People experiencing overpayment inequity are most likely to

Psychology

chapter 8: employee motivation Introduction Some people work harder than others, making it important for I/O psychologists to understand how what motivates them. A variety of factors motivate hard work--tangible factors like money and intangible ones like a sense of accomplishment. The effects of motivation on job performance are most important, but motivation theories also explain other job behaviors, such as turnover.

What is Motivation? Motivation is difficult to define. Psychologists define it as an internal state that induces a person to engage in particular behaviors.

One perspective argues that motivation determines the direction, intensity, and persistence of behavior over time.

Direction refers to the choice of specific behaviors from a number of possible behaviors (e.g., going to work rather than doing something else such as sleeping in or fishing).

Intensity refers to the amount of effort a person expends at doing a task (reflected in how quickly or how forcefully they work- e.g., a janitor can sweep fast and hard or slowly and gently).

Persistence refers to continuing engagement in a behavior over time (e.g., skipping breaks or working overtime). Another perspective argues that motivation is the desire to acquire or achieve some goal--originating in wants, needs, or desires.

Work Motivation Theories All theories to be discussed are concerned with reasons (other than ability) that some people perform their jobs better than others. High levels of motivation should lead to good job performance if people have the necessary ability and constraints on performance are relatively low. There are a diverse group of theories: Some assume that people’s behavior is directed toward fulfilling needs (need hierarchy, ERG, and two factor theories). Some see behavior as controlled by rewards (reinforcement and expectancy theories).Others see behavior as controlled by beliefs about the self (self-efficacy theory), by values (equity theory), or by the individual’s goals (goal-setting theory).

Action theory is a cognitive theory that explains volitional behavior at work. Although different in focus, the theories sometimes agree in predictions. Some may be complementary. The theories can be described along a continuum from distal to proximal. Distal motivation theories deal with processes that are far removed from the behavior. Proximal motivation theories deal with processes that are close to the behavior.

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Work Motivation Theories Need theories see motivation as arising from people’s needs or desires for things. Needs can differ within the same person over time and across people.

Need theories were once popular. However, research hasn’t shown much relation to job performance. Needs in these theories are general; can be satisfied in many ways, so are unlikely to be associated with any particular job behavior. Need theories have contributed to I/O psychology by showing how people can vary in the rewards they want from work.

Need hierarchy theory Maslow’s need hierarchy theory assumes that fulfillment of human needs is necessary for both physical and psychological health. Five categories of needs are arranged in a hierarchy:

1. Lowest level needs: physiological-- e.g., air, water, and food.

2. Second level needs: safety needs-- things protecting us from danger, such as security and shelter.

3. Third level needs: love needs-- e.g., love, affection, and affiliation with others.

4. Fourth level needs: esteem needs-- e.g., self-respect and respect from others.

5. Top level needs: self-actualization needs-- fulfillment of personal life goals and of one’s potential.

Motivational principles

A need must be unmet to be motivating. People are motivated by the lowest level need that’s unmet (i.e., a lower level need will dominate higher level needs). For example, a person who is hungry will seek food rather than affection.

Limitations

There can be exceptions to the hierarchy; some individuals put higher level needs first. For example, someone might go hungry rather than steal food because of the need for self-respect. Many individuals in Western society aren’t very motivated by lower level needs because have never been deprived. Motivational research has not been supportive of Maslow’s theory.

Impact

Maslow’s needs heirarchy has affected organizations by placing an emphasis on the importance of meeting employees’ needs at work.

Two-factor theory Herzberg’s two-factor theory states that motivation comes from the nature of the job itself, not external rewards or job conditions. Divides needs into two categories:

Hygiene factors are relevant to animal needs and include pay, supervision, coworkers, and organizational policies.

Motivator factors are relevant to psychological growth and include achievement, recognition, responsibility, and the nature of work itself.

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Motivational principles (1) Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are separate and unrelated constructs rather than opposite ends of the same continuum. (2) Motivator factors can produce job satisfaction, whereas their absence can lead only to lack of satisfaction (not dissatisfaction). (3) Hygiene factors can lead to job dissatisfaction, and only produce lack of dissatisfaction rather than satisfaction. No matter how favorable hygiene factors are, they cannot lead to motivation.

Limitations

Generally considered invalid; the two-factor system of job satisfaction/ dissatisfaction has not been supported by research.

Contribution

Two factor theory focused attention on the necessity of providing meaningful work and led to job enrichment in organizations. It was the basis for job characteristics theory.

Reinforcement theory Reinforcement theory describes how rewards or reinforcements affect behavior; it explains behavior as a function of reinforcement history--prior reward experiences. Behavior is a response to the environment.

