Motivation
What Is Motivation?
• Motivation
Is the result of an interaction between the person and
a situation; it is not a personal trait.
Is the process by which a person’s efforts are
energized, directed, and sustained towards attaining
a goal.
Energy: a measure of intensity or drive.
Direction: toward organizational goals
Persistence: exerting effort to achieve goals.
Motivation works best when individual needs are
compatible with organizational goals.
Early Theories of Motivation
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• MacGregor’s Theories X and Y
• Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
Early Theories of Motivation
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
Needs were categorized as five levels of lower- to
higher-order needs.
Individuals must satisfy lower-order needs before they can
satisfy higher order needs.
Satisfied needs will no longer motivate.
Motivating a person depends on knowing at what level that
person is on the hierarchy.
Hierarchy of needs
Lower-order (external): physiological, safety
Higher-order (internal): social, esteem, self-actualization
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
1. Physiological needs: A person’s needs for food, drink, shelter
and other physical requirements.
2. Safety needs: A person’s needs for security and protection from
physical and emotional harm, as well as assurance that physical
needs will continue to be met.
3. Social needs: A person’s needs for affection, belongingness,
acceptance, and friendship.
4. Esteem needs: A person’s needs for internal esteem factors
such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement and external
esteem factors such as status, recognition, and attention.
5. Self-actualization needs: A person’s needs for growth,
achieving one’s potential, and self-fulfilment; the drive to become
what one is capable of becoming.
Early Theories of Motivation (cont’d)
• McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor is best known for proposing two assumptions about human
nature: Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X is a negative view of people that assumes workers have
little ambition, dislike work, want to avoid responsibility, and need to be
closely controlled to work effectively.
Theory Y is a positive view that assumes employees enjoy work,
seek out and accept responsibility, and exercise self-direction.
McGregor proposed that participation in decision making, responsible
and challenging jobs, and good group relations would maximize
employee motivation.
Early Theories of Motivation (cont’d)
• Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory (Two-
Factor Theory)
Job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are created by different factors.
Hygiene factors: extrinsic (environmental) factors that create job
dissatisfaction.
Motivators: intrinsic (psychological) factors that create job
satisfaction.
Attempted to explain why job satisfaction does not result in increased
performance.
The opposite of satisfaction is NOT dissatisfaction, but rather “NO
satisfaction”.
Extended by Joseph et al.
The opposite of Dissatisfaction in NOT Satisfaction, but rather “NO
Dissatisfaction”.
Exhibit 16–2 Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Contrasting Views of Satisfaction-Dissatisfaction
Contemporary Theories Of Motivation
1. Goal-setting theory (by Edwin Locke, 1960) says that specific
goals increase performance, and difficult goals, when accepted,
result in higher performance than do easy goals. Important points
in goalsetting theory include intention to work toward a goal as a
major source of job motivation.
2. Equity theory (by J. Stacey Adams) focuses on how employees
compare their inputs–outcomes ratios to relevant others’ ratios. A
perception of inequity will cause an employee to do something
about it. Procedural justice has a greater influence on employee
satisfaction than does distributive justice.
Distributive justice is the perceived fairness of the amount and
allocation of rewards among individuals.
Procedural Justice is the perceived fairness of the process used
to determine the distribution of rewards.
Developing Your
Skill
Steps in Practicing the Skill
1. Recognize individual differences
Almost every contemporary motivation theory recognizes that
employees are not homogeneous. They have different needs.
They also differ in terms of attitudes, personality, and other
important individual variables.
2. Match people to jobs
A great deal of evidence shows the motivational benefits of
carefully matching people to jobs. People who lack the necessary
skills to perform successfully will be at a disadvantage.
• Use goals
You should ensure that employees have hard, specific goals and
feedback on how well they’re doing in pursuit of those goals. In
many cases, these goals should be participatively set.
Steps in Practicing the Skill
4. Ensure that goals are perceived as attainable
Regardless of whether goals are actually attainable, employees
who see goals as unattainable will reduce their effort. Be sure,
therefore, that employees feel confident that increased efforts can
lead to achieving performance goals.
5. Individualize rewards
Because employees have different needs, what acts as a
reinforcer for one may not do so for another. Use your knowledge
of employee differences to individualize the rewards over which
you have control. Some of the more obvious rewards that you can
allocate include pay, promotions, autonomy, and the opportunity to
participate in goal setting and decision making.
Steps in Practicing the Skill
6. Link rewards to performance
You need to make rewards contingent on performance. Rewarding
factors other than performance will only reinforce the importance
of those other factors. Key rewards such as pay increases and
promotions should be given for the attainment of employees’
specific goals.
7. Check the system for equity
Employees should perceive that rewards or outcomes are equal to
the inputs given. On a simplistic level, experience, ability, effort,
and other obvious inputs should explain differences in pay,
responsibility, and other obvious outcomes.
Steps in Practicing the Skill
8. Don’t ignore money
It’s easy to get so caught up in setting goals, creating interesting
jobs, and providing opportunities for participation that you forget
that money is a major reason why most people work. Thus, the
allocation of performance-based wage increases, piece-work
bonuses, employee stock ownership plans, and other pay
incentives are important in determining employee motivation.
