operant Conditioning --> this is the process of influencing behavior by manipulating its consequences.

Non-Behavioral Events:

Supervision, Standards of Performance, Resources

Goal-Setting Theory

The basic premise of Edwin Locke's goal-setting theory is that task goals can be a great source of motivation. But, they become motivational only if they are the right goals and if they are set in the right ways. Goals give direction to people in their work. Goals clarify the performance expectations between leaders and followers, among c-workers, and even across sub-units in an organization. Goals establish a frame of reference for task feedback, and they provide a foundation for control and self-management. In these and related ways, Locke believes goal setting is a very practical and powerful motivational tool. So what makes a goal motivational? Research by Locke and his associates answer this question by advising managers and team leaders to focus on goal SPECIFICITY - the more specific the better, and on goal DIFFICULTY - challenging but not impossible.

The Law of Effect

The premises of reinforcement theory rely on what E.L. Thorndike called the "law of effect" --> people repeat behavior that results in a pleasant outcome and avoid behavior that results in an unpleasant outcome.

Equity Theory

This theory is best known in management through the work of J. Stacy Adams. Equity Theory explains how social comparisons motivate individual behavior. Based on the logic of social comparisons, it pictures us continually checking our rewards for work accomplished against those of others. Any perceived inequities in these comparisons are uncomfortable. This makes us motivated to act in ways that restore a sense of equity to the situation. Equity is measured by comparing the ratio of contributions (or costs) and benefits (or rewards) for each person. - Perceived Negative Inequity (is discomfort felt over being harmed by unfair treatment). Such as people who feel as if they are underpaid. - Perceived Positive Inequity (is discomfort felt over benefiting from unfair treatment). Such as people who feel a sense of guilt for being overpaid

How can managers use reinforcement strategies to influence work behavior?

To strengthen quality work, a supervisor might use positive reinforcement by praising the individual or negative reinforcement by no longer complaining to him about poor-quality work. To discourage poor-quality work, a supervisory might use EXTINCTION (withholding things that are positively reinforcing, such as outcomes) or PUNISHMENT (associating the poor-quality work with unpleasant results for the individual).

Bonus Plan

Ben is an executive who may receive a bonus based upon performance. A bonus is a one-time payment to an employee as a reward for meeting certain performance or productivity goals. In fact, the concept behind a bonus is called pay for performance. This type of pay is variable since the onus is not a permanent addition to the employee's compensation and may or may not be granted depending on the employee's performance.

Gainsharing Plan (Scanlon Plan)

Gainsharing is a system of management used by a business to increase profitability by motivating employees to improve their performance through involvement and participation. As their performance improves, employees share financially in the gain (improvement).

Expectancy Theory

Victor Vroom offers another approach to understanding motivation . His expectancy theory asks: "What determines the willingness of an individual to work hard at tasks important to the organization?". He answers this question with a formula: Motivation = Expectancy x Instrumentality x Valence - Expectancy (is a person's belief that working hard will result in high task performance). --> self-efficacy!!! - Instrumentality (is a person's belief that various outcomes will occur as a result of task performance). - Valence (is the value a person assigns to work-related outcomes).

The Two-Factor Theory

When questioned about what "turned them on" to a job, Frederick Herzberg found that workers mainly talked about the nature of the job itself - such things as a sense of achievement, feelings of recognition, a sense of responsibility, the opportunity for advancement, and feelings of personal growth. In other words, they told him about what they did. Herzberg called these SATISFIER NEEDS (or motivator factors and described them as part of job content). ---> they are consistent with the higher order needs of Maslow, growth needs of Alderfer, and achievement and power needs of McClelland. When questioned about what "turned them off", he found that his respondents talked about quite different things - working conditions, interpersonal relations, organizational policies and administration, technical quality of supervision, and base wage or salary. They were telling him about where they worked, not about what they did. Herzberg called these HYGIENE FACTORS (and described them as part of the job context.) ---> they seem associated with Maslow's lower-order needs, Alderfer's existence and relatedness needs, and McClelland's affiliation needs.

Stock Options

a benefit in the form of an option given by a company to an employee to buy stock in the company at a discount or at a stated fixed price.

MOTIVATION

accounts for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work.

