Chapter 6 Motivation Concept

Motivation is one of the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and
persistence of effort toward attaining a goal. Intensity is concerned with how a person tries, and
direction is how that energy is channelled. Does an employee spend his or her time subverting the
company through job neglect or sabotage or do they focus on obtaining company goals? Do they
persist in their efforts, maintaining focus in a dependable fashion over time?

Early theories of motivation like Maslow’s theory of needs and Herzberg’s two factor theory were an
attempt to explain the motivational factors operant at work. Abraham Maslow described needs existing
in an ascending hierarchy, consisting of the following dimensions: physiological, safety, social,
esteem, and self-actualization. In Maslow’s conceptualization a need that is substantially satisfied
ceases to motivate. Maslow separated the five needs into lower and higher orders. Physiological and
safety needs were described as lower-order needs and social, esteem, and self-actualization were
classified as higher-order needs. Higher-order needs tend to be satisfied internally, while lower-order
needs are predominantly satisfied externally.

ERG theory was an extension of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs proposed by Clayton Alderfer. He
grouped needs into three categories: existence (similar to physiological and safety need), relatedness
(similar to social and status needs), and growth (similar to esteem and self-actualization needs).
Unlike Maslow, Alderfer did not believe that lower level needs needed to be satisfied before higher
level needs. Alderfer proposed that individuals could work on all three needs at the same time. In
addition, ERG theory suggests that frustration over inability to satisfy a higher-order need might lead
to regression to a lower level.

Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y presumes that there two different types of managers.
Theory X managers believe that employees are lazy and must be controlled or coerced into producing,
while Theory Y managers believe that employees who enjoy and even seek responsibility. Theory X
assumes that lower-order needs dominate individuals, while Theory Y assumes that people are
motivated by higher-order needs. McGregor suggests that Theory Y is more valid than Theory X and
that managerial decisions should reflect this approach.
Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory suggests that there are two types of factors in the
workplace: hygiene factors and motivational factors. Hygiene factors are extrinsic factors, such as
supervision, pay, company policies, and working conditions. The absence of one or more hygiene
factors can lead to a state of dissatisfaction, but their presence does not lead to a greater desire to
excel at one’s job. Motivational factors are intrinsic factors, like advancement, recognition,
responsibility, and achievement, that are directly related to job satisfaction. The absence of
motivational factors does not cause dissatisfaction; rather, a state of neutrality. Herzberg suggests
that managers must make sure that hygiene factors have been addressed to move employees from a
state of “dissatisfaction” to a state of “no dissatisfaction” and must add one or more motivational
factors to move employees from “no satisfaction” to “satisfaction”.

McClelland’s theory of needs states that workers are motivated by three needs: need for
achievement, need for power, and need for affiliation. Individuals differ in the degree to which a
particular need motivates them. The best managers have been characterized as high in Need for
Power (nPow) and low in need for affiliation (nAff).

Contemporary theories of motivation, including cognitive evaluation theory, goal-setting theory,

management by objectives, and self-efficacy theory, represent the current state of the art in
explaining employee motivation.

Cognitive evaluation theory suggests allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior that had been
previously intrinsically rewarding tends to decrease the overall level of motivation. This theory appears
to be well supported, particularly as it relates to tangible rewards. However, verbal rewards seem to
keep people focused on the task and encourage them to do it better. An outgrowth of cognitive
evaluation theory is self-concordance, which considers the degree to which people’s reasons for
pursuing goals are consistent with their interests and core values.

Goal-setting theory states that specific and difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher
performance. Goal-setting theory presupposes that an individual is committed to the goal.
Behaviorally, this means that an individual believes she can achieve the goal and wants to achieve it.
Goal commitment is most likely to occur when goals are made public, when the individual has an
internal locus of control, and when the goals are self-set rather than assigned. In addition, goals-
setting theory is culture bound – it’s well adapted to countries like the United States and Canada
because its key components align reasonably well with North American cultures.

Management by objectives programs emphasize participatively set goals that are tangible,
verifiable, and measurable. Through MBO, overall organizational objectives are converted into specific
objectives for organizational units and individual members. There are four ingredients common to
most MBO programs: goal specificity, participation in decision making, an explicit time period, and
performance feedback.

Self-efficacy (also known as “social cognitive theory” or “social learning theory”) refers to an
individual’s believe that he or she is capable of performing a task. The higher an individual’s self-
efficacy, the more confidence he has in his ability to succeed in a task. Individual with lower self-
efficacy are more likely to lessen their effort or give up all together. There are four ways that self-
efficacy can be increased: enactive mastery, vicarious modelling, verbal persuasion, and arousal.
Verbal persuasion is associated with the Pygmalion effect and the Galatea effect. The Pygmalion effect
is a form of a self-fulfilling prophesy where believing in something can make it true. The Galatea
effect, a workplace variant, occurs when high performance expectations are communicated directly to
the employee.

Reinforcement theory states that behaviour is caused by external reinforcement. In other words,
rewards shape the way people feel about the job; people’s feelings thoughts, feelings, and attitudes
do not shape the way they feel regarding work outcomes.

Equity theory makes the assumption that people will compare their job inputs and outcomes with
those of others and then respond to eliminate perceived inequities. Job inputs include effort,
experience, education, and competence, while outcomes include salary levels, raises, and recognition.
When an employee perceives that their ratio of inputs to outcomes is equal to relevant others, a state
of equity exists. When an employee perceives that the ratio is unequal, equity tension creates anger
or guilt. Employees will make four comparisons: self-inside, self-outside, other-inside, and other-
outside. Employees may respond to perceived inequity by changing their inputs; by changing their
outcomes; by distorting perceptions of self or others; by choosing a different referent; or by leaving
the situation.

The issue of equity or fairness can be evaluated from the perspective of organizational justice.
Organizational justice refers to an overall perception of what is fair in the workplace, comprised of
distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. Historically, equity theory focused on distributive
justice, which is the perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals. A
key addition under organizational justice is procedural justice, the perceived fairness of the process
used to determine the distribution of rewards. Finally, interactional justice is the individual’s
perception of the degree to which he or she is treated with dignity, concern, and respect.

Expectancy theory refers to an individual’s assessment of the abilities needed to achieve, the
subsequent rewards, and the preferences of those rewards. An individual will be motivated to act
when he sees that effort will lead to an outcome, and the outcome will lead to a reward he find
desirable. For an individual to exert a high level of effort, three relationships must exist. First, the
individual must believe that high effort will result in high performance. Second, the individual must
perceive that high performance will be rewarded. Finally, the reward being offered must meet an
individual’s goals or needs.

All of the theories presented in this chapter are culturally bound, in other words, they have
formulated by Western researchers and tested on Western samples. Cultural constraints may in some
instances cause a reinterpretation of a given theory. For example, in countries like Portugal or Chile
which are high uncertainty avoidance goal setting theory (which assumes a high degree of
independence) may not apply. Employees in these countries would feel uncomfortable setting their
own goals because they are high in uncertainty avoidance and high in power distance.