<Previous Lesson

Leadership and Team Management

Next Lesson>

Lesson#21

MOTIVATION

MOTIVATION
In lecture number 20, we started understanding the concept of empowerment. Continuing the same
concept, we will try to understand delegation before moving to new topic Motivation.
Delegation: Delegation is the handing over a task to another person, usually a subordinate. It is the
assignment of authority and responsibility to another person to carry out specific activities. It allows a
subordinate to make decisions, i.e. it is a shift of decision-making authority from one organizational
level to a lower one.
_ Reasons for Lack of Delegation
Aspects of the leader’s personality
Fear of subordinate making a mistake
High need for personal achievement
Characteristics of the subordinate
Nature of the work

Guidelines for Delegating
_ What to Delegate
o Tasks that can be done better by a subordinate
o Tasks that are urgent but not high priority
o Tasks relevant to a subordinate’s career
o Tasks of appropriate difficulty
o Both pleasant and unpleasant tasks
o Tasks not central to the manager’s role
_ How to Delegate
o Specify responsibilities clearly
o Provide adequate authority and specify limits of discretion
o Specify reporting requirements
o Ensure subordinate acceptance of responsibilities
_ How to Manage Delegation
o Inform others who need to know
o Monitor progress in appropriate ways
o Arrange for the subordinate to receive necessary information
o Provide support and assistance, but avoid reverse delegation
o Make mistakes a learning experience
Let’s shift to another very important topic Motivation.
Motivation: There are over 140 definitions of the term motivation that have been used in various
capacities. Motivation is important because it explains why employees behave as they do. Work
Motivation
can be defined as the psychological forces within a person that determine the direction of a
person’s behavior in an organization, a person’s level of effort, and a person’s level of persistence in the
face of obstacles.
_ Definition: Motivation is the result of the interaction of the individual and the situation.
Motivation is the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and

persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
_ The process that initiates, directs, and sustains behavior to satisfy physiological or
psychological needs or wants; the energizing and directing of behavior, the force behind our
yearning for food, our longing for sexual intimacy, and our desire to achieve.

Sources of Motivation: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation;

Intrinsically Motivation: is behavior that is performed for its own sake; the source of motivation is
actually performing the behavior.
73
a. Employees who are intrinsically motivated often remark that their work gives them a sense
of accomplishment and achievement or that they feel they are doing something worthwhile.
b. Motives are intrinsic when an independent third party cannot easily verify them.

Extrinsic Motivation: is behavior that is performed to acquire material or social rewards or to avoid
punishment.
a. The behavior is not performed for its own sake but rather for its consequences.
b. This form of motivation may be linked to operant conditioning.
c. Motives are extrinsic when they can easily be verified by an independent third party.

Motivation at Work: A historical perspective
Traditional Approach:
Frederick Taylor (Scientific Management): In 1911, Frederick W. Taylor published one of the earliest
approaches to job design, The Principles of Scientific Management.
_ Taylor was concerned that employees were slacking off and not performing as highly as they
should on their jobs.
_ Scientific management, a set of principles and practices stressing job. Simplification and
specialization, was developed by Taylor to increase the performance of individual employees.
_ His premise was that there was one best way to perform any job, and management’s responsibility
was to determine what that way is.

Assumptions:
_ Managers know more than workers.
_ Economic gain (money) is the primary motivation for performance.
_ Work is inherently unpleasant.

Human Relations Approach
_ Emphasized the role of social processes in the workplace.

Assumptions:
_ Employees want to feel useful and and important.
_ Employees have strong social needs, more important than money.
_ Maintaining the appearance of employee participation is important.
Human Resource Approach
Assumptions:
_ Employee contributions are important and valuable to the employee and the organization.
_ Employees want to and are able to make genuine contributions.
_ Management’s job is to encourage participation and create a work environment that motivates
employees.

