6 Motivation

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Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Learning Goals
 What is motivation?
 What three beliefs help determine work effort,
according to expectancy theory?
 What two qualities make goals strong predictors of
task performance, according to goal setting theory?
 What does it mean to be equitably treated according
to equity theory, and how do employees respond to
inequity?

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 Learning Goals, Cont’d
 What is psychological empowerment, and
what four beliefs determine empowerment
levels?
 How does motivation affect job performance
and organizational commitment?
 What steps can organizations take to increase
employee motivation?

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 What is Motivation?
 Motivation is defined as a set of energetic forces
that originates both within and outside an employee,
initiates work-related effort, and determines its
direction, intensity, and persistence.
 Motivation is a critical consideration because job
performance often requires high levels of both ability and
motivation.
 Employees who are engaged completely invest themselves
and their energies into their jobs.

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 Motivation and Effort
Figure 6-1

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 Discussion Questions
 What makes you decide to direct your effort
to work assignments rather than taking a
break or wasting time?

 What makes you decide to be a “good citizen”

by helping out a colleague or another
student?

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 Expectancy Theory
 Expectancy theory describes the cognitive
process that employees go through to make
choices among different voluntary responses.
Employee behavior is directed toward pleasure
and away from pain or, more generally, toward
certain outcomes and away from others.

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Figure 6-2 Expectancy Theory

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 Expectancy Theory, Cont’d
 Expectancy represents the belief that exerting a high
level of effort will result in the successful
performance of some task.
 Expectancy is a subjective probability, ranging from 0 to 1
that a specific amount of effort will result in a specific level
of performance (abbreviated E → P).
 Self-efficacy is defined as the belief that a person has the
capabilities needed to execute the behaviors required for
task success.

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Figure 6-3
Sources of Self-Efficacy

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 Expectancy Theory, Cont’d
 Instrumentality represents the belief that successful
performance will result in some outcome(s).
Instrumentality is a set of subjective probabilities, each
ranging from 0 to 1 that successful performance will
bring a set of outcomes (abbreviated P → O).
 Valence reflects the anticipated value of the outcomes
associated with performance (abbreviated V).
 Can be positive, negative, or zero

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 Expectancy Theory, Cont’d
What exactly makes some outcomes more
“positively valenced” than others?
 In general, outcomes are deemed more
attractive when they help satisfy needs.
Needs can be defined as cognitive groupings or
clusters of outcomes that are viewed as having
critical psychological or physiological
consequences.

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 Commonly Studied Needs in OB
Table 6-1

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 Expectancy Theory, Cont’d
 Extrinsic motivation is motivation that is
controlled by some contingency that depends
on task performance.
 Intrinsic motivation is motivation that is felt
when task performance serves as its own
reward.

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 Extrinsic and Intrinsic Outcomes
Table 6-2

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 Expectancy Theory, Cont’d
 Total “motivational force” to perform a given action
can be described using the following formula:

Motivational Force = E  P x Σ[(P  O) x V]

 The Σ symbol in the equation signifies that

instrumentalities and valences are judged with various
outcomes in mind.
 Motivational force equals zero if any one of the three
beliefs is zero.

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 Goal Setting Theory
 Goal setting theory views goals as the primary
drivers of the intensity and persistence of
effort.
Assigning employees specific and difficult goals will
result in higher levels of performance.

What is a difficult goal?

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Goal Difficulty and Task Performance
Figure 6-4

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Settings and Tasks Used in Goal Setting
Table 6-3 Research

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 Goal Setting Theory, Cont’d
 Why do specific and difficult goals have such
positive effects?
Assignment of a specific and difficult goal shapes
people’s own self-set goals — the internalized
goals that people use to monitor their own task
progress.
Goals trigger the creation of task strategies,
defined as learning plans and problem-solving
approaches used to achieve successful
performance.
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 Goal Setting Theory, Cont’d
 Moderators on Task Performance
Feedback consists of updates on employee
progress toward goal attainment.
Task complexity reflects how complicated the
information and actions involved in a task are, as
well as how much the task changes.
Goal commitment is defined as the degree to
which a person accepts a goal and is determined
to try to reach it.
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Figure 6-5
Goal Setting Theory

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 Strategies for Fostering Goal Commitment
Table 6-4

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 Slide
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Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Equity Theory
 Equity theory acknowledges that motivation
doesn’t just depend on your own beliefs and
circumstances but also on what happens to
other people.
Employees create a “mental ledger” of the
outcomes (or rewards) they get from their job
duties.

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 Equity Theory, Cont’d
 You compare your ratio of outcomes and inputs
to the ratio of some comparison other — some
person who seems to provide an intuitive frame
of reference for judging equity.
 “Cognitive calculus”
Ratio of outcomes to inputs is balanced between
you and your comparison other.
My Outcomes vs. Other’s Outcomes
My inputs Other’s Inputs
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 Some Outcomes and Inputs Considered by
Equity Theory
Table 6-5

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 Equity Theory, Cont’d
 “Cognitive calculus,” cont’d
Your ratio of outcomes to inputs is less than your
comparison other’s ratio.
Any imbalance in ratios triggers equity distress —an
internal tension that can only be alleviated by restoring
balance to the ratios.

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Three Possible
Outcomes of
Equity Theory
Comparisons
Figure 6-6

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 Psychological Empowerment
 Psychological empowerment reflects an energy
rooted in the belief that work tasks contribute to
some larger purpose.
 Meaningfulness captures the value of a work goal or
purpose, relative to a person’s own ideals and passions.
 Self-determination reflects a sense of choice in the
initiation and continuation of work tasks.
 Competence captures a person’s belief in his or her
capability to perform work tasks successfully.
 Impact reflects the sense that a person’s actions “make a
difference”—that progress is being made toward fulfilling
some important purpose.

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Why Are Some
Employees
More
Motivated
than Others?
Figure 6-7

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 How Important is Motivation?
 Strongest performance effect is self-efficacy /
competence; people who feel a sense of internal
self-confidence tend to outperform those who doubt
their capabilities.
 Difficult goals are the second most powerful
motivating force.
 The motivational force created by high levels of
valence, instrumentality, and expectancy is the next
most powerful motivational variable for task
performance.
 Perceptions of equity have a somewhat weaker
effect on task performance.
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Effects of Motivation on Performance and
Commitment
Figure 6-8

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