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a)
B. Goal-Setting Theory
2. Goals tell an employee what needs to be done and how much effort is needed.
3. Evidence strongly suggests that specific goals increase performance, that
difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than do easy
goals, and that feedback leads to higher performance than does non-feedback.
goals.
5. If factors like ability and acceptance of the goals are held constant, we can
also state that the more difficult the goal, the higher the level of performance.
them.
c) When goals are difficult, people persist in trying to attain them.
d) Difficult goals lead us to discover strategies that help us perform the
job or task more effectively.
powerful motivator than externally generated feedback.
c) Recent research has shown that people monitor progress differently
depending on how close they are to goal accomplishment.
b) If people participate in goal setting, they are more likely to accept even
a difficult goal than if they are arbitrarily assigned it by their boss.
6. There are contingencies in goal-setting theory. In addition to feedback, three
other factors influence the goals-performance relationship: goal commitment,
task characteristics, and national culture.
committed to the goal.
a) Believes he or she can achieve the goal and wants to achieve it.
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are self-set rather than assigned.
c) Task Characteristics. Goals themselves seem to affect performance more
strongly when tasks are simple rather than complex, well learned rather
than novel, and independent rather than interdependent.
different effects in different cultures.
a) In collectivistic and high-power-distance cultures, achievable moderate
goals can be more highly motivating than difficult ones.
7. When learning something is important, goals related to performance
outcomes and ignore changing conditions.
exclusion of all others.
9. Despite differences of opinion, most researchers do agree that goals are
powerful in shaping behavior.
10. Research has also found that people differ in the way they regulate their
thoughts and behaviors during goal pursuit.
11. Generally, people fall into one of two categories, though they could belong to
both.
desired goals.
b) Those with a prevention focus strive to fulfill duties and obligations and
and prevention oriented.
13. Implementing goal-setting.
a) How do you make goal-setting operation in practice?
a) Management by Objectives (MBO)
measurable.
b) Organizations’ overall objectives are translated into specific objectives
for each succeeding level. (Exhibit 7-4)
b) Four ingredients common to MBO programs:
a) Goal specificity.
b) Participation in decision making.
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c) Explicit time period.
d) Performance feedback.
government, and nonprofit organizations.
14. Goal Setting and Ethics. The relationship between goal-setting and ethics is
us to act unethically to achieve it.
b) Specifically, we may forgo mastering tasks and adopt avoidance
unethical choices.
II. Other Contemporary Theories of Motivation
A. Self-Efficacy Theory
1. Self-efficacy theory, a component of social cognitive theory and social
learning theory, refers to an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of
performing a task.
ability to succeed in a task.
b) Self-efficacy can (but not always) create a positive spiral in which those
with high efficacy become more engaged in their tasks and then, in turn,
increase performance, which increases efficacy further.
performance as well.
d) Individuals high in self-efficacy also seem to respond to negative feedback
with increased effort and motivation, while those low in self-efficacy are
they complement each other. (Exhibit 7-5)
3. When a manager sets difficult goals for employees, it leads employees to have
performance.
4. Albert Bandura, developer of self-efficacy theory, identified four ways to
increase self-efficacy:
else doing the task.
c) Verbal persuasion—more confident because someone convinces you that
you have the skills.
5. The best way for a manager to use verbal persuasion is through the Pygmalion
effect or the Galatea effect.
believing something can make it true.
b) In some studies, teachers were told their students had very high IQ
scores when in fact they spanned a range from high to low.
Chapter 7 Motivation Concepts Page 218
with the students they thought were smart, gave them more
practice and build their skills.
a) In fact, one reason training works is that it increases self-efficacy.
training on the job.
B. Reinforcement Theory
direct his action.
2. Reinforcement theory, in contrast, takes a behavioristic view, arguing that
reinforcement conditions behavior.
theorists see behavior as environmentally caused.
b) You need not be concerned, they would argue, with internal cognitive
behavior will be repeated.
3. Reinforcement theory ignores the inner state of the individual and
strictly speaking, a theory of motivation.
b) But it does provide a powerful means of analyzing what controls behavior,
4. Operant conditioning theory argues that people learn to behave to get
something they want or to avoid something they don’t want.
a) Unlike reflexive or unlearned behavior, operant behavior is influenced by
the reinforcement or lack of reinforcement brought about by its
consequences.
b) Reinforcement strengthens a behavior and increases the likelihood it will
be repeated.
c) B. F. Skinner, one of the most prominent advocates of operant
conditioning, argued that creating pleasing consequences to follow
specific forms of behavior would increase the frequency of that behavior.
a) He demonstrated that people will most likely engage in desired
behaviors if they are positively reinforced for doing so; that rewards
are most effective if they immediately follow the desired response; and
that behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is less likely to be
repeated.
d) The concept of operant conditioning was part of Skinner’s broader concept
of behaviorism, which argues that behavior follows stimuli in a relatively
unthinking manner.
a) Skinner’s form of radical behaviorism rejects feelings, thoughts, and
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that work against the best interests of the organization.
g) Individuals can learn by being told or by observing what happens to other
people, as well as through direct experiences.
a) By watching models—parents, teachers, peers, film and television
theory.
b) Although social-learning theory is an extension of operant
conditioning—that is, it assumes behavior is a function of
consequences—it also acknowledges the effects of observational
learning and perception.
to the objective consequences themselves.
d) Models are central to the social-learning viewpoint. Four processes
determine their influence on an individual:
(a) Attentional processes. People learn from a model only when they
recognize and pay attention to its critical features.
longer readily available.
