Which scenario is an example of intrinsic motivation

Employee Motivation: Search the Internet for at least 3 companies in an industry in which you aspire to work. In a table, list the benefits these firms provide that are “intrinsic” in nature. Explain your rationale based on the theories delineated in the course text. Evaluate why you think these benefits would attract the right talent to the organization. Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from required material in addition to 1 outside scholarly source and properly cite any references. 3 Employee Motivation Monkey Business/Thinkstock Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, you will be able to: 1. Define motivation in the workplace. 2. Understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. 3. Describe how needs influence motivation. 4. Understand how reinforcement and punishment influence behavior. 5. Understand the exchange relationship. 6. Discuss the impact of risk, agency, and goals on motivation. abc82339_03_c03_049-076.indd 49 12/23/15 9:29 AM Section 3.1 Understanding Motivation Introduction The 2013 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey found that the typical working person in the United States spends more time on work-related activities than on any other activity, including sleeping (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). While this specific finding is not surprising to anyone who has or has had a job, it does bring up several questions. Why do people spend so much time working? What motivates them to work as much as they do? Do they work because they love their job? Is money the only reason people work? In order to understand workplace behavior and how compensation and benefits fit into the worker-employer relationship, we must consider not just what people do but also why they do what they do. Therefore, both cognition (the “why”) and behavior (the “what”) play a role in how a worker acts in the workplace. To put together an effective compensation and benefits plan, you must understand what motivates an employee to perform his or her job so you know how best to reward an employee to get the behavior desired. Striking this motivational balance is the focus of this chapter. 3.1 Understanding Motivation Motivation can be defined as that which energizes, directs, and sustains behavior (see Campbell & Pritchard, 1976; Mayes, 1978; Vroom, 1964). Motivation helps guide behavior and enables that behavior to continue. A key aspect of motivation is that a person’s perceptions and emotions influence behavior. Thus, both conscious and unconscious thoughts determine what behaviors will emerge, what direction they will take, and how long they will last. In the workplace, an understanding of motivation is critically important because not only do we want to initiate behavior, we want to instigate and sustain the right behavior (Kerr, 1975). The behavior that is being incentivized and rewarded is the one that will most often occur. Behavior can be detrimental and even destructive just as often as it is productive. While Americans spend more time at work than in other activities, most Americans are not engaged in their work (Gallup, 2014). Thus, organizations need to look at how employees are motivated in the workplace and implement methods to increase that motivation. To be successful, employers need to reward behavior that fulfills organizational objectives and meets legal and ethical requirements and not reward behavior that leads to lawsuits, mismanagement, and inefficiency. Consider the father of scientific management, Frederick W. Taylor (introduced in Chapter 1), and his emphasis on time-motion studies to improve the efficiency of workers. Taylor formulated his ideas and practices shortly after the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, at a time when the economy was undergoing a shift from agriculture to manufacturing. Historically, workers on farms and skilled independent craftspeople made their own decisions about how work was to be performed. With the shift to manufacturing, however, this was no longer the case. Instead of workers making their own decisions, the company’s management made the decisions and then dictated them to the worker. abc82339_03_c03_049-076.indd 50 12/23/15 9:29 AM Understanding Motivation Section 3.1 This is where Frederick Taylor comes in. Taylor believed there was one best way to perform each job. That way would involve breaking the job into simple tasks that could easily be taught to unskilled and semiskilled laborers. The premise was to dictate to the worker the most efficient way to perform the job. This would result in a win-win situation for all. The worker would perform in the best way possible and would be paid for such work in a fair manner—or, as Taylor phrased it, “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”—and management would have DigitalVision/Thinkstock hardworking, efficient workers, which According to Taylor’s belief, each worker would would lead to good profits for the com- be responsible for a simple task that could be perpany. Taylor saw himself as a champion formed quickly, but the efficiency-focused model of the working class and was caught by was poorly received.