Work Design and Motivation Flashcards
(31 cards)
Define motivation and list the three components that make it up.
Motivation refers to internal factors that impel action and to external factors that can act as inducements to action, It is made up of three components : -direction: choice -effort: intensity -persistence: duration
What factors affect job performance?
- ability
- quality of equipment
- coordination of team members
What is the distinction between content and process theories?
- Content theories focus on what motivates human behavior at work.
- Process theories focus on how contents of motivation influences behavior
Describe theory X , theory Y and the social theory (common sense theories)
Theory X : People cannot be trusted. They need measures of control through incentives and threats of punishment In the absence of these, their work is poor.
Theory Y: People seek independence, self development and creativity. Fundamentally moral and responsible beings who are able to adapt.
Social Theory: behavior is motivated by social interactions. They are responsive to the expectations of people around them, often more so than to financial incentives
Describe need/Maslow theories.
Need theories are based on the idea that there are psychological needs, probably of biological origin, that lie behind human behaviour. When our needs are unmet, we experience tension or disequilibrium which we try to put right.
reflects the content of motivation
What is the best known need theory ?
Abraham Maslow (1943, 1954). General theory of human functioning applied to the work setting.
What are the five cases of human need ?
Physiological: existence Safety: existence Belonginess : relatedness Esteem :growth Self Actualisation: Alderfer growth
What are the flaws of need theories?
■ needs did not group together in the ways predicted;
■ the theories did not offer reliable predictions of when particular needs would become
important;
■ there was no clear relationship between needs and behaviour, so that (for example) the
same behaviour could reflect different needs, and different behaviours the same need;
■ needs were generally described with insufficient precision;
■ the whole notion of need as a biological phenomenon is problematic. It ignores the
capacity of people and those around them to construct their own perceptions of needs
and how they can be met. Some (e.g. Cooke et al., 2005) have argued that Maslow’s
whole theory is a product of the context of the Cold War, with the tensions between
religion and secularism, and between individualism and conformity that existed at the
time the theory was constructed
What are the six task preferences that signal high need of achievement
1 Tasks involving uncertainty rather than sure outcomes.
2 Difficult tasks rather than easy ones.
3 Tasks involving personal responsibility, not shared responsibility.
Key learning point
4 Tasks involving a calculated risk, rather than no risk or excessive risk.
5 Tasks requiring problem-solving or inventiveness, rather than following instructions.
6 Tasks that gratify the need to succeed, rather than ensuring the avoidance of failure.
How can you test for need for achievement
A person’s need for achievement is often assessed using projective tests, which involve the person interpreting ambiguous stimuli. For example, a person may be asked to make up a story about what is happening in a short series of pictures. It is assumed that people projecttheir personality onto the stimuli through their interpretations. Need for achievement can also be assessed in a more straightforward manner using questions about the person’s behaviour, thoughts and feelings as in a personality questionnaire.
Describe the expectancy theory
- Expectancy: would be able to
- Instrumentally: Would this lead to good outcomes?
- Valence: Value of those outcomes
Limitations and Criticisms of the expectancy theories
Studies that have not measured expectancies or
combined it with instrumentality better predict
performance (theoretical propositions problem)
Theory does not work when you expect negative
incentives
Better predicts attitudes than work performance
Self report measures are invalid at times
What is the difference between need theory and equity theory ?
Rather like need theories, equity
theory offers only vague predictions about exactly what people will do when they are dissatisfied.
Describe each organistation citizenship behaviour
■ Altruism: helping another person with a work task or problem.
■■ Conscientiousness: going well beyond minimum role requirements.
■■ Civic virtue: participation and involvement in the life of the organisation.
■■ Courtesy: preventing interpersonal problems through polite and considerate behaviour.
■■ Sportsmanship: willingness to tolerate less than ideal circumstances without complaining.
What does the term SMART mean in goal theory?
