Chapter Eleven Motivating and Satisfying Employees

What Is Motivation? The personal reason that causes us to behave in a particular way Morale –An employee’s feelings about his or her job, superiors, and firm itself High morale results from the satisfaction of needs and leads to dedication and loyalty Low morale leads to shoddy work, absenteeism, and high turnover rates

What motivates you?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs respect, recognition accomplishment- promotion, awards Survival need-food, water, clothing, shelter and sleep- wages and bonuses physical and emotional- job security, health insurance, pensions, work safety need to belong-work groups, retreats, company outings Learn new skills A sequence of human needs in the order of importance

Historical Perspectives on Motivation Scientific Management-1890’s –The application of scientific principles to the management of work and workers –Frederick W. Taylor Observed “soldiering”(working slowly) by workers who feared losing their jobs if there were no work Job should be broken into separate tasks, the best way to do the work determined, and the expected output computed Pay via piece-rate system (pay per unit of output), based on the belief that people work only for money

Taylor’s Piece-Rate System Workers who exceeded their quota were rewarded by being paid at a higher rate per piece for all the pieces they produced

Historical Perspectives on Motivation Piece-rate only worked up to a point, then output stabilized again, so how to increase productivity? The Hawthorne Studies-’27-’32 –Hypothesis-Employees who are happy and satisfied are motivated to perform better –Objective: to determine the effects of the work environment on employee productivity –Conclusion-people work for more than money –Started the human relations movement in management

Historical Perspectives on Motivation- Theory Z- William Ouchi –Type A (America) - short term jobs, individual decision making and responsibility, employees are things –Type J (Japan)- lifetime employment, collective decision making, slow promotion, employees are people –Mix of type A and type J, or type Z - Focus on we, not us vs them, with emphasis on participative decision making and a view of the organization as a family

Reinforcement Theory –Behavior that is rewarded is likely to be repeated, behavior that is punished is less likely to recur Types of reinforcement –Positive reinforcement: strengthens desired behavior by providing a reward –Negative reinforcement: strengthens desired behavior by eliminating an undesirable task or situation –Punishment: an undesirable consequence for undesirable behavior-often does more harm than good –Extinction: give no response to undesirable behavior in order to discourage its occurrence

Key Motivation Techniques Job Enrichment –Provide employees with more variety and responsibility in their job tasks-empowerment Job Redesign –Create better match of worker to job or job to worker-reduces stress done via work groups or by combining tasks Gives worker sense of how his efforts fit into the whole, and offers recognition of effort

Key Motivation Techniques: - Flextime –A system in which employees set their own work hours within employer-determined limits –Typically, there are two bands of time Core time, when all employees are expected to be at work Flexible time, when employees may choose whether or not to be at work

Key Motivation Techniques: - Flextime –Benefits Employees’ sense of independence and autonomy is motivating Employees with enough time to deal with non- work issues are more productive and satisfied –Drawbacks Supervisors’ jobs are complicated by having employees who come and go at different times Employees without flextime may resent coworkers who have it

Key Motivation Techniques Part-Time Work –Offers more leisure time but often does not provide the benefits that come with a full-time position Job Sharing –An arrangement whereby two people share one full- time position –Companies can save on expenses by reducing benefits and avoiding employee turnover –Employees gain flexibility but may lose benefits –Sharing can be difficult if work is not easily divisible or if the two people work unequally

Key Motivation Techniques: - Telecommuting –Working at home all or part of the work week –Advantages Increased employee productivity Lower real estate and travel costs Reduced absenteeism and turnover Increased work/life balance and improved morale Access to additional labor pools –Disadvantages Feelings of isolation Putting in longer hours Distractions at home Difficulty monitoring productivity

Key Motivation Techniques Employee Empowerment –Making employees more involved in their jobs by increasing worker participation in decision making –Benefits Increased job satisfaction Improved job performance Higher self-esteem –Obstacles Management resistance Insufficient ability to make decisions and do it uniformly

Key Motivation Techniques Employee Ownership –Employees own the company they work for by virtue of being stockholders –Benefits Employee incentive to work toward company goals Does not work as well in reality as in theory because stock prices are only weakly tied to employee performance, and employee effort is not evenly distributed.