Organizational Behavior Chapter 7

A. Three Key Elements in the Definition Motivation

1. Intensity: how much effort a person puts forth to meet a goal. 2. Direction: efforts are channeled toward organizational goals. 3. Persistence: how long a person maintains effort toward a goal.

Maslow's Hierarchy Includes:

1. Physiological: lower order need, includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily needs. Lower order needs are satisfied externally, through forces outside of the person. 2. Safety: lower order need, includes security and protection from physical and emotional harm. 3. Social: upper order need, includes affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship. Upper order needs are satisfied internally, that is, from within the person. 4. Esteem: upper order need, includes internal (self-respect, autonomy, and achievement) and external (status, recognition, and attention) esteem factors. 5. Self-actualization: upper order need, defined as the drive to "be all one can be," it includes growth, achieving one's potential, and self-fulfillment.

Self-Determination Theory

1. Self-determination theory, which proposes that people prefer to feel they have control over their actions, so anything that makes a previously enjoyed task feel more like an obligation than a freely chosen activity will undermine motivation.

Goal-Setting Theory

1. This theory studies the effects goal specificity, challenge, and feedback have on performance. The study of goal setting has created the following general rules: a. Difficult goals focus attention on the task and away from distractions. b. Difficult goals energize employees. c. Difficult goals tend to make people persist in efforts toward attaining them. d. Difficult goals force employees to discover strategies to help them perform the task or job more effectively.

Explain McClelland's Theory of Needs.

David McClelland and his associates created a theory based on three subconscious needs: 1. Need for Achievement (nAch): the drive to excel and to achieve in relation to a set of standards. High achievers perform best when they have a 50-50 chance of success. High achievers perform best in jobs with a high degree of personal responsibility and feedback with an intermediate degree of risk. a. High achievers tend to be successful entrepreneurs. b. A high need for achievement does not necessarily mean the person would be a good manager for larger organizations, as his or her desire for personal recognition supersedes his or her concern for the organization. 2. Need for Power (nPow): the need to make others behave in a way they would not have behaved otherwise. 3. Need for Affiliation (nAff): the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.

Theory X and Theory Y.

Douglas McGregor's theory proposed that there were two basic views of human nature, one essentially negative (Theory X) and the other positive (Theory Y). Which view a manager believed was true would give that manager a pre-set series of assumptions and related behaviors. 1. Theory X. In this negative view of human nature, workers inherently dislike work and must be directed or even coerced into performing it. 2. Theory Y. In this positive view, employees view work as being as natural as rest or play. Therefore, they can learn to accept and even seek responsibility.

Hierarchy of Needs Theory.

In this, perhaps best known (and least supported) of all motivational theories, Abraham Maslow proposed that there are five levels of human needs. As each of the lower level needs are satisfied, the next unsatisfied need becomes dominant. Satisfied needs no longer motivate; only unsatisfied needs motivate people. In cultures that do not share American traits, the hierarchical order of needs may be out of sequence.

Contingencies in goal-setting theory:

a. Goal Commitment. Commitment increases when goals are made public, when the individual has an internal locus of control, and when goals are self-set rather than assigned. b. Task Characteristics. Goals are better in terms of performance on simple rather than complex tasks, when tasks are familiar, and when they are accomplished by a single individual. c. National Culture. Goal-setting theory is culture-bound. It is important that the key components of goal-setting theory match the culture traits.

Motivation:

the processes that account for an individual's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal, specifically for OB, toward attaining an organizational goal.

The Two-Factor Theory

Two-Factor Theory. Frederick Herzberg proposed that an individual's relation to work is basic and that one's attitude toward work can very well determine success or failure. In other words, things that people feel good about at work are motivating and those things they don't feel good about are de-motivating.

The best managers appear to be those with a high need for ____________ and a low need for ________________.

Power; affiliation - respectively

T/F McClelland's theory has the best research support, but has the least practical effect of any of the early motivational theories.

True

T/F The Two-Factor Theory is also known as the motivation-hygiene theory.

True

The two factor theory discusses which two factors?

a. Hygiene Factors. These workplace factors, when not met, lead to job dissatisfaction. When they are met, they do NOT lead to job satisfaction, but rather, to a lack of dissatisfaction. Therefore, meeting hygiene factors does NOT increase motivation; it merely placates the workers. Hygiene factors include quality of supervision, pay, company policies, physical working conditions, relations with others, and job security. b. Motivation Factors. These are intrinsically rewarding factors in the work environment such as promotion and personal growth opportunities, recognition, responsibility, and achievement. Meeting these factors will increase motivation by creating a satisfying work environment.