Session 11 and 12: Employee Motivation Basics of motivation What is motivation?

When we say motive, it involves several things: 1. 2. 3. 4. Need state/ arousal/ deficiency/ drive/ wants/ desires Direction of the behavior/ choices people make as to how to satisfy their need Maintaining behavior in the face of difficulties Achievement of a goal/ incentive/ reward anything which will alleviate the need state

Few things to remember about motivation: Motivation and job performance are not one and the same one might lead to the other, but the relationship is very complex and many other factors come into the picture such as skills/ abilities Motivation is multi-faceted people are likely to have different motives operating at the same time e.g. of the word processing operator who wants to do well and please her boss, but is afraid of outperforming her colleagues who might not look on her too favorably if they look like poor performers in comparison. So we have opposing drives working at the same time. People are motivated by more than just money a survey reported in the Greenberg text states that Challenging work and a Supportive team-oriented environment actually come ahead of money on peoples lists of what is important to them at work

To understand the interplay of different kinds of motivation and how this knowledge can help us manage performance, we first need to understand the basic theories of motivation. We will look at the theories that have been historically important in guiding our understanding of motivation. Content Theories: Maslow Content theories of motivation attempt to determine what it is that motivates people at work. Abraham Maslow (1943) outlined a classic theory of motivation. He believed in a hierarchy of needs that is once a need is satisfied, it no longer serves to motivate, one can move up in the hierarchy. The needs that he spoke of were: 1. Physiological needs hunger, thirst, sleep, and perhaps to some extent sex. These are mostly unlearned, extrinsic, and necessary (except sex) for the survival of the individual 2. Safety needs security is primarily a learned need and like the physiological needs, once satisfied will not serve to motivate 3. Love needs need for affection, affiliation, to be liked by others is a very complex motive that sometimes mimics the primary drives, but is also learned and linked to secondary motives. Could be called belongingness or social needs 4. Esteem needs the needs for power, achievement and status all heavily learned are a part of this group of needs. The need to think well of oneself and be seen by others as important

5. Self Actualization as per Maslow, is the persons motivation to transform perception of self into reality to achieve what one is capable of Limitations of the model: (and these are acknowledged by Maslow himself) Hierarchy may not always work in that order Satisfying growth needs may further increase that need

But the important contribution that the model makes is to help us be aware of a complex web of motives operating and the inclusion of the higher or growth needs into the content of work motivation along with the differentiation between deficiency needs and growth needs. Content theories: Herzberg Fredrick Herzberg conducted a widely reported study on about 200 accountants and engineers employed in and around Pittsburgh. He used the critical incident method and essentially asked two questions (1) when did you feel particularly good about your job? What turned you on? And (2) when did you feel particularly bad about your job? What turned you off? Tabulating the results, Herzberg concluded that the satisfiers are related to job content (motivators) and the dissatisfiers are related to job context (hygiene). The hygiene are roughly equivalent to Maslows lower needs and the motivators are roughly the same as Maslows growth needs. The hygiene factors such as company policy and administration, salary, interpersonal relations and working conditions bring motivation up to a theoretical zero level, from where the motivators such as the work itself, achievement, recognition, etc take off. But obviously, the theory is far to simple to explain all of motivation sample and method of data collection seem to have an impact on the results. But still, the contribution is considerable and explains why more and more salary or fringe benefits does not really result in corresponding rises in motivation. Herzberg also is famous for applying this model to the process of job enrichment. Content theories: Alderfer ERG but not much research. And content theories are generally difficult to translate into motivation at the workplace. Process Theories: Victor Vroom Commonly called the VIE theory, the idea is built around the concepts of valence, instrumentality and expectancy. Valence = a plus or minus sign the extent to which an individual prefers or does not prefer a particular outcome Instrumentality = extent to which he believes the first level outcome will lead to second-level outcome Expectancy = the probability that effort will lead to first-level outcome

Example: I will exert effort if I believe (expectancy) that it will lead to performance (first level outcome) and if I believe that performance is linked to bonus (second level outcome), which is valuable to me (positive valence). But if I am not looking for money and prefer some other reward, then valence suffers and if there is so much politics in my organization that I cannot be sure of the effort-performance ratio, then motivation will suffer. This theory is not used much in practice, mainly because it does not suggest specific things that can be done to motivate organizational members, but was important historically to shift the focus to process of motivation rather than the content. The model also assumes that people are rational and calculating, which may not always be true. Process Theories: Porter and Lawler The Porter and Lawler model was different because it treated motivation, satisfaction and performance as separate variables and looked at the relationship between them. What the theory says: Value of Reward (1) and Perceived effort-reward probability (2) -------------- Effort (3) Effort (3), moderated by abilities and traits (4) and role perceptions (5) -----Performance (6) Performance reinforces perceived effort-reward probability Performance (6) leads to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards (7A and 7B) If relative to performance (6) these rewards are perceived as equitable (8), they lead to satisfaction (9) which in turn influences the value of the reward (1)

The model is very complex and therefore difficult for practitioners to understand and apply. But the theoretical clarity helps us understand the operative factors in motivation much better. Putting process theories to work: Make it clear that effort will lead to performance Administer rewards that carry positive valence Link valued rewards to performance e.g. stock options

