Chapter 9.

Motivation

1. The Nature of Motivation.

Motivation may be defined as psychological forces that determine the

direction of a person’s behavior in an organization. Motivation is central to
management because it explains why people behave the way they do.
 The direction of a person’s behavior refers to the many possible
behaviors that people actually engage in.
 Effort refers to how hard people work.
 Persistence refers to whether people keep trying or give up when faced
with roadblocks.
Motivation can come from intrinsic or extrinsic sources.
Intrinsically motivated behavior is behavior that is performed for its own
sake. The source of motivation is actually performing the desired behavior, and
motivation comes from doing the work itself.
Extrinsically motivated behavior is behavior that is performed to acquire
material or social rewards, or to avoid punishment.

2. Outcomes and Inputs.

Outcome. - Anything a person gets from a job or an organization

- Pay, job security, autonomy, accomplishment
Input. - Anything a person contributes to his or her job or organization
- Time, effort, skills, knowledge, work behaviors

3. The Theory of Motivation.

NEEDS THEORIES. According to needs theories, people are motivated to
obtain outcomes at work that will satisfy their needs. A need is a requirement or
necessity for survival and well-being.
 Needs theories suggest that, in order to motivate a person to contribute
valuable inputs and perform at high level, a manager must determine what needs
the person is trying to satisfy at work and ensure that the person receives outcomes
that help to satisfy those needs.
There are several needs theories. Each attempts to describe needs that people
try to satisfy at work In doing so, they provide managers with insights about
what outcomes motivate workers to perform at high levels and contribute outputs
to help the organization achieve its goals.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed that all people seek to satisfy five
basic kinds of needs: physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-
actualization needs. These constitute a hierarchy of needs, with the most basic
needs at the bottom.
Alderfer’s ERG Theory
Alderfer’s ERG theory collapses the five categories of needs in Maslow’s
hierarchy into three universal categories – existence, relatedness, and growth.
These are also arranged in a hierarchy.
Alderfer agrees with Maslow that as lower level needs become satisfied, a
person seeks to satisfy higher level needs. Unlike Maslow, however, Alderfer
believes that a person can be motivated by needs at more than one level at the same
time.
Although research does not support some of the specific ideas outlined in
ERG theory, this theory, nevertheless, contains an important message for
managers.
Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene Theory
Frederick Herzberg focuses on two factors: outcomes that can lead to high
levels of motivation and job satisfaction and outcomes that can prevent people
from being dissatisfied. According to Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory,
people have two sets of needs or requirements: motivator needs and hygiene needs.
McClelland’s Needs for Achievement, Affiliation, and Power
 Psychologist David McClelland has extensively researched the needs for
achievement, affiliation, and power.
 The need for achievement is the extent to which an individual has a
strong desire to perform challenging tasks well and to meet personal standards of
excellence.
 The need for affiliation is the extent to which an individual is
concerned about establishing and maintaining good interpersonal relations, being
liked, and having other people around them get along with each other.
 The need for power is the extent to which an individual desires to
control or influence others.
 Research suggests that having high needs for achievement and power
are assets to first-line and middle managers, and that a high need for power is
especially important for upper managers.

EQUITY THEORY

Equity theory is a theory of motivation that concentrates on people’s

perception of the fairness of their work outcomes relative to their work inputs. It
focuses upon how people perceive the relationship between the outcomes they
receive and the inputs they contribute.
Equity exists when a person perceives his or her own outcome/input ratio to
be equal to a referent’s outcome/input ratio. Under conditions of equity, if a
referent receives more outcomes than you, then the referent contributes
proportionately more inputs to the organization. Therefore, both have the same
output/input ratio.
Inequity exists when a person’s outcome/input ratio is not perceived to be
equal to a referent’s. Inequity creates pressure or tension inside people and
motivates them to restore equity by bringing the two ratios back into balance.
 4. Operant Conditioning Tools.

Positive Reinforcement
- Giving people outcomes they desire when they perform organizationally
functional behaviors
Negative Reinforcement
- Eliminating undesired outcomes when people perform organizationally
functional behaviors
Extinction
- Curtailing the performance of a dysfunctional behavior by eliminating
whatever is reinforcing it
Punishment
- Administering an undesired/negative consequence when dysfunctional
behavior occurs

5. The Social Learning Theory.

Social learning theory extends operant conditioning’s contribution to the

understanding of motivation by explaining vicarious learning, self-reinforcement,
and self-efficacy.
 Vicarious learning, also called observational learning, occurs when
the learner becomes motivated to perform a behavior by watching another perform
it. It is a powerful source of motivation on many jobs in which people learn to
perform functional behaviors by watching others.
 People are more likely to be motivated to imitate the behavior of
models that are highly competent, receive attractive reinforcers, and are friendly.
To promote vicarious learning, managers should ensure that the learner:

Conditions for Social Learning

 The learner observes the model performing the behavior.
  The learner accurately perceives the model’s behavior.
 The learner remembers the behavior.
 The learner has the skills and abilities needed to perform the behavior.
 The learner sees or knows that the model is positively reinforced for
the behavior.

6. The Pay as a Motivator.

Managers often use pay to motivate employees to perform at a high level

and attain their work goals. Pay is used to motivate workers at all levels within the
organization. It can also be used to motivate people to join the organization and
remain with the organization.
 Each of the theories previously discussed in this chapter alludes to the
importance of pay. As these theories suggest, pay should be distributed so that high
performers receive more pay than low performers.
 A merit pay plan is a compensation plan that bases pay on
performance. Once managers have decided to use a merit pay plan, they face two
important choices: 1) whether to base pay on individual, group, or organizational
performance, and 2) whether to use salary increases or bonuses.