Motivation Concepts :Organizational Behavior

Editor's Notes

• #8: Douglas McGregor added to the motivation work done in the 1950’s and developed the theory called Theory X, Theory Y. He believed that there are two distinct views of human beings that managers hold. The Theory X view is basically negative and believes that workers have little ambition, dislike work, and avoid responsibility. The Theory Y view is in contrast to X and believes that workers tend to be self-directed, enjoy work, and accept responsibility. Managers will modify their behavior toward employees based on what view they hold about them.
• #13: The self-determination theory states that people prefer to have control over their actions. So when they are required to do something they previously freely chose, it will diminish their motivation. This theory sets forth that in the workplace, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are not independent of one another. In fact, the presence of extrinsic rewards may decrease the intrinsic rewards. In addition to extrinsic rewards, managers need to realize the importance of using goal setting and verbal rewards as a method to increase motivation.
• #14: Edwin Locke developed what is called the goal-setting theory. The idea behind this theory is that goals that are specific and effectively difficult can lead to higher performance if they include self-generated feedback. A difficult goal will help the individual to focus and direct attention as well as energize them to work harder. The difficulty of the goal will increase persistence and force people to be more effective and efficient. The relationship between goals and performance depends on how committed the individual is to the goal as well as how specific the tasks are. Most of the research has been done in the United States so the applicability of this theory to other cultures is suspect.
• #15: An implementation of the goal-setting theory is Management by Objectives, better known as MBO. MBO is a systematic way to utilize goal-setting theory, in which goals are set jointly by managers and employees. The goals must be tangible, verifiable, and measurable in order to be effective. The manager helps to break down the organizational goals into smaller more specific goals for the employee. In order for MBO to be effective, the goals must be specific, the employees must participate in the goal setting, there must be a defined time period, and feedback must be incorporated into the process.
• #16: Another theory of motivation is the self-efficacy theory developed by Albert Bandura. This theory is based on an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task. This theory is a complement to the goal-setting theory as it incorporates goals into the process. Higher efficacy is related to greater confidence, greater persistence in the face of difficulties, and responding to negative feedback with working harder, not shutting down.
• #17: Self-efficacy can be increased in several ways. The first is increasing your mastery of a task/skill. Another way is to model your actions after someone else who performs the task effectively and applying their actions to your own. The final methods to increase self-efficacy is to receive verbal persuasion through others as well as getting excited about completing the task.
• #18: The Reinforcement Theory is based on the goal-setting theory we looked at earlier. However, it focuses on behaviors instead of cognitive factors. This theory believes that reinforcement conditions behavior and by reinforcing certain behaviors we can increase the types of behaviors that impact organizational effectiveness in a positive way. This theory is based on the idea that behavior is environmentally caused. Behavior is believed to be based on the consequences and not on thoughts, feelings, or attitudes. This theory is not technically a motivational theory, rather it is a method used to analyze behavior. It is important to keep in mind that reinforcement does impact behavior but it is not the only factor that does so.
• #20: Adam’s equity theory utilizes perception theory that we looked at in previous chapters. The idea is that employees compare their ratios of outcomes to inputs of others they see as relevant. When they see the ratios as equal, there is a perceived state of equity and no tension arises. However, when they perceive the ratios to be unequal, they may experience anger or guilt, depending on the result of the equity analysis, and then tension can arise. This tension can motivate people to act in a way to bring the situation into a more equitable state.
• #22: There are four different type of situations that arise with the equity theory’s relevant others; they are as follows: * Self-inside where the person compares themselves with someone else within the organization who holds a different job; * Self-outside where the person compares themselves with someone outside of the organization with a different job; * Other-inside where the person compares another individual or group of individuals within the organization; and * Other-outside where the person compares another individual or group of individuals outside of the organization. All these factors are based on the individual’s perceptions of what is equitable or fair.
• #23: Employees will often react strongly to situations they perceive as inequitable. They normally engage in behaviors to create equity, such as slacking off when they feel they are working harder than others or quitting when they see no way to make things equitable. There are also some responses to inequitable pay that employees engage, such as producing more when they are overpaid or producing lower quality outputs when they feel they are underpaid.
• #24: The justice and equity theory is based on perceived equity in the workplace. For organizational justice to be perceived, there must be distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice. Distributive justice is the fairness in which the outcomes are distributed or experienced. The procedural justice focuses not on the outcomes but on the process itself. Interactional justice focuses on how you are treated during the process.
• #25: The most commonly used and widely accepted theory of motivation is Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. This theory argues that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way is dependent on the strength of the expectation that they will receive a given outcome and that the outcome is desired. Employees are willing to work harder if they believe that their actions will get them an outcome they desire. For example, employees are willing to work long and hard hours if they know that they will be rewarded through promotion, recognition, or pay in response to their hard work.
• #26: This graph looks at integrating the various motivational theories we have looked at. It is based on Vroom’s expectancy theory. This graph looks at individual effort and recognizes that it can be impacted by opportunity. Goals effect behavior and will definitely influence individual effort. Employees will exert a lot of effort if they perceive that effort will help them perform better and receive rewards for that performance. This also assumes that the rewards are based on a fair and objective appraisal process as perceived by the individual. If equity is perceived, motivation is high.
• #27: Unfortunately, in the area of motivation theory, the vast majority of research has been done in the United Sates and is culturally bound. There does seem to be a universal acceptance that a desire for interesting work is common across the globe, but there is no research to support this.
• #28: There are a number of theories that can increase our understanding as managers about motivation in the workplace. It is important to utilize these theories when designing workplace programs and procedures.