Motivation in the Workplace

MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE
The main theories of work motivation - Two major groups adressing
the questions:
 Why do people work?
 What factors change people’s willingness or persistance at work?

 To understand what motivates people at work
 So, motivation could be increased
 Leading them working harder – increase the profitability of the
organization
 Modern writers claim: the aim of studying worker motivation:
 to promote humanitarian aims of increasing the workforce’s
feelings of fulfilment, personal satisfaction and achievement.
The general aim of studying motivation in the workplace:
MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Theories of work motivation
Content theories
Based on general
motivation
Maslow
McClelland
From studying
unemployed
Jahoda
From studying
workers
Money
Mayo
Warr
Process theories
Why people work?
What factors affect people’s
willingness or persistence at work?

 Maslow (1954): the notion of a hierarchy of needs.
 At the bottom: Physiological needs
At the top : Transcendence
 Organizational psychology: unwilling to accept
Maslow’s ideas – based on weak emprical
foundation.
 Not testable as a scientific theory
 Unclear how the variables can be measured
 Unclear which needs lead to which behaviors
 Unclear how the theory could be used to guide
managers on how to increase workers’
motivation
 Unclear how to fit some motives affecting worker
behavior into Maslow’s scheme.
Content Theories
Linked to Accounts of
General Motivation
“ MASLOW ”

 Furnham (1997): the theory has some useful ideas.
 People have different needs related to work behavior.
 Organizations may be classified in terms of the needs they satisfy.
 Rollinson, Breadfield and Edwards (1998): one more positive note
 The popularity of the theory among managers: it may prompt them
to consider worker needs and whether the organization is likely to
meet them.
 Maslow: one of the content theories related to general motivation.
Content Theories Linked to Accounts of General Motivation
“ MASLOW ”

 McClelland (1967): coming up with a theory based on the list of needs
of Murray (1930).
1. The need for achievement (nAch): the need to accomplish something
difficult.
2. The need for affiliation (nAff): the need to cooperate with other
people
3. The need for power (nPow) : a need to control the activities of
other people.
“ McClelland and need for achievement ( nAch) “

 Whether people in different types of occupation have particular
patterns of needs?
For example:
 Do entrepreneuers have a notable higher nAch (need for
achievement)?
 Do successful managers have a special profile, such as being high
on nPow (need for power) and low on nAff (need for affiliation)?

 Criticism: Such constructs as need for achievement (nAch)
 may be more relevant to some people than others
 may not apply to workers at all levels, of both sexes, in all
cultures.
 Achievement theory is a chaos (Henne & Locke, 1986)
 Measures of the theory do not correlate with each other.
 It is unclear how the motive (the need) is translated into goals.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

 McClelland’s claim: “People can be trained to have a higher need for
achievement (nAch).”
 This claim is inconsistent with the assumption that needs are acquired in
early childhood (Rollinson et al. 1998).
 Need theories ignore the effects of cultural factors (Rollinson et al. 1998).
 The impression: “Work is the most important way in which humans can
satisfy their needs.”
 May be less true in Europe than in United States.

Theories of work motivation
Content/direction theories
Based on general
motivation
Maslow
McClelland
From studying
unemployed
Jahoda
From studying
workers
Money
Mayo
Warr
Process/persistence theories

 Studying those who have lost their work and examine the
consequences of being unemployed
 The precursor - Jahoda (1931): conducting a study on the unemployed
workers in an Austrian village
 Jahoda’s distinction between latent and manifest needs.
 Work not only provides the means of earning a living (manifest
need)
 But also, work fulfils latent needs such as needs for social contact,
status in community, purposefulness and time structure.
 Unemployment for the individual: The loss of the opportunity to
fulfill these needs.
Content Theories Derived from Studies of Unemloyed Workers
“ Jahoda ”

