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Chapter 8
Chapter Overview
This chapter builds on the last chapter and focuses on applying
motivational concepts in the workplace.
Chapter Objectives
After studying this chapter, the student should be able to:
1. Describe the job characteristics model and evaluate the way it
motivates by changing the work environment.
3. Give examples of employee involvement measures and show how they can motivate
employees.
5. Show how flexible benefits turn benefits into motivators.
6. Identify the motivational benefits of intrinsic rewards.
Suggested Lecture Outline
I. INTRODUCTION
Simply knowing about motivational theories is not enough to make managers effective.
Managers must be able to apply these theories in the workplace to increase worker
motivation. This chapter will review the job characteristics model, discuss some ways
jobs can be redesigned, and then explore some alternative work arrangements.
II. MOTIVATING BY CHANGING THE NATURE OF THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
A. Research on motivation is focused on approaches that link
motivational concepts to changes in the way work is
structured.
B. Research in job design suggests the way the elements in a job are organized can act
to increase or decrease effort and also suggests what those elements are.
C. The Job Characteristics Model (JCM).
1. Designed by Hackman and Oldham, the JCM proposes that any job can be
described in terms of five core job dimensions:
a. Skill Variety: described as the degree to which the job requires a variety of
different activities so the worker can use a number of different skills and
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e. Feedback: the degree to which carrying out the work activities required by
the job results in the individual obtaining direct and clear information about
the effectiveness of his or her performance. Jobs that provide feedback lets
employees know how effectively they are performing.
2. Exhibit 8.1 presents the job characteristics model.
a. The first three dimensions—skill variety, task identity,
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performance, and satisfaction and the lower their
absenteeism and likelihood of leaving.
b. Jobs with high autonomy give incumbents a feeling of personal
responsibility for the results and that, if a job provides feedback, employees
will know how effectively they are performing.
c. From a motivational standpoint, the JCM proposes that individuals obtain
internal rewards when they learn (knowledge of results) that they
personally (experienced responsibility) have performed well on a task they
care about (experienced meaningfulness).
d. As Exhibit 8.1 shows, individuals with a high growth need are more likely to
experience the critical psychological states when their jobs are enriched—
and respond to them more positively—than are their counterparts with low
growth need.
e. Much evidence supports the JCM concept that the presence of a set of job
characteristics—variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback—
does generate higher and more satisfying job performance.
f. A few studies have tested the JCM in different cultures, but the results are
not consistent. The fact that the JCM is relatively individualistic suggests job
enrichment strategies may not have the same effects in collectivistic cultures
as in individualistic cultures.
D. How Can Jobs Be Redesigned?
1. Job Rotation (or Cross-Training).
a. Helpful when employees suffer from excessively
routine work. This technique is the periodic shifting of an employee from
one task to another.
1) Strengths. The strengths of job rotation are:
a) it reduces boredom,
b) it increases motivation through diversifying the employee’s
2) Costs.
a) Job rotation increases training costs and reduces productivity by
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3) Employees have to work a specific number of hours per week, but they
are free to vary the hours of work within certain limits.
4) Flextime has become popular outside the United States in countries such
as Germany where 29 percent of businesses offer flextime, and Japan.
c. Core Period.
2) This core period may be as long as six hours, with the remaining two
work hours scheduled at the employee’s convenience
d. Benefits. They include:
1) reduced absenteeism,
3) reduced overtime expenses,
5) reduced traffic congestion around work sites, elimination of tardiness,
and
6) increased autonomy and responsibility for employees, any of which may
increase employee job satisfaction.
e. Research Results.
2) The use of this technique is not applicable to every job.
a) It does work well for clerical tasks, where interaction with outside
4. Job Sharing.
a. This scheduling innovation allows two or more individuals to split a single
traditional 40-hour-a-week job among them.
5. Telecommuting (or Working from the Virtual Office).
a. This refers to employees who do their work remotely for at least two days a
1) jobs that deal routine information-handling tasks,
3) professional and other knowledge-related tasks.
c. Benefits.
1) For organizations telecommuting results in a larger labor pool, higher
2) For employees telecommuting can result in a great cost savings. The
hours and gas used commuting and dry cleaning bills for office clothes
may see significant reduction.
d. Drawbacks.
1) For organizations: managers with telecommuting workforces have far
2) For employees: employees with high social needs may feel isolated and
have reduced job satisfaction as result of telecommuting. There is also a
danger that because they are not in the office environment on a daily
basis, they will be overlooked for promotions and perhaps receive lower
performance assessments.
E. The Social and Physical Context of Work
more motivated and satisfied when their intrinsic work
2. Research demonstrates that social aspects and work context are as important as
other job design features.
