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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. When has your level of performance been directly affected by your motivation? By your
ability? By the environment?
Students may describe how motivation, ability, and environment affected their level of performance
in previous courses. For example, a student may believe that he or she had the ability to obtain an A in
2. Identify examples from your own experience that support, and others that refute, Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs theory.
Having students identify experiences that support or refute Maslow’s theory will help them appreciate
3. Have you ever experienced inequity in a job or a class? How did it affect you?
Students who have worked may have some interesting examples of inequity that include amount of
work or number of hours as inputs and amount of pay or extra time off or special benefits as different
4. Which is likely to be a more serious problem – perceptions of being under-rewarded or
perceptions of being over-rewarded?
Student response will vary depending on the extent and type of their work experience. People may
5. Do you think expectancy theory is too complex for direct use in organizational settings? Why
or why not?
Although students probably will agree that expectancy theory would be difficult to use directly in
organizational settings, they should realize that parts of the theory might be applicable in some
situations. The difficulty in applying the theory is that a manager would first need to ascertain the
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6. Do the relationships between performance and satisfaction suggested by Porter and Lawler
seem valid? Cite examples that both support and refute the model.
Research has not confirmed the assertion that satisfaction leads to performance, but it shows that
expectancy theory correctly asserts that people must value the expected rewards, must believe their
efforts will lead to performance, and must believe their performances will lead to the desired rewards
7. Think of occasions on which you experienced each of the four types of reinforcement.
The four types of reinforcement are: positive reinforcement, avoidance, extinction, and punishment.
Positive reinforcement should have the student reporting some type of desirable behavior followed by
8. Identify the five forms of reinforcement that you receive most often (i.e., wages, grades, etc.).
On what schedule do you receive each of them?
Students are most likely to use examples from a classroom situation, although working students or
older students may have other types of examples. An instructor may use continuous reinforcement
GROUP EXERCISE – Motivating Your Sales Staff
Learning Objective: Explain why different people are motivated by different things.
Summary: The goal of this exercise is to give students practice aligning individual and organizational
goals, and thinking like a manager in managing employee motivation. After forming small groups, the
instructor reads the scenario below.
Imagine that you are the management team of a new high-end retail clothing store named Threads. Your
company’s business strategy is to provide high-quality customer service and to provide high-quality
products. You are not the cheapest store in town, but you expect your employees to create a service-
oriented atmosphere that customers will be willing to pay a little extra for.
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You recognize that your sales staff will be essential to your store’s success, and you want to create a
system that motivates them to help create a competitive advantage for your business. Because this is the
first store you have opened, you have some latitude to decide how to best motivate your staff. Market-
competitive starting salaries have already been established, but you have decided to allocate 10 percent of
the stores’ profits to use to motivate your sales staff in any way you see fit.
Task: Working as a team, students discuss their answers to the following questions and share their
answers with the class.
1. What behaviors would you want from your sales staff?
2. What goals would you set for your sales staff, given your answer to Question 1?
3. What type of system would you set up to reward these behaviors?
4. What challenges would you be on the lookout for? How would you proactively address these potential
challenges to prevent them from happening?
VIDEO EXERCISE
Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning
Summary: Mike Boyle is the co-owner and manager of Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, a gym
based in Woburn, Massachusetts. Mike’s vision for his gym is he wants everyone to see the gym simply
as a place they go each day to help people. Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning employs a number of
people performing in multiple roles. Mike himself, along with his co-founder, also work as personal
trainers in addition to managing the gym. Mike understands that the fitness industry is characterized by
high turnover. Consequently, he focuses on trying to motivate his staff to both grow and develop as
fitness professionals while also seeing his gym as a place they want to stay.
1. Can you relate Mike Boyle’s views on employee motivation to the need theories discussed in this
class? If so, how?
Mike is meeting all of the needs outlined in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He meets their
physiological needs through a paycheck and their security needs by the stability and success of his
gym. Beyond that, workers have a sense of belongingness because they are working with the same
Looking at Herzberg’s motivation factors of achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility,
and advancement and growth were addressed in the above examples except for the work itself. Both
trainers in the video appeared satisfied with their jobs and feel they are helping people. They enjoy
the work. Responsibility also was not directed addressed and both trainers show responsibility
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When looking at the acquired needs framework, this gym would satisfy members’ needs for
achievement, affiliation, and power. Achievement through the actual work itself is easy enough.
2. How does expectancy theory explain Ana’s view of her work at Mike Boyle’s Strength &
Conditioning?
Ana has a strong belief that effort will lead to higher performance. She drives and motivates others
3. Marco speaks about the pride he takes in both his work and the gym. Describe how his pride
can be explained by any of the need perspectives on motivation.
Marco’s pride would meet Maslow’s esteem needs, and the ERG’s relatedness need. Esteem is a
4. How do Bob’s ideas about training and learning relate to employee motivation?
Training and learning provide tools necessary for employees to satisfy their self-actualization needs,
Now What?
Imagine working in a group with two other members asked by your boss to brainstorm names for a new
product. The other two members stop after quickly generating 3-4 weak ideas and want to quit. One group
member doesn’t see the point of the task. The other group member claims to not be good at this kind of
creative stuff and would rather get back to work doing something else. What do you say or do? Go to this
chapter’s “Now What?” video, watch the challenge video, and choose a response. Be sure to also view the
outcomes of the two responses you didn’t choose.
OB Concepts Applied: law of individual differences; self-efficacy; Theory Y; need for achievement;
empowerment; task significance; autonomy; goal setting; valence,
instrumentality, expectancy; interactional fairness; positive reinforcement;
negative reinforcement; spot awards; recognition; job design
Discussion Questions
1. Which aspects of motivation discussed in this chapter are illustrated in these videos? Explain
your answer.
Motivation concepts:
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Law of Individual Differences: People have different abilities, needs, personalities, values,
Theory X is the belief that most people dislike work and will try to avoid it whenever possible
Theory Y is the belief that people enjoy responsibility and work. Amy called the group and
Need for achievement refers to the desire to master complex tasks. Alex shows a high need
for achievement because he is motivated to complete the project with or without his co-
Empowerment is the degree to which an employee has the authority to make and implement
Job Design refers to providing different job opportunities to fulfill employee needs. Allison
does not feel very creative and said, “I’d be more productive doing something else right
Positive reinforcement refers to the use of rewards like praise to increase the likelihood that a
behavior will be repeated. Alex praises his co-workers and uses recognition. “…we did a
Goal setting refers to setting specific, difficult, achievable goals that serve as motivators.
Alex sets goals for Allison and Ryan, “…just try to think of a couple of ideas. Once we get
Self Efficacy refers to a person’s confidence in organizing and executing actions necessary to
Expectancy refers to the belief that hard work and will lead to the desired outcome (correct
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Fairness refers to ensuring that the policies and procedures used in determining employee
“I can’t believe you took credit for my ideas.” Allison lied about the situation, “I told her we
2. What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing this team in the challenge video?
The biggest challenge is a lack of teamwork. All the members should be working together cohesively
3. As a manager, what motivational techniques would you apply in this situation?
Improving the job-person match would motivate the employees to perform at a higher level. The
characteristics of a job determine its motivating potential. Allison and Ryan are not motivated by the
