Ch 16 - Motivating Employees Flashcards
(33 cards)
What is motivation?
= the forces either within or external to a person that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action
What is a simple model for explaining the process of motivation?
- Need = desire is created to fulfill needs (money, friendship, achievement, etc)
- Behaviour = actions to fulfill needs
- rewards = satisfy needs with intrinsic or extrinsic rewards
- feedback = reward informs person whether behaviour was approproate and should be used again
What are intrinsic and extrinsic rewards? What do managers want to give employees?
Intrinsic rewards: the internal satisfactions and positive feelings that a person receives in the process of performing a particular action
Extrinsic rewards: something given by another person, typically a manager; include promotions, praise, and pay increases
managers want people to receive both!!
What are the approaches to motivating people that managers can use?
- negative-extrinsic = threats and punishments
- negative-intrinsic = tap into self-doubts
- positive-extrinsic = rewards like pay raises, bonuses, praise (limited, lose effect over time)
- postitive-intrinsic = help ppl enjoy their work, sense of accomplishment
What are content theories of motivation? the types? What is the general guiding concept behind this?
Content theories: emphasize the needs that motivate people
1) The hierarchy of needs theory
2) ERG theory
3) Two-factor theory
4) Acquired needs theory
guiding concept: People have a variety of needs that motivate specific behaviors
What is hierarchy of needs theory? Steps? Who?
= people are motivated by multiple needs, and
these needs exist in a hierarchical order
who: Abraham Maslow
bottom to top
physiological needs = heat, air, base salary
safety needs = safe work, job security
belongingness needs = work groups, coworkers, supervisors
esteem needs = recognition, approval, status, responsibilities
self actualization needs = opportunities for advancement, autonomy, growth, creativity
What is ERG theory? Who? What did they say about failure to meet a high order need?
Clayton Paul Alderfer
maslow but 3 categories and with more empirical verification?
1) Existence needs: needs for physical well-being
2) Relatedness needs: needs for satisfactory relationships with others
3) Growth needs: needs that focus on the development of human potential and the desire for personal growth and increased competence
failure to meet = frustration-regression principle = failure to meet a high-order need may cause a regression to an already satisfied lower-order need (can move down as well as up!)
What is the two-factor theory approach to needs? Who?
who = Frederick Herzberg
theory: work characteristics associated with dissatisfaction are different from those pertaining to satisfaction, so must be two factors that influence work motivation
A) Hygiene factors: presence or absence of job dissatisfiers (good hygiene factors simply remove the dissatisfaction = keep at baseline or go below)
B) Motivators: influence job satisfaction based on fulfilling higher-level needs (bring above baseline = when motivators are absent, workers are neutral toward work)
What is acquired needs theory? who?
= certain types of needs are acquired during the individual’s lifetime (oft in childhood when encouraged/rewarded for certain things)
- David McClelland
Need for achievement: the desire to accomplish something difficult
Need for affiliation: the desire to form close personal relationships
Need for power: the desire to influence or control others, be responsible for others, and have authority over others
What is definition of process theories on motivation? What are the main ones?
= explanations of how people select behavioral actions to meet their needs and determine whether their choices are successful
a) Goal-setting theory
b) Equity theory
c) Expectancy theory
What is goal-setting theory? Key components?
= proposes that managers can increase motivation and enhance performance by setting specific, challenging goals and providing timely feedback
Key components:
1) Goal specificity = need to know when actually acheived the goal
2) Goal difficulty = too hard is demotivating, too easy is too easy
3) Goal acceptance = employees need to buy in, care about it and the why
4) Feedback
Why does goal setting increase motivation?
- focus their energies in the right direction
- energize behavior because people feel compelled to develop plans and strategies that keep them focused on achieving the targets
- when goals are achieved, pride and satisfaction increase, contributing to higher motivation and morale
Which of the following descriptions best indicates what goal-setting theory is about?
a) The focus is on individuals’ perceptions of how fairly they are treated relative to others
b) An individual’s motivation can result from thoughts, beliefs, and observations of other people’s behavior
c) Positively reinforced behavior tends to be repeated, and unreinforced or negatively reinforced behavior tends to be inhibited
d) Managers increase motivation and enhance performance by setting specific, challenging targets and providing timely feedback
d) Managers increase motivation and enhance performance by setting specific, challenging targets and providing timely feedback
What is equity theory? definition of equity?
Equity theory: focuses on individuals’ perceptions of how fairly they are treated/perceived to be treated compared to others (my treatment vs others around me)
Equity: the ratio of one person’s inputs to outcomes equals the ratio of another’s inputs to outcomes – Inequity occurs when inputs-to-outcomes ratios are out of balance (ex: new employee gets same pay as experienced one)
What methods are used to reduce perceived inequity?
- Change work effort (ex: increase if feeling overpaid, decrease if feeling underpaid)
- Change outcomes (ex: underpaid person request bigger office or salary increase)
- Change perceptions (ex: show employee actual situation and reduce misperception)
- Leave the job
What is expectancy theory? What are the parts?
motivation depends on individuals’ expectations about their ability to perform tasks and receive desired rewards (motivated to put in effort in order to achieve outcome)
E → P (effort to performance): expectancy that effort will lead to high performance
–> high = individual must have ability, previous experience, and necessary equipment, tools, and opportunity to perform
P → O (performance to outcome) expectancy: probability that performance will produce the desired outcome
–> ex: believe that higher sales will lead to better raise = HIGH PO exp
What is valence? how does it tie into expectancy therory? How does one get highly motivated emlpoyees with this thoery?
= the value of outcomes, or attraction to outcomes, for the individual
w/ expectancy theory: If the outcomes that are available from great effort and good performance are not VALUED by employees, motivation will be low
highly motivated employees = all three factors are HIGH
You know that you have a great idea and only need a few more hours to finish a project that will contribute to how your team functions in the future. In other words, you have
a) high E → P expectancy
b) low valence
c) low P → O expectancy
d) high vicarious learning
a) high E → P expectancy
What is reinforcement theory perspectice on motivation? What are two main parts?
looks at the relationship between behavior and its consequences; focuses on changing employees’ on-the-job behavior through the appropriate use of immediate rewards and punishments
parts:
- direct reinforcement = happens to you
- social learning = happens to someone else
What law underlies direct reinforcement?
law of effect = behavior that is positively reinforced tends to be repeated, and behavior that is not reinforced tends not to be repeated
What are the 4 reinfrcement tools?
- positive reinforcement = pleasant and rewarding consequence following a desired behavior (ex: praise + gratitude, give bonus)
- avoidance learning (aka negative reinforcement) = removal of an unpleasant consequence once a behavior is improved (ex: stop yelling at them)
- punishment = imposition of unpleasant outcomes, oft following undesirable behaviour (ex: suspend employee)
- extinction = withholding of a positive reward, undesirable behaviour ignored bc not positively reinforced means it will eventually disappear (ex: withhold raise, praise)
What is social learning theory? What is vicarious learning?
social learning = proposes that an individual’s motivation can result from the person’s observations of other people’s behavior (ex: I am motivated to try amazon fba because they did it and were rewarded with pools of money)
Vicarious learning = observational learning; learning from seeing others’ behaviors and getting rewarded for them
How can managers take advatnage of social larning?
ensuring that each individual…
1) has a chance to observe the desirable behaviors
2) accurately perceives the behaviors
3) remembers the behaviors
4) has the necessary skills to perform the behaviors
5) sees that the behaviors are rewarded by the organization
What is the definition of job design?
Job design: the application of motivational theories to the structure of work for improving productivity and satisfaction
