MGMT CH 12 - Lecture notes 12-13 PDF

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Employee needs, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Self-actualization, self-esteem, employment tests, personality test, extrinsic, intrinsic, perspectives, motivation...

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MGMT 300 – Principles of Management Chapter 12: Motivating Employees 12.1 Motivating for Performance Major Question What’s the motivation for studying motivation? The Big Picture Motivation is defined as the psychological processes that arouse and direct people’s goal-directed behavior. The model of how it works is that people have certain needs that motivate them to perform specific behaviors for which they receive rewards, both extrinsic and intrinsic, that feed back and satisfy the original need. The three major perspectives on motivation are need-based, process, and reinforcement. What would make you rise a half hour earlier than usual to ensure you got to work on time – and to perform your best once there? Among the possible inducements we mentioned earlier (such as those offered by SAS and Google) are the following: free snacks, on-site laundry, childcare assistance, scholarships for employees’ children, having your dog at work. But what happens during a recession, when companies get more frugal? Then you would probably lose some of the more exotic boom-time benefits, such as sabbaticals or child-adoption assistance. On the other hand, as managers realize they have to boost employee spirits after staff cutbacks and reward them for doing additional work, remaining workers might well gain some benefits: free massages, concierge services, office sports team sponsorships, or whatever. “The cost is so small in comparison with the left we get In employee morale,” says one vice-president at USAA, a Texas financial services provider. Colorado’s New Belgium Brewery, maker of Fat Tire ale, celebrates employees’ first year anniversaries by giving them custom bicycles. “It’s a couple of hundred dollars for the bike,” says a company officer. “But it means so much more.”

Whether employment rates are high or low, there are always companies, industries, and occupations in which employers feel they need to bend over backward to retain their human capital.

Motivation: What It Is, Why It’s Important Why do people do the things they do? The answer is this: they are mainly motivated to fulfill their wants, their needs. What Is Motivation & How Does It Work? Motivation – may be defined as the psychological processes that arouse and direct goal-directed behavior. Motivation is difficult to understand because you can’t actually see it or know it in another person; it must be inferred from one’s behavior. Nevertheless, it’s imperative that you as a manager understand the process of motivation if you are to guide employees in accomplishing your organization’s objectives. The way motivation works actually is complex. However, in a simple model of motivation, people have certain needs that motivate them to perform specific behaviors for which they receive rewards that feed back and satisfy the original need. For example, as an hourly worker you desire more money (need), which impels you (motivates you) to work more hours (behavior), which provides you with more money (reward) and informs you (feedback loop) that working more hours will fulfill your need for more money in the future. Rewards (as well as motivation itself) are of two types – extrinsic and intrinsic. Managers can use both to encourage better work performance. Extrinsic rewards – satisfaction in the payoff from others. An extrinsic reward – is the payoff, such as money, a person receives from others for performing a particular task. An extrinsic reward is an external reward; the payoff comes from pleasing others. Example: An experiment by General Electric found that paying employees who were smokers up to $750 – an extrinsic reward – to quit and stay off cigarettes was three times as successful as a comparison group that got no

paid incentives. (Other research finds that such extrinsic rewards have little lasting effect on making workers healthier. Intrinsic rewards – satisfaction in performing the task itself. An intrinsic reward is the satisfaction, such as a feeling of accomplishment, a person receives from performing the particular task itself. An intrinsic reward is an internal reward; the payoff comes from pleasing yourself. Example: Jenny Balaze left her post in Ernst & Young LLC’s Washington, DC, office to spend 12 weeks in Buenos Aires as a volunteer providing free accounting services to a small publishing firm. It was among “the best three months of my life,” says the 27 year-old business advisory services manager. Why Is Motivation Important? It seems obvious that organizations would want to motivate their employees to be more productive. Actually, though, as a manager you will find knowledge of motivation important for five reasons. In order of importance, you want to motivate people to… 1. Join your organization. 2. Stay with your organization. 3. Show up for work at your organization. 4. Be engaged while at your organization. 5. Do extra for your organization. The Four Major Perspectives on Motivation: Overview There is no theory accepted by everyone as to what motivates people. The four perspectives on motivation are (1) content, (2) process, (3) job design, and (4) reinforcement. 12.2 Content Perspectives on Employee Motivation Major Question What kinds of needs motivate employees? The Big Picture

Content perspectives are theories emphasizing the needs that motivate people. Needs are defined as physiological or psychological deficiencies that arouse behavior. The content perspective includes four theories: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Alderfer’s ERG theory, McClelland’s acquired needs theory, and Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Content perspectives – also known as need based perspectives, are theories that emphasize the needs that motivate people. Content theorists ask, “What kind of needs motivate employees in the workplace?” Needs – are defined as physiological or psychological deficiencies that arouse behavior. They can be strong or weak, and, because they are influenced by environmental factors, they can vary over time and from place to place. In addition to McGregor’s Theory X/Theory Y, content perspectives include four theories:  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory  Alderfer’s ERG theory  McClelland’s acquired needs theory  Herzberg’s two-factor theory Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory: Five Levels In 1943, Brandeis University psychology professor Abraham Maslow, one of the first researchers to study motivation, put forth his hierarchy of needs theory – which proposes that people are motivated by five levels of needs: (1) physiological, (2) safety, (3) love, (4) esteem, and (5) self-actualization.

The Five Levels of Needs In proposing this hierarchy of five needs, ranging from basic to highest level, Maslow suggested that needs are never completely satisfied. That is, our actions are aimed at fulfilling the “deprived” needs, the needs that remain unsatisfied at any point in time. Thus, for example, once you have achieved safety (security), which is the second most basic need, you will then seek to fulfill the third most basic need – love (belongingness).

1. Physiological Needs 2. Safety Needs 3. Love Needs 4. Esteem Needs 5. Self-actualization Needs Alderfer’s ERG Theory: Existence, Relatedness, & Growth Developed by Clayton Alderfer in the late 1960s, ERG theory assumes that three basic needs influence behavior – existence, relatedness, and growth, represented by the letters E, R, and G. The Three Kinds of Needs Unlike Maslow’s theory, ERG theory suggests that behavior is motivated by three needs, not five, and that more than one need may be activated at a time rather than activated in a stair-step hierarchy. From lowest to highest level, the three needs are as follows: 1. E – Existence Needs 2. R – Relatedness Needs 3. G – Growth Needs. Alderfer also held that if our higher level needs (such as growth needs) are frustrated, we will then seek more intensely to fulfill our lower level needs (such as existence needs). This is called the frustration-regression component....