Job Design: Motivation

HRM 1011
Linda Wang
 Class Agenda
 Job Design and Motivation
 Motivation Defined
 Theories of Motivation
 Content Theories
 Process Theories

2
Organizing Model
Leadership Job Design:
Motivation

Employee
Relations Job Design:
Groups and Teams
Job Satisfaction

Compensation Planning and

Recruitment

Managing Selection
Performance Training
Job Design
 Job design (and job redesign) focuses
on jobs that are either being created or
changed in some manner
 The process of defining how work will be
performed and what tasks will be required
in a given job
 Job Design and Motivation
 Why make jobs as motivating as possible?
 Human resources are easier to manage if jobs
are designed to be intrinsically enjoyable and
motivating
 This places less pressure on many specific
areas of HRM:
 Performance Management
 Compensation
 Retention
 Motivation
 Who cares?
 Motivation is crucial for organizations
 Organizations have trouble “motivating” their
employees
 A primary job of a manager is to motivate
employees
 Employees are motivated for different
reasons, so it’s important to know all
motivational options
 Motivation Defined
 Motivation is the combined effects on
behavior of three choices:
 Direction - the choice to expend effort (will I
study?)
 Intensity - the choice of the level of effort to
expend (I’ll study really hard)
 Persistence - the choice to persist at that level
(Everyone’s going to the Riv? Study time is
over…)
 What Motivates Employees?
Why?
CONTENT THEORIES
Emphasize the reasons for
motivated behavior;
consider factors that “drive”
behavior
 Need Theory
 Two-Factor Theory
 Job Characteristics Theory
(most common)
How
PROCESS THEORIES
Focus on how behavior
change occurs; how a
person comes to act in
a different way
 Reinforcement Theory
 Expectancy Theory
 Goal-Setting Theory
 Equity Theory
 What Motivates Employees?
CONTENT THEORIES
Emphasize the reasons for
motivated behavior;
consider factors that “drive”
behavior
 Need Theory
 Two-Factor Theory
 Job Characteristics Theory
 Where are you NOW?

Lower-Order Needs Higher-Order Needs

Needs that are satisfied Self Needs that are satisfied
externally; physiological internally; social, esteem,
and safety needs. (External) Esteem and self-actualization
needs. (Internal)

Social

Safety

Physiological
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
© 2007 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.
 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy:
Problems
 What is a “need?”
 Do people only focus on higher-order
needs once lower-order ones are
satisfied?
 There is no evidence that individuals arrange
their “needs” in a specific hierarchy, moving
from one level to the next
 The theory has received virtually no
support
 Hertzberg’s two-factor theory
HYGIENE FACTORS MOTIVATORS
Create dissatisfaction when they Create high satisfaction and
are not present motivation
 Technical supervision  Responsibility
 Interpersonal relationships  Achievement
with peers  Recognition
 Fair salary  Nature of work
 Adequate working  Opportunities for growth
conditions and resources & career development
When these things are missing, When these things are present,
employees become dissatisfied employees are more likely to be
satisfied
If this all fulfill, this is not dissatisfy but not really a
MUST be satisfy.
Herzberg’s Motivation/Hygiene (Two-factor)
High Low

Motivators
Satisfaction No Satisfaction (but not upset)
Hygiene Factors
No Dissatisfaction Dissatisfaction (upset)
(but not motivating)
 Job Characteristics Theory
 Jobs are more intrinsically enjoyable when
work tasks are challenging and fulfilling
 Five “core job characteristics” combine to
make some jobs more rewarding than
others
 Job Characteristics Theory
 Core job characteristics (VISAF)
 Variety - Job has different activities and uses
different skills
 Identity - Job results in whole, identifiable
piece of work
 Significance -Job affects the lives of other
people
 Autonomy - Job holder has freedom and
discretion
 Feedback - The job itself provides feedback
on performance
 Job Characteristics Theory
 These five core characteristics create
three “critical psychological states:”
 Meaningfulness of Work
 Belief that the job has a meaningful outcome
 Responsibility for Work
 Belief that worker controls the job outcome
 Knowledge of Results
 Worker is aware of the job outcome
Job Characteristics Theory
Variety

Meaningfulness
Identity of Work

Intrinsic
Significance
Enjoyment
of Job

Autonomy Responsibility
for Work

Feedback Knowledge
of Results
Job Characteristics Theory
 The core characteristics tend to be
strongly correlated with job satisfaction
 The characteristics even trump other
job factors, including:
 Pay
 Promotion opportunities
 Coworkers
 Supervision
 Job Characteristics Theory and
Job Design
 Job rotation – providing employees with
different tasks or jobs
 Example (assembly line)
 Job enlargement – increasing number of
tasks
 Job enrichment – empowering employees
to make decisions
What Motivates Employees?
PROCESS THEORIES
Focus on how behavior
change occurs; how a
person comes to act in
a different way
 Reinforcement Theory
 Expectancy Theory
 Goal-Setting Theory
 Equity Theory
 Reinforcement Theory
 Key Tenet: Behavior is a function of its
consequences
 To increase frequency of behavior
 Positive Reinforcement
 Desirable consequence follows a behavior
 (Giving an employee a bonus)

