Theories of Employee Motivation

1. Theories of Employee Motivation Dionne Roberson Chapter 8

2. What is Motivation? • Motivation is defined as an internal state that induces a person to engage in particular behaviors • Work motivation theories are concerned with the reasons why some people perform their job better than others.

3. Work Motivation Theories • There are 7 Motivation Theories: • Need Theories • Reinforcement Theory • Expectancy Theory • Self-Efficacy Theory • Equity Theory • Goal-Setting Theory • Action Theory

4. Need Theories • Need Theories view motivation as deriving from people’s desires for certain things. • There are three need theories: • Need Hierarchy Theory • ERG Theory • Two-Factor Theory

5. Need Theories Need Hierarchy Theory • Maslow’s need hierarchy theory states that human needs are based on physical and psychological health. Self-Actualization Esteem Love Safety Physiological

6. Need Theories ERG Theory • Aldefer’s existence, relatedness, growth theory focuses on three needs. • According to Aldefer people can move back and forth from one need to another. Growth Existence Relatedness

7. Need Theories Two-Factor Theory • Herzberg’s two-factor theory states that motivation comes from the job itself, not external rewards. • Hygiene Factors- job aspects relevant to the animal needs of human nature such as psychological needs • Motivator Factors- job aspects relevant to growth needs such as recognition.

8. Reinforcement Theory • This theory describes how rewards can affect behavior. • Law of effect- states that probability of a particular behavior increases if it is followed by a reward. • Rewards can be tangible (money) or intangible (praise).

9. Expectancy Theory • This theory attempts explain how rewards lead to behavior by focusing on internal cognitive states that lead to motivation . • Vroom’s theory has been adapted to the I/O field. • Vroom’s theory explains motivation as a math function of expectancy, valence, and instrumentalities. • Force = Expectancy x  (Valence x Instrumentalities)

10. Self- Efficacy Theory • This theory states that motivation and performance is determined by how effective people believe they can be. • High self-efficacy = people believe that they are capable of accomplishing a task and will be motivated put forth effort • Low self-efficacy = people don’t believe they can do the job and they are not motivated to put forth effort.

11. Equity Theory • States that people are motivated to achieve a condition of fairness in their dealings with other people and with organizations. • This theory specifies conditions under which inequity will occur and how employees will react. • Employees will evaluate how much they receive from the job (outcomes) in relation to their contributions( inputs) • Outcomes/ Inputs • Inequity occurs when employees feel as if his/her ratio is different from others

12. Goal-Setting Theory • Basic principle states that people’s behavior is motivated by their internal intentions, goals, or objectives • Goal is what a person consciously wants to attain or achieve

13. Goal-Setting Theory • Goals Affect behavior in 4 ways: • Direct Attention and action to behaviors that the person believes will achieve the goal. • Mobilize effort in that the person tries harder • Increase persistence, resulting in more time spent on the behaviors necessary for goal attainment • Motivate the search for effective strategies to attain them.

14. Action Theory • This theory states that work motivation theories should focus mainly on goal-oriented or or voluntary behaviors called actions. • Action process- linking a hierarchy of cognitions to both actions and feedback from the environment Desire for something Plan Generation Plan Execution Goal Development Feedback