Organizational Behavior
Instructor: Courtney Marchant
Unit 4: Chapter 6
Motivational Needs, Processes, and
Applications
Objectives
• Define the motivation process
• Identify the primary and secondary needs
• Discuss the major theories of work motivation
• Present the motivational application of job design
• Describe the motivational application of goal
setting
Preview
• In this chapter, we will be looking at a variety of
theories about motivation and rewards.
• Each theory will have some ideas in common with
other theories.
• None of these theories completely explains
human behavior at work, but each one is useful
to take us towards that goal.
The basic motivation process
• Needs: a physiological or psychological imbalance
• Drives: the impulse to fulfill needs
• Incentives: the things that fulfill needs
Model 1: Hierarchies
Video: Maslows Hierachy of Needs
[Link]
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Primary Motives
• Primary needs: physiological needs: UNLEARNED AND
PHYSICAL
– Food and Water
– Warmth and Sleep
– avoidance of pain
– sex
– parental concern
Secondary motives
• Secondary motives: LEARNED
– need for power
– Need for achievement
– Need for affiliation
Issues with Maslow’s hierarchy
• Many theorists believe that each level must
be completely fulfilled before the next level
becomes important.
• Most physiological needs must be fulfilled,
but once they are, the rest of the hierarchy
is not necessarily sequential.
• Can you think of examples?
Usefulness of Maslow in OB
Model 2: Needs and Wants
Image retrieved from [Link] on 12 Jan 2020
Another model of human motivation
• We can look at Richard Long’s model of rewards: Extrinsic and Intrinsic
– Extrinsic: Motivation comes from outside the individual and can be
provided by management
• Safety
• Security
• Social needs
• Recognition
Long, R. (2014). Strategic Compensation in Canada. Nelson Education Ltd: Toronto
Richard Long’s Model Continued
– Intrinsic: Motivation comes from within the individual and can be
facilitated but not created by management
•Growth
•Development
•Achievement
•Self-esteem
Motivation and Rewards
• Motivation that could be intrinsic is not
necessarily enhanced by adding extrinsic
aspects:
• [Link]
puzzle_of_motivation
Video Debrief
• He proposes that employers adopt a "new operating system" for
businesses that revolves "around three elements: autonomy, mastery
and purpose" (Pink, 2009).
• Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives
• Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that
matters
• Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something
larger than ourselves
• Consider the three elements that Pink proposes above. Have you ever
had a job where all three were present? If yes, were you highly
motivated in your work?
Pay isn’t everything: Hygiene v. Motivation
• Herzberg’s two-factor theory:
– Hygiene factors: without an adequate amount
of these at an acceptable level, work is bad.
People are dissatisfied if these factors are not
provided.
– Motivators: work is acceptable without these,
but better with them. People are more
satisfied if these factors are provided.
Hygiene factors
• Company policy and administration
• Technical supervision
• Salary
• Interpersonal relations, including good
supervision
• Working conditions
Motivators
• Achievement
• Recognition
• Work itself
• Responsibility
• Advancement
Similarities between Theories
• What do you see in common between Maslow’s
hierarchy and Herzberg’s two-factor theory?
• What do you see in common between them and
Long’s discussion of external and internal
rewards?
The Human Factor
Image retrieved from [Link] on 12 Jan 2020
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
Image from [Link] retrieved on 12 Jan 2020
Contributions of Expectancy Theory
– Barriers to Overcome
1. Doubts about ability, skill, or knowledge
[Link] physical or practical possibility of the job
[Link] interdependence of the job with other
people or activities
[Link] surrounding the job requirements
.
Contributions of Expectancy Theory
Things to consider for Motivation
[Link] what rewards each employee values
[Link] desired performance
[Link] desired performance attainable
[Link] valued rewards to performance
Equity Theory - Fairness
• Workers are generally willing to work if
they perceive that the rewards are fair.
Image retrieved from [Link] on 12 Jan 2020
Video: Equal Pay for Monkey’s
• [Link]
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Organizational Justice
• Organizational justice has three aspects:
– distributive justice
– procedural justice
– interactional justice
Equality: Distributive Justice
• Distributive justice
- everyone gets the same thing
Equity: Procedural Justice
<-
distributive
procedural ->
Images from [Link] retrieved on 12 Jan 2020
Respect: interactional justice
• Interactional justice generally looks at the
relationship between individuals, such as
between a manager and a subordinate.
– LMX
– transactional v. transformational leadership
• This may not be a direct predictor of
organizational performance.
Attribution theory
• Who’s responsible for my outcomes?
– Is it my efforts, skills, knowledge?
– Is it circumstances beyond my control?
• The individual’s beliefs about the locus of control
over outcomes will heavily influence the
individual’s behaviour.
Helping people to achieve
Image retrieved from [Link] on 12 Jan 2020
Motivation Theories: job design
• Jobs can be designed to help motivate employees:
– job rotation
– job enlargement
– job enrichment
Common aspects of a “good” job
• skill variety
• task identity
• task significance
• autonomy
• feedback
Motivation Theory: Goal Setting
• Goals should be SMART:
– specific
– measurable
– achievable
– relevant
– time-bound
SMART goals
• Goals should be specific: if you want your employees to work well, they need
to know exactly what results are desired.
• Goals should be measurable: employees need to know when they’ve
achieved an acceptable level, and whether a higher level is worthwhile.
• Goals should be achievable: returning to expectancy theory, if employees
don’t believe that they can reach the target, they may not even try.
• Goals should be relevant: the goal should be meaningful to the employee’s
job and should contribute to the organization’s success.
• Goals should be time-bound: there should be a specific time by which the
goal should be reached.
Cautions about goal-setting
• Avoid setting overly specific goals - they may lead
to undesirable behaviour.
• Difficult goals may lead to stress,
discouragement, and failure in other areas.
Stretch goals and other ideas
• It is sometimes appropriate and useful to set a
stretch goal, one that the employee isn’t sure
that s/he can reach, if s/he is willing to try
anyway.
• Competition can be useful.
• Benchmarking - comparing performance over
time - can be useful.
• There is no single approach that will work for
everyone.
The importance of feedback
• It is very important that employees know
whether they have reached their goals.
• If they haven’t, figuring out why is important for
future performance.
• Feedback can be acquired through direct
observation, through reports, or through a variety
of other means depending on the job.
Summary
• People will generally act rationally. They will behave in
ways that lead to a desired outcome or reward, as long as
they believe that they can influence that desired outcome.
• Rewards can be intrinsic or extrinsic.
• Managers can influence employee behaviour through
providing appropriate rewards and enhancing employee
ability to achieve the behaviours that lead to the rewards.
