Chapter 08 – Foundations of Motivation
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(a) Instrumentality: a performance → outcome perception.
(b) Instrumentality represents a person’s belief that a particular outcome is
contingent on accomplishing a specific level of performance.
(c) Instrumentality ranges from -1.0 to 1.0.
(i) Instrumentality of 1.0 indicates attainment of a particular outcome is
totally dependent on task performance.
(ii) Instrumentality of 0 indicates there is no relationship between
performance and receiving an outcome.
(iii)Instrumentality of -1.0 reveals that high performance reduces the
chance of obtaining an outcome while low performance increases
the chance.
(4) Valence
(a) Valence: the positive or negative value of a reward or outcome.
(b) Valence mirrors our personal preferences.
(c) The valence assigned to an outcome depends on an individual’s needs
and can be measured with scales ranging from a negative value to a
positive value.
(5) Vroom’s Expectancy Theory in Action
(a) The real-life example described by Frederick W. Smith, founder and
CEO of Federal Express Corporation, illustrates expectancy theory in
an applied setting.
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(b) By changing the focus of compensation to output rather than time, the
employees exerted more effort to be able to go home early.
(6) Research on Expectancy Theory and Managerial Implications
(a) A meta-analysis showed expectancy theory significantly predicted
performance, effort, intentions, preferences, and choice.
(b) Expectancy theory is difficult to test, and the measures used to assess
expectancy, instrumentality, and valence have questionable validity.
(c) Table 8-2 Managerial and Organizational Implications of
Expectancy Theory summarizes how managers and organizations
can apply expectancy theory. See Slide 8-28
(d) Managers should enhance workers’ effort → performance
expectancies by helping employees accomplish their performance
goals.
(e) Managers should influence employees’ instrumentalities and monitor
valences for various rewards.
(f) Nonfinancial incentives such as praise, attention from leaders, and
opportunity to lead projects can be more effective at motivating
employees than financial incentives.
(g) There is no one best type of reward and managers should focus on
linking employee performance to valued rewards.
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(h) The Real World/Real People: GM’s Incentive System Is Consistent
with Expectancy Theory illustrates how one firm tries to link
employee performance to valued rewards.
iv) Motivation through Goal Setting
(1) Goals: Definition and Background See Slide 8-29
(a) Goal: what an individual is trying to accomplish.
(b) Frederick Taylor attempted to scientifically establish how much work of
a specified quality an individual should be assigned each day. He
proposed that bonuses be based on accomplishing those output
standards.
(c) Recently goal setting has been promoted through management by
objectives (MBO).
(2) How Does Goal Setting Work? See Slide 8-30
(a) Goals Direct Attention
(i) Goals direct one’s attention and effort toward goal-relevant
activities and away from goal-irrelevant activities.
(b) Goals Regulate Effort
(i) Goals motivate us to act and the level of effort expended is often
proportionate to the difficulty of the goal.
(c) Goals Increase Persistence
(i) Persistence represents the effort expended on a task over an
Chapter 08 – Foundations of Motivation
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extended period of time.
(ii) A difficult goal that is important to an individual is a constant
reminder to keep exerting effort in the appropriate direction.
(d) Goals Foster the Development and Application of Task Strategies
and Action Plans
(i) Goals can help determine the path to achieving the goals because
they encourage people to develop the strategies and action plans
that enable them to achieve their goals.
(e) The Real World/Real People: Chris Liddell Executed Detailed
Plans to Complete GM’s IPO profiles the action plans of one
executive.
(3) Practical Lessons from Goal-Setting Research See Slides 8-31,
8-32
(a) Research consistently has supported goal setting as a motivational
technique.
(b) Setting performance goals increases individual, group, and
organizational performance.
(c) Managerial applications of goal setting:
(i) Specific high goals lead to greater performance.
1. Goal specificity: the quantifiability of a goal.
2. People are more likely to accomplish goals that are perceived
as attainable.
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(ii) Feedback enhances the effect of specific, difficult goals.
1. Feedback lets people know if they are headed toward their
goals or if they are off course and need to redirect their efforts.
(iii)Participative goals, assigned goals, and self-set goals are equally
effective.
1. A summary of goal-setting research indicated that no single
approach was consistently more effective than others in
increasing performance.
2. Managers are advised to use a contingency approach by
picking a method that seems best suited for the individual and
situation at hand.
(iv)Action planning facilitates goal accomplishment.
1. Action plan: outlines the activities or tasks that need to be
accomplished in order to obtain a goal.
2. Action plans can also include dates associated with completing
each task, resources needed, and obstacles that must be
overcome.
