Motivation Theories Flashcards

Motivation

• People work for various reasons, including challenge and security.
• Individual desires play a key role in determining motivation.
• Managers need to understand individual motivation in work situations.
• Defined as the human process that activates, directs, sustains, and stops behavior.
• The starting point is a need.
• Triggers psychological forces:
  • Direction of behavior
  • Effort
  • Persistence

The Motivation Cycle

• Cyclical process:
  1. Unsatisfied need.
  2. Search for alternatives.
  3. Choose the best way.
  4. Take action.
  5. Re-examine the situation.
  6. May or may not be motivated again.

Manager’s Role

• Understand basic human nature.
• Influence the motivation cycle.
• Take actions and design a system to satisfy wants and needs at each stage.

Factors Affecting Motivation

• Individual differences.
• Job characteristics.
• Organizational practices.

Motivation Theories

• Content theories: driven to meet basic needs.
• Process theories: how people are motivated and choose need satisfiers.

Content Theories

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
• Clayton Alderfer’s ERG theory.
• McClelland’s Achievement Motivation theory.
• Herzberg’s two-factor theory.

Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs Theory

• Assumptions:
  1. Needs cannot all be satisfied.
  2. Different needs are active at different times.
  3. Some needs are innate, others acquired.
  4. Satisfy needs in a specific order.
  5. Higher-order need emerges after lower is satisfied.

Hierarchy of Needs

• Physiological: breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion
• Safety: security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health, property
• Love/Belonging: friendship, family, sexual intimacy
• Esteem: self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect
• Self-actualization: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem-solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts

Limitations of Maslow’s Needs

• Whether five need levels for individuals are found in all organizations.
• Needs are dynamic.
• More than one level need can be operative at any one time.
• Individuals needs are never fully or permanently satisfied.

Clayton Alderfer’s ERG Theory

• Combined Maslow’s needs into three levels:
  1. Existence needs
  2. Relatedness needs
  3. Growth needs
• Incorporates a satisfaction-progression principle.

Alderfer's ERG Theory

• Growth (Self-actualization and Esteem)

• Relatedness (Love/Social)

• Existence (Safety & Security and Physiological)

• After lower level needs satisfied, person seeks higher needs. When unable to satisfy higher needs, lower needs motivation is raised.

DAVID McCLELLAND’S ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION THEORY

• Three needs:
  1. Need for achievement: accomplish challenging tasks.
  2. Need for affiliation: maintain warm relationships.
  3. Need for power: influence others.

McClelland’s Need Theory

• Need for Achievement: excellence, competition, challenging goals.
• Need for Power: impact, influence, change.
• Need for Affiliation: warm, close relationships.

Motivational Need Theories

• Maslow
  • Higher Order Needs: Self-actualization, Esteem
  • Lower Order Needs: Safety & Security
• Alderfer
  • Growth
  • Relatedness
  • Existence
• McClelland
  • Need for Achievement
  • Need for Power
  • Need for Affiliation

Fredrick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

• Based on satisfaction.
• Two factors:
  • Hygiene Factor: dissatisfaction (company policy, supervision, relations, conditions, salary, status, security).
  • Motivation Factor: satisfaction (achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement, growth).

Motivation–Hygiene Theory of Motivation

• Hygiene: avoid job dissatisfaction.
• Motivation: increase job satisfaction.

Motivation-Hygiene Combinations

• High M, High H: high motivation, few complaints
• High M, Low H: high motivation, many complaints
• Low M, High H: low motivation, few complaints
• Low M, Low H: low motivation, many complaints

Motivator needs from the work

• Skill Variety
• Task Identity
• Task Significance
• Autonomy
• Feedback

Limitations

• Fails to account for individual differences.
• Assumes all employees react similarly.
• Methodology criticized.

PROCESS THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

• EXPECTANCY THEORY - VICTOR H. VROOM
• EQUITY THEORY: BY STACY J. ADAMS.

Expectancy Theory

• Assumptions:

  1. Forces combine to motivate behavior.
  2. People make conscious decisions.
  3. Action depends on expected outcome.

• Key concepts:

  • Expectancy: effort will produce results.
  • Instrumentality: performance leads to reward.
  • Outcomes: external (pay, promotion) or internal (satisfaction).
  • Valence: value of outcome.

• Vroom suggests that motivation will be high when workers feel:

  • High levels of effort lead to high performance
  • High performance will lead to the attainment of desire outcomes

• Consists of three areas:

  • Expectancy, Instrumentality & Valence.