(c) Motor reproduction processes. After a person has seen a new
behavior by observing the model, watching must be converted to
doing.
C. Reinforcement processes. Individuals are motivated to exhibit the modeled
research is supportive.
2. Expectancy theory argues that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain
way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by
a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
3. It says that an employee will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when
he/she believes that:
d) Three key relationships: (Exhibit 7-8)
a) Expectancy: the effort-performance relationship: the probability
perceived by the individual that exerting a given amount of effort will
lead to performance.
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b) Instrumentality: the performance-reward relationship: the degree
individual.
4. Expectancy theory helps explain why a lot of workers aren’t motivated on
their jobs and do only the minimum necessary to get by.
5. Three questions employees need to answer in the affirmative if their
motivation is to be maximized:
appraisal?
b) If I get a good performance appraisal, will it lead to organizational
rewards?
6. Some critics suggest that the theory has only limited use, arguing that it tends
to be more valid for predicting in situations where effort-performance and
performance-reward linkages are clearly perceived by the individual.
III. Equity Theory/Organizational Justice
A. What role does equity play in motivation?
a) Equity theory: individuals make comparisons of their job inputs and
outcomes relative to those of others and then respond to any inequities.
(Exhibit 7-6)
b) If we perceive our ratio to be equal to that of the relevant others with whom
we compare ourselves, a state of equity is said to exist. We perceive our
situation as fair.
c) When we see the ratio as unequal, we experience equity tension.
2. When employees perceive an inequity, they can be predicted to make one of six
choices:
a) Change their inputs.
b) Change their outcomes.
c) Distort perceptions of self.
d) Distort perceptions of others.
e) Choose a different referent.
f) Leave the field.
behavior in most work situations.
a) People have more tolerance of overpayment inequities than of
underpayment inequities or are better able to rationalize them.
b) It’s pretty damaging to a theory when half the equation falls apart.
b) Second, not all people are equity sensitive.
comparisons.
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b) Predictions from equity theory are not likely to be very accurate about
these “benevolent types.”
dimensions. (Exhibit 7-7)
5. Distributive Justice. Distributive justice is concerned with the fairness of the
outcomes, such as pay and recognition that employees receive.
6. Procedural Justice. Although employees care a lot about what outcomes are
distributed (distributive justice), they also care a lot about how outcomes are
distributed.
justice examines how outcomes are allocated.
a) Having direct influence over how decisions are made, or at the very least
being able to present your opinion to decision makers, creates a sense of
control and makes us feel empowered.
b) Employees also perceive that procedures are fairer when decision makers
follow several “rules.”
people’s perceptions of fairness.
a) If outcomes are favorable and individuals get what they want, they care
less about the process, so procedural justice doesn’t matter as much when
distributions are perceived to be fair.
c) Interactional Justice
treated during interactions with others.
b) Both of these fall within the category of interactional justice (see Figure
7-7).
d) Informational Justice. Research has shown that employees care about two
other types of fairness that have to do with the way they are treated during
interactions with others.
informed of important organizational matters.
e) Interpersonal Justice. The second type of justice relevant to interactions
between managers and employees is interpersonal justice, which reflects
whether employees are treated with dignity and respect.
7. Justice Outcomes. How much does justice really matter to employees?
a) A great deal, as it turns out. When employees feel fairly treated, they respond
in a number of positive ways.
shirking job duties.
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strongly associated with citizenship behavior.
c) Studies suggest that managers are indeed motivated to foster employees’
perceptions of justice because they wish to ensure compliance, maintain a
positive identity, and establish fairness at work.
occur.
a) Fairness is often subjective; what one person sees as unfair, another may
see as perfectly appropriate.
8. Others’ Reactions to Injustice
a) Research is beginning to suggest that third party, or observer, reactions to
injustice can be important.
we react:
a) Our own traits and characteristics
b) The transgressor and victim’s traits and characteristics (including an
attribution of blame)
probably be angry with your supervisor).
d) Research also suggests that how your coworkers and supervisors treat
employee distrust and less cooperative behavior.
9. Promoting Justice. It might be tempting for organizations to adopt strong justice
guidelines in attempts to mandate managerial behavior, but this isn’t likely to be
universally effective.
discretion.
10. Culture and Justice. In terms of cultural differences, meta-analytic evidence
shows individuals in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures prefer an
same regardless of performance).
11. International managers must consider the cultural preferences of each group of
employees when determining what is “fair” in different