Groups of Motivational Theories:
_ Internal
o Suggest that variables within the individual give rise to motivation and behavior
o Example: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory
_
_
Process
o Emphasize the nature of the interaction between the individual and the environment
o Example: Expectancy theory
_ External
o Focus on environmental elements to explain behavior
o Example: Two-factor theory
74

Why People Do What They Do?
Points about human motivation help explain the complicated relationship between personal goals and
work behavior.
_ Satisfied need is not a motivator. People are motivated by:
o What they don’t have or have done without
o A need that is not fully satisfied
o
_ Employee motivation and company success are related. Seven practices successful
companies share:
o Employment security
o Empowered teams and decentralization
o High compensation
o Extensive training
o Reduced status distinctions and barriers
o Sharing of information
_ Psychological needs and social values are not the same
o Psychological forces are the same, but the values are not
o Psychological needs explain human motivation
o Social values are the ethics concern
_ The same act can satisfy any motivation levels
o One person may work to survive; another may do the same job for recognition or
personal satisfaction
_ All people have the same needs, but to different degrees, and accompanied by different
wants
What it takes and how much vary by person.
_ A person can be deficiency-motivated, bringing harm to self or others
It is possible to have a fixation so strong it can lead to destructive behavior
A healthy person is ready to satisfy other needs
_ Unsatisfied needs can harm your health.
A motivation condition can develop to satisfy the unsatisfied need.
_ Leadership is important in meeting employee needs and preventing motivation problems
What a leader does will vary with the circumstances.
_ The ideal is to integrate the needs of individuals with the goals of the organization
The needs of the individual can be satisfied, while advancing the goals of the
organization
Let’s discuss basic theories of motivation.

Theory X:
Douglas McGregor concluded that a manager’s view of the nature of human beings is based on a
certain grouping of assumptions and he or she tends to mold his or her behavior toward employees
according to these assumptions. Theory-X Management view that assumes workers generally dislike
work and must be forced to do their jobs.

Theories X assumptions are basically negative.
1. Employees inherently dislike work and, whenever possible, will attempt to avoid it.
2. Since employees dislike work, they must be coerced, controlled, or threatened with
punishment.
3. Employees will avoid responsibilities and seek formal direction whenever possible.
4. Most workers place security above all other factors and will display little ambition.

Theory Y
Management view that assumes workers like to work and under proper conditions, employees will seek
responsibility to satisfy social, esteem, and self-actualization needs
75

Theory Y assumptions are basically positive.
1. Employees can view work as being as natural as rest or play.
2. People will exercise self-direction and self-control if they are committed to the objectives.
3. The average person can learn to accept, even seek, responsibility.
4. The ability to make innovative decisions is widely dispersed throughout the population.

What are the implications for managers? This is best explained by using Maslow’s framework:
1. Theory X assumes that lower-order needs dominate individuals.
2. Theory Y assumes that higher-order needs dominate individuals.
3. McGregor himself held to the belief that Theory Y assumptions were more valid than
Theory X.
4. There is no evidence to confirm that either set of assumptions is valid.
5. Either Theory X or Theory Y assumptions may be appropriate in a particular situation.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the most well-known theory
of motivation. He hypothesized that within every human being there exists a hierarchy of five needs.
1. Physiological: Includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily needs.
2. Safety: Includes security and protection from physical and emotional harm
3. Social: Includes affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship
4. Esteem: Includes internal esteem factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement; and
external esteem factors such as status, recognition, and attention.
5. Self-actualization: The drive to become what one is capable of becoming; includes growth,
achieving one’s potential, and self-fulfillment
_ As a need becomes substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant. No need is ever fully
gratified; a substantially satisfied need no longer motivates.
_ Maslow separated the five needs into higher and lower orders.
o Physiological and safety needs are described as lower-order.
o Social, esteem, and self-actualization are as higher-order needs.
o Higher-order needs are satisfied internally.
o Lower-order needs are predominantly satisfied externally.
_ Maslow’s need theory has received wide recognition, particularly among practicing managers.
Research does not generally validate the theory.
_ Maslow provided no empirical substantiation, and several studies that sought to validate the theory
found no support for it.

Alderfer’s ERG Theory: Clayton Alderfer’s existence-relatedness-growth (ERG) theory builds on
some of the Maslow’s thinking but reduces the number of universal needs from five to three and is
more flexible on movement between levels. Alderfer lifts the restriction used by Maslow that lowerorder
needs must be addressed first.
a. Needs at more than one level can be motivators at any time.
b. Alderfer proposes that when an individual is motivated to satisfy a higher- level need but has
difficulty doing so, the person’s motivation to satisfy lower-level needs will increase.
o Existence
o Concerned with providing basic material existence requirements
o Relatedness
o Desire for maintaining important interpersonal relationships
o Growth
o Intrinsic desire for personal development

The Research Evidence:
o Though logical, the theories proposed by Maslow and Alderfer do not receive much support from
research.
o Difficulties include:
o It may be unreasonable to expect a relatively small set of needs ordered in a particular
fashion to apply to all human beings.
76
o It may be unrealistic to expect that all people become motivated by different types of needs
in a set order.