Law of Contingent Reinforcement

deliver the reward ONLY when desired behavior occurs.

Law of Immediate Reinforcement

deliver the reward as soon as possible after the desired behavior occurs.

Punishment

discourages a behavior by making an unpleasant consequence contingent on its occurrence. Punishment connects undesirable behavior with unpleasant consequences. - tell the person what is being done wrong - tell the person what is being done right - make sure the punishment matches the behavior - administer the punishment in private - follow the laws of immediate and contingent information. ex: A manager issues a written reprimand to an employee whose careless work creates quality problems.

Extinction

discourages a behavior by making the removal of a desirable consequence contingent on its occurrence. ex: After observing that co-workers are providing social approval to a disruptive employee, a manager counsels co-workers to stop giving this approval.

Fixed Ratio

ex: "piece-rate incentive" In operant conditioning, a fixed-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses. This schedule produces a high, steady rate of responding with only a brief pause after the delivery of the reinforcer. ex: Production Line Work: Workers at a widget factory are paid for every 15 widgets they make. This results in a high production rate and workers tend to take few breaks. It can, however, lead to burnout and lower-quality work. Collecting Tokens in a Video Game: In many video games, you have to collection so many tokens, object, or points in order to receive some type of reward. Sales Commissions: A worker earns a commission for every third sale that they make. Grades: A child is offered a reward after they earn five A's on her homework assignments. After her fifth A on a homework assignment, she gets to pick out a new toy. Piecework: Jobs that require X amount of responses in order to receive compensation. For example, a worker receives X amount of dollars for every 100 envelopes they stuff or every 100 flier they stick on windshields.

Job Enrichment

increases job content by adding work planning and evaluating duties normally performed by the supervisor. It increases job content by adding work planning and evaluating duties normally performed by the supervisor. A lot of self-management. Modern management theory values job enrichment and its motivating potential. In true contingency fashion, however, it recognizes that not everyone wants or needs an enriched job. The core characteristics model developed by J. Richard Hackman and his associates helps managers design jobs that best fit the needs of different people.

Shaping

is positive reinforcement of successive approximation to the desired behavior. This is the creation of a new behavior by the positive reinforcement of successive approximations to it. Shaping with successive approximations is used to elicit a behavior that has never been displayed, or rarely occurs, by building the desired behavior progressively and rewarding each improvement on the behavior until the desired behavior is reached.

JOB DESIGN

is the allocation of specific work tasks to individuals and groups. Based on: - Job satisfaction and performance - Job enrichment - Self-managing work teams (autonomous work groups)

A ______ is an unfulfilled physiological or psychological desire.

need

Positive Reinforcement

strengthens a behavior by making a desirable consequence contingent on its occurrence. Thus, positive reinforcement connects desirable behavior with pleasant consequences. - clearly identify desired work behaviors - maintain a diverse inventory of rewards - inform everyone what must be done to get rewards - recognize individual differences when allocating rewards. - follow the laws of immediate and contingent reinforcement ex: A manager nods to express approval to someone who makes a useful comment during a staff meeting. - Law of Contingent Reinforcement - Law of Immediate Reinforcement

Negative Reinforcement

strengthens a behavior by making the avoidance of an undesirable consequence contingent on its occurrence. ex: A manager who has nagged a worker every day about tardiness does not nag when the worker comes to work on time.

#3 REINFORCEMENT THEORIES

was proposed by BF Skinner and his associates. It views human behavior as determined by its environmental consequences. Operant conditioning influences behavior by controlling its consequences. It states that individual's behavior is a function of its consequences. It is based on "law of effect", individual's behavior with positive consequences tends to be repeated, but individual's behavior with negative consequences tends not to be repeated. - Positive Reinforcement - Negative Reinforcement - Punishment - Extinction

#2 PROCESS THEORIES

"How do people give meaning to rewards and then respond?" ***"How do thoughts and decisions affect motivation to work?"*** Process theories provide a description and analysis of how behavior is energized, directed, sustained and stopped. An example of "process" is the way in which people interact with each other during a meeting; on the contrary, an example of "content" is the decision they make in that meeting. - Equity Theory - Expectancy Theory - The Goal-Setting Theory