SMART’ – specific,
measureable, agreed, realistic and time-based – goals
Explain the term goal commitment and self efficacy
Goal commitment can be defined as an unwillingness to abandon or lower the goal
Self-efficacy reflects the point from expectancy theory that a person’s belief that they are capable, or can become capable, of performing the necessary behaviours is an important component of motivation
Distinguish between learning-goal orientation and performance-goal orientation
A learning goal, which
is also sometimes called a mastery goal, ‘involves seeking to acquire knowledge or
skills, to master or understand something new’
while a
performance goal concerns obtaining favourable judgements of one’s competence, and
avoiding unfavourable judgements of one’s competenc
Highlight issues in goals and goal-settings
It is argued that if individuals do not feel commitment to a goal they will not exert
effort in pursuit of it – even a difficult and specific one.
If the person has a very low level of self-efficacy, even what seems
to his/her boss to be only a moderate level of performance can seem too difficult.
Explain the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation deals with the motivation to do a task based on self satisfaction while extrinsic motivation explains the motivation that deals with completing a task for external rewards
Explain the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation deals with the motivation to do a task based on self satisfaction while extrinsic motivation explains the motivation that deals with completing a task for external rewards
Describe the different types of regulations concerned with extrinsic motivation
■ External regulation: A person performs behaviour in order to satisfy an external demand, and experiences this as externally controlled and not what they would do by choice.
The external demands can be social (‘because others will respect me more’) or material (‘because I risk losing my job if I don’t put enough effort in it’).
■ Introjected regulation: Similar to external regulation, except that the person has internalized the external demand enough for it to matter to their sense of self-esteem (‘because it makes me feel proud of myself’).
■ Identified regulation: A person accepts an external demand or reward as being of personal importance, and therefore also uses self-regulation in order to perform the required behaviours (‘because putting effort into this job has personal significance to me’).
■ Integrated regulation: Similar to identification, but the person not only accepts external rewards or requirements as important, but also as an expression of self (‘because my work is a big part of who I am’ – this item not from Gagné et al., but from Moran et al.,
2012, instead).
What are the steps that are involved in scientific management or Taylorism ?
■ systematically (or ‘scientifically’) compile information about the work tasks required;
■ remove workers’ discretion and control over their own activities;
■ simplify tasks as much as possible;
■ specify standard procedures and times for task completion;
■ use financial (and only financial) incentives;
■ by the above methods, ensure that workers could not deceive managers, or hide from
them.
What are the aims of socio- technology ?
-it states that job activities should be specified only in so far as necessary to establish the boundaries of that job.
It also emphasizes that boundaries should be drawn so that they do not impede the transmission of information and learning, and that disruptions to work processes should be dealt with at the source wherever possible, rather than by managers further removed from the situation.
What are the focuses of job redesign?
■ variety (of tasks or skills);
■■ autonomy (freedom to choose work methods, scheduling and occasionally goals);
■■ completeness (extent to which the job produces an identifiable end result which the
person can point to).
This may be attempted in one or more of the following ways:
■■ Job rotation: People rotate through a small set of different (but usually similar) jobs.
Rotation is frequent (e.g. each week). It can increase variety.
■■ Horizontal job enlargement: Additional tasks are included in a person’s job. They are
usually similar to tasks already carried out. This, too, can increase variety.
■■ Vertical job enlargement: Additional decision-making responsibilities and/or higher-level
challenging tasks are included in the job. This increases autonomy, variety and possibly
completeness. An increasingly commonly used term for this is empowerment: a person
does not necessarily achieve an increase in formal status, but they are given more
freedom to take decisions and implement them according to the needs of the situation
at the time (Wang and Lee, 2009).
■■ Semi-autonomous work groups: Similar to vertical job enlargement, but at the level of the
group rather than the individual. In other words, a group of people is assigned a task
and allowed to organise itself to accomplish it. Semi-autonomous workgroups have
been introduced in some car factories.
■■ Self-managing teams: More often composed of managers and professionals than semiautonomous work groups, these teams are often given considerable freedom to
accomplish a group task, and perhaps even to define the task in the first place.
