Work Motivation

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Work Motivation
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Motivation

• Def. ? that which energizes, directs and sustains
  behavior
• Individual variability in behavior not due to
  differences in ability
• Unobservable
• must be inferred

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Motivation Influences

• Direction of behavior
• choice of behaviors
• Intensity of action
• amount of effort
• Persistence of behavior
• duration of behavior

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The Performance Process
Behavior
Performance
Motivation
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How to motivate your employees?

• Maslows Needs Hierarchy
• People are motivated by hierarchy of needs
• Self-Actualization
• ?
• Ego/Esteem
• ?
• Social
• ?
• Safety
• ?
• Physiological

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Empirical Support

• Weak
• Satisfied needs become MORE, not less, important
  to workers
• If one need becomes more important, others also
  become more important
• Main problem
• rigidity of progression

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Industrial Applicability

• Very limited
• Theory lacks sufficient specificity to guide
  behavior

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Equity Theory

• Balance theory
• Assumption
• a persons behavior is influenced by comparisons
  between their current status and some comparison
  other
• Inputs
• what people think they contribute to an
  organization
• Outputs
• what people think organization gives them in
  return

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Equity Theory (cont.)

• Ratio of Inputs/Outputs is calculated by worker
• Worker compares their ratio with the ratio of an
  appropriate other
• If ratios are equivalent ? NO MOTIVATION
• If ratios are not equivalent, the worker is
  motivated to bring ratios in-line

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Examples of Possible Ratios

• Worker 50 Other 50 ? Fair/Equitable 50
  50
• Worker 50 Other 50 ? Underpayment 50
  75
• Worker 50 Other 50 ? Overpayment 75
  50

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Underpayment Inequity Predictions

• Hourly Wages
• Workers will decrease effort
• Decreases in product quality and quantity
• Piece Rate Wages
• To compensate for underpayment, workers would
  produce more, but much lower quality

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Overpayment Inequity Predictions

• Hourly Wages
• Workers should expend more effort (i.e., increase
  inputs)
• Piece Rate Wages
• Workers should expend more effort to produce
  fewer, but more high quality products

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Empirical Support

• Good support for underpayment inequity
• Weak support for overpayment inequity
• It doesnt bother people so much to be overpaid!

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Industrial Applicability

• Social comparisons ARE made, but there are other
  ways to reduce inequity other than increased
  motivation
• Cognitive distortion of inputs or outputs
• Quit/get fired
• Try to change other persons ratio!
• Change comparison other

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Reinforcement Theory

• Based on principles of behaviorism
• Operant conditioning
• behavior is controlled by its consequences
• Reinforcement
• consequences that increases likelihood of
  behavior
• Punishment
• consequences that make a behavior less likely

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• Continuous Reinforcement
• behavior is reinforced every time it occurs
• Fixed Ratio
• 1 for every ten widgets
• Variable ratio
• 1 for every ten widgets on average (8, 12, 6, 6,
  18)
• Fixed Interval
• 100 per week
• Variable Interval
• paid 100 every 7 days on average (3, 9, 12, 4)

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Empirical Support

• Moderate support
• Contingent reinforcement better than
  non-contingent reinforcement
• Ratio reinforcement schedules evoke superior
  performance compared to interval schedules
• Little difference among ratio schedules

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Critiques

• Why does reinforcement work??
• What is the process?
• Is it ethical to control workers?
• Most effective reinforcement is immediate
• not possible for all jobs and/or organizations

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Industrial Applicability

• Moderate
• Contingent payment for performance is possible in
  some jobs
• Ethical problems associated with shaping
  employee behavior

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VIE Expectancy Theory

• M ?(VI)E
• Motivation is derived from relationships among
• Valence
• value of outcomes
• Instrumentality
• performance-reward contingencies
• Expectancy
• effort-performance contingencies

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Potential Outcomes

• Any event that might result from a workers
  behavior
• Praise
• Promotion
• Pay Raise
• Coworker derision

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Valence of Outcomes
Expected satisfaction from a given outcome

• Valence (-10 ? 10)
• 2
• 9
• 10
• -6

• Outcomes
• Praise
• Promotion
• Pay Raise
• Coworker derision

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Instrumentality

• Expectation that performance will result in
  outcome (-1 ? 1)
• High performance ? Praise (.8)
• High performance ? Promotion (0)
• High performance ? Pay Raise (.2)
• High performance ? Coworker derision (.5)

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Expectancy

• Perceived likelihood that effort will lead to
  performance
• e.g., expending high effort at work will lead to
  outstanding performance evaluation
• from 0 to 1

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How much motivation will employees have??

• Sam the Slacker
• Outcomes V I VI Praise
  2 .8 1.6
• Promotion 9 .0 0
• Pay Raise 10 .2 2
• Derision -6 .5 -3
• ?VI .6
• E .3
• M .18

• Maggie the Motivated
• Outcomes V I VI
• Praise 7 .8 5.6
• Promotion 6 .3 1.8
• Pay Raise 10 .4 4
• Derision 0 .5 0
• ?VI 11.4
• E 1.0
• M 11.4!!

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Empirical Support

• Between-subjects comparison do not predict effort
  very well
• Very complex model do people really think that
  way?
• Not all behavior is as consciously determined as
  hypothesized

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Industrial Applicability

• Strong!
• Provides rational basis for why people expend
  effort
• If you can
• increase the links between
• effort and performance (self-efficacy, ability,
  reduced situational constraints) and
• performance and outcomes
• provide valued outcomes
• Then, can possibly increase motivation

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Applicability (cont.)

• Expectancy
• suggests that managers should ensure that
  employees can do their job
• training, ability
• environmental constraints, supplies, technology
• Valence
• managers should offer appropriate rewards that
  their employees value
• Instrumentality
• managers should ensure that the link between job
  performance and rewards is clear and explicit

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Goal Setting Theory (Locke et al.)

• Recall motivation is that which energizes,
  directs and sustains behavior
• Goals can influence each of these
• behavior is guided most directly by intentions
• goals clarify what needs to be done (directs
  effort)
• goals mobilize effort and energy
• goals serve to sustain behavior when combined
  with feedback

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Performance is best when...

• Goals are specific
• Goals are challenging
• Workers have necessary ability
• Feedback is provided
• Rewards are clearly understood and provided
• Management supports goal attainment
• provides necessary time resources
• Goals are internalized and accepted by employees

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Empirical support

• Strong!!
• Performance under goal-setting conditions is
  almost always superior to no goal setting
  conditions

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Applicability

• Extremely applicable
• Can set specific, challenging goals for every
  conceivable job and person