Behavioral Events:

"Infrequent" Correct Behavior, "Frequent" Incorrect Behavior

#1 CONTENT THEORIES

"What factor(s) motivate -people?" explains why human needs change with time. Content theory includes the work of David McClelland, Abraham Maslow, and other psychologists as they attempted to explain why human needs change. Content theories explain the specific factors that motivate behavior. In other words they try to identify what our 'needs' are and relate motivation to the fulfilling of these needs - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - Theory X and Theory Y - ERG Theory - McClellands Need for Achievement, Affiliation, and Power - Herzberg's Two Factor Theory

Theories associated with 'Motivation'

- Content Theories - Process Theories - Reinforcement Theories - Job Design - Incentive Rewards

Job Design Approaches

- General Craftsmanship - Job Simplification (Specialization) - Job Rotation - Job Enrichment

Core Job Outcomes:

- Higher internal work motivation - High growth satisfaction - High general job satisfaction - High work effectiveness

Job Rotation

- No job design changes - Novelty wears out quickly; job dissatisfaction

Focus of Behavior Modification:

- behavioral events - Strategies: types and schedules of reinforcements

General Craftsmanship (Human Approach)

- highest scope and depth of job - high job satisfaction - inefficient The human approach of job design laid emphasis on designing a job around the people or employees and not around the organizational processes. In other words it recognizes the need of designing jobs that are rewarding (financially and otherwise) and interesting at the same time.

Job Simplification (Specialization)

- lowest scope and depth of job - efficient (innovation, training, replacements, transfers) - high job dissatisfaction (with high-level needs); boredom, monotony, no skill development, no sense of achievement Job design technique in which jobs are broken into relatively simple tasks. It aims at greater productivity through reduced application of mental and/or physical effort. Job specialization is the process of focusing one's occupational concentration on a specific area of expertise. An increase in job specialization among employees can make them less flexible since it tends to reduce their ability to perform other types of work within the business that fall outside their particular speciality. ex: assembly line workers doing the same simple job over and over again gets hella boring = high job dissatisfaction

Schedules of Reinforcements:

1. Continuous Schedule 2. Intermittent Schedule - Interval Schedule - Fixed Interval - Variable Interval - Ratio Schedule - Fixed Ratio - Variable Ratio

Core Job Characteristics:

1. Skills Variety 2. Task Identity 3. Task Significance 4. Autonomy ( individual freedom) 5. Feedback from the job itself

Self-Managing Work Team

A self-managed team is a group of employees that's responsible and accountable for all or most aspects of producing a product or delivering a service. Traditional organizational structures assign tasks to employees depending on their specialist skills or the functional department within which they work. A self-managed team carries out supporting tasks, such as planning and scheduling the workflow and managing annual leave and absence, in addition to technical tasks. Management and technical responsibilities are typically rotated among team members.

The ERG Theory

A well-regarded alternative to Maslow's work is the ERG Theory proposed by Clayton Alderfer. His theory collapses Maslow's five needs into three. - Existence Needs (are desires for physiological and material well-being). - Relatedness Needs (are desires for satisfying interpersonal relationships). - Growth Needs (are desires for continued psychological growth and development). Growth needs are essentially the higher-order needs in Maslow's hierarchy. It's worth noting that ERG Theory disagrees with Maslow's deficit and progression principles. Instead, Alderfer suggest that any or all of the needs can influence individual behavior at any given time. He also believes that a satisfied need doesn't lose its motivational impact. - Frustrational-Regression Principle --> An already satisfied lower-level need becomes reactivated when a higher-level need is frustrated. Ex of ERG Theory: Why unionized workers frustrated by assembly-line jobs (lacking growth need satisfaction) give so much attention in labor negotiations to things like job security and wage levels (offering existence and satisfaction).

Employee Stock Ownership

An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is a retirement plan in which the company contributes its stock (or money to buy its stock) to the plan for the benefit of the company's employees. The plan maintains an account for each employee participating in the plan.

Profit Sharing

Basically a system in which people who work for a company receive a direct share of profits. Refers to various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses. In publicly traded companies these plans typically amount to allocation of shares to employees.

