How can employee involvement measures motivate employees

2 Discussion - 3 Problem Sets

Chapter 8

Motivation: From Concepts to Applications

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Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

After studying this chapter you should be able to:

Describe how the job characteristics model (JCM) motivates by changing the work environment.

Compare the main ways that jobs can be redesigned.

Explain how specific alternative work arrangements can motivate employees.

Describe how employee involvement measures can motivate employees.

Demonstrate how the different types of variable-pay programs can increase employee motivation.

Show how flexible benefits turn benefits into motivators.

Identify the motivational benefits of employee recognition programs.

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Motivating by Job Design: The Job Characteristics Model

Job characteristics model: jobs are described in terms of five core dimensions:

Skill variety

Task identity

Task significance

Autonomy

Feedback

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The job characteristics model looks at describing any job in terms of five core job dimensions. These job dimensions include skill variety, which is the degree to which the job incorporates a number of different skills and talents. Task identity is another dimension that looks at the degree to which the job requires the completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work. Task significance is included and looks at how the job impacts the lives of others. Autonomy, the fourth dimension, identifies how much freedom and independence workers have over their jobs. And finally, feedback is how much the job generates direct and clear information about the worker’s performance.

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The Job Characteristics Model

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Much evidence supports the JCM concept that the presence of a set of job characteristics—variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback—does generate higher and more satisfying job performance.

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Designing Motivational Jobs

JCM-designed jobs give internal rewards

Individual’s growth needs are moderating factors

Motivating jobs must:

Be autonomous

Provide feedback

Be meaningful

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JCM creates motivational jobs, as they are designed to give internal rewards. Positive outcomes are moderated by individual growth needs, as each individual will respond differently. In order for the jobs to increase motivation, there should be a high degree of autonomy, feedback, and a least one meaningfulness factor such as significance, identity, or variety. Note that because the JCM is relatively individualistic, job enrichment strategies might not have the same effect in collectivistic cultures as they do in individualistic cultures like the United States.

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Redesigning Jobs: Job Rotation

Job Rotation

The periodic shifting of an employee from one task to another

Also called cross-training

Increases job satisfaction and organizational commitment

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There are some helpful ways to redesign a job to increase the motivation of the employees. In job rotation, which is also called cross-training, an organization will shift the employee to different tasks with similar skill requirements but all at the same organizational level.

Research shows that job rotation increases job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, it can decrease the efficiency of decision making, increase training costs, reduce overall productivity, and require more involvement from supervisors.

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Redesigning Jobs: Relational Job Design

Relational Job Design

Designing work so employees are motivated to promote the well-being of the organization’s beneficiaries

Relate stories from customers who have benefited from the company’s products or services

Connect employees directly with beneficiaries

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Contemporary research is focusing on how to make jobs more prosocially motivating to people. In other words, how can managers design work so employees are motivated to promote the well-being of the organization’s beneficiaries – their customers, clients, patients, or employees?

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Using Alternative Work Arrangements to Motivate

Flextime

Some discretion over when worker starts and leaves

Job Sharing

Two or more individuals split a traditional job

Telecommuting

Work remotely at least two days per week

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There are some alternative work arrangements that have been successful in helping increase the motivation of workers. These arrangements give workers more control over their work and thereby can increase their level of motivation. An example of this is flextime. Flextime is short for flexible work hours and allows workers to choose what hours they work within a set time period. So, for example, if the worker needs to work 8 hours a day, the manager may say he or she can choose 8 hours between 6am and 8pm. That flexibility may allow a mom to be home when her kids are coming home from school. Flextime has become popular both within and outside the United States.

Another alternative work arrangement is job sharing, where two workers split a job and each works part time. This is becoming more popular in Japan where it allows employers to avoid layoffs due to overstaffing.

Telecommuting is another alternative work arrangement that has been utilized. This allows employees to work from home at least 2 days a week.

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Employee Involvement

Employee involvement: A participative process that uses the input of employees to increase their commitment to the organization’s success

Two types:

Participative management

Representative participation

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Employee involvement is defined as a participative process that uses employees’ input to increase their commitment to the overall success of the organization. Depending on the country involved, it may be necessary to modify employee involvement programs to reflect the local culture. Some examples of programs that help with employee involvement are participative management and representative participation.

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Participative Management

Participative management: Subordinates share a significant degree of decision-making power with superiors

To be effective:

Followers must have confidence and trust in leaders

Leaders should avoid coercion and stress organizational consequences of decisions

Only a modest influence on productivity, motivation, and job satisfaction

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Participative management occurs when managers include employees in the decision-making process.

