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Chapter 04 - Motivating Today's Employees
4-1
CHAPTER 4
Motivating Today’s Employees
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define motivation.
2. Define the traditional approach to motivation.
3. Explain the hierarchy of needs.
4. Discuss the motivation-maintenance approach to motivation.
5. Discuss the preference-expectancy approach to motivation.
6. Explain the reinforcement approach to motivation.
7. Explain the equity approach to motivation
8. State several things that the supervisor can do to affect employee motivation.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRESENTATION
Apply the various motivation models to the classroom experience
Using the idea of the classroom as a job and yourself as the instructor/supervisor, apply the
various models to what’s going on in the classroom. For example, using the preference-
expectancy theory, you might discuss:
“As an instructor, I can’t motivate you students unless all three parts of the preference-
expectancy model are in operation. Unless you want an ‘A’ (or a passing grade, depending on
your personal level of needs), I can’t motivate you. That’s my “reward” for you, and if it’s not
good enough, I’m out of luck. Next, if you don’t think you can apply enough efforts to achieve
that goal, you don’t have the intelligence to get an A (or pass), then I, again, can’t help. I have to
first convince you that it’s possible for you to pass. Finally, if the effort and the reward aren’t
linked together, I can’t motivate you. If everyone gets an ‘A’ just for signing up, why should you
bother being motivated? Or, if I’m such a tough instructor that Lee Iacocca and Peter Drucker
would get Cs, then—again—why should you bother trying, even if you want the ‘A’ and have
the intelligence?”
You might, in a similar way; deal with Maslow, asking what level, attendance at class serves?
For most people it’ll be partly social, mostly esteem, and maybe security for a few who are
worried about losing their job and maybe self-actualization for the senior citizen who’s taking it
to have fun and stay involved after retirement.
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LECTURE OUTLINE
Supervision Dilemma
Jane is concerned that some of her employees do not seem to be working very hard. She has also
noticed that absenteeism and tardiness have increased in recent months.
I. What is Motivation?
• In today’s organizations, motivation means getting people to exert a high degree of effort
on their job.
o Needs → Drives or motives → Accomplishment of goals
▪ Needs produce motives, which lead to the accomplishments of goals.
▪ Motives produce action.
▪ The accomplishment of the goal satisfies the need and reduces the motive.
II. Understanding People
• Each individual has a unique personality and makeup.
o Because people are different, it stands to reason that different factors are required to
motivate different people.
• When attempting to understand the behavior of an employee, the supervisor should always
remember that people do things for a reason.
o Another consideration in understanding the behavior of employees is the concept of
the self-fulfilling prophecy, also known as the Pygmalion effect.
▪ This concept refers to the tendency of an employee to live up to the
supervisor’s expectations.
III. Basic Approaches to Motivation
A. Traditional Approach
• The traditional approach to motivation evolved from the work of Frederick W.
Taylor and the scientific management movement in the early 1900s.
o Taylor designed a system whereby individuals were compensated according to
their production.
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▪ One of Taylor’s problems was determining reasonable standards of
performance.
❖ Taylor solved this problem by breaking jobs down into components
and measuring the time necessary to accomplish each component.
• The traditional approach to motivation is based on the assumption that money is the
primary motivator of people.
B. Need Hierarchy Approach
• The need hierarchy approach to motivation is based on the assumption that
employees are motivated to satisfy a number of needs and that money can satisfy,
directly or indirectly, only some of these needs.
o The need hierarchy theory is based largely on the work of the psychologist
Abraham Maslow.
• Maslow felt that five levels of needs exist within individuals and that these need
levels relate to one another in the form of the hierarchy (Figure 4.1).
▪ Figure 4.2 lists several examples of each need level.
• Maslow believed that at any given time only one need level serves as a person’s
primary motivation.
o The strength of an individual’s needs may shift back and forth under different
situations.
• As far as the motivation process is concerned, the thrust of the need hierarchy
approach is that a satisfied need is not a motivator.
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C. Achievement-Power-Affiliation Approach
• Closely related to Maslow’s approach is the achievement-power-affiliation
approach, developed primarily by David McClelland.
o This approach holds that all people have three needs:
▪ A need for achievement—a need to do something better or more
efficiently than it has been done before.
▪ A need for power—a need to influence people.
▪ A need for affiliation—a need to be liked; to establish or maintain
D. Motivation-Maintenance Approach
• Frederick Herzberg’s theory of motivation is referred to by several names—
motivation-maintenance approach, dual-factor approach, and motivator-hygiene
approach.
o Herzberg’s approach deals primarily with motivation through job design.
o Herzberg maintains that the factors that tend to demotivate employees are
usually associated with the work environment.
