Motivation and Job Satisfaction

The Basic Problems

 Motivation
 Motivation in regards to work behavior,
energizes, directs, and sustains good behavior.
 It is argued that motivation has lost it’s
meaning.
 Motivation cannot be measured directly.
 Theories of Motivation
 The first few theories were basic. Taylor’s
theory was that money was the key to
motivation. The Hawthorne studies believed
that happiness was the key to motivation.
 Need theories came next, with three important
ones: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Alderfer’s
ERG theory, and McClelland’s need to
achieve theory.
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 The first level is the physiological need.

 Next comes the need for safety and security.

 The third level is a social need.

 The fourth level is a need for self esteem.

 The last level is self actualization.

 Alderfer’s ERG Theory
 Clayton Alderfer revised Maslow’s theory.
 Basically simplified it, putting it on three
levels: existence, relatedness, and growth.
 He concluded that it was too hard to separate
them from lowest to highest, so he said they all
happened simultaneously.
 McClelland’s Need to Achieve Theory

 States that work motivation has three needs.

 The need to achieve.

 The need for power.

 The need to affiliate.

 Problems with need theories
 Maslow’s and Alderfer’s theories cannot be
tested very well.
 McClelland’s theory can be tested much easier,
although there are still problems with the theory.
 The need to achieve is tested through a the
Thematic Apperception Test. The scoring on the
exam is still subjective. And you can be taught
how to increase your need to achieve.
 Job Design Theories
 Job design theories do a better job of arranging
work in ways that will produce the best
performance instead of satisfying deficiencies,
as need theories suggest.
 The two main job design theories are
Herzberg’s two-factor theory and Hackman
and Oldham’s job characteristics theory.
 Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
 Herzberg found a relationship between job
satisfaction and work performance, which
others had missed.
 His basic theory suggests that satisfying
employee’s motivational needs causes high job
satisfaction and performance.
 He also believed that dissatisfaction is caused
by, what he calls hygiene factors, which is the
work environment.
 Herzberg added that to achieve high levels of
job satisfaction motivator factors must be
present.

 Some believe that there is a glaring defect in

his two factor theory. People have suggested
that it is a prime example of the fundamental
attribution error.
 Hackman and Oldham’s Job
Characteristics Theory
 Their theory says that certain job elements in
the work environment lead to motivation and
satisfaction.
 They created the Job Diagnostic Survey to find
out which parts of jobs influence satisfaction.
The main categories of the test were the core
job characteristics, which were:
 Skill Variety
 Task Identity

 Task Significance

 Autonomy

 Feedback

 They used these factors to calculate the

motivating potential score of a particular job.
 They suggested using this formula to motivate
workers by finding ways to increase the value
of the job characteristics.
 Through their research they found three
additional factors that can change motivated
behavior; growth need strength, knowledge
and skill, and satisfaction with the job.
 After job design theories came Cognitive
theories.
 Cognitive Theories
 Cognitive theories of motivation focus on the
mental activities and perceptions by which
people determine their motivation at work.
These theories suggest that people go through
life and take in experiences and then have
expectations about what will happen in certain
situations.
 There are three main cognitive theories: Adams
Equity theory, Vroom’s Expectancy theory, and
Locke and Latham’s Goal setting theory.
 Adam’s Equity Theory
 Adam’s equity theory assumes that people
want a fair return compared to other people for
the jobs they do.
 It also assumes that people expect certain
outcomes.
 When a situation isn’t considered fair it’s
called inequity.
 Adam’s predicts that the inequity will cause
one of six reactions.
 Change inputs.

 Change outcomes.

 Leave the situation.

 Change behavior toward comparable workers.

 Distort the situation.

 Change the comparison.

 People who react one of those ways are called
equity sensitive.
 Benevolents are workers who prefer situations
in which they get fewer outcomes from putting
in greater effort than others do.
 Entitleds are people who look for situations
where they get greater outcomes and give less
effort.
 Vroom’s Valence-Instrumentality-
Expectancy Theory
 Job outcome

 Valence

 Instrumentality

 Expectancy

 Force
 Locke and Latham’s Goal Setting
Theory
 Difficult goals lead to the best job performance.
 Specific goals lead to better performance than
no goals.
 High levels of commitment to goals increase
performance.
 To influence performance, workers must have
specific feedback about their results.
 Goal setting can be harmful.
 Behavioral Theories
 Behavioral theories of motivation assume that
the positive or negative consequences of
behaviors determine whether a behavior will
be repeated or stopped.
 The reinforcement theory assumes that
motivated behavior is caused by the
consequences that follow a behavior.
 Reinforcers: positive, negative, extrinsic,
intrinsic.
 Organizational Behavior
Modification
 Organizational behavior modification is the
systematic application of learning principles in
order to change behavior in an entire
organization. The focus is on the whole, rather
than the single slice of pie.
 Job Satisfaction
 Job outcomes
 Job performance
 Turnover
 Absenteeism
 Organizational Commitment
 Job Involvement

 Thanks
Hari Nair
Vice President [HR]
9810289047