MGT 201 : CHAPTER 07

Motivation Concept
Motivation
• motivation as the processes that account for an
individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort
toward attaining a goal.

•Three key elements:

• Intensity – how hard a person tries
• Direction – effort that is channeled toward, and consistent with,
organizational goals
• Persistence – how long a person can maintain effort
Early theory of Motivation
These early theories may not be valid, but they do form the basis for
contemporary theories and are still used by practicing managers.

1.Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

2.McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
3.Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
4.McClelland’s Theory of Needs
Early Theories of Motivation
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
• Needs were categorized as five levels of lower- to higher-order
needs.

• Individuals must satisfy lower-order needs before they can satisfy higher
order needs.

• Motivating a person depends on knowing at what level that person is on

the hierarchy.
Hierarchy of Needs Theory
• The best-known theory of motivation is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs . Maslow hypothesized that within every human being, there exists a
hierarchy of five needs:
• 1. Physiological: Includes hunger, thirst, shelter, and other bodily needs.
• 2. Safety: Security and protection from physical and emotional harm.
• 3. Social: Affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.
• 4. Esteem: Internal factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement,
and external factors such as status, recognition, and attention.
• 5. Self-actualization: Drive to become what we are capable of becoming;
includes growth, achieving our potential, and self-fulfillment.
Exhibit 16–1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
The Hierarchy of Needs is as follows in terms of
organization :
• 1. Physiological Needs (basic issues of survival such as salary and stable
employment)

• 2. Security Needs (stable physical and emotional environment issues such as

benefits, pension, safe work environment, and fair work practices)

• 3. "Belongingness" Needs (social acceptance issues such as friendship or

cooperation on the job)

• 4. Esteem Needs (positive self-image and respect and recognition issues such
as job titles, nice work spaces, and prestigious job assignments.)

• 5. Self-Actualization Needs (achievement issues such as workplace autonomy,

challenging work, and subject matter expert status on the job)
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor is best known for proposing two assumptions about
human nature: Theory X and Theory Y.

Theory X
• is a negative view of people
• that assumes workers have little ambition, dislike work, want to avoid
responsibility,
• and need to be closely controlled to work effectively.
• Applicable for Garments industry, military institute

Theory Y is a positive view that

• assumes employees enjoy work, seek out and accept responsibility, and
exercise self direction.
• Applicable for companies like : Advertisement agency, promotes creativity.
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2. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

• Two distinct views of human beings: Theory X (basically
negative) and Theory Y (positive).
• Managers used a set of assumptions based on their view
• The assumptions molded their behavior toward employees

Theory X Theory Y
• Workers have little • Workers are self-
ambition directed
• Dislike work • Enjoy work
• Avoid responsibility • Accept responsibility

• No empirical evidence to support this theory.

Herzberg’s Motivation Theory – Two Factor
Theory
• Herzberg’s Motivation Theory model, or Two Factor
Theory, argues that there are two factors that an
organization can adjust to influence motivation in the
workplace.
• These factors are:
Motivators:
1. Which can directly encourage employees to work harder.
2. Known as intrinsic factor .
3. They are found within the actual job itself
• Hygiene factors:
1. These won’t encourage employees to work harder but
they will cause them to become demotivated if they are
not present.
2. Known as extrinsic factor
3. Hygiene factors are not present in the actual job itself but
surround the job.
• According to Herzberg, in order to motivate employees
1. Ensuring hygiene factors are met properly
2. Motivate the employees by using motivators

Both the factors must be met in order to motivate

employees. If any of the factors is missing , employees will
not be motivated .
4 situations as per two factor theory
• In a general sense, there are four states an organization or
team can find themselves in when it comes to Two Factor
Theory.
• 1. High Hygiene and High Motivation
• This is the ideal situation and the one which every manager
should strive for. Here, all employees are motivated and have
very few grievances.
• 2. High Hygiene and Low Motivation
• In this situation, employees have few grievances but they are
not highly motivated. An example of this situation is where
pay and working conditions are competitive but the work isn’t
very interesting. Employees are simply there to collect their
salary.
• 3. Low Hygiene and High Motivation
• In this situation, employees are highly motivated but they
have a lot of grievances. A typical example of this situation
is where the work is exciting and really interesting but the
pay and conditions are behind competitors in the same
industry.
• 4. Low Hygiene and Low Motivation
• This is obviously a bad situation for an organization or
team to find itself in. Here, employees aren’t motivated
and the hygiene factors are not up to scratch.
Limitations of the Theory

• The theory only applies to white collar workers.