▪ Herzberg refers to these factors as hygiene or maintenance factors.
o According to Herzberg, the factors that motivate people are factors related to
the work itself as opposed to the work environment.
▪ These factors, which he calls motivators, include achievement,
recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the challenges of the job.
▪ True motivation occurs only when both the motivator factors and the
hygiene factors are present.
▪ Figure 4.3 lists some examples of hygiene and motivator factors.
• As a solution to motivation problems, Herzberg developed an approach called job
enrichment.
o Unlike job enlargement or job rotation, job enrichment involves upgrading the
job by adding motivator factors such as increased responsibilities.
▪ Job enlargement merely involves giving an employee more of a similar
type of operation to perform.
▪ Job rotation is the practice of periodically rotating job assignments.
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E. Preference-Expectancy Approach
o According to this approach, employees are motivated to work if they:
▪ Believe that their efforts will be rewarded
▪ Value the rewards that are being offered
• The belief that efforts will be rewarded can be broken down into two components:
o The expectancy that increased effort will lead to increased performance
o The expectancy that increased performance will lead to increased rewards
• Employee expectations are based on their perceptions.
• The preference element of the preference-expectancy approach is concerned with the
value that the employee places on the rewards that the organization offers.
o Figure 4.4 illustrates the preference-expectancy approach.
• Supervisors can affect each of the components of the preference-expectancy
approach.
o They can positively influence the expectancy that increased effort will lead to
increased performance by providing proper selection and training and clear
direction to employees.
o They can also affect the expectancy that increased performance will lead to
rewards by linking rewards to performance.
o They should solicit feedback from their employees concerning the types of
rewards they want.
F. Reinforcement Approach
• Basically, four types of reinforcement exist:
o Positive reinforcement—involves providing a positive consequence as a result
of desired behavior.
o Avoidance—negative reinforcement; involves giving a person the opportunity
to avoid a negative consequence by exhibiting a desired behavior.
o Extinction—involves providing no positive consequences or removing
previously provided positive consequences as a result of undesirable behavior.
o Punishment—involves providing a negative consequence as a result of
undesired behavior.
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G. Equity Approach
• The equity approach is based on the idea that people want to be treated fairly in
relationship to others.
• Equity in the workplace is based on the ratio of inputs to outcomes.
o Inputs are the contributions that employees make for the organization, such as
their education, experience, training, creativity, skills, etc.
o Outcomes are rewards that employees and those around them receive for
contributions to the organization.
▪ They include pay, benefits, status, recognition, seniority, etc.
• People seek to maintain equity between the inputs that they bring to a job and the
outcomes that they receive from it.
o They evaluate the equity of such an exchange against the perceived inputs and
outcomes of others.
o The strength of the motivation is proportional to the amount of inequity.
• A person might take several actions to reduce inequity. They include the following:
o Increase inputs on the job if his or her inputs are low relative to the other
person.
o Reduce inputs if they are high relative to the other person’s inputs and to his or
her own outcomes.
o Quit the job.
o Request a pay increase.
o Compare themselves to someone other than the “comparison other” they had
been using.
IV. What Can the Supervisor Do?
A. Make the Work Interesting
• Supervisors should carefully examine each job under their control.
o They should constantly ask, “Can this job be enriched to make it more
challenging?”
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o The key is to make the job challenging and interesting.
B. Relate Rewards to Performance
• There are many reasons why supervisors are reluctant to relate rewards directly to
performance.
o Giving everyone an equal pay raise is much easier.
▪ Usually this approach requires very little justification and involves less
• However, there are usually rewards other than pay that can be related to
performance.
o These might include the assignment of preferred tasks or some type of formal
recognition.
C. Provide Valued Rewards
• Supervisors should know what kind of rewards are at their disposal and what rewards
the employees value.
D. Make Sure There is Perceived Equity
• Supervisors should be prepared to address question whenever rewards such as pay,
job assignments, office space, and promotions are given out.
o They should clearly communicate the objective basis upon which rewards are
given.
E. Treat Employees as Individuals
• Most people want to receive special attention and be treated as individuals.
o This raises self-esteem and makes them feel that they are a part of the
organization.
▪ In such a climate, employees naturally feel more like talking over their
ideas with the supervisor.
