MOTIVATION

Theories of Motivation

• What is one motivated for?

Defining Motivation

The result of the interaction between the individual and

the situation.

•The processes that account for an individual’s

intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward
attaining a goal – specifically, an organizational goal.

•Three key elements:

• Intensity – how hard a person tries
• Direction – effort that is channeled toward, and consistent
with, organizational goals
• Persistence – how long a person can maintain effort
Behavior on the Job

• Determined by three components

• Individual Needs
• Situation outside individual
• Opportunities to fulfill those needs
Early Theories of Motivation

These early theories may not be valid, but they do form

the basis for contemporary theories and are still used
by practicing managers.

•Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

• Alderfer’s ERG (Existence, Relatedness, and Growth)
•McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
•Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
•McClelland’s Theory of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

• 1. Biological and Physiological needs - air,

food, drink, shelter, sex, sleep, etc.
• 2. Safety needs - protection from elements,
security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
• 3. Belongingness and Love needs - work
group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
• 4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement,
mastery, independence, status,
dominance, prestige, managerial
responsibility, etc.
• 5. Self-Actualization needs - realizing
personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking
personal growth and peak experiences.
 Alderfer’s
Existence,
Relatedness and
Growth (ERG)
theory
Alderfer’s Existence, Relatedness
and Growth (ERG) theory
• Existence needs:
– Food, water, air, shelter, clothing, safety, physical love and
affection.

• Relatedness needs:
– To be recognized and feel secure as part of a group, a
family, a culture

• Growth needs:
– To progress toward one's ideal self.
Alderfer’s ERG Theory

A reworking of Maslow to fit empirical research.

•Three groups of core needs:

• Existence (Maslow: physiological and safety)
• Relatedness (Maslow: social and status)
• Growth (Maslow: esteem and self-actualization)
•Removed the hierarchical assumption
• Can be motivated by all three at once

•Popular, but not accurate, theory

Alderfer’s Existence, Relatedness
and Growth (ERG) theory
Douglas McGregor’s
Theory X and Y
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

• Two distinct views of human beings: Theory X (basically

negative) and Theory Y (positive).
• Managers used a set of assumptions based on their view
• The assumptions molded their behavior toward employees
Douglas McGregor’s theory
X and Y
Theory z – William
Ouchi
Theory z – William Ouchi

• Theory Z is not a Mcgregor idea and as such is not

Mcgregor's extension of his XY theory.

• Theory Z was developed by Ouchi, in his book 1981

'Theory Z: How American management can Meet the
Japanese Challenge'.

• Theory Z also places more reliance on the attitude and

responsibilities of the workers, whereas Mcgregor's XY
theory is mainly focused on management and
motivation from the manager's and organization's
perspective.
 Herzberg’s theory
of Motivation
(Two factor Theory)
Herzberg’s theory of
Motivation
 Herzberg’s theory of Motivation
Examples of Herzberg's 'hygiene' needs (or maintenance factors) in the
workplace are:
• policy
• relationship with supervisor
• work conditions
• salary
• status
• security
• relationship with subordinates
• personal life

Herzberg's research identified that true motivators were other completely

different factors, notably:
• achievement
• recognition
• work itself
• responsibility
• advancement
• personal growth
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
Key Point: Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are
not opposites but separate constructs

Extrinsic and Intrinsic

Related to and Related
Dissatisfacti to
on Satisfaction
Criticisms of Two-Factor Theory
Herzberg says that hygiene factors must be met to
remove dissatisfaction. If motivators are given, then
satisfaction can occur.

•Herzberg is limited by his procedure

• Participants had self-serving bias
•Reliability of raters questioned
• Bias or errors of observation
•No overall measure of satisfaction was used
•Herzberg assumed, but didn’t research, a strong
relationship between satisfaction and productivity
David McClelland's
Needs-based
Motivational Model
McClelland’s Three Needs Theory

• Need for Achievement (nAch)

• The drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards,
to strive to succeed
• Need for Power (nPow)
• The need to make others behave in a way that they would not
have behaved otherwise
• Need for Affiliation (nAff)
• The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships
• People have varying levels of each of the three needs.
• Hard to measure
David McClelland's Needs-based
Motivational Model
• nAch
• Good running own business, less suitable for managerial
positions
• nPow & nAff
• Good managers

