ch5: foundation of employee motivation Flashcards
motivation
the forces within a person that affect their direction, intensity and persistence of effort for voluntary behavior
employee engagement
individual emotional and cognitive motivation, particularly a focused, intense, persistent, and purposive effort toward work-related goals
o Associated with self-efficacy – belief that you have the ability, role clarity, resources to get the job done
o High levels of absorption in the work – the experience of focusing intensely on the task, with limited awareness of events beyond that work
how many employees are engaged + where
- 34% of employees in the US are engaged, 53% are not engaged, 13% are actively disengaged
o Disengaged – disruptive at work, not just disconnected
o Lowest levels of engagement – Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, France, the Netherlands
o Highest – US, Brazil, India
can managers motivate their team
- 71% of US managers believe they know how to motivate their team, 44% of employees agree
o The task is more challenging – changes in the workplace (flattening of the hierarchy – can’t “command and control” anymore
drives
hardwired characteristics of the brain that correct deficiencies or maintain an internal equilibrium by producing emotions to energize individuals
origin of words emotion and motivation
movere (to move) in latin
needs
goal-directed forces that people experience
o The motivational energy from emotions that are channeled toward a goal and associated behaviors to correct deficiencies or imbalances
what leads to stronger or weaker needs
o Individual’s self-concept, social norms, past experience amplify or suppress emotions – stronger or weaker needs
Needs can be “learned” to some extent – socialization and reinforcement may increase or decrease needs for social interaction, achievement
o Also influence what goals and behaviors are motivated by the felt emotions
four drive theory
a motivation theory based on the innate drives to acquire, bond, comprehend, and defend that incorporates both emotions and rationality
drives in the four drive theory
o Drive to acquire – the drive to seek, take, control, retain objects and personal experiences – need for achievement, competence, status, self-esteem
o Drive to bond – the need for belonging and affiliation – motivates people to cooperate
o Drive to comprehend – people are curious and need to make sense of our environment and ourselves + motivation to close the information gap
o Drive to defend – the drive to protect ourselves physically, psychologically, and socially
Probably the first drive to develop in human beings, creates a fight-or-flight response
four drive theory characteristics
- Independent of one another, no hierarchy of drives, no fundamental drives are excluded from this model
- Three of the four drives are proactive – we regularly try to fulfill them – need fulfillment is brief and ongoing (different just for the need to defend)
what’s a mental skill set
- Our social norms, personal values, past experiences (mental skill set) guide our motivational energy and reduce the felt need
o Chooses courses of action that are acceptable in society, consistent with our own moral compass, and have a high probability of achieving the goal
four drive theory recommendation for workplaces
should provide a balanced opportunity to fulfill the four drives
o The best workplaces help people fulfill all four drives – providing meaningful work, sufficient rewards, ongoing communication, social interaction
o The fulfillment of the four drives must be kept in balance – should neither overemphasize nor suppress fulfillment of each drive
The drive to bond vs the drive to achieve, drive to comprehend vs drive to comprehend
four drives theory criticism
- Argumentation that other drives should be included + social norms, personal values, past experiences don’t represent the full set of individual characteristics
Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory
– a motivation theory of needs arranged in a hierarchy, whereby people are motivated to fulfill a higher need as a lower one becomes gratified
5 basic categories of Maslow
o Physiological – the need for food, air, water, shelter
o Safety – need for security and stability
o Belongingness/love – need for interaction with and affection from others
o Esteem – need for self-esteem and social esteem/status
o Self-actualization – need for self-fulfillment, realization of one’s potential
two sets of needs outside of the pyramid
o Need to know – human beings are inherently curious about the unknown and unexplained in their surroundings
o Need for beauty – aesthetic needs, an inherent attraction to beauty, symmetry and possibly to simplicity, completion, and order
two groups of Maslow needs
- Bottom four groups – deficiency needs
o Self-actualization is a growth need
flaws with Maslow
not everyone has the same needs hierarchy (influenced by self-concept, personal values, personality)
o Needs change faster than Maslow predicted
why is Maslow still important
o Widely known and incorrectly assumed to be correct
o Emphasized that needs should be studied together because human behavior is typically initiated by more than one need at the same time
o Motivation can be shaped by human thoughts, earlier motivation experts focused on how instincts motivated behavior
o Adopted a positive view of motivation, previous theories focused on need deficiencies such as hunger – need for growth
intrinsic motivation
occurs when people fulfill their needs for competence and autonomy by engaging in the activity itself, rather than from an externally controlled outcome of that activity
extrinsic motivation
occurs when people are motivated to engage in an activity for instrumental reasons, to receive something that’s beyond their personal control
o Pay incentives, recognition awards, frequent reminders from the boss about deadlines
o Can also be indirect – completing a project due to concerns about how team members will react
2 hypothesis of intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation
o Additive view – someone performing an intrinsically motivating job becomes even more motivated when by receiving an extrinsic source of motivation
o Another – introducing extrinsic sources of motivation will reduce intrinsic motivation
- Mixed evidence – extrinsic motivators may reduce existing intrinsic motivation to some extent but the effect is often minimal
o Don’t undermine it when: they’re unexpected, when they have low value relative to the intrinsic motivator, when they’re not contingent on specific behavior
learned needs theory
- A motivation theory based on the idea that needs are amplified or suppressed through self-concept, social norms, and past experience
learned needs
o Need for achievement (nAch) – accomplishing reasonably challenging goals and desire unambiguous feedback and recognition for their success + desire clear feedback and recognition for their success
Money is a weaker motivator for those with high nAch, successful entrepreneurs tend to have high nAch (establish challenging goals for themselves and thrive on competition)
o Need for affiliation (nAff) – people seek approval form others, conform to their wishes and expectations, avoid conflict and confrontation
High – work well in jobs responsible for cultivating long-term relations, less effective at making difficult decisions about distributing scarce resources
Leaders should have moderate – supportive of employee needs
o Need for power (nPow) – control their environment including people and material resources, to benefit either themselves or others
Personalized power – individuals enjoy their power for its own sake – personal interest
Socialized power – power as a mean to help others
training programs for learned needs
o One program increased achievement motivation by having participants write achievement-oriented stories, place achievement-oriented behaviors in business games, and meet frequently with others to maintain it
Increased achievement motivation by changing how people viewed themselves