Application Exercise Chapter 12 PDF

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Exercise 12-1: The Performance-Motivation Relationship This chapter addresses the various perspectives and complexities of work motivation. One of the most important points of this chapter is the relationship between performance and motivation. Too often people assume that your performance on a given task is the sole result of your motivation (you did well because you're a "hard worker" or you did poorly because you're "lazy"). As the text points out, there are other factors that influence your performance. Your ability to perform a task has a substantial impact on your performance. Situational factors (e.g., time limitations, poor equipment, reward system, leadership effectiveness, coworkers/peers) also influence your performance. Thus, your performance is a result of your ability and your motivation, and the situation in which you find yourself. This exercise requires you to apply this formula to two situations. After completing the exercise, you should have a better grasp of the complexities in the relationship between performance and motivation. Situation #1: This Course At the end of this semester you will receive some grade in this course. The grade you receive represents your performance. Answer the questions below. Performance in this course will be affected by: a) Which abilities are needed to do well in this course? a. Reading b. Comprehension b) Motivation: Why do you want to do well in this course? a. To understand how IO Psychology is used in the workforce and to get a good grade in this course c) What situational factors might affect your grade? a. No turning in work b. Not completing work Situation #2: Your job performance Think about your current job or a job you have recently been employed in. Your 1

performance on that job was/will be appraised in some manner (either formally or informally). Answer the questions below. Job Performance (measured by): a) Which abilities are needed to do well on this job? a. Multi-task b. Critical Thinking b) Motivation: Why do you want do well in this job? a. So I get paid and possibly promoted later. c) What situational factors might affect your job performance? a. cannot get to work, work equipment, the work environment. Exercise 12-2: College Life As you know this chapter focuses on motivation. Motivation directs our behavior. In the numerous motivation theories presented in this chapter on motivation, the importance of the product of our motivation was critical in many of these theories. Expectancy theory states that outcomes have valances for employees. In goalsetting theory the objective of motivation is to accomplish one’s goal. A similar objective is present in self-regulation theory. In this exercise you will first rank order various outcomes associated with college. Using the scale below rank order the following outcomes. 1 = most important, 2 = 2nd most important , …. 7 = least important When I leave this college/university the outcome that matters most to me is… 7____ I have a high g.p.a. and/or class rank 1____ I have a good job to go to after graduation 2____ I have developed the necessary skills to be successful in my career 3____ I have made some quality friendships that I hope will last a long time 6____ I have found someone to share the rest of my life with intimately 4____ I really enjoyed this part of my life 5____ I know a lot more now than I thought I would 2

When examining your rankings above you should have a good idea how motivation provides direction to your behavior as a college student. The next component of motivation is “intensity.” Using the scale below rate your intensity for each outcome over the past week. When I reflect back on the past week I have spent: 1= virtually no time on meeting this objective 2 = a little time on meeting this objective 3 = some time on meeting this objective 4 = a considerable amount of time meeting this objective 5 = virtually all my time meeting this objective 4____ I have a high g.p.a. and/or class rank 3____ I have a good job to go to after graduation 4____ I have developed the necessary skills to be successful in my career 3____ I have made some quality friendships that I hope will last a long time 1____ I have found someone to share the rest of my life with intimately 1____ I really enjoyed this part of my life 3____ I know a lot more know than I thought I would 1) When you compare your ranking to these ratings are there any surprises? In other words are there outcomes that you ranked high that received a low rating or vice versa? a. Yes there are a few surprises. I want a good job after I graduate but I do not spend as much time as I should looking. I am mainly working and doing class work which incidentally affect my GPA. 2) Why do you think there are some discrepancies between the rankings and the ratings? a. Some of ratings and rankings are indirectly affected by what I do. If I am focused on school on the moment then I am not paying attention to anything else.

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The last major component of motivation is persistence. The following questions target this aspect of motivation. 1) When you think back to when you graduated from high school, which of the above mentioned outcomes would have been ranked higher? Why the change? a. When I graduated high school some of the outcomes that would have ranked higher are finding someone to spend the rest of my life with and GPA. 2) Which would have been ranked lower? Why? a. A good job after graduation and knowing a lot more than I thought would have ranked lower because I would not have been worried about it. It would be four or more years into the future. 3) Over your college career which of the following outcomes do you think you have been most consistently pursuing? In other words which outcomes have you been the most persistence about? a. The outcome I have been most persistent about it a good job after I graduate and having the skills needed to do a good job. 4) Overall when you think about your responses through this exercise what does it tell you about motivation? a. I am not as motivated as I should be and maybe I should try to motivate myself more so that I can actually reach the desired outcome. 5) Similarly, it is likely that if you shared your responses with other members of the class you will find large differences across the group. What implication does this have for organizations that want to maximize employee motivation a. That not all employees can be motivated the same and sometimes it is just something that they will have to attempt to work around.

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