Topic 5:

Foundations of Employee
Motivation

1-1
1. Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory
Self-
actualization
(realize your
full potential)
Five categories placed
in a hierarchy Esteem
(personal achievement,
recognition, and respect)
Belongingness
(the need for love, affection,
and friendship)
Safety
(secure and stable environment,
absence of pain/threat/illness)
Physiological
5-2
(food, air, water, cloths, shelter, etc)
Characteristic’s of Maslow’s Theory

 Lowest unmet need has

Self-
actual- strongest effect
ization

 When lower need is

Esteem satisfied, next higher need
becomes the primary
Belongingness motivator

Safety

Physiological

5-3
Evaluating Maslow’s Theory

 Lack of support for theory

Self-
actual-
ization  People have different
hierarchies – don’t progress
Esteem through needs in the same
order
Belongingness
 Needs change more rapidly
than Maslow stated
Safety

Physiological

5-4
What Maslow Contributed to
Motivation Theory
 More holistic
• Integrative view of needs

 More humanistic
• Influence of social
dynamics, not just instinct
 More positivistic
• Pay attention to strengths,
not just deficiencies

5-5
What’s Wrong with Needs Hierarchy
Models?
 Wrongly assume that
everyone has the same
needs hierarchy (i.e.
universal)
 Instead, likely that each
person has a unique needs
hierarchy
• Shaped by our self-concept --
values and social identity

5-6
2. Learned Needs Theory
(David McClelland)

 Needs are amplified or suppressed through

self-concept, social norms, and past
experience

 Therefore, needs can be “learned” (i.e.

strengthened or weakened through training)

5-7
Three Learned Needs
Need for achievement (nAch)
• Need to reach goals, take responsibility
• Want reasonably challenging goals

Need for affiliation (nAff)

• Desire to seek approval, conform to others wishes,
avoid conflict

Need for power (nPow)

• Desire to control one’s environment
• Either Personalized or socialized power

5-8
3. Four-Drive Theory

• Drive to take/keep objects and

Drive to Acquire experiences
• Basis of hierarchy and status

• Drive to form relationships and

Drive to Bond social commitments
• Basis of social identity

• Drive to satisfy curiosity and

Drive to Learn resolve conflicting information

• Need to protect ourselves

Drive to Defend • Reactive (not proactive) drive
• Basis of fight or flight

5-9
Features of Four Drives

Innate and hardwired

• everyone has them

Independent of each other

• no hierarchy of drives

Complete set
• no drives are excluded from the model

5-10
How Four Drives Affect Motivation

1. Four drives determine which emotions are

automatically tagged to incoming information

2. Drives generate independent and often

competing emotions that demand our
attention

3. Mental skill set relies on social norms,

personal values, and experience to
transform drive-based emotions into goal-
directed choice and effort
5-11
Four Drive Theory of Motivation

Drive to Social Personal Past

Acquire norms values experience

Drive to
Bond
Mental
Mental skill
skill set
set resolves
resolves Goal-directed
Goal-directed
competing drive demands
competing drive demands choice
choice and
and effort
effort
Drive to
Learn

Drive to
Defend

Social norms, personal values, and

experience transform drive-based emotions
into goal-directed choice and effort

5-12
Implications of Four Drive Theory

Provide a balanced opportunity for employees

to fulfil all four drives
• employees continually seek fulfilment of drives
• avoid having conditions support one drive more
than others

5-13
4. Expectancy Theory of Motivation

E-to-P probability P-to-O probability

(0%-100%) (0%-100%)

Effort Performance Outcome

(+ valance) or (- valence)

5-14
Strategies to increase employee
motivation (using Expectancy
Theory)
1. Increase E-to-P Expectancies
• Assuring employees they have competencies
• Person-job matching
• Provide role clarification and sufficient resources
• Behavioral modeling

2. Increase P-to-O Expectancies

• Measure performance accurately
• More rewards for good performance
• Explain how rewards are linked to performance

5-15
3. Increase Outcome Valences
 Ensure that rewards are valued
 Individualize rewards

5-16
5. Goal Setting

The process of motivating

employees and clarifying their role
perceptions by establishing
performance objectives

5-17
Six Characteristics of Effective goals
Specific – measureable, as
opposed to being vague
Relevant – within employee’s
control and responsibilities
Challenging – raise level of effort
Commitment – employees are
committed to accomplish goals
Participative– employees
participate in setting goals
Feedback – information available
about progress toward goal

5-18
Evaluating Goal Setting and
Feedback
 Goal setting has high validity and
usefulness
 Goal setting/feedback limitations:
• Focuses employees on measurable
performance
• Motivates employees to set easy
goals (when tied to pay)
• Goal setting interferes with learning
process in new, complex jobs

5-19
Organizational Justice

Distributive justice
• Perceived fairness in
outcomes we receive relative
to our contributions vs the
outcomes and contributions of
others

Procedural justice
• Perceived fairness of the
procedures used to decide the
distribution of resources

5-20
Procedural Justice

 Perceived fairness of procedures used to

decide the distribution of resources
 Higher procedural fairness with:
• Employee Voice
• Unbiased decision maker
• Decision based on all information
• Existing policies consistent
• Decision maker listened to all sides
• Those who complain are treated respectfully
• Those who complain are given full explanation

5-21
Organizational Justice Components

Distribution
Distributive
Principles
Justice
Perceptions • Emotions

• Attitudes
Structural
Rules
Procedural • Behaviors
Justice
Perceptions
Social
Rules

5-22
6. Equity Theory
YOU: OTHER PERSON:
Input vs Input
Outcomes Outcomes

Outcome/input ratio
• inputs -- what employee contributes (e.g., skill)
• outcomes -- what employee receives (e.g., pay)

Comparison other
• person/people against whom we compare our ratio 5-23
Correcting Inequity Feelings
(if employee feels it is unfair, they will be MOTIVATED to perform any of the 7 actions

below)

7 Actions to correct inequity Example

Change (reduce) our inputs Less organizational citizenship

Change (increase) our outcomes Ask for pay increase

Change (increase) other’s inputs Ask coworker to work harder

Ask boss to stop giving other preferred

Change (reduce) other’s outputs
treatment
Start thinking that other’s perks aren’t really
Change our perceptions
so valuable
Compare self to someone closer to your
Change comparison other
situation

Leave the field Quit job

5-24
Equity Sensitivity

 Outcome/input preferences and reaction to

various outcome/input ratios
 Benevolents
• tolerant of being underrewarded
 Equity Sensitives
• want ratio to be equal to the comparison other
 Entitleds
• prefer proportionately more than others

5-25
Evaluating Equity Theory

 Good at predicting situations unfair

distribution of pay/rewards
 Difficult to put into practice
• doesn’t identify comparison other
• doesn’t indicate relevant inputs or outcomes

 Equity theory explains only some feelings of

fairness
• procedural justice is as important as distributive
justice

5-26