Motivation

MAN201: Organizational Behaviour Class 7

 Motivation

 Motivation = (Intensity + Direction + Persistence) → Goal attainment

Intensity = the concentration and application of effort
Direction = where or for what purpose the effort is being concentrated
and applied
Persistence = how long the concentration and application of effort
occurs for, and how much resolve is shown when goal attainment
proves difficult
 The particular goal to be attained depends on the values, objectives, and
desired outcomes of the particular organization.
 Whether and how the particular goal is attained also consequently affects
subsequent motivation; creating a feedback loop.
 Classical Theories of Motivation
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Our actions are motivated by certain
physiological requirements; represented by a pyramid of needs, with the
most basic needs at the bottom and more complex needs at the top.
 Theory X + Theory Y: People dislike work and must be coerced,
controlled, and directed toward organizational goals (Theory X) or has
intrinsic interest in work and desire to seek responsibility (Theory Y).
 Two-Factor Theory: There are certain factors in the workplace that
cause job satisfaction while a separate, independent set of factors cause
job dissatisfaction.
 McLelland’s Theory of Needs: Every person has one of three main
driving motivators: the needs for achievement, affiliation, or power, and
we develop each through our culture and life experiences.
 Modern Theories of Motivation
 Job Engagement Theory: By challenging, supporting, and inspiring employees,
organizations increase the satisfaction and maximize the output of their staff.
 Goal-Setting Theory: Specific and challenging goals along with appropriate
feedback contribute to higher and better task performance.
 Self-Efficacy Theory: A person's particular set of beliefs about themselves
determines how well one can execute a plan of action in particular situations.
 Reinforcement Theory: Behaviour is driven by its consequences: positive
behaviors should be rewarded positively, while negative behaviors should not be
rewarded or should be punished.
 Equity/Organizational Justice Theory: Employees are motivated by whether
they perceive workplace procedures, interactions and outcomes to be fair.
 Expectancy Theory: Employees will behave in particular ways because they are
motivated by what they expect the result of that selected behaviour will be.
 Self-Determination Theory

 People are motivated to develop as professionals and positive change

their behaviours due to the fulfilment of three innate and universal
psychological needs: Competence; connection; and autonomy.
 Two primary assumptions of SDT = (1) People are actively directed
toward growth, and mastering challenges and having new experiences
help to develop that growth (2) Autonomy and acquiring knowledge and
experience are bigger motivators than monetary rewards.
 SDT has a large and growing evidence base to support its connection to
increased employee engagement; job satisfaction; positive workplace
relationships; employee productivity, and organizational profitability.
 Intentional Change Theory
 Any significant aspect of
personal or professional
motivation that produces
sustained results requires
intentionally developing an
aspect of who you are or
who you want to be, or both.
 The change may relate to
you taking on a major new
role, making a big life-career
move or developing
behaviours to enhance your
effectiveness as a leader.
 Designing and Redesigning Jobs For Motivating Potential

 Jobs need to be properly designed if people are going to be motivated by

them (i.e. to make the jobs high in motivating potential).
 Jobs also need to be re-designed over time in order to maintain motivating
potential (people get bored with their jobs and routines)
 In order to maximize motivating potential, jobs need to be designed and
redesigned so that the work is meaningful (high in skill variety; task
identity; or task significance; or some combination of these qualities),
autonomous (high in personal freedom and independent initiative); and
feedback-intensive (the worker receives clear and direct insights about
the quality and standard of their work).
 Approaches such as job rotation and enrichment can help to ensure that
these job characteristics are refreshed over time.
 Extrinsic Motivators
 Extrinsic motivators such as monetary rewards and remuneration remain
important motivators in the workforce (e.g. for personal/family security).
 Both what people are paid (in terms of internal vs external equity) and
how they are paid (e.g. merit-based pay; bonuses; profit-sharing)
influence how extrinsically motivated people are.
 However, as behaviour becomes increasingly controlled by external
rewards, people begin to feel less in control of their own behaviour and
overall motivation can be diminished.
 The best way to think about it is that extrinsic motivators such as money
are necessary but not sufficient to properly motivate people.
 Gen-Z in particular are not singularly motivated by extrinsic motivators.
 Intrinsic Motivators
 Theories such as Self-Determination Theory and Intentional Change
Theory have increasingly shown that intrinsic motivators (e.g. the
opportunity to learn on the job; finding purpose and passion in work;
forming bonds with co-workers; acquiring experience and experiences)
are a bigger cause of overall motivation than extrinsic motivators.
 This is especially true in the modern workforce. Most people these days
simply aren’t motivated by money alone, and people’s motivation levels
don’t increase simultaneously with increases in how much they are paid.
 This is why designing and redesigning jobs to increase and maintain
motivating potential is contingent on qualities such as job
meaningfulness, autonomy, and feedback – not remuneration.
 Modern Workforce Motivation:
Flexible Working Arrangements

 COVID-19 has revealed the degree to which people increasingly prefer

flexible working arrangements in their jobs (although this phenomenon
was already underway prior to the onset of COVID-19).
 The ability to work from home (and often the preference for working from
home) has been a significant paradigm shift in the area of motivation.
 For people who can do the exact same job from home, the motivation for
commuting to the office each day has been rendered questionable.
 Similarly, organizations that insist on a “9AM-5PM” work day are now
proving less successful than more flexible organizations that allow their
employees to set their own hours (provided the same amount and quality
of work still gets done).
 Goal Setting For Action
 In groups, goals are particularly important from a motivational perspective
because they help people to coordinate action in a shared direction, and to
initiate and sustain effort even when a particular task or project is difficult.
 20-30 years ago, solving problems of coordination and cooperation
required simple problem solving and goal setting. In the modern
workforce, these problems require a more learning-oriented approach:
experimenting with trying out things to see how they work, and remaining
open to flexibly changing direction based on the feedback received.
 A learning-oriented approach is focused less on what must be achieved
and more on learning how to get to that outcome.
 At the level of the group, this is consistent with the realities of intrinsic
motivators at the level of the individual.