Chapter 05 – Motivation: Increasing Productivity
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CHAPTER 5
Motivation: Increasing Productivity
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, students will be able to:
1. Define motivation.
3. Explain behavior-based theories of motivation.
5. Discuss the relationship between self-esteem and motivation.
Key Terms
Affiliation needs: Occur in people who want to be accepted and liked by others.
Achievement needs: Occur in people who are goal oriented and take personal
responsibility for achievements.
Autonomy: Independence, the ability to act and make decisions on one’s own without
undue interference from management.
Behavior modification: The process of changing behavior because of a reward or lack of
a reward.
Expectancy theory: Developed by Victor Vroom to explain human behavior in terms of
people’s goals, choices, and the expectation that goals will be reached.
Frustration–regression principle: A principle that says that someone who fails to reach
a higher need level will sometimes become frustrated and regress (go back) to a lower
need level, and stay there for some time—perhaps forever.
Goal setting: Allows employees to set their own goals.
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Hygienes (dissatisfiers): The qualities in the workplace that are outside the job itself
(examples: company benefits, workplace policies, job security). When these factors are
weak or missing, motivation will fall; however, when they are high, motivation will not
be strong or long term.
Instrumentality: The likelihood that something good (or bad) will come from an
increase in effort.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Shows that people tend to satisfy their needs in a certain
order: first, physiological needs, then safety and security, belongingness and love,
esteem, and finally, self-actualization.
Morale: Overall mood of an individual or group, based on attitudes and satisfaction.
Motivation: The force of the need or desire to act.
Motivators (satisfiers): The factors in Herzberg’s theory that cause real, long-term
motivation, usually containing intrinsic motivation factors (examples: interesting and
challenging tasks, advancement, achievement, growth).
Organizational climate: Emotional weather within an organization that reflects the
norms and attitudes of the organization’s culture and that affects worker morale, attitudes,
stress levels, and communication.
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Safety and security needs: In Maslow’s hierarchy and include physical safety from harm
and the elements as well as financial security.
Self–actualization: Highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; occurs when one has
fulfilled his or her potential.
Skill variety: The opportunity and ability to use numerous different skills in one’s
position at work.
Lecture Outline
I. What Is Motivation?
Motivation is the willingness to make an effort toward accomplishment. According to
Management expert Peter Drucker, “The purpose of an organization is to enable common
men [and women] to do uncommon things.”
A. Organizational Climate and Morale
A large motivating factor on the job is the organizational climate. Organizational
climate affects employee morale. Morale is the overall mood of a group of people and
is based on employees’ attitudes and feelings of satisfaction. An effective climate
allows people to work to their full potential without becoming a threat to others. It
B. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards
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Economic need is the primary motivator toward work. Working allows a person to pay
his bills, collect benefits, and build financial security for his retirement—allowing him
to work in the present without worrying about the future. These are all extrinsic
motivators.
Intrinsic rewards are the internal feelings of satisfaction a person gets from his job.
In addition to job satisfaction, other intrinsic rewards include:
• A work ethic
Figure 5.2 provides examples of additional intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
II. Need-Based Theories of Motivation
Many psychologists agree that people are motivated by their needs. Theorists’ views
differ about which needs are most important.
A. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Psychologist Abraham Maslow believed that most people fulfill their needs in a
certain order. Before a person can bloom into his or her full potential, he or she must
take these steps of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in the order that follows:
• Physiological needs—the most basic of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs having to
do with the satisfaction of physical needs, including food, water, air, and shelter.
Figure 5.4 provides information on suggestions given by Maslow on how to increase
one’s self-actualization.
Maslow’s theory makes the following assumptions:
• Needs that are not yet satisfied will motivate or influence a person’s behavior.
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For managers, Maslow’s main lesson on motivation is to notice the needs level of
employees. When a manager is in touch with the employees’ basic needs, he or she
can be much more effective in getting employees to perform.
B. Alderfer’s ERG Theory
A scholar named Clayton Alderfer created a theory that is based on Maslow’s
hierarchy, but which in some ways improves on it. Instead of Maslow’s five levels,
ERG theory has only three needs areas:
• Existence needs are the needs that have to do with making a person’s way in life
in a physical sense.
• Relatedness needs refer to what Maslow called “belongingness” needs and the
part of esteem needs that are external, or socially fulfilling.
• Growth needs are the more internal esteem needs that everyone has, along with
what Maslow called self-actualization.
ERG theory presents three very important differences from Maslow’s famous
“hierarchy.”
• Unlike Maslow’s theory that includes the same order of progression for all
people, ERG theory teaches that the order in which people progress through the
three stages can be different for different people.