• It doesn’t take an individuals situation or perception into
consideration
• The theory focuses on improving employee satisfaction.
That doesn’t necessarily translate into increased
productivity.
• There is no objective way to measure employee
satisfaction within the theory
Need Theory of Motivation (McClelland)

• Three Needs Theory was developed by David McClelland

in his 1961 book, The Achieving Society. The three needs
that he identified were a need for achievement, a need
for affiliation, and a need for power.

• McClelland’s Need Theory of Motivation (Three Needs

Theory) provides a way for managers to determine the
factors motivating each of their team members. Managers
and team leaders can use this information to interact with
each team member in ways most likely to motivate them.
• while some people may desire power, not everyone wants
to be powerful at all costs. Similarly, while some people
avoid the spotlight at all costs, most people enjoy a little
praise. Most people don’t exist at the extremes of each
need. This is represented by the bell curve shape in the
above diagram.
• In a nutshell, each individual will be motivated to a greater
or lesser extent by each of the motivating factors.
1. Need for Achievement

Someone with a need for achievement would:

1. Be motivated by achievement and the opportunity for promotion.
2. Have a strong desire to complete complex tasks, set records, or
do something not done before.
3. Prefer it when results are under their control and based on their
effort rather than external factors.
4. Like to receive regular feedback.
5. Avoid high-risk and low-risk situations. Low-risk situations offer no
sense of achievement, and high-risk situations are too much
outside of their control.
6. Team members with very low achievement needs tend to avoid
situations where they can fail. Conversely, people with too high
an achievement need will want to win at any cost and will want to
receive all of the praise.
2. Need for Affiliation

1. Be motivated by achieving and retaining acceptance as

part of a group. They like to be liked.
2. Follow the social norms of an organization for fear of
rejection.
3. Enjoy collaboration but dislike competitive situations.
4. Avoid high-risk and low-risk situations.
5. Team members with very low affiliation needs tend to be
loners, often introverts, with little desire to socialize at
work. Conversely, people with too high an affiliation
need will demand blind loyalty, and be intolerant of any
disagreement.
3. Need for Power

1. Want to be in charge of others.

2. Enjoy winning and competition.
3. Place a high-value on discipline.
4. Enjoy having status and motivating others.
5. Team members with very low power needs tend to be
subordinate and dependent. Conversely, people with
very high power needs can be rude, exaggerate their
own abilities, and want to control everything.
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Contemporary Theories of Motivation

1. Self-Determination Theory
2. Goal-Setting Theory
– Management by Objectives (MBO)
• Self-Efficacy Theory
– Also known as Social Cognitive Theory or Social Learning
Theory
1. Reinforcement Theory
2. Equity Theory
3. Expectancy Theory
Goal-Setting Theory

• In the late 1960s, Edwin Locke proposed that intentions to work

toward a goal are a major source of work motivation.
• when you set specific and challenging goals, and receive regular
feedback on your progress, then your productivity and motivation will
increase.
• That is, goals tell an employee what needs to be done and how much
effort is needed.
• Evidence strongly suggests that specific goals increase performance;
• difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than do
easy goals
• As well as showing the types of goals that can increase motivation,
their research also showed how not to set goals. They found that
setting unspecific and vague goals failed to increase motivation.
• But why are people motivated by difficult goals?
• First, challenging goals get our attention and thus tend to help us
focus.
• Second, difficult goals energize us because we have to work harder
to attain them.
• Third, when goals are difficult, people persist in trying to attain them
• Finally, difficult goals lead us to discover strategies that help us
perform the job or task more effectively
• People do better when they get feedback on how well they are
progressing toward their goals, because it helps identify
discrepancies between what they have done and what they want to
do—that is, feedback guides behavior

• In addition to feedback, three other factors influence the goals–

performance relationship: goal commitment, task characteristics, and
national culture.
Implementing Goal-Setting
1. A more systematic way to utilize goal-setting is with management
by objectives (MBO) , which emphasizes participative goal
setting that are
2. tangible, verifiable, and measurable.
3. Corporate goals are broken down into smaller, more specific goals
at each level of organization.
4. Four common ingredients to MBO programs:
• Goal specificity
• Participative decision making
• Explicit time period
• Performance feedback
Reinforcement Theory
• Reinforcement theory , takes a behavioristic view,
• reinforcement strengthens a behavior and increases the
likelihood it will be repeated
• B. F. Skinner, argued that creating pleasing
consequences to follow specific forms of behavior that
would increase the frequency of that behavior.
• that behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is less
likely to be repeated
social-learningtheory

• we can learn through both observation and direct experience and it is called social-learning
theory
• Models are central to the social-learning viewpoint. Four processes determine their influence on an
individual:

• 1. Attentional processes. People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention
to its critical features. We tend to be most influenced by models that are attractive, repeatedly
available, important to us, or similar to us in our estimation.

