CHAPTER 5 MOTIVATION
Job performance is a given requirement in any organization. It is possible however, if the following
conditions are met:
1. The capacity to perform
2. The opportunity to perform
3. The willingness to perform
The capacity to perform refers to the degree to which the employee possesses skills, abilities,
knowledge and experience relevant to his job. If high performance is expected, the employee must be
fully trained and physically capable of doing the job.
The opportunity to perform will depend on the work environment provided to the employee. On who
works in an office that is hot, humid and noisy cannot be expected to perform well. The opportunity to
perform is also diminished by lack of equipment, lack of funds and insufficient authority.
The willingness to perform relates to the degree in which an employee desires and is willing to exert
effort to achieve the goals assigned to him. The willingness to perform is also alternately called
motivation.
WHAT IS MOTIVATION?
People behave differently and one of the reasons is that they are motivated differently. Some are
motivated by economic reasons, while some are motivated otherwise. But even those motivated by
money will differ in terms of how much they want.
As motivation is one of the requirements of performance, a basic understanding of what
motivation and how it facilitates the achievement of goals would benefit both managers and individual
employees.
Motivation maybe defined as the process of activating behavior, sustaining it, directing it toward a
particular goal. Motivation moves people to act and accomplish.
In the workplace. Motivation may be more specifically defined as the set of internal and external
forces that cause a worker or employee to choose a course of action and engage in certain behavior.
KEY ELEMENTS OF MOTIVATION
1. Intensity
2. Direction
3. Persistence
Intensity refers to the level of effort provided by the employee in the attempt to achieve the goal
assigned to him. In simple terms, intensity refers to how hard a person tries to work. The person’s effort
could be a full commitment to excellence or doing just enough to get by.
Direction refers to what an individual chooses to do when he is confronted with a number of possible
choices.
Persistence is a dimension of motivation which measures how long a person can maintain effort to
achieve the organization’s goal.
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
There are various theories related to motivation. They may be classified as either content or
process theories.
Content theories are those that focus on analyzing the wants and needs of individual. The four better
known theories are the following:
1. Hierarchy of Needs Theory of Abraham Maslow
2. ERG Theory of Clayton Alderfer
3. Acquired Needs Theory of David McClelland
4. Two-factor Theory of Frederick Herzberg
Process theories explain how people act in response to the wants and needs they have classified
under process theories are the following:
1. Expectancy Theory of Victor Vroom
2. Equity Theory of J. Stacey Adams
3. Goal Setting Theory of Edwin A. Locke
The Hierarchy of Needs Theory
Abraham Maslow forwarded the idea that human being possess a hierarchy of five needs
(physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization) such that each need is substantially satisfied
the next need becomes dominant.
The ERG Theory
The ERG Theory is a need hierarchy theory of motivation that was developed by Clayton
Alderfer. He believed that in motivating people we are confronted by three sets of needs: Existence (E),
Relatedness (R) and Growth (G).
Acquired Needs Theory
Acquired needs theory was developed as a result of research made by David McClelland and his
associates. The y found out that managers are motivated by three fundamental needs: Need for
achievement, Need for affiliation and Need for power.
The Two-factor Theory
Frederick Herzberg developed his two-factor theory that identifies job context as a source of job
dissatisfaction and job content as the source of job satisfaction.
The job context or work setting relates more to the environment in which people work. The factors
associated with job context are called hygiene factors which include:
1. Organizational policies
2. Quality of supervision
3. Working conditions
4. Base wage salary
5. Relationship with peers
6. Relationship with subordinates
7. Status
8. Security
According to the two-factor theory, improving any of the hygiene factors will not make people
satisfied with their work, it will only prevent them from being dissatisfied.
The job content relates more to what people actually do in their work. Those that are related to
job content are called motivator factors and they consist of the following:
1. Achievement
2. Recognition
3. Work itself
4. Responsibility
5. Advancement
6. Growth
According to the two-factor theory when the foregoing factors are not present, there is a low job
satisfaction among workers and there is lack of motivation to perform.
Expectancy Theory
One of the process theories refer to the expectancy that was developed by Victor Vroom. This
theory sees people as choosing a course of action according to what they anticipate will give them the
greatest reward.
Vroom elaborated by explaining that motivation is a product of the following factors:
1. Valence – how much one wants a reward
2. Expectancy – one’s estimate of the probability that effort will result in successful performance
3. Instrumentality – one’s estimate that performance will result in receiving the reward
Equity Theory
Equity Theory is the second process theory that can be defined as a theory that individuals
compare job inputs and outcomes with those others and then respond to eliminate inequities.
Equity Theory assumes that employees are motivated by a desire to be equitably treated at work.
Equity exists when employees perceive that the ratios of their inputs (or efforts) to their outputs (or
rewards) are equivalent to the ratios of other employees. Inequity exists when these ratios are not
equivalent.
Goal Setting Theory
The third process theory is goal setting theory which may be defined as the theory that specific
and difficult goals, with feedback lead to higher performance.
Goal setting theory is based on the premise that behavior is regulated by values and goals. A
goal tis the specific target that an individual is trying to achieve.