 Why do people work?: For the Money
 !!!!!!! People do unpaid, voluntary work !!!!!!!!
 Why do people work at their paid job?
 For the money: not the complete answer
 Good reasons coming from four line of evidence
Content Theories Derived from Studies of Worker Behaviour
“ Money ”

1. Lottery question (Harpaz, 1989): if people did not need the money,
they would continue to work.
For Men: 66% in Britian, 95% in Japan.
For Women: In most countries the percentages for women were
slightly lower than those for men.
2. Mayo’s (1993) work: People do not necessarily try to maximize their
own financial rewards but have other motives (HUMAN
RELATIONS).
“ Money ”

3. The distinction between instrumental and intrinsic orientations to
work: those with an intrinsic orientation do not see the pay as the
main
gain they obtain from working.
4. Studies into the nature of job satisfaction: pay is only one
component of work motivation
“Money”

 Mayo (1993): developing his theory from the outcome of studies of worker
behaviour (Hawthorne studies)
 Hawthorne effect: the tendency of some people
 to work harder and perform better when they are participants in an
experiment.
 Experiment: the effect of increasing or decreasing the amount of light on
worker productivity.
 First: Employee productivity increased due to the changes.
 Then, after the experiment was over, the productivity decreased.
“Elton Mayo“

 Result: Researchers suggested - productivity increased due to the attention
from the research team and not because of changes to the experimental
variables.
 Hawthorne effect: a short-term improvement in performance caused by
observing workers (Lansdberger)
 Human Relations Movement: Worker output and satisfaction were linked to
social factors, such as the way employees were treated on the job.
 Workers place such social integration above financial ones.
 Demonstrating the importance of social needs in motivating workers.
 “Financial motive” is not the sole or even the most important one in work
motivation.
“Elton Mayo“

Warr (1987): A work environment
provides nine (9) features which effect
mental health.
 Each of the features except the need
for money is seen related to a human
need.
 The model implies that there are eight
(8) needs or motives underlying work
behavior.
“Warr’s vitamin model“
Environmental feature
1. Opportunity for control
2. Opportunity for skill use
3. Externally generated goals
4. Variety
5. Environmental clarity
6. Availability of money
7. Physical security
8. Opportunity for interpersonal contact
9. Valued social position

Why vitamin model?: Nine features divided into two types.
 The physical body reacts against excessive levels of vitamin A or D, but
high intakes of vitamins C or E do not cause negative effects.
 High levels of type AD environmental features (e.g. Opportunity for
control) produce a negative effect on mental health, whereas high levels
of type CE features (e.g. Money) do not.
Content Theories
Derived from Studies of
Worker Behaviour
Environmental feature Type (AD – CE)
4. Variety
Additional Decrement
Constant Effect
Constant Effect
Constant Effect

People vary in the extent to which their personal characteristics match the
environmental variables. For example, highly sociable people are well
matched with an environment which provides a high opportunity for social
contact.
Environmental feature Type (AD – CE) Matching personal characteristics
4. Variety
GNS: Growth need strength
Constant Effect
Constant Effect
Constant Effect
High GNS, high ability
High GNS, relevant unused skills
High GNS
High nAch
High GNS
High GNS, external control beliefs
High desire for money
High desire for physical security
High sociability
High desire for social esteem

Warr’s (1996) comment:
“People’s feelings about their work are thus a function both of that work
itself and also their own personality.” (p.235)
Environmental feature Type (AD – CE) Matching personal characteristics
4. Variety
GNS: Growth need strength
Constant Effect
Constant Effect
Constant Effect
High GNS, high ability
High GNS, relevant unused skills
High GNS
High nAch
High GNS
High GNS, external control beliefs
High desire for money
High desire for physical security
High sociability
High desire for social esteem

• Warr’s Vitamin Model
• Providing a system for describing all job environments
(how far they posses the nine environmental features.
• Jobs can be psychologically “good” or “bad”.
• Those which are bad can become good
(redesiging according to the dimensions of the model)

Motivation in the Workplace

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