C. McClelland’s Manifest Needs Theory
David McClelland believed that all people have certain needs that motivate them both
in life and on the job. McClelland’s manifest needs theory isn’t a hierarchy.
McClelland found through years of research that all people have three basic coexisting
needs:
• Power needs—desired by individuals who want to control and influence other
people.
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• Achievement needs—occur in people who are goal oriented and take personal
responsibility for achievements.
Power Needs
When McClelland first started his research on motivation, he saw power as a
basically negative force. Later he found that power, like the other two needs, can be
Affiliation Needs
Most people need to be with other people, to develop friendships and
acquaintances. According to McClelland, some people have this need so strongly
that it motivates them to go to work every day. These people often have an intense
desire to be accepted and liked by other people. McClelland feels that someone
with a strong affiliation need will generally not make the best manager.
Achievement Needs
A person with a high need for achievement is usually very goal oriented, has a high
energy level, and wants to take personal responsibility for achievements. People
D. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
In his two-factor theory, psychologist Frederick Herzberg describes two forces that are
often confused with each other. He calls them hygienes and motivators. Hygienes are
factors connected with a job that make working there better. Some examples of
hygienes are piped-in music, attractive carpeting, a good health plan, or good relations
with the supervisor. According to Herzberg, factors such as these will keep workers
from becoming dissatisfied; for that reason they are also called dissatisfiers.
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The factors on the job that really do motivate workers are called, appropriately,
motivators. These are factors that are intrinsic—that is, they are found either within
the work itself or within the worker. They include feelings of accomplishment, of
E. Job Enrichment as a Motivator
To Herzberg, upgrading of a task, or job enrichment, is the only real way to motivate
a previously unmotivated worker for any long period of time. According to Herzberg,
making jobs more challenging and fulfilling is the only appropriate approach to
meaningful motivation.
To enrich a job often means complete restructuring of the tasks related to the job, to
make them more meaningful and fulfilling—giving the job more intrinsic motivators.
Several factors are necessary for job enrichment to be effective. These are skill
variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.
Figure 5.6 highlights the Hackman-Oldham Job Enrichment Model
Skill Variety and Task Identity
Skill variety is the opportunity and ability to use numerous different skills in one’s
Task Significance
Most people are motivated more by a job that seems to make a difference to other
people or to the physical environment. If the work directly affects other peoples’
work or lives, the job is said to contain task significance.
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Autonomy
Autonomy means the freedom to choose one’s tasks and methods of work. When
workers are given a great deal of autonomy, they feel ownership of the job and of
Feedback
When a job allows individuals to know how well they are performing, the job is
enriched considerably. No matter how much autonomy a worker has, feedback is
III. Behavior-Based Theories of Motivation
A. Expectancy Theory
Expectancy theory brings several ideas together, and different versions of it have
become quite popular in the past few years. In the 1960s Victor Vroom originally
developed expectancy theory to explain human behavior in terms of people’s goals
and choices and the expectation that goals will be reached. Its main concepts are:
• Expectancy—describes the likelihood that if a person tries to perform better,
that will really be the result.
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IV. Reinforcement Theory and Behavior Modification
The ideas of reinforcement theory are becoming more and more popular in businesses
today. Most of the ideas that this theory is based on come from the work of psychologist
Skinner believed that one can help shape and mold people without making them feel that
their freedom and dignity are threatened. The method consists of positive reinforcement:
reward the behavior that is desired and ignore the behavior that is not desired.
Punishment can be very effective in changing someone’s behavior, but this theory
teaches that punishment has so many negative side effects that it will usually backfire on
the manager. Positive reinforcement can be just as effective as negative reinforcement,
and it has fewer unwanted side effects.
A manager trying to motivate employees should use sincere and frequent praise, letters of
commendation, and other forms of recognition.
A. Goal setting
To make reinforcers or incentives more effective, the employees involved should have
the opportunity for goal setting. Telling people to do their best is not as effective in
reaching higher performance levels as setting specific goals that are moderately
difficult. Organizations can increase their employees’ commitment to goals by
following these four suggestions:
• Have employees participate in the goal-setting process.
• Make goals challenging but attainable, specific, and attractive.
• Provide feedback on how the employees are doing in meeting the goals.
• Reward employees for reaching their goals.
B. Reinforcement, Values, and Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is basic to the success of a behavioral modification program of any kind.
Much of what the reinforcer is doing is improving the feelings of value and worth that
the employee has, or perhaps hasn’t, felt before. If a person is a reinforcer, he or she
must be sure to make the praise and recognition sincere. Also, he or she should be sure
to clearly identify what he or she is reinforcing.