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F. Encourage Participation and Cooperation
• Employees tend to be committed to decisions in which they have participated.
o Despite the potential benefits of participation, however, many supervisors do
little to encourage it.
o Active participation does not just happen; it requires commitment from the
supervisor.
o Employees must feel that their participation is genuinely valued.
G. Provide Accurate and Timely Feedback
• Accurate and timely feedback involves more than just providing regularly scheduled
performance appraisals.
o It also involves providing informal feedback on a regular basis.
o Feedback should include both the positive and negative happenings.
V. Job Satisfaction
• Job satisfaction refers to an employee’s general attitude toward the job.
o It can be affected by such factors as
• The left portion of Figure 4.6 summarizes the major factors that determine an individual’s
level of satisfaction (or dissatisfaction).
• Individual satisfaction leads to organization commitment; individual dissatisfaction results
in behaviors detrimental to the organization (turnover, absenteeism, tardiness, accidents,
etc.).
• Motivation is a drive to perform, while satisfaction reflects the employee’s happiness with
his situation.
o Satisfaction is largely determined by the comfort offered by the environment and the
situation.
o Motivation, on the other hand, is largely determined by the value of rewards and by
Chapter 04 - Motivating Today's Employees
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their relationship to performance.
Solution to the Supervision Dilemma
Jane has learned that the motivation sequence is a continuous process that never ends.
SUPERVISION ILLUSTRATIONS
4-1: The Art of Motivation at Nucor
4-2: Job Enrichment Does Not Always work
4-3: Rewarding Employees
4-4: Is an Employee’s Job Satisfaction Related to a Supervisor’s Actions?
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is motivation?
2. Are all employees motivated by the same things? Why or why not?
3. Describe the following approaches to motivation:
a. Traditional
b. Need hierarchy.
c. Achievement-power-affiliation.
d. Motivation-maintenance.
e. Preference-expectancy.
f. Reinforcement.
g. Equity approach.
Chapter 04 - Motivating Today's Employees
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73]
c. Achievement-power-affiliation.
This approach developed by McClelland holds that all people have three needs:
d. Motivation-maintenance.
This approach was developed by Herzberg and deals mainly with motivation through job
e. Preference-expectancy.
According to this approach, employees are motivated if they:
Chapter 04 - Motivating Today's Employees
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g. Equity approach.
The equity approach is based on the idea that people want to be treated fairly in
4. Briefly discuss several specific actions that supervisors can take to improve employee
motivation.
Some of the specific actions that supervisors can take to improve employee motivation are:
• Make the work interesting
5. What is job satisfaction?
6. What are the differences between motivation and job satisfaction? What results are
obtained from motivated employees? What results are obtained from satisfied employees?
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SKILL BUILDING QUESTIONS
1. “In the final analysis money and benefits are all that employees are concerned about.”
Discuss your views on this statement.
2. Many supervisors believe that they can have little effect on employee motivation because
so many rewards are of a fixed nature. For example, a union contract might set pay raises.
How would you respond to these supervisors?
3. A seasoned supervisor recently made the following statement: “A satisfied employee is one
that is not being pushed hard enough.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
4. The LMN Company has decided to throw a party for all of its employees to show its
appreciation for the highly successful year that has just concluded. It plans to hold the
party at a fancy place with live entertainment and expensive food. The affair will be quite a
bash. In fact, it is expected to cost over $100 per employee. What is your reaction to this
idea?
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ADDITIONAL READINGS
SKILL BUILDING APPLICATIONS
Incident 4-1: No Extra Effort
This case demonstrates some of the more frequently encountered motivation problems in
organizations.
1. Reconsider the situation. Why do you think the nurses are not motivated? List possible
2. What could you do to improve the situation?
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Incident 4-2: The Atwood Company
This case emphasizes the problems associated with motivating employees who don’t have higher
aspirations, yet have a comfortable job.
1. What steps would you take to identify the problem?
Students’ answers may vary. It is apparent from the case that the main problem is the
employees’ lack of personal motivation.
2. What are the group’s recommendations based on the motivation theories presented in this
chapter?
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opportunities for advancement so that the employees’ higher-order needs are met. The
supervisor should determine the needs of employees and then provide the means by which
those needs can be satisfied.
Exercise 4-1: Money as a Motivator
4-17
Jan/Feb 1994 pp: 46-52.
RELATED VIDEOS:
1. Even Eagles Need a Push, CRM Films, 24 mins. This video features best-selling author
David McNally in an inspirational review of qualities needed for self-empowerment.
2. Understanding Motivation, BNA Films, 28 mins. In this video, Saul Gellerman explains
that workers’ motivations are based on perceptions.