3. Managers can use action plans as a vehicle to have
performance discussions with employees, and employees can
use them to monitor progress toward goal achievement.
(v) Goal commitment and monetary incentives affect goal-setting
outcomes.
8–21
1. Goal commitment: the extent to which an individual is
personally committed to achieving a goal.
2. A meta-analysis found that difficult goals lead to higher
performance only when employees are committed to their goals;
difficult goals to lead to lower performance when people are not
committed to their goals.
(d) There may be negative consequences when goal achievement is
linked to individual monetary incentives and blind pursuit of goal
accomplishment can foster unethical behavior.
IV. Motivating Employees Through Job Design
i) Job Design Overview
(1) Completing tasks is the core of any job, and job design focuses on
increasing employee motivation by changing the type of tasks employees
complete.
(2) Job design: any set of activities that involve the alteration of specific jobs
or interdependent systems of jobs with the intent of improving the quality
of employee job experience and their on-the-job productivity.
(3) In a top-down approach to job design, managers change employees’ tasks
with the intent of increasing motivation and productivity.
(4) In a bottom-up approach to job design, employees can proactively change
or redesign their own jobs, thereby boosting their own motivation and
engagement.
8–22
(5) With the third approach to job design, idiosyncratic deals, employees and
individual managers jointly negotiate the types of tasks employees
complete at work.
ii) Top-Down Approaches See Slides 8-34, 8-35, 8-36
(1) Scientific Management
(a) Scientific management draws from research in industrial engineering
and is most heavily influenced by the work of Frederick Taylor.
(b) Taylor developed the principles of scientific management based on
research and experimentation to determine the most efficient way to
perform jobs.
(c) Scientific management: using research and experimentation to find
the most efficient way to perform a job.
(d) On the positive side, designing jobs according to the principles of
scientific management increases employee efficiency and productivity.
(e) On the negative side, designing jobs according to the principles of
scientific management results in simplified, repetitive jobs, which can
lead to job dissatisfaction, poor mental health, higher levels of stress,
and a low sense of accomplishment and personal growth.
(2) Job Enlargement
(a) Job enlargement: putting more variety into a job by combining
specialized tasks of comparable difficulty.
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(b) Also referred to as horizontally loading a job.
(c) Used alone without other motivational methods, it does not have a
significant and lasting positive effect on job performance.
(3) Job Rotation
(a) Job rotation: moving employees from one specialized job to another
to give them greater variety in their work.
(b) Rather than performing only one job, workers are trained and given the
opportunity to perform two or more separate jobs.
(c) By using job rotation, managers believe they can stimulate interest and
motivation while providing employees with a broader perspective of the
organization.
(d) The Real World/Real People: Tata Consultancy Services Uses Job
Rotation profiles one firm’s use of this approach to job design.
(4) Job Enrichment
(a) Job enrichment is the practical application of Herzberg’s motivator–
hygiene theory.
(b) Job enrichment: modifying a job to give employees an opportunity to
experience achievement, recognition, stimulating work, responsibility,
and advancement. See Slide 8-36
(c) Job enrichment is achieved by vertical loading, which consists of giving
workers more autonomy and responsibility.
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(5) The Job Characteristics Model
(a) Hackman and Oldham played a central role in developing the job
characteristics approach.
(b) Tried to determine how work can be structured so that employees are
internally (or intrinsically) motivated.
(c) Intrinsic motivation: motivation caused by positive internal feelings.
(d) Figure 8-4: The Job Characteristics Model shows intrinsic
motivation is determined by three psychological states:
meaningfulness of work, responsibility for outcomes and knowledge of
results. See Slide 8-37
(e) These three psychological states are fostered by the presence of five
core job characteristics: common characteristics found to a varying
degree in all jobs:
(i) Skill variety: extent to which the job requires an individual to
perform a variety of tasks that require him or her to use different
skills and abilities.
(ii) Task identity: extent to which the job requires an individual to
perform a whole or completely identifiable piece of work.
(iii)Task significance: extent to which the job affects the lives of other
people within or outside the organization.
(iv)Autonomy: extent to which the job enables an individual to
experience freedom, independence, and discretion in both
Chapter 08 – Foundations of Motivation
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scheduling and determining the procedures used in completing the
job.
(v) Feedback: extent to which an individual receives direct and clear
information about how effectively he or she is performing the job.
(f) Skill variety, task identity, and task significance combine to determine
experienced meaningfulness of work.
(g) Experienced responsibility is elicited by the job characteristic of
autonomy.
(h) Knowledge of results is fostered by the job characteristic of feedback.