Motivational principles

Major tenet is law of effect: the probability of a behavior increases if it is followed by a reward or reinforcement, and decreases if it is followed by a punishment. In a job context, performance- relevant behaviors will increase in frequency if rewarded. Rewards equally reinforcing if tangible or intangible, or given by the organization or implicit in the task.

Contributions

The development of incentive systems for performance is based on reinforcement theory. In Incentive systems rewards are contingent on units of productivity (e.g., automobiles sold, shirts assembled). Not feasible for jobs where output less countable. Research has shown that rewards can be effective in enhancing job performance under some conditions. Successfully applied to behaviors such as absence.

Limitations

Does not deal with attractiveness of rewards for individuals. Unsatisfying in that it gives little insight into motivational processes. Some people argue that use of rewards to control behavior is unethical manipulation.

Expectancy Theory Expectancy theory explains how rewards lead to behavior by focusing on internal cognitive states that lead to motivation-- explains when and why reinforcement will lead to behavior.

Motivational principles

People will be motivated when they believe their behavior will lead to rewards or outcomes they want. If they don’t believe rewards will be contingent on behavior they won’t be motivated to perform it. If they don’t want a contingent reward, won’t be motivated to perform the behavior.

According to Vroom (1964) motivation or force is a mathematical function of three types of cognitions.

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Equation: Force = Expectancy x Σ (Valences x Instrumentalities). Force is the amount of motivation a person has to engage in a behavior. If force is high, person is motivated to perform the behavior.

Expectancy is the subjective probability (felt confidence) a person has that s/he can perform the behavior successfully. Ranges from 0 (no confidence) to 1.0 (completely confident).

Valence is the value of an outcome to a person. It is the extent to which a person wants something.

Instrumentality is the subjective probability (felt confidence) that a given behavior will result in a particular outcome.

Any given situation may have more than one outcome for a behavior. For each possible outcome, the valence and instrumentality are multiplied, then those numbers totaled across outcomes, and that total multiplied by the expectancy to produce a force score.

Examples are given in Table 8-1 on page 201 of the text for a single outcome. Note that force will be high only when expectancy, valence, and instrumentality are all high. If any one of the three components are low, force will be low. If any one of the three components equals zero, there will be no motivation.

Contributions

Allows prediction of choice of behavior from two or more options, such as working overtime or going home. Supported by research-- both the individual components and the multiplicative combination. Force scores have been shown to correlate with performance.

Limitations

Recent evidence suggests that although the force scores correlate with measures of performance, it correlates more strongly to measures of effort. Although the person may be motivated to work harder this may not necessarily mean better job performance.

Similarly, force scores have been shown to be more closely related to preferences then actual choices. It, therefore, may be more predictive of wanting to quit one’s job, rather then actually doing it.

Self-Efficacy Theory

Self-efficacy is the belief that one is capable of accomplishing a task.

Self efficacy theory states that motivation and performance are partly determined by how effective people believe they can be. That is, people who believe they can accomplish a task will be motivated to put forth effort, while those who don’t think they can succeed aren’t likely to try very hard.

Individuals are assumed to have the necessary ability and not be prevented from performing by outside constraints.

Individuals vary in self-efficacy across tasks; can have high self-efficacy for some tasks (test-taking) and low for others (mountain-climbing).

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Self-efficacy resembles expectancy, but expectancy specifies the likelihood of success for a task at a particular time, whereas self-efficacy is a more of a general feeling about a task-- whether the person is “good at it.”

Contributions

Research has been supportive. Self-efficacy predicts performance.

Self-efficacy may develop from prior good performance; success increases it. It has been suggested that self-efficacy might operate through differences in setting goals; those with high self efficacy may set higher goals. Can be used in the workplace. Employers can increase self- efficacy of employees, especially new employees, by gradually increasing task difficulty so the employee can improve while experiencing success. Eden and associates have argued that people’s beliefs about their own capabilities lead to better performance, as in a self-fulfilling prophecy. They refer to this as the Galatea effect.

Research has successfully used this approach to increase the job search success rate of unemployed individuals and with naval cadets who experience sea sickness.

Limitations

Due to the effects of self-fulfilling prophecy, a person with low self-efficacy does not believe s/he can accomplish a task and, therefore, will not be motivated to put forth effort.

Justice Theories Focus on norms for fair treatment of employees by their organizations

Equity theory states that people are motivated to have equity or fairness in their dealings with other people and with organizations. Employees who find themselves in inequitable situations experience dissatisfaction and emotional tension that they’re motivated to reduce.

Inequity is a psychological state that arises from employees ’comparisons of their ratios of outcomes to inputs on the job to those of other employees.

Outcomes are the rewards, everything of personal value that an employee gets from working for an organization-- e.g., pay, benefits, status, enjoyment, etc.

