MGC1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Expectancy Theory, Group Dynamics, Operant Conditioning
26 May 2018
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MGC1010 Week 7 - The Carrot or the Stick?
Motivating Staff
Motivation and Management
●Motivation is integral to the functions of management
●Productivity (high levels of performance effectiveness and efficiency) is often the
measure of organisational success
●Managers are largely responsible in ensuring its achievement
○Must create productive environments where staff are willing to work and stay
motivated
Motivation
●What makes some people work hard while others do as little as possible?
●How can I, as a manager, influence the performance of people who work for me?
●Why do people leave, show up late for work, and miss work entirely?
Four Drives that Underlie Motivation (Nohria et al., 2008)
1. Drive to acquire
a. Acquiring scarce goods bolster our sense of well-being
b. Can be physical good (food, houses, cars etc) and experiences (promotion,
travel, corner office etc)
c. Social comparison drives us to acquire more things
2. Drive to bond
a. Naturally we have a tendency to want to bond with parents, kinship groups or
tribe
b. In organisations -> feeling that they belong to the organisations often leads to
boost in levels of motivation
c. Where work feels comfortable and like home
d. These types of people could be awkward or uncomfortable around new people
3. Drive to comprehend
a. We want to make sense of the world around us
b. In the workplace, manifested in the desire to make a meaningful contribution
c. Employees are motivated by challenging jobs which enable them to grow and
learn
4. Drive to defend
a. Rooted in the fight or flight response against external threats
b. In organisations, often manifested in resistance towards change
●Each are independant and cannot be arranged hierarchically
● To fully motivate your staff all four drives must be addressed to varying degrees
depending on your personnel
Performance Equation
What is Motivation
●Motivation: forces within the individual that account for the level, direction and
persistence of effort expended at work
●A highly motivated workforce is indispensable to the achievement of sustained
high-performance results
●A reward is a work outcome of positive value to the individual
○Extrinsic rewards are externally administered. They are valued outcomes
given to someone by another person
■Eg: pay, special assignments, promotions etc
○Intrinsic rewards are self-administered. They are internal drives that motivates
individuals to excel.
■Eg: the feelings of competency, personal development and self-control
people experience in their work etc
●Needs/values/expectations etc must be recognised by managers to adequately
motivate their staff
Antecedents of Motivation
●Individual Characteristics
○Internal or ‘push’ forces of motivation
■Consisting of needs
■Eg: security, achievement, attitudes and goals
●Social Characteristics
○How we are socialised into work or a particular organisation
○Supervisor, work group dynamics
○Desire to be part of an ‘in-group’
○Cultural role of work
●Job Characteristics
○External or ‘pull’ forces of motivation
■Includes level of feedback, workload, task variety, and level of
autonomy
■Eg: Some people like feeling like their time is in their control -
autonomy
●Work Situation Characteristics
○The immediate social environment
■Social needs needed to be motivated
○Organisational actions
■Eg: removing public holidays can be demoralising
○Reward and compensation systems
Explaining Motivation
●Content theories help us to understand human needs
○Needs: unfulfilled physiological or psychological desires of an individual
■All people have needs
and engage in behaviours to obtain extrinsic and
intrinsic rewards to satisfy these needs
■Needs
cause tensions that influence attitudes and behaviours
Document Summary
Motivation is integral to the functions of management. Productivity (high levels of performance effectiveness and efficiency) is often the measure of organisational success. Managers are largely responsible in ensuring its achievement. Must create productive environments where staff are willing to work and stay motivated. In organisations, often manifested in resistance towards change. Each are independant and cannot be arranged hierarchically. To fully motivate your staff all four drives must be addressed to varying degrees depending on your personnel. What is motivation persistence of effort expended at work. Motivation : forces within the individual that account for the level, direction and. A highly motivated workforce is indispensable to the achievement of sustained. A reward is a work outcome of positive value to the individual. They are valued outcomes high-performance results given to someone by another person. They are internal drives that motivates individuals to excel. Eg: the feelings of competency, personal development and self-control people experience in their work etc.