The Acquired Needs Theory

In the late 1940s, David McClelland through research identified three acquired needs that he considers central to understanding human motivation. - Need for Achievement (is the desire to do something better or more efficiently, to solve problems, or to master complex tasks). - Need for Power (is the desire to control other people, to influence their behavior, or to be responsible for them). - Need for Affiliation (is the desire to have friendly and warm relations with other people). McClelland encourages managers to learn how to recognize the strength of these needs in themselves and in other people. Because each need can be associated with a distinct set of work preferences, his insights offer helpful ideas for designing jobs and creating work environments that are rich in potential motivation. McClelland distinguishes between two forms of the power need. The need for PERSONAL POWER is exploitative and involves manipulation. As you might imagine, this type of power need is not respected in management. By contrast, the NEED FOR SOCIAL POWER is the positive face of power. It involves the use of power in a socially responsible way, one that is directed toward group or organizational objectives rather than personal ones.

Incentive Pay Plans:

Incentive pay rewards employees for achieving defined goals. The company sets performance objectives at the beginning of the pay period and if these are achieved, employees receive a lump-sum payment. Incentive pay plans can be based on the performance of the individual, team business unit or company.

The Need Hierarchy Theory

Is a 5 stage model Maslow described a hierarchy built on a foundation of lower-order needs (physiological, safety, and social concerns) and moving up to higher-order needs (esteem and self-actualization). Whereas lower-order needs focus on physical well-being and companionship, the higher-order needs reflect psychological development and growth. - PROGRESSION PRINCIPLE --> states that people try to satisfy lower-level needs first and then move step by step up the hierarchy. This happens until the level of self-actualization is reached. The more these needs are satisfied, the stronger they will grow. - DEFICIT PRINCIPLE --> states that a satisfied need is not a motivator of behavior. People act in ways that satisfy deprived needs, ones for which a "deficit" exists. We eat because we are hungry; we call a friend when we are lonely; we seek approval from other when we are feeling insecure.

Continuous Schedule

Is most effective in quickly "eliciting" new behaviors, but "unlearning" them when withdrawn. Within an educational setting, a CRF would mean that the teacher would deliver reinforcement after every correct response from their student/s. For example, if you were teaching a student to read the letters A, B, C, and D, then everytime you presented one of these letters to your student and they correctly read the letter then you would deliver reinforcement. For an everday example, every time you press the number 9 button on your television remote control your TV changes to channel 9; or every time you turn on your kettle it heats up the water inside it; or every time you turn on your kitchen tap (faucet) water flows out of it (unless any of these are broken of course).

Job Design/Enrichment

JOB DESIGN (is the allocation of specific work tasks to individuals and groups). Its goal is a good person-job fit. "If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do." This is best done through --> Job Enrichment! JOB ENRICHMENT (increases job content by adding work planning and evaluating duties normally performed by the supervisor). It is the practice of designing jobs rich in content that offers opportunities for higher-order need satisfaction. In other words, job enrichment involves a lot of self-management.

Variable Interval

ex: "praises" In operant conditioning, a variable-interval schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of response. ex: Checking Your Email: Typically, you check your email at random times throughout the day instead of checking every time a single message is delivered. Your Employer Checking Your Work: Does your boss drop by your office a few times throughout the day to check your progress? This is an example of a variable-interval schedule. These check-ins occur at unpredictable times, so you never know when they might happen.

Variable Ratio

ex: "slot machine" (Players have no way of knowing how many times they have to play before they will win. All they know is that eventually a play will win. This is why slot machines are so effective and players are often reluctant to quit. There is always the possibility that the next coin they put in will be the winning one.) In operant conditioning, a variable-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding. Gambling and lottery games are good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule.

Piece-rate plan:

ex: Production Line Work: Workers at a widget factory are paid for every 15 widgets they make. This results in a high production rate and workers tend to take few breaks. It can, however, lead to burnout and lower-quality work.

Fixed Interval

ex: paychecks In operant conditioning, a fixed-interval schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. This schedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the interval, but much slower responding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer. ex: In the Real World: A weekly paycheck is a good example of a fixed-interval schedule. The employee receives reinforcement every seven days, which may result in a higher response rate as payday approaches.