• n Changes with the level/ training

Performance Predictions for High
nAch
• People with a high need for achievement are likely to:
• Prefer to undertake activities with a 50/50 chance of success,
avoiding very low- or high-risk situations
• Be motivated in jobs that offer high degree of personal
responsibility, feedback, and moderate risk
• Not necessarily make good managers – too personal a focus.
Most good general managers do NOT have a high nAch
• Need high level of nPow and low nAff for managerial success
• Good research support, but it is not a very practical
theory
Contemporary Theories of
Motivation
• Cognitive Evaluation Theory
• Goal-Setting Theory
• Management by Objectives (MBO)
• Self-Efficacy Theory
• Also known as Social Cognitive Theory or Social Learning
Theory
• Reinforcement Theory
• Equity Theory
• Expectancy Theory
Cognitive Evaluation Theory
Providing an extrinsic reward for behavior that had
been previously only intrinsically rewarding tends to
decrease the overall level of motivation
•Locus of control
•Major Implications for work rewards
• Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are not independent
• Extrinsic rewards decrease intrinsic rewards
• Pay should be noncontingent on performance
• Verbal rewards increase intrinsic motivation; tangible
rewards reduce it

• Two factor theory and Cognitive theory

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

• Intrinsic focus on work/task

• Extrinsic focus on outcome/gains
Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory

• Basic Premise:
• That specific and difficult goals, with self-generated feedback,
lead to higher performance
• Difficult Goals:
• Focus and direct attention
• Energize the person to work harder
• Difficulty increases persistence
• Force people to be more effective and efficient
• Creativeness
• Relationship between goals and performance depends
on:
• Goal commitment (the more public the better!)
• Task characteristics (simple, well-learned)
• Culture (best match is in North America)
Goal Setting Theory

• Effectiveness of goals
• Public
• Self set
• Simple and understandable
Implementation: Management by
Objectives
• MBO is a systematic way to utilize goal-setting.
• Goals must be:
• Tangible
• Verifiable
• Measurable
• Corporate goals are broken down into smaller,
more specific goals at each level of organization.
• Four common ingredients to MBO programs:
• Goal specificity
• Participative decision making
• Explicit time period
• Performance feedback
Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory

• An individual’s belief that he or she is capable of

performing a task.
• Higher efficacy is related to:
• Greater confidence
• Greater persistence in the face of difficulties
• Better response to negative feedback (work harder)
• Self-Efficacy complements Goal-Setting Theory.
Increasing Self-Efficacy

• Enactive mastery
• Most important source of efficacy
• Gaining relevant experience with task or job

• Vicarious modeling
• Increasing confidence by watching others perform the task
• Most effective when observer sees the model to be similar to
him- or herself
• Verbal persuasion
• Motivation through verbal conviction
• self-fulfilling prophecies (Pygmalion and Galatea effects)
• Arousals
• Getting “psyched up” – emotionally aroused – to complete
task
• Can hurt performance if emotion is not a component of the
task
Reinforcement Theory

• Similar to Goal-Setting Theory, but focused on a

behavioral approach rather than a cognitive one.

• Behavior is environmentally caused

• Thought (internal cogitative event) is not important
• Feelings, attitudes, and expectations are ignored
• Behavior is controlled by its consequences – reinforcers
• Is not a motivational theory but a means of analysis of
behavior
• Reinforcement strongly influences behavior but is not likely to
be the sole cause
Adams’ Equity Theory

• Employees compare their ratios of outcomes-to-inputs

of relevant others.
• When ratios are equal: state of equity exists – there is no
tension as the situation is considered fair
• When ratios are unequal: tension exists due to unfairness
• Underrewarded states cause anger
• Overrewarded states cause guilt
• Tension motivates people to act to bring their situation into
equity
Equity Theory’s “Relevant Others”

• Can be four different situations:

• Self-Inside
• The person’s experience in a different job in the same organization
• Self-Outside
• The person’s experience in a different job in a different organization
• Other-Inside
• Another individual or group within the organization
• Other-Outside
• Another individual or group outside of the organization
Reactions to Inequity

• Employee behaviors to create equity:

• Change inputs (slack off)
• Change outcomes (increase output)
• Distort/change perceptions of self
• Distort/change perceptions of others
• Choose a different referent person
• Leave the field (quit the job)
• Propositions relating to inequitable pay:
• Paid by time:
• Overrewarded employees produce more
• Underrewarded employees produce less with low quality
• Paid by quality:
• Overrewarded employees give higher quality
• Underrewarded employees make more of low quality
Justice and Equity Theory

Overall
perception of
what is fair in
the workplace.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory