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Principles of Management Unit 8: Motivation

Motivation is what makes people put in effort, direct it toward goals and keep it up. This unit covers the classic need theories and the contemporary process theories managers use to design jobs and rewards.

Covers: Maslow's hierarchy and Alderfer's ERG theory, Herzberg's two-factor theory, McClelland's three-needs theory, Goal-setting and reinforcement theories, Job design and the job characteristics model, Equity theory, Expectancy theory and applying motivation

Study guide

Motivation is the process by which a person's efforts are energized, directed and sustained toward attaining a goal. Early theories focus on needs. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy lists five needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. Lower needs must be substantially satisfied before higher needs motivate, and a satisfied need no longer motivates. Clayton Alderfer's ERG theory compresses these into existence, relatedness and growth, and adds that several needs can operate at once and that frustration in a higher need can cause a person to regress to a lower one. Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y describe managers' assumptions about whether workers need control or seek responsibility.

Frederick Herzberg's two-factor (motivation-hygiene) theory says that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction but no satisfaction. Hygiene factors are extrinsic: pay, company policy, supervision, working conditions and relationships with coworkers. When they are poor, people are dissatisfied; fixing them only removes dissatisfaction. Motivators are intrinsic: achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility and growth. Only motivators create real satisfaction and motivation. David McClelland's three-needs theory identifies the need for achievement (nAch, the drive to excel), the need for power (nPow, to influence others) and the need for affiliation (nAff, for close relationships). High achievers prefer moderately challenging tasks with personal responsibility and quick feedback, but they do not automatically make good managers.

Contemporary theories explain how motivation works. Goal-setting theory, developed by Edwin Locke, finds that specific, difficult goals that employees accept produce higher performance than easy or vague 'do your best' goals, especially with feedback. Self-efficacy, a person's belief that they can perform a task, strengthens the effect. Reinforcement theory, based on B. F. Skinner's work, says behavior is a function of its consequences: positive reinforcement increases a behavior by adding something pleasant, negative reinforcement increases it by removing something unpleasant, punishment decreases a behavior by adding something unpleasant, and extinction decreases it by withholding reinforcement.

Job design shapes motivation directly. Job enlargement adds more tasks at the same level (horizontal), while job enrichment adds planning and evaluating responsibilities (vertical). Hackman and Oldham's job characteristics model names five core dimensions: skill variety, task identity (completing a whole piece of work), task significance (impact on others), autonomy and feedback. They lead to meaningfulness, responsibility and knowledge of results. The motivating potential score is MPS = [(skill variety + task identity + task significance) ÷ 3] × autonomy × feedback, so a job with very low autonomy or feedback has low motivating potential no matter how varied it is.

J. Stacy Adams's equity theory says employees compare their own outcome-to-input ratio (pay, recognition ÷ effort, experience, hours) with that of a referent. If the ratios are unequal, people feel underrewarded or overrewarded and act to restore equity, for example by reducing effort, asking for a raise, distorting perceptions or quitting. Distributive justice is fairness of outcomes, and procedural justice is fairness of the process. Victor Vroom's expectancy theory says motivation = expectancy (effort will lead to performance) × instrumentality (performance will lead to rewards) × valence (how much the reward is valued). Because the terms multiply, if any one is zero, motivation is zero.

Key ideas

• Maslow says lower needs must be met before higher ones motivate; ERG allows several needs at once and regression.
• Herzberg's hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction, while only motivators create satisfaction.
• McClelland's high achievers prefer moderate risk, personal responsibility and fast feedback.
• Specific, difficult, accepted goals with feedback produce higher performance than vague goals.
• Reinforcement theory says behavior that is rewarded is repeated; punishment and extinction reduce behavior.
• The job characteristics model links skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback to motivation.
• Equity theory compares outcome-to-input ratios, and expectancy theory multiplies expectancy, instrumentality and valence.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Calling negative reinforcement a punishment; negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant to increase a behavior.
• Saying a pay raise is a Herzberg motivator; pay is a hygiene factor that only prevents dissatisfaction.
• Adding the expectancy theory terms instead of multiplying them, which hides the fact that a zero kills motivation.
• Mixing up job enlargement (more tasks, same level) with job enrichment (more responsibility and control).
• Assuming high achievers make the best managers; McClelland found that good managers tend to be high in power need and low in affiliation need.

Before the test, make sure you can

• Explain Maslow's hierarchy and how ERG theory differs from it.
• Classify job factors as Herzberg hygiene factors or motivators.
• Describe McClelland's three needs and the work high achievers prefer.
• Apply goal-setting and reinforcement theory to workplace examples.
• Calculate a motivating potential score and identify which job dimension to improve.
• Compare outcome-to-input ratios using equity theory and predict responses.
• Calculate expectancy theory motivation and explain why one zero term eliminates motivation.

Words to know

Motivation

The process by which a person's efforts are energized, directed and sustained toward attaining a goal.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization needs; lower needs must be satisfied before higher ones motivate.

ERG theory

Alderfer's theory of existence, relatedness and growth needs, allowing several needs at once and frustration-regression.

Hygiene factors

Herzberg's extrinsic factors, such as pay and working conditions, that eliminate dissatisfaction but do not motivate.

Motivators

Herzberg's intrinsic factors, such as achievement and responsibility, that increase job satisfaction and motivation.

Need for achievement (nAch)

The drive to succeed and excel in relation to a set of standards.

Need for power (nPow)

The need to make others behave in a way they would not have otherwise.

Goal-setting theory

The proposition that specific, difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher performance.

Self-efficacy

An individual's belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.

Positive reinforcement

Adding a desirable consequence to increase the likelihood a behavior is repeated.

Negative reinforcement

Removing an undesirable consequence to increase the likelihood a behavior is repeated.

Extinction

Withholding reinforcement so that a behavior gradually stops.

Job enrichment

Vertically expanding a job by adding planning and evaluating responsibilities.

Job characteristics model

Hackman and Oldham's framework of five core job dimensions: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback.

Task identity

The degree to which a job requires completing a whole and identifiable piece of work.

Equity theory

Adams's theory that employees compare their outcome-to-input ratio with a referent's and respond to perceived unfairness.

Expectancy theory

Vroom's theory that motivation depends on expectancy, instrumentality and valence.

Valence

The importance or attractiveness a person places on a potential reward.

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.