Foundations
of employee
motivation
Kamila Ludwikowska
Chapter learning objectives
1. Distinguish between content and process theories.
2. Compare the four content theories of motivation.
3. Discuss the practical implications of content
motivation theories.
4. Explain how each component of expectancy
theory influences work effort.
5. Discuss the implications of expectancy theory.
6. Explain how employees react to inequity.
7. Describe the six characteristics of effective goal
setting.
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Motivation
The process of arousing and sustauning goal-
directed behavior
One of the more complex topics in OB.
Motivation comes from the Latin word „movere”,
which means „to move”
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Why is Motivation Important?
Under optimal conditions, effort can often be
increased and sustained
Delegation without constant supervision is always
necessary
Employees can become self-motivated
Motivated employees can provide competitive
advantage by offering suggestions & working to
satisfy customers
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True or False?
1. If you want to motivate others you have to be
motivated.
2. Motivation needs describing a goal.
3. Unreachable goals demotivate.
4. Common stating goals is motivating.
5. Do not motivate others until you don’t know their
needs.
6. Motivatation enables development.
7. Motivation is not everlasting.
8. Belonging to the group is motivating.
9. Everyone is motivated by something else.
10. Challenge is motivating only if you can win.
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Major Theories Of Motivation
Content theories - explain why people have
different needs at different times
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Alderfer’s ERG Theory
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
McClelland’s Learned Needs Theory
Process theories - describe the processes through
which needs are translated into behaviour
Vroom – expectancy theory
Adams – equity theory
Locke – goal theory
Heider, Kelly – attribution theory
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Maslow's need hierarchy theory
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How to manage peaple at work
McGregor understood peoples’s motivation using
Maslow’s need theory
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McGregor - Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X:
• People are by nature indolent - they work as little as
possible.
People lack ambition, dislike responsibility, and
prefer to be led.
People are inherently self-centered and indifferent
to organizational needs.
People are by nature resistant to change.
People are gultible and not very bright, the ready
dupes of the chartatan and the demagogue.
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Theory X and Theory Y
Theory Y:
People are not by nature passive or resistant to
organizational needs. They have become so as a result
of experience in organizations.
The motivation, the potential for development, the
capacity for assuming responsibility, and the readiness to
direct behavior toward organizational goals are all
present in people. Management does not put them
there. It is a responsibility of management to make it
possible for people to recognize and develop these
human characteristics for themselves.
The essential task of management is to arrange
conditions and methods of operation so that people can
achieve their own goals best by directing their own
efforts toward organizational objectives.
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Alderfer - ERG theory
Needs hierarchy ERG
theory theory
Self- Alderfer’s model has
actualisation three sets of needs
Growth
Esteem Adds frustration-
regression process to
Belongingness Relatedness
Maslow’s model
Safety
Existence
Physiological
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Alderfer - ERG theory
Clayton Alderfer reworked Maslow’s need hierarchy
to align it with the empirical research. His revised
need hierarchy is labeled ERG theory.
Alderfer argues that there are three groups of core
human needs: existence, relatedness, and
growth.
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Alderfer - ERG theory
The existence group
Provides our basic material existence requirements
› They include Maslow’s physiological and safety needs.
Relatedness
The desire we have for maintaining important interpersonal
relationships
These social and status desires require interaction with
others.
› They align with Maslow’s social need and the external component.
Growth needs
An intrinsic desire for personal development
› These include the intrinsic component from Maslow’s esteem
category and the characteristics included under self-actualization.
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Adler – Maslow – differences
In addition to collapsing Maslow’s five into three,
Alderfer’s ERG theory also differs from Maslow’s in
that:
More than one need may be operative at the
same time.
If the gratification of a higher-level need is stifled,
the desire to satisfy a lower-level need increases.
ERG theory does not assume that there exists a
rigid hierarchy. A person can be working on
growth even though existence or relatedness
needs are unsatisfied, or all three need categories
could be operating at the same time.
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Alderfer - ERG theory
ERG theory also contains a frustration-
regression dimension.
Maslow argued that an individual would stay at a
certain need level until that need was satisfied.
ERG argues that multiple needs can be operating
as motivators at the same time.
