Motivating Employees •
weaker in economically disadvantaged countries with poor governmental
social welfare systems and high power distance.
VII. INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR MOTIVATING Exhibit 12.9
Organizations are increasingly using various types of incentive compensation as a way to
motivate employees to higher levels of performance. Variable compensation and forms of “at
risk” pay are key motivational tools and are becoming more common than fixed salaries at
many companies. The programs can be effective if they are used appropriately and combined
with motivational ideas that also provide intrinsic rewards and meet higher level needs.
Many organizations give employees a voice in how pay and incentive systems are designed,
which increases motivation by increasing employees’ involvement. Motivational programs that
have the greatest impact typically involve much more than money. Two recent motivational
trends are empowering employees and framing work to have greater meaning.
A. Empowering People to Meet Higher Needs
1. Empowerment is power sharing, the delegation of power or authority to
subordinates in an organization. Increasing employee power heightens motivation
for task accomplishment because people improve their own effectiveness, choosing
how to do a task using their creativity. Empowering employees involves giving them
four elements that enable them to act more freely to accomplish their jobs:
information, knowledge, power, and rewards.
a. Employees receive information about company performance. In companies
where employees are fully empowered, all employees have access to all financial
and operational information.
b. Employees have knowledge and skills to contribute to company goals.
Companies use training programs to help employees acquire the knowledge and
skills they need to contribute to organizational performance.
c. Employees have the power to make substantive decisions. Empowered workers
have the authority to directly influence work procedures and organizational
performance, often through quality circles or self-directed work teams.
d. Employees are rewarded based on company performance. Organizations that
empower workers often reward them based on the results shown in the
company’s bottom line.
2. Empowerment can mean encouraging workers’ ideas while managers retain
authority, or it can mean employees have the freedom and power to make decisions
and exercise initiative. Current methods fall along a continuum from no discretion
for workers to full empowerment where workers participate in formulating strategy.
Motivating Employees •
Discussion Question #9: Why do you think empowerment increases motivation? Do you see any
ways in which a manager’s empowerment efforts might contribute to demotivation among
employees? Discuss.
NOTES________________________________________________________________________
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B. Giving meaning to Work through Engagement Exhibit 12.10
1. Employee engagement means that people enjoy their jobs and are satisfied with
their work conditions, contribute enthusiastically to meeting team and organizational
goals, and feel a sense of belonging and commitment to the organization.
2. Smart managers see that having engaged, motivated employees has less to do with
extrinsic rewards than with fostering an environment in which people can flourish.
The behavior of managers is what makes the biggest difference in employee
motivation and whether employees flourish at work. The three elements to creating
employee engagement are: a sense of meaningfulness, a sense of connection, and a
sense of growth. The manager’s role is to organize the workplace in such a way to
create these feelings in order for employee engagement to grow, leading to high
motivation and high organizational performance.
a. People feel they are working toward something important. People experience a
sense of meaningfulness when they have a chance to accomplish something that
provides real value to the world.
b. People feel connected to the company, to one another, and to their managers.
c. People have the chance to learn, grow, and advance. To be fully engaged,
people need not only to feel that they are competent to handle what is asked of
them, but also that they have the chance to learn and expand their potential.
Discussion Question #2: Psychologists have identified three pathways to happiness: pleasure,
engagement, and meaning. Do you think that it is the manager’s responsibility to help people
find these elements in their work? Discuss.
NOTES______________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________________
C. The Making Progress Principle
1. The making progress principle is the idea that the single most important factor that
can boost motivation, positive emotions, and perceptions is making progress toward
meaningful goals. People are most motivated when they experience achievement.
2. Providing feedback on how well people are progressing and giving them a way to
track their progress toward goals provides motivation.
3. Knowing that they are making everyday progress can make a difference in how
motivated people feel to pursue a course of action.
Discussion Question #10: A recent Gallup survey shows that highly educated workers are
significantly less likely to be engaged than are those with a high school diploma or less. What
might be some reasons for this lower level of engagement among more-educated employees?