• 2. Retention processes. A model’s influence depends on how well the individual remembers the
model’s action after the model is no longer readily available.

• 3. Motor reproduction processes. After a person has seen a new behavior by observing the
model, watching must be converted to doing. This process demonstrates that the individual can
perform the modeled activities.

• 4. Reinforcement processes. Individuals are motivated to exhibit the modeled behavior if positive
incentives or rewards are provided. Positively reinforced behaviors are given more attention,
learned better, and performed more often.
Equity Theory 

• Adam’s Equity Theory, also known as the Equity Theory of

Motivation, was developed in 1963 by John Stacey Adams,
a workplace behavioral psychologist.
• Equity Theory is based on the idea that individuals are
motivated by fairness.
• In simple terms, equity theory states that if an individual
identifies an inequity between themselves and a peer, they
will adjust the work they do to make the situation fair in their
eyes.
• As an example of equity theory, if an employee learns that a
peer doing exactly the same job as them is earning more
money, then they may choose to do less work, thus creating
fairness in their eyes.
• To understand Adam’s Equity Theory in full, we need to
first define inputs and outputs. Inputs are defined as those
things that an individual does in order to receive an
output. They are the contribution the individual makes to
the organization.
• Equity is defined as an individual’s outputs divided by that
same person’s inputs
• Adam’s Equity Theory goes a step further and states that
individuals don’t just understand equity in isolation,
instead they look around and compare themselves to
others. If they perceive an inequity then they will adjust
their inputs to restore balance.
• Individuals will always adjust their inputs so that the
equation is always in balance.
• So, if an individual believes their outputs are lower than
their inputs relative to others around them they will
become demotivated.
• Likewise, an individual may need to increase their inputs if
their outputs are greater than those doing exactly the
same job. Essentially, an individual within an organization
will always try to keep fairness (equity) in balance
How We Compare: Referent Groups

• A referent group is simply a collection of people a person

uses for the purposes of comparison. For Adam’s Equity
Theory of Motivation, there are four referent groups
people compare themselves with:
• Self-inside: the individual’s experience within their
current organization.
• Self-outside: the individual’s experience with other
organizations.
• Others-inside: others within the individual’s current
organization.
• Others-outside: others outside of the individual
organization.
• For example, if a programmer compares what they earn
to other programmers within the same organization then
the referent group is the others-inside.
• If they compare themselves to programmers they know
socially then the referent group is others-outside.
• If they were to compare themselves to what they earn in
their previous job then the referent group is self-outside.
 Based on equity theory, employees who perceive
inequity will make one of six choices

• 1. Change inputs (exert less effort if underpaid or more if

overpaid).
• 2. Change outcomes (individuals paid on a piece-rate basis can
increase their pay by producing a higher quantity of units of lower
quality).
• 3. Distort perceptions of self (“I used to think I worked at a
moderate pace, but now I realize I work a lot harder than
everyone else.”).
• 4. Distort perceptions of others (“Mike’s job isn’t as desirable as I
thought.”).
• 5. Choose a different referent (“I may not make as much as my
brother-in-law, but I’m doing a lot better than my Dad did when he
was my age.”).
• 6. Leave the field (quit the job).
Expectancy Theory
• Why do you attend every class of mgt 201?
• WHY???
• Expectancy Theory of Motivation was developed by Victor
H. Vroom in 1964 and extended by Porter and Lawler in
1968.
• Expectancy Theory basically states that a person behaves
the way they do because they are motivated to select that
behavior because they expect this specific behavior will
bring some positive result

• Expectancy theory argues that the strength of our

tendency to act a certain way depends on the strength of
our expectation of a given outcome and its attractiveness.
•
• According to Expectancy Theory, the behavior we choose
will always be the one that maximizes our pleasure and
minimizes our pain.
• employees will be motivated to exert a high level of effort
when they believe it will lead to a good performance
appraisal; that a good appraisal will lead to organizational
rewards such as bonuses, salary increases, or
promotions; and that the rewards will satisfy the
employees’ personal goals.

• The theory, therefore, focuses on three relationships

• 1. Effort–performance relationship. The probability
perceived by the individual that exerting a given amount of
effort will lead to performance.
• 2. Performance–reward relationship. The degree to
which the individual believes performing at a particular
level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome.
• 3. Rewards–personal goals relationship. The degree to
which organizational rewards satisfy an individual’s
personal goals or needs and the attractiveness of those
potential rewards for the individual
Example
• Think on your own!
Examples of conceptual questions
• You’ve been in your position as manager of a small team
for some time. The team does good work and performs
well, but you want to boost their performance further.

• You’re the new manager of a small team with a history of

underachievement. You’re looking to get to the root cause
of this underperformance and start the team off in the right
direction under your management.