Chapter 7: MOTIVATING

WHAT IS MOTIVATION?
Motivating refers to the act of "giving employees reasons or incentives... to work to achieve organizational
objectives. Motivation, on the other hand, refers to the “process of activating behavior, sustaining it, and
directing it toward a particular goal. This definition is useful because it specifies three stages: activating,
sustaining, and directing actions towards the achievement of objectives.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO MOTIVATION

There are certain factors influencing a person's desire to do his job well. They are the following:
1. Willingness to do a job.
2. Self-confidence in carrying out a task.
3. Needs satisfaction.

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
There are various theories of motivation, but only the four most influential ones will be discussed. They
consist of the following:
1. Maslow's needs hierarchy theory
2. Herzberg's two-factor theory
3. Expectancy theory
4. Goal setting theory

Maslow's Needs Hierarchy Theory

Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, theorized that human beings have five basic needs which are as follows:

Physiological Needs. Those that are concerned with biological needs like food, drink, rest, and sex fall
under the category of physiological needs.

Security Needs. After satisfying the physiological needs, people will seek to satisfy their safety needs.
These needs include freedom from harm coming from the elements or from other people, financial security
which may be affected by loss of job or the breadwinner in the family, etc.

Social Needs. After satisfying his physiological and security needs, the employee will now strive to secure
love affection, and the need to be accepted by peers.

Esteem Needs. The fourth level of needs is called esteem needs and they refer to the need for a positive
self- image and self-respect and the need to be respected by others.

Self-Actualization Needs. The fifth and the topmost level needs in the hierarchy are called self-actualization
needs and involve realizing our full potential as human beings and becoming all that we are able to be.

Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory

The two-factor theory is one developed by Frederick Herzberg indicating that a satisfied employee is
motivated from within to work harder and that a dissatisfied employee is not self-motivated.

In his research, Herzberg found out that SATISFIED employees mentioned the following factors (called
satisfiers or motivation factors) responsible for job satisfaction. DISSATISFIED employees mentioned
the following factors (called dissatisfiers or hygiene factors) as responsible for job dissatisfaction.
Expectancy Theory
Expectancy theory is a motivation model based on the assumption that an individual will work depending
on his perception of the probability of his expectations to happen.

The theory poses the idea that motivation is determine by expectancies and valences.

An expectancy is a belief about the likelihood or probability that a particular behavioral act (like attending
training sessions) will lead to a particular outcome (like a promotion).

Valence is the value an individual places on the expected outcomes or rewards.

Goal Setting Theory

Goal setting refers to the process of “improving performance with objectives, deadlines or quality
standard.”

The goal setting model drawn by Edwin A. Locke and his associates consists of the following components:
1. goal content
2. goal commitment
3. work behavior
4. feedback aspects

Goal Content. To be sufficient in content, goals must be challenging, attainable, specific and measurable,
time limited, and relevant.

Goal Commitment. When individuals or groups are committed to the goals they are supposed to achieve,
there is a chance that they will be able to achieve them.

Work Behavior. Goals influence behavior in terms of direction, effort, persistence, and planning.

Feedback Aspects. Feedback provide the individuals with a way of knowing how far they have gone in
achieving objectives.

TECHNIQUES OF MOTIVATION
Individual or groups of individuals may be motivated to perform through the use of various techniques.
These techniques may be classified as follows:
1. motivation through job design
2. motivation through rewards
3. motivation through employee participation
4. other motivation techniques for the diverse work force

Motivation Through Job Design

In motivating through the use of job design, two approaches may be used: fitting people to jobs or fitting
jobs to people.

Fitting People to Jobs. Routine and repetitive tasks make workers suffer from chronic dissatisfaction. To
avoid this, the following remedies may be adapted:
1. Realistic job previews - where management provides honest explanations of what a job actually
entails.
2. Job rotation -where people are moved periodically from one specialized job to another.
3. Limited exposure- where a worker's exposure to a highly fragmented and tedious job is limited.
Fitting Jobs to People. Instead of changing the person, management may consider changing the job. This
may be achieved with the use of the following:
1. Job enlargement – where two or more specialized tasks in a work flow sequence is combined into
a single job.
2. Job enrichment - where efforts are made to make jobs more interesting, challenging, and
rewarding.

Motivating Through Rewards

Rewards consist of material and psychological benefits to employees for performing tasks in the
workplace.

Rewards may be classified into two categories:·

1. Extrinsic – those which refer to payoffs granted to the individual by another party.
2. Intrinsic rewards - those which are internally experienced payoffs which ore self-granted.

Motivation Through Employee Participation

The specific activities identified where employees may participate are as follows:
1. setting goals
2. making decisions
3. solving problems, and
4. designing and implementing organizational changes.
The more popular approaches to participation includes the following:
1. quality control circles
2. self-managed teams

Quality Control Circles. A method of direct employee participation is the quality control circle (QCC). The
objective of the QCC is to increase productivity and quality of output.

Self-managed Teams. When workers have reached a certain degree of discipline, they may be ripe for
forming self-managed teams. Also known as autonomous work groups or high performance teams, self-
managed teams “take on traditional managerial tasks as part of their normal work routine.”