Chapter 8: Employee Motivation

What motivates employees to perform at peak performance?

• Motivation

• Engagement

Motivation

refers to the force that drives individuals to take and avoid certain actions

Engagement

refers to an employees rational and emotional commitment to his work

Four Indicators of Motivation

1) Engaged

• Energy

• Enthusiam

• Effort

2) Satisfied

• Experience

• Treatment

3) Commited

• To company

• To mission

4) Rooted

• Intention to stay

Four fundamental needs

1) The drive to acquire

• Motivated by the opportunity for growth, rewards and recognition (material wealth, achievements and status)

2) The drive to bond

• refers to the desire to form connection and relationships, a supportive workplace environment fulfil this need

3) The drive to comprehend

• this refers to the natural human nature of curiosity to learn, understand and make sense of the world. In the workplace employees can satisfy this need by engaging in task that promotes skill development and personal/professional growth

4) The drive to defend

• Refers to protecting oneself, their beliefs and resources. This is satisfied through fair treatment, job security and stability in the workplace

Classical theories of motivation

Scientific management

• Hawthorne Effect

• Maslow Hierarchy of needs

• Herzberg’s Two factor theory

• Theory X

• Theory Y

• McClelland Three Needs

Scientific management

refers to a management approach to improving employee work efficiency by scientifically studying their work

Hawthorne effect

refers to the organizational research whereby employees alter their behaviour when they are being observed or when the receive special treatment. This study provides insight on human psychological and social factors influencing workplace performance. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of social relationship and workplace dynamics focusing on human-centered approach instead of pure efficiency

Maslow hierarchy of needs

refers to a model in which human needs are displayed in order from basic needs to advanced needs at the top:

Level 1 Physiological needs (job,food,house,clothes)

Level 2- Safety needs (retirement plans, insurance)

Level 3 - Social needs (Friends at work)

Level 4 - Esteem needs (Job title, recognition and prestige)

Level 5 - Self-actualization needs (leadership role)

Theory X

a managerial assumption that employees are lazy, incompetent and have distain for their work requiring motivation in the form of force, control and threats

Theory Y

a managerial assumption that employees enjoy their work, committed to their work and are capable of creative thinking and seeking out responsibility under the right condition

Herzberg’s two-factor theory

refers to a model dividing motivational forces into 2 categories satisfiers (motivators) and dissatisfiers (hygiene factors)

Motivators (highest degree of satisfaction):

• Work itself

• Recognition

• Achievement

• Responsibility

• Personal growth

Hygiene (lowest degree of satisfaction):

• Working conditions

• Interpersonal relationship

• Pay and job security

• Company policies

• Supervisors

McClelland three needs theory

refers to the model of motivation that highlights the need for power, achievement and affiliation

Explaining employee choices

• expectancy theory

• equity theory

Expectancy theory

refers to the idea that employees effort are tied to their own expectation and ability of doing their work, rewards and attractiveness of rewards they could gain

• individual performance - E

• organizations rewards - E

• individual goals - A

Equity theory

refers to the idea that employees level of satisfaction is base on ratio of employee input and output or rewards the receive from it

Goal-setting theory

refers to the motivational theory that challenging goal setting can be a good way to motivate employees

goal should be:

• specific to give clarity and focus

• difficult enough to spark commitment and energetic effort

• clear ownership of goals so that accountability can be established

• employee should be able to belief in their ability to meet goals

Management by objective (MBO)

refers to a motivational approach whereby managers structure personal goals, objectives for every individual, department and project to combine them with organizational goals:

1) Setting goals

• Top managers work with middle managers and middle managers work with first line managers to develop goals for their work groups at the same time managers and employees at all levels work together with supervisors to set individual goals for performance

2) Planning action

• managers determine exactly when both group and individuals goals will be accomplished, and they ensure goals are met on time hence a schedule for action plan is made

3) Implementing plans

• Managers and employees implement their plans in their own way, channelling their expertise for the benefit of the organization allow opportunity to develop their professional skills

4) Reviewing performance

• Managers periodically review all employees and check on their progress, they identify how well they are achieving their plans along with obstacles and strategies for overcoming them, old goals may be refined and new goals established with goals accomplished being recognize and rewarded

Risks and limitations of goal setting theory

• Overly narrow goals - this can lead to employees focusing on the goals set without concerning about other broader objectives and tasks

• Overly challenging goals - when goals are unattainable and not realistic it can lead to decrease morale as employees will get stressed when they cannot achieve the given goal

• Inappropriate time horizon - when time set to accomplish a goal is too short and unrealistic it can lead to unwanted stress as employees will be stressed and pressured to meet the goals on time

• Declining intrinsic satisfaction - overfocusing on accomplishing goals may lead to employees to focus on just doing work to meet goals instead of doing it for personal satisfaction

• Missed learning opportunities - when employees focus on just meeting goals it can lead them to just finding ways to complete the goal disregarding the need to learn other skills

• Unhealthy internal competition - by focusing solely on accomplishing goals it can lead to employees creating competition with each other as they intend to meet individual goals leading to declining in collaboration and team work

• Performance limitations - Setting specific goals may shift primary focus of employees towards those goals undermining the need for other valuable contributions

Job characteristics model

refers to a model that suggest 5 core job dimensions that influence 3 critical psychological states that determines motivation, outcomes and performance

Critical psychological states

• Experienced meaningfulness of the work

• Experienced responsibility for results

• Knowledge of actual results

Experienced meaningfulness of the work

refers to the measure of how much employees care about the jobs they are doing

Experienced responsibility for results

refers to the sense that each employee knowing his or her effort contributes to the outcome

Knowledge of actual results

refers to the employees awareness of the real life results of their efforts

5 core job dimensions

• Skill variety – The extent to which a job requires different skills and activities

• Task identity – The degree to which a job involves completing a whole, identifiable piece of work

• Task significance – How much the job impacts other people’s lives or work

• Autonomy – The level of freedom and independence an employee has in performing their job

• Feedback – How much direct and clear information the job provides about performance

Modifying core job dimensions

• Job enrichment

• Cross-training

Job enrichment

refers to making jobs more interesting by expanding the range of skills required to do a job

Cross-training

refers to ensuring workers do not feel bored and burn out by rotating them to do varieties of tasks

Reinforcement theory

refers to a motivational approach based on the idea that managers are able to influence the behavior of employees by using positive and negative reinforcement

Positive reinforcement

refers to encouraging desired behaviours by through offering pleasant consequences for completing or repeating those behaviours

Negative reinforcement

refers to encouraging the repetition of certain behaviours (desirable or not) by removing the unpleasant consequences for the behaviour

Motivational strategies

• personalizing motivation according to each individual needs

• be inspirational leaders

• adapting to circumstances and special needs

• provide timely and frequent feedback

• eliminating workplace problems before they demorale employees

Personalizing motivation

• establish systems and policies that are fair and automatic

• be as flexible as possilble while still being fair

• get to know employees as individuals

Performance management systems

refers to systems that help companies establish goals for employees and help track their performance in relation to the goals