Inputs are the contributions an employee makes to the organization—e.g., work, experience, and talents. Employees might compare themselves to others in the same job, inside or outside the organization, or sometimes to others in different jobs. When the employee’s ratio of outcomes/ inputs is the same as the comparison person’s ratio, the situation will seem fair. Otherwise, it is inequitable, and the employee will be dissatisfied.

Underpayment inequity exists when other people get more outcomes for their inputs. Results in feelings of anger.

Overpayment inequity exists when other people get less outcome for their inputs. Results in feelings of guilt.

Several ways to reduce the inequity. Change inputs. Increase or decrease productivity to match the outcomes received. Change outcomes. Seek additional rewards from work. Withdraw from the situation. Quit or be late or absent more often.

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Contributions of Equity Theory

Underpayment inequity has been shown to be related to lowered performance, and stealing. Application of this theory has emphasized the importance of fair treatment of employees.

Limitations of Equity Theory

Most of the research examining equity theory has been conducted in lab settings, not in real world environments and may not generalize. Overpayment inequity predictions have not been confirmed. Does not predict choice of comparison person. Explains past behavior better than it predicts behavior.

Fairness Theory

Replaced equity theory

Distinguishes between the distribution of rewards and the procedures by which rewards are allocated.

Procedural justice is concerned with the fairness of the reward distribution process. Does not always lead to distributive justice

Distributive justice concerns the fairness with which rewards are found among people (similar to equity).

Does not assume that perceptions of injustice derive from social comparison, but from negative events done purposefully in an unfair way. Both distributive and procedural justice are related to job performance and job satisfaction. Procedural justice is more important for women, and distributive justice is more important for men.

Goal-Setting Theory Goal-setting theory assumes that behavior is motivated by internal intentions, objectives, or goals. The theory predicts that people will exert effort toward accomplishing their goals, and that job performance is a function of the goals set.

A goal is what the person consciously wants to attain or achieve. Can be specific (e.g., “to get this contract out by Friday”) or general (e.g., “to get a promotion”). General goals are often associated with a group of more specific goals. Goals affect behavior in that:

1. Goals direct attention and action to behaviors that the person believes will achieve the goal.

2. Goals increase effort.

3. Goals increase persistence, so more time is spent on behaviors necessary for goal attainment.

4. Goals can motivate the search for effective strategies to attain them.

For goal-setting to improve job performance in an organization:

1. Employees must accept the goal--goal commitment.

2. The goal should be difficult, but achievable.

3. The goal should be specific.

4. Employees must get feedback on progress toward the goal, so they know whether they’re doing the right things.

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Contributions

Goal Setting theory has been well supported by research and is currently the most popular theory. Closely tied to behavior, so easily applied in organizational settings.

Limitations

Although most of the research has shown that goal setting can be effective, researchers have begun to note that these studies have concentrated on single goals. Recent research that has examined multiple goals and more complex jobs has not shown as much of an increase in performance. Employees can focus so much on the goals that they ignore other equally important aspects of the job, and goals can conflict so that working on one prevents achieving another.

Control Theory Builds upon goal setting theory in that it focuses on how feedback affects effort toward goals

Involves the following steps:

1. Set goal

2. Receive feedback

3. Compare feedback on performance to the goal

4. In response to the discrepancies between feedback and the goal, individuals with either:

• modify behavior (e.g., work harder)

• modify the goal

Research supports the predictions of control theory

Action Theory Action theory is a comprehensive German theory of work behavior that describes a process linking goals to behaviors. It proposes that work motivation theories focus mainly on goal- oriented or voluntary behaviors called actions. Action theory describes the action process linking a hierarchy of cognitions to both actions and feedback from the environment.

Process involves the five steps:

1. A person desires to accomplish or have something.

2. Goals and objectives are set, whereby goals are tied to tasks (external or internal).

3. A plan to achieve the goal is generated.

4. Actions are engaged to carry out the plan.

5. Feedback is received from the environment or other people.

Action theory contains personality variables. An action-oriented person tends to follow the action process, whereas state-oriented people are the opposite. Action-oriented people tend to perform better on the job, whereas state-oriented people have a tendency to procrastinate.

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Goal setting, Control, and Action Theories Goal setting focuses on how goals affect performance. Control theory focuses on how goal feedback affects behavior. Action theory examines the cognitive processes that intervene between goals and performance

Future Issues Need to do a better job of testing theories of motivation. Methodological limitations have made this difficult, especially in developing measures for the constructs.

Need to further study how to apply motivational principles, so that advantages and drawbacks of a practice are understood.

Growing emphasis on proximal theories emphasizing goals and behaviors over distal theories emphasizing needs.