1. Drs Joan Harvey and George Erdos
Motivation at work
Drs Joan Harvey and George Erdos

2. Motivation Complex area- many theories Studied since early 1900s
Largely based on American and Western European theorists
Taylor and scientific management was the first
Then Hawthorne studies
Maslow
Herzberg, McGregor
Later theories include goal theory, equity theory, expectancy theories

3. Motivation theories Intrinsic theories: Maslow
Physiological- housing, clothing, food and drink
Safety and security- job security, burglar alarms, safety features on products
Social, love and belongingness- friendships and social support at work, team sports
Self esteem- feeling of worth or importance- recognition, promotion, luxury goods
Self actualisation- doing what you really want to do at work, education, skills development, ‘experience goods’

4. Motivators: which is most important to you? [based on Herzberg]
Responsibility
Achievement
Promotion/advancement
Pay
Company policy
Working conditions
Interesting work
Recognition
My development
Good style of manager
Work colleagues
Job security

5. Motivation theories Murray’s inventory of social needs Arousal theory
Including superiority, achievement, play, succourance, nurturance etc.
Arousal theory
Failure to arouse will have little effect
Priming to create arousal
Theory X and theory Y and theory Z
X and Y relevant insofar as make statements which you can apply at work; Z is Japanese style of management

6. Incentive and reinforcement theories
Studies of role of money
Instrumentality
Indicative of status
Provides some independence and autonomy
Principles of incentive theories
Perceives reward to be worth the effort
Wants that reward
Perceives that action will lead to that reward

7. Utility and related theories
Based on nature of utility, usually a product of value and probability, of both success and loss; e.g. more reward not seen to happen for working hard
money, social, psychological, appearance, injury
Need for achievement
nAch and fear of failure
Need for affiliation
Need for power
Equity theory
Motivational calculus and expectancy theory

8. Modern intrinsic theories
Cognitive evaluation theory
Curiosity, incongruity and discrepancy
Competence, mastery, efficacy and challenge
Personal control over environment and self-determination

9. Other motivational issues
Unconscious motivation
Work behaviours or products as substitutes and fulfillments
Reinforces needs that one is unaware of
Semiotics and the meaning of NVBs, or goods, logos, symbolism and ritual gift giving

10. So what would you do?
You are now manager of a department managing accounts within a large company. There are 20 people; they have been there for many years and all are older than you.
They have some qualifications but cannot work directly as accountants as their qualifications are lower grade
They have mostly reached the highest work grade that they can, so there are few opportunities for you to promote them
Because the pay scales are determined by a general company agreement you are not in control of any budget to pay them more.
As a group, they are not performing well, and seem relatively unhappy at work.

11. Job satisfaction Thousands of journal articles
Thought now that shared variance between JS and work performance is 20-25%
Links to absenteeism, labour T/O, accident rates, well-being and mental health at work

12. Different types of workplace attitudes: job satisfaction
A pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences (Locke, 1976). Components include:
pay and benefits
co-workers
supervision
recognition
the work itself
career opportunities
job security
working conditions

14. Motivational mix Multiple motives
Approach and avoidance issues [Lewin]
Force of inertia
Strong in 50% of people, opposite to embracing change
Involvement
Antecedents – what happened before
Properties- feelings and behaviour when involvement aroused
Outcomes- depend on interaction of antecedents and properties as above
Preferences for different types of motive:
e.g. when of equal value to employer, differences in what people prefer:
Pay increase.. or more holidays… or less hours… or more pension… or health insurance… ??

15. HOWEVER…….
These theories are all Western European and especially American in nature
There are different motives in other cultures:
Maslow in totally different order
Harmony, not letting the team down, quality of work as motivators
Being strongly motivated by money may be unacceptable in some cultures
Some theories, e.g. equity, goal-directed, expectancy, Maslow and even Herzberg need to be rethought
Motivation must always be considered in relation to the cultures involved

16. Thank you for listening
Joan Harvey