1) interdependence,
3) interactions with other people outside work.
c. Social interactions are strongly related to positive moods and give
employees more opportunities to clarify their work role and how well they
are performing.
1) Does the employee have adequate tools, equipment, materials, and
supplies?
2) Does the employee have favorable working conditions, helpful co-
workers, supportive work rules and procedures, sufficient information
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to make job related decisions, adequate time to do a good job, and the
like? If not, performance will suffer.
III. EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT
A. Employee Involvement: a participative process that uses the
input of employees to increase their commitment to the
organization’s success.
1. Participative Management. Participative management is
the use of joint decision-making in an organization.
2) Competence. Employees must have the competence and knowledge
necessary to make a useful contribution, and
3) Good Faith. All parties, management and employees, must have trust
2) It appears that participation in decision-making only has a modest
influence on employee productivity, motivation, and job satisfaction.
2. Representative Participation.
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b. Representatives of employees are legally mandated to
be placed on an organization’s board (or on works councils who must be
2) It may be motivational for those employees selected to represent the
other workers, but it does not appear to motivate workers in general.
E. Linking Employee Involvement Programs and Motivation Theories
1. Employee involvement draws on a number of the motivation theories we
discussed in Chapter 7.
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1) In terms of two-factor theory, employee involvement programs could
2) The opportunity to make and implement decisions—and then see them
3) And extensive employee involvement programs clearly have the
potential to increase employee intrinsic motivation in work tasks.
IV. USING REWARDS TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES
A. Introduction
1. While pay is not a primary factor driving job satisfaction, it does motivate
people—and contribute to turnover, especially of top performers.
system:
a. what to pay employees,
b. how to pay them,
c. what benefits to offer and
d. how to recognize them.
B. What to Pay: Establishing a Pay Structure
1. Setting pay levels can be a complex activity and entails
balancing the following two values.
a. Internal Equity: the worth of the job to the organization, usually established
through a technical process called job evaluation.
b. External Equity: the external competitiveness of an organization’s pay
relative to pay elsewhere in the industry, normally established through pay
surveys.
C. How to Pay: Rewarding. Individual Employees Through
Variable-Pay Programs
1. Rather than paying a person only for time on the job or
2. These programs attempt to tie pay directly to productivity and performance, but
often employees do not see the connection.
3. There are seven major types of variable-pay programs:
a. Piece-Rate Pay.
1) In these programs, workers are paid a fixed sum for each unit of
production completed.
2) These plans may or may not have a base salary attached to them.
b. Merit-Based Pay.
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1) These individual plans modify pay based on performance appraisal
ratings.
2) Advantages.
3) Disadvantages.
a) However, it should be noted that these plans are only as valid as the
appraisals are based on.
b) Additionally, the pay raise pool from which the merit pay monies are
taken may be too low to provide a sufficient level of incentive pay.
c. Bonuses.
1) Bonuses, extra money paid for a specific event or organizational
2) One advantage of using bonuses is that they reward employees for
recent performance rather than historical performance.
3) However, employees may prefer base pay increases to the variable
bonuses.
d. Skill-Based Pay (competency-based or knowledge-based pay).
1) These plans are an alternative to job-based pay. They pay workers for
2) Advantages. This pay scheme increases workforce flexibility and makes
3) Disadvantages. Employees can “top out” when they learn all the relevant
skills in the program. There may not see any immediate need for the
skills and management will be forced to pay for them anyway.
e. Profit-Sharing Plans.
1) These are organization-wide programs to
distribute compensation based on some
f. Gainsharing.
1) This is a formula-based group incentive plan.
2) Group productivity improvements from one period to another
3) Gainsharing is different from profit sharing because rewards are tied to
productivity gains, not profitability.
g. Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs).
2) Research has shown that these plans do increase employee satisfaction,
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3) In situations where the employees do feel like owners, the impact on
organizational performance can be quite dramatic.
4. Evaluation of Variable Pay.
a. Variable-pay plans may increase motivation and productivity.
b. Organizations with profit-sharing plans tend to be more profitable and those
with gainsharing tend to have greater productivity and better employee
attitudes.
D. Flexible Benefits: Developing a Benefits Package
1. Consistent with expectancy theory’s thesis that organizational rewards should
2. These plans replace the “one-benefit-plan-fits-all” programs designed for a male
3. Fewer than 10 percent of employees now fit this image:
4. Flexible benefits can accommodate differences in employee needs based on age,
5. Today, almost all major corporations in the United States offer flexible benefits,
and they are becoming the norm in other countries and in small companies, too.
