Motivation in Organizations
These are notes of subjects covered in a class of Organizational Behavior at UCF, Fall 2007, with Professor Piccolo
In these Notes:
- Job Design
- Job Characteristics
- Goals
- Rewards / Consequences
- Individual Needs
- Self Efficacy
High motivation != High Performance, rather:
Performance = f ( Ability x Motivation )
Motivation reflects and employee’s choice regarding:
1. Whether to expend effort directed towards tasks that affect performance.
2. The level of effort to expend.
3. Whether to persist with the level of effort that is chosen.
Motivation Theories
- Need Theories: emphasize if satisfaction of basic needs
(Maslow’s Hierarchy, McClelland’s need for Power, Affiliation and Achievement)
- Job Design Theories: emphasize in work conditions
(Hertzberg, Job Characteristics Model)
1. Job Characteristics Model
5 Chars that shape motivation:
> Task identity
> Task significance
> Skill variety
> Autonomy
> Feedback
Promote Job Satisfaction through Mental Challenge
How managers can increase mental challenge in jobs:
> Job Rotation: allow employees to perform different tasks.
> Job Enlargement: expand number of tasks.
> Job Enrichment: increase responsabilities.
Exceptions to the Principle:
> Growth Need Strength:
- People with low GNS aren’t motivated by the mental challenges.
- These people don’t seek career advancement, they just want to do their job and go home.
> Job Characteristics –> Job Satisfaction
> Employees value other job attributes
2. Reinforcement Theory
- Positive reinforcement: praising an employee.
- Negative reinforcement: stop at a red light to avoid a fine.
- Punishment: negative consequences, like making employee work weekends.
- Extinction: get rid of what is maintaining specific behavior.
3. Rewarding A, while Hoping for B
Example: War
- A: Primary goal of military organization: win the war;
- B: Primary goal of individuals in the front line: go home alive;
- Thus, goals of B might conflict with A.
4. Goal-Setting Theory
- Difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than easy goals.
- A person with higher goals will do better (than a person with lower goals).
- Specific goals increase performance rather than just “Do your best“.
- People do better when they receive feedback.
5. SELF-EFFICACY
Recognition that motivation is both internal (need) and external (job characteristics, rewards, goals)
Self Efficacy - An individual’s belief about his or her own capability to produce designated levels of performance
Sources of Self Efficacy
> Mastery Experiences (learning about the job)
> Vicarious Experience (becoming more effective cause you see someone else doing it)
> Social persuasion (some motivational speech convinces you that you can do it)
> Physiological and Affective states (emotional arousal leads to an energized state, hence improves performance)
Why does all this matter?
> One of the manager’s main responsibilities is to motivate employees.
> If employees are not motivated, re-consider reward system.
> Managers need a large set of motivational tools because not all techniques work the same for everyone.
MANAGERS SHOULD (very important):
> ensure small wins
> encourage mastery
> utilize role models
> stay close to those with low self efficacy
> consider consequences of failure for those with LOW and HIGH self efficacy
Verbal Persuasion: (This is not too important)
> Pygmalian Effect (form of speech where believing in something can make it true)
> Galatea Effect (communicating high performance expectations to employee)