 Negative Reinforcement
 Undesirable consequence is removed following a
behavior

(Not scheduling an employee on a weekend for doing a good job)
 Reinforcement Theory

 To decrease frequency of behavior

 Punishment
 Undesirable consequence follows a behavior
 (Yelling at an employee)
 May shape behavior, but creates unwanted
side-effects (retaliation)
 Reinforcement Summary
 + Reinforcement
 GIVE GOOD
 - Reinforcement
 TAKE BAD
 Punishment
 GIVE BAD/TAKE GOOD
 Reinforcement Theory:
Schedules
Continuous Reinforcement
 A response is reinforced each time it occurs
Fixed-Interval Reinforcement Schedule
 Reinforcement after a fixed amount of time
Variable-Interval Reinforcement Schedule
 The period of time between reinforcement varies
Fixed-Ratio Reinforcement Schedule
 A certain number of responses must occur before reward
Variable-Ratio Reinforcement Schedule
 The number of responses necessary for reinforcement
varies
 Reinforcement Theory
 Recommendations for Using Rewards
Effectively
 Link rewards to behavior
 Match the magnitude of the reward to the
magnitude of the behavior
 Reward after performance
 Reward people with what they value
 Expectancy Theory
 Motivation is fostered when an employee
believes three things:
 That effort will result in performance
 This is termed “Expectancy”
 That performance will result in outcomes
 This is termed “Instrumentality”
 That those outcomes will be valuable
 This is termed “Valence”
Expectancy Theory
Expectancy Instrumentality Valence
Expectancy Theory
 Expectancy
 Effort  Performance
 Can be hindered by:
 Low self-confidence (or efficacy)
 Lack of necessary KSAO’s
 K=knowledge, S=skill, A=ability and O=other
characteristics
 Lack of necessary training
 Lack of necessary resources
 Lack of supportive leadership
Expectancy Theory
 Instrumentality
 Performance  Outcomes
 Can be hindered by:
 Poor methods for measuring performance, as
Instrumentality could actually be rewritten to be
Performance -> Evaluation -> Outcomes
 Inadequate budget to provide outcomes, even when
performance is high
 Use of policies that reward things besides
performance, such as attendance or seniority
 Time delays in doling out rewards
Expectancy Theory
 Valence
 Anticipated value of outcomes. Includes:
 Extrinsic outcomes:
 Pay
 Promotions
 Praise
 Better working conditions
 Intrinsic outcomes:
 Task enjoyment
 Personal growth
 Achievement
 Expectancy Theory
 Motivation = (EP) x (PO) x V1
 V2
 V3
 V4
 Motivation is zero if either expectancy,
instrumentality, or valence is zero
 Goal Setting Theory
 Motivation is fostered when employees
are given specific and challenging goals
 Rather than easy goals, abstract goals (“do
your best”), or no goals at all
 Goals work better when employees get
feedback on goal progress
Goal Setting Theory
 Equity Theory
 According to Equity Theory, motivation
and satisfaction are high when an
employee’s ratio of “outcomes” to “inputs”
matches those of some “comparison
other”
 Equity theory thus acknowledges that
motivation also depends on what happens
to other employees
 Equity Theory
 Are these really equal?
 Equity Theory
 Outcomes may include:
 Pay/promotions
 Praise
 Better working conditions
 Inputs may include:
 Job performance/effort
 Seniority
 Training and education
Equity Theory
 How can equity be
restored in the
underreward and
overreward cases?
Equity Theory
 Decrease inputs (lower
motivation) or increase
outcomes (theft)

 High motivation

 Increase inputs (higher

motivation) or distort
input perceptions
 Equity Theory
 Comparison others may be:
 Internal (in the same firm)
 Coworkers, superiors, subordinates, the CEO
 External (in another firm)
 Professional colleagues, friends, neighbors
 Often the most powerful method for
changing equity perceptions is changing
the comparison other
Other Approaches
 Job design can also focus on factors
other than motivation:
 Mechanistic approach
 Biological approach
 Perceptual-motor approach
 Other Job Design Approaches
 Mechanistic Approach
 Process Engineering
 Identifies the sequence of steps needed to fulfill a
job. Seeks to discover which steps could be
performed by machines, or which steps could be
eliminated or combined to make work more
efficient.