E. Intrinsic Rewards: Employee Recognition Programs
1. Organizations are increasingly recognizing:
a. Important work rewards can be both intrinsic and
2. Employee recognition programs range from a spontaneous and private thank-
3. Some research suggests financial incentives may be more motivating in the
short term, but in the long run it’s nonfinancial incentives.
1) Recognition, recognition, and more recognition.
4. An obvious advantage of recognition programs is that they are inexpensive
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5. Multinational companies have increased their use of recognition programs.
6. Despite the increased popularity of employee recognition programs, critics
argue they are highly susceptible to political manipulation by management.
7. When applied to jobs for which performance factors are relatively objective,
such as sales, recognition programs are likely to be perceived by employees as
fair.
a. However, in most jobs, the criteria for good performance aren’t self-evident,
which allows managers to manipulate the system and recognize their
favorites.
V. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS
A. We’ve presented a number of motivation theories and
applications in Chapter 7 and in this chapter.
1. Although it’s always dangerous to synthesize a large
B. Recognize Individual Differences
1. Managers should be sensitive to individual differences.
2. Spend the time necessary to understand what’s important to each employee.
3. Design jobs to align with individual needs and maximize their motivation
potential.
C. Use Goals and Feedback
1. Employees should have firm, specific goals, and they should get feedback on
how well they are faring in pursuit of those goals.
D. Allow Employees to Participate in Decisions That Affect Them
2. Participation can increase employee productivity, commitment to work goals,
motivation, and job satisfaction.
E. Link Rewards to Performance
1. Rewards should be contingent on performance, and employees must perceive
the link between the two.
2. Regardless of how strong the relationship is, if individuals perceive it to be
weak, the results will be low performance, a decrease in job satisfaction, and an
increase in turnover and absenteeism.
F. Check the System for Equity
1. Employees should perceive that experience, skills, abilities, effort, and other
obvious inputs explain differences in performance and hence
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VI. Keep in Mind
G. Most people respond to the intrinsic job characteristics of the
JCM,
H. It is not clear that employee involvement programs work – use caution!
I. Variable-pay plans can enhance.
Summary
Discussion Questions
1. In what ways can employees be motivated through changing the work
environment?
Answer: Employees can be motivated by changing the nature of the work
2. Compare and contrast the means in which jobs can be redesigned.
Answer: Jobs can be redesigned through job rotation and job enrichment. Job
rotation keeps the individual jobs constant and rotates workers through each job.
3. Why would managers want to use employee involvement programs?
4. What are the four major strategic rewards decisions?
5. Choose a variable-pay program and describe its motivational impact.
6. Can motivational theories be applied across cultures?
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Exercises
1. Self-analysis. Think back to the job or activity that you found to be the most
motivational in your life. Describe the aspects of the job that made it so exciting for
you. What type, or types, of motivational techniques were used in that job or
activity? If you are the manager in your current job, how could you apply those
techniques in that environment?
2. Web Crawling. Using your favorite search engine, find an additional motivational
3. Teamwork. As a small group, assume you are a consultancy firm that specializes in
motivational techniques and job redesign. The college administration has come to
7.
4. Analyzing Your Organization (Cumulative Project). Assess the motivational
techniques, (both extrinsic and intrinsic), used at your workplace. Describe the
techniques you were able to identify and assess their effectiveness in your work
environment. If any of the techniques were ineffective, provide some suggestions
for increasing the effectiveness of those techniques.
Suggested Assignment
For this activity, select two teams of four people each, one moderator (Master of
Ceremonies- MC), one scorekeeper, and one timekeeper. The rest of the class will act as a
studio audience (but they also have tasks to perform).
Setup: (ensure the class is very familiar with the concepts in both Chapters 7 and 8
before attempting this activity).
b. The moderator will act as the MC for the debate and read questions to the
two panels. (The instructor may decide to act as MC.)
c. While the groups are preparing, the audience should write down questions
regarding their concerns over the motivational effectiveness of job rotation,
job enrichment, and job enlargement on 3 x 5 cards.
d. The debate works this way:
i. A question from the audience is selected and read aloud to both
teams by the MC.
ii. The MC selects one panel and gives them two minutes to respond to
the question based on the views of the theorist they represent.
Timekeeper will give five second warning and stop the panel when
two minutes are up.
iii. The MC will then give the second panel their two minutes to express
their theorist’s viewpoint. Again, the timekeeper will give warning
and stop the panel when time is up.
iv. The MC will give the first group a one-minute rebuttal of the second
panel’s argument. Then the second group has one minute to rebut
the first. Timekeeper will ensure deadlines are met.
v. After the second rebuttal, the audience should be asked to vote as to
which motivational theorist won the current point.