HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Motivation

“Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it”
D. Dwight
→ helping people see the connection between effort & reward

What about you?
List five criteria
(pay, recognition, challenging work, friendships, status, the opportunity to do new things, the opportunity to travel, etc.)
that would be most important to you in a job. Rank them by order of importance.

Motivation = Core concept in psychology, including that of nonhuman animals (vs. economics – incentive is motivation)
Motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity, and persistence of human behavior.

Extrinsic motivation = a certain behavior is performed with the purpose of obtaining external rewards.
Intrinsic motivation = a certain behavior is performed for its own sake.
* Intrinsic motivation ≠ Tasks that intrinsically motivate

Work Motivation = Psychological processes that direct, energize, and maintain action towards a job, goal, task, role, or project
Important in the workplace?
Determinants of Individual Performance:
Ability—the capability to do the job
Motivation—the desire to do the job
Opportunity—the resources needed and the possibility of doing the job

Content perspectives
Focus on needs and deficiencies of individuals
Approaches to motivation that try to answer the question, “What factors in the workplace motivate people?”
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
McClelland’s Achievement, Power, and Affiliation Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
Source: Adapted from Abraham H. Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Psychology Review, 1943, Vol. 50, pp. 370-396.

Weaknesses of Maslow’s theory
Five levels of need are not always present.
Ordering or importance of needs is not always the same.
Cultural differences.

The Two-Factor Theory (Herzberg)
People’s satisfaction and dissatisfaction are influenced by two independent sets of factors -motivation factors and hygiene factors.
Theory assumes that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are on two distinct continuums:
Motivational factors (work content) are on a continuum that ranges from satisfaction to no satisfaction.
Hygiene factors (work environment) are on a separate continuum that ranges from dissatisfaction to no dissatisfaction.

Criticisms of the Two-Factor Theory
Interview findings are subject to different explanations.
Sample population was not representative.
Subsequent research has not upheld theory.

Individual Human Needs (McClelland)
The need for achievement
The desire to accomplish a goal or task more effectively than in the past.
The need for affiliation
The desire for human companionship and acceptance.
The need for power
The desire to be influential in a group and to be in control of one’s environment.

Expectancy Theory

The expectancy model of motivation

The expectancy model of motivation

Goal-Setting Theory
Assumptions
Behavior is a result of conscious goals and intentions.
Setting goals influences the behavior of people in organizations.
Q: What is a goal?

Specific
and
Difficult
Goals,
With Feedback
lead to higher performance then “do your best”

Why?
Expectancy theory would state the opposite: difficult goals, lower expectancy
Difficulty: why not attainable goals rather than difficult?

Because… difficult goals enhance
Focus (ward off distractions)
Effort (energizing to meet challenge)
Persistence (not necessarily time spent)
Discovery of strategies
Task interest, discovering pleasurable aspects of an activity
Self-efficacy

Moderators of goal setting – performance relation
Commitment
Feedback
Task complexity

Moderator 1:
Commitment
determined by importance and self-efficacy goal
Note.
Expectancy theory:
importance = valence,
self-efficacy = expectancy

Moderator 2: Feedback
Feedback “revealing progress in relation to goal”
May lead to adapting goal, increasing effort, or coming up with new strategies
Feedback vs. feedforward control:
Discrepancy reduction vs. discrepancy production

Moderator 3: Task Complexity
The more complex a task, the more variation in solutions. Performance dependent on ability to find appropriate strategies
Instead of performance goal:
Proximal goal: setting subgoals
Learning goal: incremental rather than fixed idea of capability
Creativity goal: output should be novel and appropriate.

Practical applications of goal setting
Management by objectives
Productivity enhancement
Performance appraisal
In selection interview
Personal development plan

High performance cycle

Self-determination theory
Intrinsic – a desire to act based on interest and enjoyment of the work itself - vs. extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic associated with higher performance, persistence, productivity

“For the sake of doing it”
Autonomy—need to determine, control, and organize one’s own behavior and goals
Competence—need to effectively learn and master challenging tasks
Relatedness—need to feel attached to others
Note. Where is fun and enjoyment?

Intrinsic and extrinsic motives
Intrinsic: just because
Integrated: because I am like this
Identified: because there is a good reason (utility)
Introjected: internal reward (I’m ok) and punishment (guilt)
External: reward and punishment
2
3
4
1

At work
Internalize extrinsic goals
More motivating when autonomy, competence, relatedness not threatened (controlling vs. supporting)

Self-determination theory, still controversial?
Is distinction intrinsic / extrinsic useful? (individual differences, p. 18 Grant & Shin)
When does extrinsic detract from intrinsic? (crowding out)

Feedback intervention theory
Feedback intervention:
“Actions taken by (an) external agent(s) to provide information regarding some aspect(s) of one’s task performance” (p.255)
Cf. 360 degree feedback in organizations

“Feedback does not uniformly improve performance”
Based upon inconsistent effects of feedback in previous studies, variability quantified.
Five propositions examined in preliminary test

Variability in effect size
K = 607

Proposed mechanisms
Behavior regulated by comparison feedback to goals (control theory)
Goals are organized hierarchically
Attention is limited; only gaps receive attention
Attention normally at moderate level of hierarchy
FIs change level of attention to affect behavior

Goal setting and control theory

Four strategies to eliminate negative feedback-goal gap
Increase effort (motivation)
Abandon goal (giving up, learned helplessness)
Change goal
Reject feedback message

Discrepancy reduction idea is too simple
What about:
Multiple standards used?
Detrimental effects of any feedback on learning?
Affect induced by FI (arousal, pleasantness), does it affect performance?

Hierarchy of goals
Meta task processes: self
Task motivation processes: focal task
Task learning processes: task details
Higher levels control lower processes

Attention
Only loops that receive attention are acted on
Normally at moderate level of hierarchy
FI attracts attention

Meta task processes

Update on tasks (Van Dijk & Kluger, 2010)
Positive feedback on promotion task: positive effect on performance
(tasks requiring creativity-approach)
Positive feedback on prevention task: negative effect on performance
(tasks requiring vigilance and attention to detail)

Feedback intervention summary
People seek feedback, but do not always use it to improve performance
Instead they assess progress of goals of the self, which may even deteriorate performance
FI most useful when:
Familiar task, cues that contain learning, attracting attention at task level, no cues on meta-task level