It was Edwin A. Locke and his associates who developed a comprehensive framework linking
goals to performance. Their findings about goals include the ff:
1. Specific goals lead to higher performance than generalized goals
2. Performance generally increases in direct proportion to goal difficulty.
3. For goals to improve performance, they must be accepted by the workers.
4. Goals are more effective when they are used to evaluate performance.
5. Goals should be linked to feedback.
MOTIVATIONAL METHODS AND PROGRAMS
It is normal for employers to want their employees to do their best in the workplace. For
employers, the ideal situation is for employees to perform excellent work and thus produce maximum
output.
Four motivational methods and programs are considered. They are as follows:
1. Motivation through job design
2. Organizational behavior modification
3. Motivation through recognition and pride
4. Motivation through financial incentives
Motivation through Job Design
One way of motivating employees is to make their job challenging so that the worker who is
responsible for it enjoys doing it. This management activity is called job design, when it is undertaken
some useful benefits will accrue to the organization.
Job design may be defined as the way the elements in a job are organized.
Three concepts are important in designing jobs, they consist of the following:
1. Job enrichment
2. Job characteristics model
3. Job crafting
Job Enrichment
This term refers to the practice of building motivating factors like responsibility, achievement and
recognition into job content. Job enrichment provides the worker with a more exciting job and it increases
his job satisfaction and motivation.
An enriched job has any or all of the flowing characteristics:
1. Direct feedback
2. Client relationship
3. New learning
4. Control over method
5. Control over scheduling
6. Unique experience
7. Direct communication authority
8. Control over resources
9. Personal accountability
Job Characteristics Model
The term refers to the method of job design that focuses on the task and interpersonal demands
of the job. This method emphasizes the interaction between the individual and the specific attributes of
the job.
The job characteristics theory maintains that there are five core job characteristics of special
importance to job design. When these core job characteristics are high, the job is said to be enriched.
1. Skill variety – the degrees to which there are many skills to perform.
2. Task identity – the degree to which one worker is able to do a complete job from beginning to
end, with tangible and possible outcome.
3. Task significance – the degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of
other people.
4. Autonomy – the degree which the job gives the employee substantial freedom, independence,
and discretion in scheduling the work and determining the procedures used in carrying it out.
5. Feedback – the degree to which a job provides direct information about performance.
Job Crafting
This refers to the physical and mental changes workers make in the task or relationship aspect of
their jobs.
The common types of job crafting are:
1. Changing the number and type of job tasks
2. Changing the interaction with others on the job
3. Changing one’s view of the job
Organizational Behavior Modification
The second method of motivation is called organizational behavior modification (OB Mod.) It is
actually the application of reinforcement theory in motivating people at work. Reinforcement theory maybe
briefly defined as the contention that behavior is determined by its consequences.
The typical OB Mod program consists of a five-step problem solving model. These are:
1. Identifying critical behavior that makes a significant impact on the employee’s job performance.
2. Developing baseline data which is obtained by determining the number of times the identified
behavior is occurring under present conditions.
3. Identifying behavioral consequences of performance
4. Developing and implementing an intervention strategy to strengthen desirable performance
behaviors and weaken undesirable behaviors
5. Evaluating performance improvement
Among the benefits of OB Mod are:
1. Improvement of employee productivity
2. Reduction of errors, absenteeism, tardiness and accident rates and
3. Improvement of friendliness toward customers
Motivation through Recognition and Pride
Recognition is a natural human need and it is a strong motivator. To make it an effective motivator,
the following steps are necessary:
1. Identify a meritorious behavior (for example the development of a scheme that reduces the cost
of providing service to customers)
2. Recognize the behavior with an oral, written or material reward.
For better understanding and implementation of reward and recognition programs the following points
must be considered:
1. Feedback is an essential part of recognition.
2. Praise is one of the most powerful forms of recognition
3. Reward and recognition programs should be limited to organizational goals
4. Identification of the type of rewards and recognition that the workers will value
5. It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the reward and recognition program.
Pride is also a motivator, but one that is intrinsic.
Motivation through Financial Incentives
Financial incentives are powerful tools of motivation. They are monetary rewards paid to
employees because of the output they produce, skills, knowledge, and competencies or a combination of
these factors.
Financial incentives take the form of any or a combination of the following:
1. Time rate
2. Payment by results
3. Performance and profit related pay
4. Skill/competency-based pay
5. Cafeteria or flexible benefits system
Time Rates
The type of monetary reward used the number of hours worked as a means of determining
rewards. It may be classified as hourly rate, or weekly wage, or monthly salary.
Payment by Results
This scheme links pays to the quantity of the individual’s output. An example is the commission
paid to a salesman for selling the company’s product.
Performance Related pay
This scheme considers results or output plus actual behavior in the job. Most often, rewards
consist of lump sum, or a bonus as percentage of basic salary, with quality of performance determining
the magnitude of the percentage increase, or alternatively accelerated movement up a pay scale. The
bonus is a reward given to employees for recent performance rather than historical performance.
Profit Related Pay
This is an organization wide scheme where pay is linked to company profits. Profit related pay
takes the form of direct cash outlay or allocation of stock options. Stock option is a financial incentive that
gives the employees the right to purchase a certain number of company shares at a specified price,
generally the market price of the stock on the day the option is granted.
Skill Based Pay
Also known as competency based or knowledge-based pay, this is a pay plan that sets pay levels
on the basis of how many skills employees have or how many jobs they can do.
Cafeteria or Flexible Benefit System
A benefit plan that allows each employee to put together a benefit package individually tailored to
his or her own needs and situation.