Participative management has, at times, been considered a panacea for poor morale and low productivity. In reality, for participative management to be effective, followers must have trust and confidence in their leaders. Leaders should refrain from coercive techniques and instead stress the organizational consequences of decisions to their followers.

This type of employee involvement program has shown itself to have limited impact on productivity, motivation, and job satisfaction.

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Representative Participation

Representative participation: Workers are represented by a small group of employees who participate in decisions affecting personnel

Works councils

Board membership

Redistribute power within an organization

Does not appear to be very motivational

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Representative participation tries to redistribute power by putting labor on a more equal footing with the interests of managers and stockholders. This is achieved by letting workers be represented by small groups of employees who participate in decisions. Nearly every country in Western Europe requires companies to practice representative participation.

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Using Pay to Motivate Employees

Major strategic rewards decisions:

What to pay employees

How to pay individual employees

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As we saw in previous chapters, money is not the primary driver for job satisfaction. However, it does motivate individuals, and companies often underestimate its impact in keeping top talent.

It is critical to figure out what to pay and to establish a pay structure that makes sense for your industry and organization. Then it is imperative that the organization utilizes this pay system and applies it to the pay of individual employees.

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What to Pay

Establishing a pay structure

Balance between:

Internal equity – the worth of the job to the organization

External equity – the external competitiveness of an organization’s pay relative to pay elsewhere in its industry

A strategic decision with trade-offs

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Setting pay levels can be complex and requires a balance of internal and external pay equity. Internal equity looks at the worth of the job to the organization and compares it with what others are making within the organization. External equity looks at external competitiveness of an organization’s pay relative to pay elsewhere.

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How to Pay

Variable-Pay Programs

Base a portion of the pay on a given measure of performance

Piece-rate pay plan

Merit-based pay

Bonuses

Profit-sharing plans

Employee-stock ownership plan (ESOP)

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Some types of variable-pay programs include piece-rate, merit-based, bonuses, profit-sharing, and employee-stock ownership plans. Globally, about 80 percent of companies offer some type of variable-pay plan.

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Variable-Pay Programs

Piece-Rate Pay: workers are paid a fixed sum for each unit of production completed

Merit-Based Pay: pay is based on individual performance appraisal ratings

Bonuses: rewards employees for recent performance

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) – plans in which employees acquire stock, often at below-market prices

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Some types of variable-pay programs include piece-rate, merit-based, bonuses, and skill-based pay. Piece-rate pay plans pay a fixed amount of money for each unit of production. Merit-based pay plans are similar, paying based on performance. However, it is not necessarily tied to production because in some jobs, output is not as easy to measure. Bonuses are another method that is becoming increasingly popular. Bonuses are a lump sum at the end of a set period of time. The amount of the bonus is typically dependent upon the performance of the individual or the organization or some combination of both. Finally, ESOPs are a method used to motivate the employees toward the organizational goals. As part of their benefits package they are able to earn or purchase company stock, often at below-market rates. This encourages them to work toward the overall profitability of the organization, as they have ownership in it and will gain as the company gains.

It is important to remember that while it is often thought that pay increases productivity, it is not true that everyone responds positively to variable-pay plans.

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Using Benefits to Motivate

Benefits are both an employee provision and an employee motivator

Individual employees value the components of benefits packages differently

A flexible benefits program turns the benefits package into a motivational tool

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Flexible benefits allow employees choices between different benefits. This allows them to customize their options and create a plan that best meets their needs and situation. This increases their motivation because they realize the organization has their best interest in mind.

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Using Intrinsic Rewards to Motivate

Employee recognition programs

Can be as simple as a spontaneous comment

Can be formalized in a program

Recognition is the most powerful workplace motivator – and the least expensive – but fairness is important

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A method of motivation that has been highly successful is employee recognition programs. This idea recognizes the importance of coupling extrinsic and intrinsic methods to help motivate employees. Recognition is an intrinsic motivation technique that can range from giving an employee the proverbial pat on the back to a more public recognition ceremony. Recognition programs are highly effective and cost very little to administer. There are critics of such programs, however, who say that they can be politically motivated and if the perception is that they are applied unfairly, they can cause more harm than good.

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Implications for Managers

Recognize individual differences

Use goals and feedback

Allow employees to participate in decisions that affect them

Link rewards to performance

Check the reward system for equity

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The motivational theories presented in this chapter and the last chapter set forth the following overarching ideas. It is important to recognize individual differences when designing and applying motivational programs. Managers will get better results if they use goals and feedback and allow employees to participate in the decisions that impact them. Finally, by linking rewards to performance and making sure the system is equitable, better results will follow.

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