ERG theory notes that when a higher-order need
level is frustrated; the individual’s desire to
increase a lower-level need takes place.
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Alderfer - ERG theory
ERG theory is more consistent with our knowledge
of individual differences among people.
Variables such as education, family background,
and cultural environment can alter the importance
or driving force that a group of needs holds for a
particular individual.
The evidence demonstrating that people in other
cultures rank the need categories differently
would be consistent with ERG theory.
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Herzberg - The Two Factor Theory
The Two-Factor Theory is sometimes also called
motivation-hygiene theory.
Proposed by psychologist Frederick Herzberg when
he investigated the question, “What do people
want from their jobs?”
He asked people to describe, in detail, situations in
which they felt exceptionally good or bad about
their jobs. These responses were then tabulated
and categorized.
Original study included 200 engineers and
accountants in western Pensylvania during 1950.
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Herzberg - The Two Factor Theory
From the categorized responses, Herzberg concluded:
Intrinsic factors, such as advancement, recognition,
responsibility, and achievement seem to be related
to job satisfaction.
Dissatisfied respondents tended to cite extrinsic
factors, such as supervision, pay, company policies,
and working conditions.
The opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction.
Removing dissatisfying characteristics from a job does
not necessarily make the job satisfying.
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Herzberg - The Two Factor Theory
MF lead to positive mental helath and challange people
to grow, contribute to the work environment, invest
themselves in the organziations. Absence of these
factors doesn’t lead to dissatisfaction, it leads to lack of
satisfaction – motivation role.
When HF are adequate, people will not be dissatisfied;
neither will they be satisfied. Job dissatisfaction occurs
when the HF are either not present or not sufficient.
They cannot stimulate psychological growth or human
development, but may be thought of as maintenance
factors.
To motivate people, emphasize factors intrinsically
rewarding that are associated with the work itself or to
outcomes directly derived from it.
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Herzberg - The Two Factor Theory
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McClelland’s Need Theory
The theory focuses on three needs: achievement,
power, and affiliation.
Need for achievement: The drive to excel, to
achieve in relation to a set of standards, to strive to
succeed
Need for power: The need to make others behave in
a way that they would not have behaved otherwise
Need for affiliation: The desire for friendly and
close interpersonal relationships
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McClelland’s Need Theory
Some people have a compelling drive to succeed.
They are striving for personal achievement rather
than the rewards of success per se. This drive is the
achievement need (nAch).
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McClelland’s Need Theory
High achievers:
differentiate themselves from others by their desire to
do things better
they seek personal responsibility for finding
solutions to problems
they want to receive rapid feedback on their
performance so they can tell easily whether they
are improving or not
they can set moderately challenging goals. High
achievers are not gamblers; they dislike succeeding
by chance
perform best when they perceive their probability of
success as 50-50
they like to set goals that require stretching
themselves a little
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McClelland’s Need Theory
The need for power (nPow) is the desire to have impact,
to be influential, and to control others.
Individuals high in nPow:
strive for influence over others
prefer to be placed into competitive and status-oriented
situations
tend to be more concerned with prestige and gaining
influence over others than with effective performance
Difference:
socialized power (used for the benefit of many) and
personalized power (used for individual gain)
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McClelland’s Need Theory
The third need isolated by McClelland is affiliation
(nAfl).
Individuals high in nAfl:
motive strive for friendship
prefer cooperative situations rather than
competitive ones
desire relationships involving a high degree of
mutual understanding
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Content theories of motivation
Needs hierarchy ERG Motivatorhygiene McClelland’s
theory theory theory learned needs
Self- Need for
actualisation achievement
Growth Motivators
Need for
Esteem
power
Need for
Belongingness Relatedness
affiliation
Safety Hygienes
Existence
Physiological
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Creating a company of entrepreneurs
Companies support entrepreneurship by
clarifying the firm’s purpose and shared values
supporting and reinforcing entrepreneurial
behaviour
creating small businesses within the larger
organisation
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Implications of content theories
Match rewards with employee needs
Offer employees a choice of rewards
people have different needs at different times
Limit use of financial rewards as a source of
motivation
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