NOTES________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________
SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO END–OF-CHAPTER DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
1. Why do you think making progress ranks as the most important factor contributing to
motivation, according to recent studies? How can managers provide a sense of progress for
employees working on long-range projects that might not show results for months or even
years?
Recent research indicates the importance of making progress toward goals as a key to
2. Psychologists have identified three pathways to happiness: pleasure, engagement, and
meaning. Do you think that it is the manager’s responsibility to help people find these
elements in their work? Discuss.
The behavior of managers is what makes the biggest difference in employee motivation and
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
• People feel they are working toward something important. People experience a sense of
meaningfulness when they have a chance to accomplish something that provides real
value to the world.
• People feel connected to the company, to one another, and to their managers.
• People have the chance to learn, grow, and advance. To be fully engaged, people need
not only to feel that they are competent to handle what is asked of them, but also that
they have the chance to learn and expand their potential.
3. Assume that you are a front-line manager at a call center. Try to come up with a specific
motivational idea that fits in each of the four quadrants in Exhibit 12.2: Positive Extrinsic;
Positive Intrinsic; Negative Extrinsic; Negative Intrinsic.
Some of the specific motivational ideas students could use as a front-line manager are as
follows:
weak economy and high unemployment rate.
4. In response to security threats in today’s world, the U.S. government federalized airport
security workers. Many argued that simply making screeners federal workers would not
solve the root problem: bored, low-paid, and poorly trained security workers have little
motivation to be vigilant. How might these employees be motivated to provide the security
that travel threats now demand?
Employees may be motivated through extrinsic rewards such as pay increases. Before the
5. Using Hackman and Oldham’s core job dimensions, compare and contrast the jobs of these
two state employees: (1) Jared, who spends much of his time researching and debating
energy policy to make recommendations that will eventually be presented to the state
legislature and (2) Anise, who spends her days planting and caring for the flower gardens
and grounds surrounding the state capitol building.
Skill variety refers to the number of diverse activities that compose a job and the number of
skills used to perform it. Jared and Anise probably have similar amounts of skill variety,
Feedback refers to the extent to which doing the job provides information to the employee
6. If an experienced executive assistant discovered that she made the same amount of money as
a newly hired janitor, how do you think she would react? What inputs and outcomes might
she evaluate to make this comparison?
Motivating Employees •
This comparison is based on equity theory, in which people compare the own inputs they bring
7. A survey of teachers found that two of the most important rewards were the belief that their
work was important and a feeling of accomplishment. According to Maslow’s theory, what
needs do these rewards meet?
8. Use Herzberg’s two-factor theory to explain why motivation seems to be high and turnover
low at Mars, based on the information provided in the chapter-opening example.
The hygiene factors at Mars are good. Many employees get bonuses from 10 percent to 100
percent of their salaries if their team performs well. Employees have to punch a time clock and
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Hygiene factors, when they are poor, create some level of dissatisfaction, but they never have
the potential to generate excitement and commitment in a job in the same way as motivators.
Thus, the presence of motivators such as vending machines dispense free candy all day long,
and employees in the pet food division taking their dogs to work makes Mars a great place to
work.
9. Why do you think empowerment increases motivation? Do you see any ways in which a
manager’s empowerment efforts might contribute to demotivation among employees?
Discuss.
Managers can meet higher motivational needs by shifting power down from the top of the
organization by sharing it with employees to enable them to achieve goals. Empowerment is
10. A recent Gallup survey shows that highly educated workers are significantly less likely to be
engaged than are those with a high school diploma or less. What might be some reasons for
this lower level of engagement among highly-educated employees?
Employee engagement means that people enjoy their jobs and are satisfied with their work
Motivating Employees •
APPLY YOUR SKILLS: SELF-LEARNING
What Motivates You?
This exercise allows students to assess their own needs using Maslow’s needs hierarchy. The
scores of executives and three levels of managers obtained by Porter in a study using this
questionnaire are shown below.