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Choosing the right type of reward is important, too. Just as valence is important in
expectancy theory, reinforcement theory requires giving rewards that are valuable to
the person getting them.
Some of the criticisms of behavior modification:
V. Motivation and Self-Esteem
As studies of motivational theories show, the desire to feel better about oneself is a
main motivator in the workplace. In the same way, one is also motivated not to
perform tasks that threatens one’s self-esteem. This attempt to maintain self-esteem
on the job is important in understanding one’s motivation to do a task at all.
A. Self-Esteem and Job Performance
There are two more ways that self-esteem ties in with overall performance on the job:
• If the job calls for creativity in decision making, low self-esteem may keep an
Review Questions
1. Which of the motivation theories that you’ve just learned about best explains why
Antonio Garcia’s experience in the opening story ends the way it does? Why?
Answer: Students’ answers will vary. Some of them may say that Antonio’s self-
esteem was threatened by the supervisor who wouldn’t give him enough time or
2. What can employees and managers do to improve an organizational climate? How is
morale affected by the organizational climate?
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Answer: Many methods can be used to improve the climate of an organization.
Though managers are in the key position for making change, individual employees
can also accomplish a great deal. They can listen to others carefully, step in and help
3. What is a needs theory? Considering Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, do you see
yourself on this hierarchy? Where? What do you need in order to become self-
actualized?
4. Which of the three needs in McClelland’s manifest needs theory (power, affiliation,
or achievement), motivates you the most? Give examples from your own life.
5. Do you identify the hygienes—or dissatisfiers—in Herzberg’s chart as hygienes in
your own motivation? If not, why not? Is money a motivator or a hygiene for you?
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Whatever your answer, do you think it has always been that way for you? Will it
likely be that way later in your life?
6. Which motivates you more, intrinsic rewards or extrinsic rewards? When you
imagine getting an “A” in your human relations class, are you more motivated by the
tangible rewards of a higher GPA or by the self-satisfaction of a job well done?
Explain.
7. Why does positive reinforcement seem to work? Can you think of examples in your
life where positive reinforcement was used successfully? Unsuccessfully?
8. Overall, which motivation theory do you like best? Why?
Answer: Students’ answers will vary.
Critical Thinking Questions
9. Some people believe that trying to find a way to motivate others is somewhat
unethical or manipulative. What are your views? Has there been a time when you
have felt this was happening to you?
Chapter 05 – Motivation: Increasing Productivity
10. Alderfer’s ERG theory proposes that when we feel frustrated by an inability to meet
a need, we may regress to a lower-level need. If you are leading a work team, would
it be important to have your team members motivated by growth rather than
regression? Would you expect this difference in motivation to make a difference in
their effort, morale, or overall efficiency? What could you do to reduce frustration
that might lead to regression among team members?
Answer: Students’ answers will vary. According to frustration-regression principle,
Case Studies
Case Study 6.1: Dan the “Hobo”
Dan Trousdale’s shabby appearance has caught the attention of many a customer, not to
mention his colleagues, among whom he is known as “the hobo.” Dan’s supervisor, Jane
Denton, feels that Dan’s appearance does not do justice to the well-groomed and orderly
image of her company, Dalfour Insurance Company. Tom Bell, her manager, suggests
that Dan’s case is one of lack of motivation which Jane should be addressing. Jane feels
less confident about her skills to motivate Dan to organize himself and take care of his
image.
Questions
1. Do you agree with Tom that this is a motivation issue? Why or why not?
2. Do you believe that the needs theories of Alderfer, Maslow, or McClelland would be
useful here? If so, how?
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3. Could Skinner’s behavior modification approach be of any help in changing Tom’s
behavior? If so, what type of approach would be effective, and why?
Suggested Answer: Students’ answers may vary. Skinner’s behavior modification
approach or reinforcement theory explains human behavior in terms of the results—
Case Study 6.2: Bonus Time at Fullerton’s
Jack Fullerton, owner of Fullerton’s Furniture Manufacturing, gifts a recreation room as
an end-of-the-year surprise for his 60 employees, who, according to him, deserve this as a
token for their efforts toward the company’s strong performance this year. Contrary to his
expectations, the employees feel that a raise would have been a better use of the money
spent and soon the recreation room becomes “off–limits” if a worker wanted respect from
other team members. Fullerton, still not fully grasping the reason, clears the recreation
room to use it for overflow storage.
Questions
1. How can you explain the strange reaction of the furniture factory workers to this
well-meant gift from a thankful manager?
2. What steps should Jack Fullerton have taken before making the decision to build a
recreation room?
3. What theories of motivation might have prevented this expensive incident? Would a
review of McClelland’s needs theory have helped? How about expectancy theory?
Any others?