Expectancy, Instrumentality, & Valence

• Effort → Expectancy → Performance → Instrumentality → Outcomes → Valence

Expectancy, Instrumentality, & Valence

• Expectancy
  • perception that effort will result in a level of performance
• Instrumentality
  • Performance leads to outcomes
• Valence
  • How desirable each outcome is to a person

Expectancy Theory-summary

• High Expectancy, High Instrumentality, High Valence = High Motivation

Equity Theory

• Considers worker’s perceptions of the fairness of work outcomes in proportion to their inputs.

• Compare the outcome/input ratio with a referent.

• Equity exists when ratios are equal.

• It says that individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond to eliminate any inequalities.

• The higher an individual's perception of equity, the more motivated they will be.

• If someone perceives an unfair environment, they will be demotivated.

INPUTS

• Time, Effort, Loyalty, Hard Work, Commitment, Ability

OUTCOMES

• Job security, Salary, Employee benefit, Expenses, Recognition

Adam's EQUITY THEORY diagram

• inputs: What I put into my job: time, effort, ability, loyalty, tolerance, flexibility, integrity, commitment
• outputs: What I get from my job: pay, bonus, perks, benefits
• People become demotivated and reduce input and/or seek change or improvement whenever they feel their inputs are not being fairly rewarded by outputs. Fairness is based on perceived market norms.

Comparisons are made to:

• Friends, Neighbours, Co-workers, Colleagues

Referent comparisons are categorised under:

• SELF INSIDE, SELF OUTSIDE, OTHER INSIDE, OTHER OUTSIDE

Ratio Comparisons

\frac{Individual's\ outcome}{Individual's\ input} < \frac{Other's\ outcome}{Other's\ input}

• Inequity, Anger

\frac{Individual's\ outcome}{Individual's\ input} = \frac{Other's\ outcome}{Other's\ input}

• Equity, Satisfied

\frac{Individual's\ outcome}{Individual's\ input} > \frac{Other's\ outcome}{Other's\ input}

• Inequity, Pride

When employees perceive inequity, they can be predicted to make one of the following choices:

• Change their inputs, Change their outcomes, Distort perceptions of self, Distort perceptions of others, Choose a different referent, Leave the field

Equity Theory Focused on:

• ORGANISATIONAL JUSTICE
  • Distributive Justice
  • Procedural Justice
  • Interactional Justice

ORGANISATIONAL JUSTICE

• An overall perception of what is fair in the workplace

DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

• Perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE

• Perceived fairness of the process used to determine the distribution of rewards.

INTERACTIONAL JUSTICE

• Perceived degree to which an individual is treated with dignity, concern, and respect.

EQUALITY VS EQUITY

Criticisms of the theory

• Number of demographic and psychological variables affect people's perceptions of fairness and interactions with others.
• People might perceive equity/inequity not only in terms of the specific inputs and outcomes of a relationship, but also in terms of the overarching system that determines those inputs and outputs.

REINFORCEMENT THEORIES OF MOTIVATION-B F Skinner

Social learning theory

• The Theory was proposed by BF Skinner.
• The Theory states that individual's behavior is a function of its consequences
• It is based on law of effect.

IN SIMPLE TERMS

• Individual's behavior with positive consequences tends to be repeated
• Individual's behavior with negative consequences tends not to be repeated

USAGE IN ORGANISATION

• A manager can use these methods to control the behaviour of the employees-
  • Positive Reinforcement
  • Negative Reinforcement
  • Punishment
  • Extinction

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

• A manager must give positive response when an individual shows positive and required behavior. For example - Immediately praising an employee for coming early for job.
• This will increase probability of outstanding behaviour occurring again.

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT

PUNISHMENT

• Punishment means applying undesirable consequence for showing undesirable behavior.
• For instance - Suspending an employee for breaking the organizational rules.
• Punishment can be equalized by positive reinforcement from alternative source.

EXTINCTION

• It implies absence of reinforcements.
• In other words, extinction implies lowering the probability of undesired behaviour by removing reward for that kind of behaviour.
• For instance - if an employee no longer receives praise and admiration for his good work, he may feel that his behaviour is generating no fruitful consequence.
• Extinction may unintentionally lower desirable behaviour.

CRITICISM

• Reinforcement theory of motivation ignores the inner feelings and drives of individuals.
• This theory focuses totally on what happens to an individual when he takes some action. Thus, according to Skinner, the external environment of the organization must be designed effectively and positively so as to motivate the employee.
• This theory is a strong tool for analyzing controlling mechanism for individual's behaviour. However, it does not focus on the causes of individual's behaviour