(i) Moderator variables including knowledge and skill, growth need
strength, and context satisfaction impact an individual’s responses to
job enrichment and not everyone desires a job containing high
amounts of the core job characteristics.
(j) Practical implications of the job characteristics model:
(i) Research demonstrates a moderately strong relationship between
job characteristics and satisfaction.
(ii) Managers can enhance employees’ intrinsic motivation, job
involvement, and performance, while reducing absenteeism and
stress by increasing the core job characteristics.
(iii)Managers are likely to find noticeable increases in the quality of
performance after a job redesign program.
Chapter 08 – Foundations of Motivation
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iii) Bottom-Up Approaches
(1) Bottom-up approaches to job design are driven by employees rather than
managers.
(2) Job crafting: the physical and cognitive changes individuals make in the
task or relational boundaries of their work. See Slide 8-38
(3) The job crafting approach to job design represents proactive and adaptive
employee behavior aimed at changing tasks, relationships, and cognitions
associated with one’s job.
(4) Table 8-3: Forms of Job Crafting defines and illustrates the three key
forms of job crafting. See Slide 8-38
(a) The first form of job crafting involves changing one’s task boundaries
by altering the number, scope or nature of job tasks.
(b) The second form job crafting changes the relational nature of a job by
changing the quality and/or amount of interaction with others
encountered in a job.
(c) The final form of job crafting is cognitive crafting by altering
perceptions or thoughts about the tasks and relationships associated
with a job.
(5) Job crafting can change how employees perceive their jobs, resulting in
more positive attitudes about their jobs, which, in turn, results in increased
employee motivation, engagement, and performance.
Chapter 08 – Foundations of Motivation
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iv) Idiosyncratic Deals (I-Deals) See Slide 8-39
(1) Top-down approaches are constrained by the fact that managers cannot
always create changes in task characteristics that are optimum for
everyone.
(2) Job crafting is limited by the amount of latitude people have in changing
their own jobs.
(3) Idiosyncratic deals (i-deals): employment terms individuals negotiate for
themselves, taking myriad forms from flexible schedules to career
development.
(4) I-deals tend to involve personal flexibility, developmental needs, and task–
related content.
(5) The goal of such deals is to increase employee motivation and productivity
by allowing employees the flexibility to negotiate employment relationships
that meet their needs and values.
(6) The Real World/Real People: RSM McGladrey Encourages I-Deals
profiles one firm’s program to create innovative and flexible ways of
working.
V. Putting Motivational Theories to Work
i) Key challenges faced by managers as they try to devise motivation programs:
(1) Many managers are stretched in their job duties.
(2) Managers may not know how to motivate people beyond the simple use of
monetary rewards.
Chapter 08 – Foundations of Motivation
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ii) Organizations can help managers by providing them with training and
coaching that focuses on how they can improve their ability to motivate
others.
BACK TO THE CHAPTER-OPENING CASE
1. George Parker is trying to support the teachers in WTU by satisfying their needs.
What needs is he focusing on by appealing the dismissals of teachers and
threatening to file a lawsuit?
2. How do Michelle Rhee’s changes in the Washington D.C. school system affect
Herzberg’s hygiene factors and motivators?
a. Under Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory, hygiene factors are aspects
of the job such as company policies and administration, supervision, and
3. Is the net result of these impacts positive or negative? Explain.
a. The net impact of these changes would likely be perceived as positive for
Chapter 08 – Foundations of Motivation
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4. To what extent are Michelle Rhee’s changes consistent with the practical lessons
derived from equity theory?
a. An important practical implication issue with equity theory is that it is the
employees’ perception of equity and not the manager’s (i.e., Ms. Rhee’s)
5. To what extent is Michelle Rhee’s motivation program consistent with the
managerial and organizational implications of expectancy theory? Explain.
a. One of the managerial implications of expectancy theory is that managers
should try to enhance effort → performance expectancies. One of the
challenges of evaluating teaching effectiveness is that there are limits to
Chapter 08 – Foundations of Motivation
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OB IN ACTION CASE STUDY: How Should Managers Handle Tough
Employment Decisions?
1. Why is it important to focus on motivating employees who survive a layoff?
a. After a layoff, the survivors are likely to feel a myriad of emotions: distrust
of the company’s policies, fear that they may be next to go, grief over the
loss of a good co-worker and anger about the company’s actions. It is
important for the company to clearly send a message that it values the
2. To what extent is Conaty’s advice consistent with equity and expectancy theory?
a. Conaty’s advice highlights the importance of equity theory. Even though
employees may not be able to change employers right now during this
period of economic downturn, they will leave as soon as they can when