Herzberg’s Motivation/Hygiene Theory: The Two-Factor Theory is sometimes also called
motivation-hygiene theory. Proposed by psychologist Frederick Herzberg when he investigated the
question, “What do people want from their jobs?” He asked people to describe, in detail, situations in
which they felt exceptionally good or bad about their jobs. These responses were then tabulated and
categorized.

Motivators—account for job satisfaction and motivation
Achievement • Recognition • Work itself
Responsibility • Advancement

Hygiene factors—cause dissatisfaction with work
Interpersonal relationships
Company policy/administration
Supervision • Salary • Working conditions
From the categorized responses, Herzberg concluded:
Intrinsic factors, such as advancement, recognition, responsibility, and achievement seem to be
related to job satisfaction.
Dissatisfied respondents tended to cite extrinsic factors, such as supervision, pay, company policies,
and working conditions.
The opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction.
Removing dissatisfying characteristics from a job does not necessarily make the job satisfying.
Job satisfaction factors are separate and distinct from job dissatisfaction factors. Managers who
eliminate job dissatisfaction factors may not necessarily bring about motivation.
When hygiene factors are adequate, people will not be dissatisfied; neither will they be satisfied. To
motivate people, emphasize factors intrinsically rewarding that are associated with the work itself
or to outcomes directly derived from it.

Criticisms of the theory:
The procedure that Herzberg used is limited by its methodology.
The reliability of Herzberg’s methodology is questioned.
No overall measure of satisfaction was utilized.
Herzberg assumed a relationship between satisfaction and productivity, but the research
methodology he used looked only at satisfaction, not at productivity.
Regardless of criticisms, Herzberg’s theory has been widely read, and few managers are unfamiliar
with his recommendations.
The popularity of vertically expanding jobs to allow workers greater responsibility can probably be
attributed to Herzberg’s findings.
This is also known as Two-Factor Theory as explained earlier.

Two-Factor Theory
Motivation factors
Achievement
Recognition
The work itself
Responsibility
Advancement and growth

Hygiene factors
Supervisors
Working conditions
Interpersonal relations
Pay and security
Company policies and administration

McClelland’s Theory of Needs: The theory focuses on three needs: achievement, power, and
affiliation.
77
Need for achievement: The drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, to strive to
succeed
o Some people have a compelling drive to succeed. They are striving for personal
achievement rather than the rewards of success per se. This drive is the achievement need
(nAch).
o McClelland found that high achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desire
to do things better.
o They seek personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems.
o They want to receive rapid feedback on their performance so they can tell easily whether
they are improving or not.
o They can set moderately challenging goals. High achievers are not gamblers; they dislike
succeeding by chance.
o High achievers perform best when they perceive their probability of success as 50-50.
o They like to set goals that require stretching themselves a little.
Need for power: The need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved
otherwise,
o The need for power (nPow) is the desire to have impact, to be influential, and to control
others.
o Individuals high in nPow enjoy being “in charge.”
o Strive for influence over others.
o Prefer to be placed into competitive and status-oriented situations.
o Tend to be more concerned with prestige and gaining influence over others than with
effective performance.
Need for affiliation: The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships
o The third need isolated by McClelland is affiliation (nAfl).
o This need has received the least attention from researchers.
o Individuals with a high affiliation motive strive for friendship.
o Prefer cooperative situations rather than competitive ones.
o Desire relationships involving a high degree of mutual understanding.
Relying on an extensive amount of research, some reasonably well-supported predictions can be made
based on the relationship between achievement need and job performance.