Other Theories: Equity This theory proposed by J Stacey Adams argues that people are motivated when there is perceived equity. Persons outcomes/persons inputs (>, <, =) other persons outcomes/inputs Both inputs and outputs here are perceptions. Input variables = Age, gender, education, social status, organizational position/ seniority, qualifications, etc. Output variables = pay, status, promotion, intrinsic interest in the job

Equity theory is linked to the concept of organizational justice both distributive as well as procedural which is important to job performance and to implementing organizational changes. Organizational justice can help explain why employees retaliate against both inequitable outcomes and inappropriate processes. For example, retaliation in the form of theft, sabotage, forged time

cards, and even violence toward the boss or owner can be explained using the principles of organizational justice Underpayment inequity has been linked to stress, reduced efforts, absenteeism, lower quality of work and even turnover. Underpaid ppl also attempt to raise their outcomes by negotiating for higher pay. Alternatively, ppl may psychologically convince themselves that this is correct. Overpayment increases in performance here are only temporary, when you overpay one, you underpay others resulting in net decrease in productivity. Need to manage perceptions can be done by being transparent speak of compensation banding and pay grades. Other theories: Attribution Harold Kelley, Leon Festinger, Kurt Lewin, and many others have contributed to this area of thought, but the primary force behind this theory is generally recognized as Fritz Heider. LOC is an important kind of attribution. Julian Rotter found in his classic experiments that skill versus chance environments differentially affect behavior. LOC linked to: Satisfaction Being in a managerial job More participatory Better performance More considerate of subordinates Tend not to burn out, etc.

Kelley suggests that dimensions such as consensus (do others act this way in this situation?), consistency (does this person act this way in this situation at other times?), and distinctiveness (does this person act differently in other situations?)will affect the type of attributions that are made. High consensus (everybody does poorly), plus low consistency (poor perf only this one time) and high distinctiveness (only on this particular task is poor, other tasks he does well) = external attribution Low consensus, high consistency and low distinctiveness = internal factors This is an incredibly complex area of human behavior, but has plenty of scope for application Other theories: Three social motives of McClelland Achievement, Affiliation and Power

Discussion on Employee Motivation: A powerful new model What the authors have done is synthesized the research on available motivational models and proposed a fairly easy to understand, but powerful way of looking at motivation a new theory, if you will. Based on study of 385 employees of two global businesses. The organizations ability to meet the four drives explains about 60% of employees variance on motivational indicators such as engagement, satisfaction, commitment and intention to quit. These drives are independent and each of them needs to be separately addressed. They cannot be substituted for one another.

The drive to acquire not only physical goods, but also experiences such as travel, entertainment, events that improve social status. This is relative (linked to equity) The drive to bond associated with strong positive emotions like love and caring and on negative side with loneliness and anomie (belongingness needs) The drive to comprehend curiosity at the one end and self-actualization at the other try to make sense of our world and appropriate challenge keeps us invigorated The drive to defend basic flight or fight response manifests as aggressive or defensive behavior, as quest to create institutions that promote justice. Leads to feelings of security and confidence or fear and resentment on other hand.

Reward system differentiation between good and poor performers, opportunities for advancement, perception that reward is tied to performance (greater effort and internal LOC), ext equity also Culture promotes teamwork, collaboration, openness, friendship, encourage sharing of best practices

Job Design which are challenging and fulfilling, have distinct and important roles in the organization, that are meaningful and foster a sense of contribution to the orgzn destiny Performance management and resource allocation fair, trustworthy and transparent more perception of distributive and procedural justice and therefore feel more secure

Discussion on the Bob Knowlton Case what went wrong? Approaches to applying motivation theory at the workplace By enhancing fit with the organization Is a promising way of understanding motivation in organizations Interesting concept is of motivational skills emotional control and motivational control The greater the fit, the more likely motivation will be high

Motivating by setting goals Goal influences peoples behavior about being able to perform a task self efficacy To the extent that people believe they fall short of a goal, they will exert effort to fill the gap Goal commitment when people feel that an externally set goal becomes their own if they have a desire to attain it, they think it is worthwhile to pursue and they think they have a reasonable chance of success Stems from the desire to feel competent or need for achievement

Guidelines for setting goals: Specific and measurable eg of loggers from 60% capacity of trucks to 94% of capacity led to dramatic improvement the goal was met and sustained for the next seven years savings for the company were considerable

Difficult but acceptable performance goals stretch goals. One way is to involve employees in the goal setting process = greater acceptance Feedback on goal attainment eg of pizza delivery drivers stopping at intersection less than half the time (obsvn over 6 week period) and went up to nearly 75% in the experimental group with feedback over a 4 week period sustained later even without feedback

Motivating by job design Skill variety + task significance + task identity = experienced meaningfulness Autonomy = experienced responsibility for outcomes Feedback = knowledge of results

The whole moderated by employee growth need strength. How to design jobs that motivate? Combine tasks Open feedback channels Establish client relationships Load jobs vertically

Article: One More Time KITA what does it achieve? Whether positive or negative KITA, I am motivated, the other person moves this works only as long as direct KITA is administered. What he says is one needs to practice job enrichment to motivate employees work the motivators rather than providing more hygiene factors. Reports the case of the stockholder correspondents where they were given more enriched jobs greater autonomy and responsibility for their own work (supervisors checked only 10% of letters as against all of them) led to greater job freedom appointing subject matter experts within each unit skill variety making periodic reports directly available to the correspondents rather than through the supervisors introducing new and difficult tasks not previously handled like quality control giving a person a complete natural unit of work