Sample
Security
Social
Esteem
Autonomy
Self
Actualization
President
(n=114)
5.69
5.38
5.27
6.11
6.50
Vice President
(n=611)
5.44
5.46
5.33
6.10
6.40
Upper-Middle
(n=569)
5.20
5.31
5.27
5.89
6.34
Lower-Middle
(n=431)
5.29
5.33
5.26
5.74
6.25
Lower
(n=101)
5.30
5.27
5.18
5.58
6.32
Note: 1 = lowest degree of importance; 7 = highest degree of importance.
Source: K. Stewart, Instructor’s Manual to accompany Gibson, Ivancevich, and Donnelly,
Organizations, Plano, TX: BPI, 1988, 36.
It is interesting to note that self-actualization needs were rated by managers at all levels as most
important. For all but upper-middle level managers, esteem needs were rated as least important
of the five categories. The only category of needs for which there is a clear progression
(increase in importance) from lower-level management to top management is autonomy. It is
also probably accurate to say that managers at higher levels in the organization actually have
more autonomy than managers at lower levels.
APPLY YOUR SKILLS: GROUP LEARNING
Work vs. Play
Students form groups to analyze why they expend effort on play activities. Next they discuss the
extent to which the motives for play might be applied to the work environment.
Motivating Employees •
APPLY YOUR SKILLS: ETHICAL DILEMMA
To Renege or Not to Renege?
1. Recommend to the president that a meeting be arranged with the sales representatives
entitled to a bonus and tell them that their checks were going to be delayed until Puget’s
financial picture clarified. The sales reps would be told that the company had a legal right to
delay payment and that it may not be able to pay the bonuses if its financial situation
continues to deteriorate.
2. Recommend a meeting with the sales representatives entitled to a bonus and tell them the
company’s deteriorating financial situation triggers one of the contingency clauses in their
contract, so the company won’t be issuing their bonus checks. Puget will just have to deal
with the negative impact on sales rep motivation.
3. Recommend strongly to the president that Puget pay the bonuses as promised. The legal
contracts and financial situation don’t matter. Be prepared to resign if the bonuses are not
paid as you promised. Your word and a motivated sales team mean everything to you.
APPLY YOUR SKILLS: CASE FOR CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Lauren’s Balancing Act
1. What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of the incentive system that
DeMarco’s is using for sales associates? What impact do you think it is having on the
DeMarco’s culture? Explain.
Motivating Employees •
Advantages of the incentive system are:
• The pay is built through the employees’ own initiative and individualized service,
prompting repeat customers.
2. Do you think the complaints of lower-paid sales associates are legitimate? Why? How do you
suggest Lauren respond to these complaints, such as the gripe that the system offers few
opportunities for large commissions in some departments?
3. Have the successes of sales associates such as Katherine or Damien created a situation in
which customers’ loyalty to particular salespeople is stronger than their loyalty to the store?
For example, if a successful associate leaves DeMarco’s, might the customer leave also?
Motivating Employees •
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ON THE JOB VIDEO CASE ANSWERS
Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning: Motivating Employees
1. In the video, Mike Boyle talks about establishing a work environment that motivates
employees to do great work. List two or three specific ways Boyle has created this type of
environment in his gyms, and explain how these actions empower the employees.
Mike has established a work environment that motivates his employees in the following ways:
2. Cofounder Bob Hanson says that education is an important part of their approach to
management. How does education relate to employee motivation and job enrichment?
3. The two trainers featured in the video seem very satisfied with their jobs. Use Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs to explain why you think they feel the way they do.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the highest need is self-actualization. Mike Boyle is
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
trainers can improve their own effectiveness and, choose how to do a task using their own
creativity.
Mike Boyle has also fulfilled his employees’ need for affiliation. The trainers want to come to
work and feel satisfied on the job because of the friendships they have created. They trust and
respect Mike Boyle and have a feeling of pride in working for him.