Equity Theory: The equity (equity means fairness) theory of work motivation was developed in the
1960s by J. Stacy Adams.
Equity theory is based on the premise that an employee perceives the relationship between
outcomes (what an employee gets from a job and organization) and inputs (what the employee
contributes to a job and organization).
According to equity theory, it is not the objective level of outcomes and inputs that is important.
Instead, what is important is the way an employee perceives his or her outcome/input ratio
compared to the outcome/input ratio of another person (called a referent by Adams).
It is the employee’s perceptions of the referent’s outcomes and inputs that are compared – not any
objective measure of actual outcomes or inputs.
Are the outcomes perceived as being at an appropriate level in comparison to the inputs? Managers
need to ensure that different employee’s outcome-input ratios are approximately equal so that
employees who contribute more inputs receive more outcomes and vice versa.

Equity:
Equity exists when an individual’s outcome/input ratio equals the outcome/input ratio of the
referent.
When employees perceive that the employee’s and the referent’s outcome/input ratios are
proportionally equal, they are motivated either to maintain the status quo or to increase their inputs
to receive more outcomes.
78
. Inequity:
Inequity, or lack of fairness, exists when outcome/input ratios are not proportionally equal.
Inequity creates tension and unpleasant feelings inside an employee and a desire to restore
equity.

There are two types of inequity:
Overpayment inequity exists when an individual perceives that his or her outcome/input ratio is
greater than that of a referent.
Underpayment inequity exists when a person perceives that his or her outcome/input ratio is
less than that of a referent.

Ways to Restore Equity:
Employees can change their inputs or outcomes.
Employees try to change their referents’ inputs or outcomes.
Employees change their perceptions of inputs and outcomes (either their own or the referents’).
Employees can change their referent.
Employees leave the job or organization or force the referent to leave.

Expectancy Theory:
_ Expectancy theory is one of the most widely accepted explanations of motivation. Victor
Vroom’s expectancy theory has its critics but most of the research is supportive.
_ Expectancy theory argues that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the
strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the
attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
_ It says that an employee will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when he/she believes
that:
o Effort will lead to a good performance appraisal.
o That a good appraisal will lead to organizational rewards.
o That the rewards will satisfy his/her personal goals.

Three key relationships
1. Effort-performance relationship: the probability perceived by the individual that exerting a
given amount of effort will lead to performance
2. Performance-reward relationship: the degree to which the individual believes that
performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome
3. Rewards-personal goals relationship: the degree to which organizational rewards satisfy an
individual’s personal goals or needs and the attractiveness of those potential rewards for the
individual

Expectancy theory helps explain why a lot of workers merely do the minimum necessary to get
by. For example:
If I give a maximum effort, will it be recognized in my performance appraisal?
_ No, if the organization’s performance appraisal assesses nonperformance factors. The
employee, rightly or wrongly, perceives that his/her boss does not like him/her.
If I get a good performance appraisal, will it lead to organizational rewards?
_ Typically many employees see the performance-reward relationship in their job as weak.
If I am rewarded, are the rewards ones that I find personally attractive?
It is important that the rewards be tailored to individual employee needs
o The key to expectancy theory is the understanding of an individual’s goals and the linkage
between effort and performance, between performance and rewards, and finally, between the
rewards and individual goal satisfaction.
o As a contingency model, expectancy theory recognizes that there is no universal principle for
79
explaining everyone’s motivations.
o Attempts to validate the theory have been complicated by methodological criterion and
measurement problems.
o Published studies that purport to support or negate the theory must be viewed with caution.
o Importantly, most studies have failed to replicate the methodology as it was originally
proposed.
o Some critics suggest that the theory has only limited use, arguing that it tends to be more valid
for predicting in situations where effort-performance and performance-reward linkages are
clearly perceived by the individual.

Reinforcement Theory: In contrast to Goal-Setting theory, which is a cognitive approach,
Reinforcement theory is a behaviorist approach. It argues that reinforcement conditions behavior.
Reinforcement theorists see behavior as being environmentally caused. Reinforcement theory ignores
the inner state of the individual and concentrates solely on what happens to a person when he or she
takes some action.

Concepts:
• Behavior is environmentally caused.
• Behavior can be modified (reinforced) by providing (controlling) consequences.
• Reinforced behavior tends to be repeated

<Previous Lesson

Leadership and Team Management

Next Lesson>

Home

Lesson Plan

Topics

Go to Top

Next Lesson
Previous Lesson
Lesson Plan
Topics
Home
Go to Top