MGT. 651 Seminar in Organizational Behavior
Chapter 4
Slide Notes
Slide #1
Motivation is defined as the psychological forces that guides and propels an individual in
certain behavioral directions. There are three very important parts of motivation (direction,
effort and persistence). We are motivated in a direction, at a certain effort level and for a length
of time (persistence).
So what is this first slide telling us? It tells us that individuals are motivated by psychological
forces that affect (motivate) their behavior. From our earlier chapters we should already know
that the word “individual” has a very important meaning. It means that we are not the same, so if
that is true, then the psychological forces that affect our behavior (motivation) should be
different as well.
Slide #2
If we know that individuals are not motivated by the same psychological forces, in the same
ways or to the same degree, then why do we expect the same type of motivation to always work
and work the same for each person? Slide #2 displays some images of the type of motivation
that most organizations feel is the “only” type of motivation. This is referred to as the “Carrot
and Stick Motivation” method. You offer a “carrot” for performance and you offer the “stick”
to those who don’t perform. There are several problems with this method. First, we don’t all
like carrots, if we do, we have different amounts that we want, or maybe somebody is offering
something other than a carrot that we like better. Next, we don’t all feel the pain of the stick the
same, some may actually like the punishment or at least not fear it to the point of being a
motivational factor, or possible we fear something more than we fear the stick. We are all
different, therefore, as managers we can’t approach motivation the same way with all employees.
Just another area when individuality becomes extremely important.
Slide #3
To truly understand the motivational process we must take a type of psychoanalytical look at
what motivates a person. That means we have to consider things like who is the person we are
trying to motivate, what do they need, what do they want, what are their goals ……..
Slide #4
Motivation is just one of the pieces in a very complicated formula (P = M + A + E). What the
formula tells us is that if we are trying to motivate an employee to reach a performance level
(P) we must understand that there are other factors involved other than simple motivation (M).
The other two factors to consider are ability (A) and environment (E). As a matter of fact, if
we don’t consider the other factors we might actually get less performance from our motivation
efforts or what I refer to as “demotivation”. We can’t assume everyone is the same when it
comes to ability.
As a manager I experienced the problems created by not considering the contextual factors
surrounding motivation first hand when I attempted to motivate a young employee. I gave him
an assignment of representing our organization in a public forum in which he would make an
oral presentation to several community leaders. I assumed (wrongly) that he would consider this
a challenge, an opportunity to get some recognition for what he was doing, and an opportunity to
separate himself from other lesser performing employees. I thought it would truly motivate the
young employee who was trying to grow within the organization. My failure was I never
considered his ability or inability to carry out the assignment. I knew that some individuals didn’t
like to make public speeches but I had no idea that some people have severe physical and/or
mental issues that prevent them from being able to make such public presentations. This young
man had a severe stuttering problem when he tried to talk in front of a group of people. I felt so
bad when he came to me, told me about his problem and presented me with documentation of
where he had received years of professional help for this problem. He was a good employee and
did a great job carrying out his everyday duties, which obviously did not include making
speeches in front of a group of people. What I accomplished in my motivational attempt was I
actually “demotivated” the young employee. I think from that day forward he believed that I
thought of him as a lower quality employee. He felt bad and ashamed that this secret had come
out and he never really had that career “spark” that we saw before. He eventually moved on to a
new organization; one in which he felt more comfortable.
Self-efficacy is a major part of “ability” because if an individual truly does not believe he/she is
capable of accomplishing a task, then self-fulfilling prophecy tells us that they probably won’t be
able to carry out that task. Remember, “perception becomes reality.” A challenging task might
be motivational to some while to others, being asked to accomplish a task that they truly believe
