Chapter 16 Motivating Employees

Motivating and rewarding employees is one of the most important and challenging activities that managers do. To get employees to put forth maximum work effort, managers need to know how and why they’re motivated. That’s what we discuss in this chapter. Focus on the following learning outcomes as you read and study this chapter.

LEARNING OUTCOMES 

16.1 Define motivation.
16.2 Compare and contrast early theories of motivation.
16.3 Compare and contrast contemporary theories of motivation.
16.4 Discuss current issues in motivation.

A MANAGER’S DILEMMA 

The motivation of employees is a vital key to the success of managers and the business organizations they lead. Since the motivation of employees is so important, your students will benefit from a careful study of Chapter 16 and will become better equipped to understand and manage human resources in the future and interact more effectively with other individuals in the present.

Managers describe motivating and maintaining a committed workforce as one of the most—if not the most—difficult of all managerial challenges. “A Manager’s Dilemma” opens this chapter by describing “Healthy Ministry,” a program designed by Ron Ruben, CEO of Republic of Tea, dedicated to improving the health, physical fitness and well-being of its 100 employees.  As part of this program, Republic of Tea employees have access to a full-time nutritionist, on-site health screenings, and a $500 credit that can be used for gym memberships or health plans such as Weight Watchers. With a workday walking program, employees are encouraged to take 10- to 15-minute walks.  While this is a great program, students are encouraged to think of additional ways Mr. Ruben can work to motivate employees during tough economic times. 

Students should be able to recognize the benefits of giving verbal praise and recognition to employees – it’s practically free!  During hard economic times, some employers attempt to provide benefits that meet employees’ needs besides money, i.e. education and training. Jobs could be redesigned to increase their motivating potential. Equity can be an issue in that employees work to maintain an equitable distribution of inputs and outcomes in comparison to other employees.  Mr. Ruben can also work to build internal motivators into employee jobs.  Setting goals, providing a challenge to employees, and allowing for employee participation are all programs that have the potential to increase individual motivation and are discussed in this chapter.

CHAPTER OUTLINE 

INTRODUCTION
 Managers need to understand and apply motivational concepts and practices to encourage their employees to devote maximum effort to their jobs. This chapter explores essential information on the concepts of motivation.

16.1 WHAT IS MOTIVATION?
 Motivation is the process by which a person’s efforts are energized, directed, and sustained towards attaining a goal.   Effort is a measure of intensity or drive. High levels of effort are unlikely to lead to favorable job performance unless the effort is channeled in a direction that benefits the organization.

16.2 EARLY THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
 Three early theories of motivation provide the best-known explanations for employee motivation, even though their validity has been questioned.
A. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory was developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow. This theory states that there is a hierarchy of five human needs:  physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. (See Exhibit 16-1)
1. As each need is substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant.
2. The text describes these five needs as physiological (basic food, drink, water, shelter, and sexual needs); safety (security and protection from physical and emotional harm); social (affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship); esteem (internal factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement, and external factors such as status, recognition, and attention); and self-actualization (a person’s drive to become what he or she is capable of becoming).
3. Maslow separated the needs into lower-level needs (including the physiological and safety needs) and higher-level needs (including social, esteem, and self-actualization).
B. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y were developed by Douglas McGregor and describe two distinct views of human nature.
1. Theory X is the assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, avoid responsibility, and must be coerced to perform.
2. Theory Y is the assumption that employees are creative, enjoy work, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.
3. Theory X assumes that Maslow’s lower-order needs dominate individuals, while Theory Y assumes that higher-order needs are dominant.
4. No empirical evidence exists to confirm that either set of assumptions is valid or that altering behavior based on Theory Y assumptions will increase employees’ motivation.
C. Motivation-hygiene theory, developed by Frederick Herzberg, is the motivation theory that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction and motivation, whereas extrinsic factors are associated with job dissatisfaction. (See Exhibit 16-2.)
1. Herzberg believed that the opposite of satisfaction was not dissatisfaction. (See Exhibit 16-3) According to Herzberg, simply removing dissatisfying characteristics from a job would not necessarily make the job satisfying.
2. Hygiene factors are factors that eliminate dissatisfaction. They include factors such as supervision, company policy, salary, working conditions, and security—i.e., extrinsic factors associated with job context, or those things surrounding a job.
3. Motivators are factors that increase job satisfaction and motivation. They include factors such as achievement, recognition, responsibility, and advancement—i.e., intrinsic factors associated with job content, or those things within the job itself.
4. Herzberg’s theory has been criticized for the statistical procedures and methodology used in his study. In spite of these criticisms, Herzberg’s theory has had a strong influence on how we currently design jobs.
D. The three-needs theory, developed by David McClelland, is the motivation theory that says three acquired (not innate) needs—achievement, power, and affiliation—are major motives in work.
1. The need for achievement (nAch) is the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
a. McClelland found that high achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desire to do things better.
b. High achievers like moderately challenging goals.
c. They avoid what they perceive to be very easy or very difficult tasks.
2. The need for power (nPow) is the need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise.
3. The need for affiliation (nAff) is the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
4. A person’s levels of these three needs are typically measured by reacting to a set of pictures included in the Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT.

16.3 CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
 A number of contemporary theories represent state-of-the-art explanations of employee motivation. These contemporary theories have a reasonably strong degree of validity through supporting documentation.
A. Goal-setting theory is the proposition that specific goals increase performance, and difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than easy goals. What is known about goals as motivators?
1. Intention to work toward a goal is a major source of job motivation. Specific and challenging goals are superior motivating forces. Specific hard goals produce a higher level of output than do generalized goals.
2. Is there a contradiction between achievement motivation and goal setting? No, as the following points explain:
a. Goal-setting theory deals with people in general; achievement theory is based only on people who have a high need for achievement. Difficult goals are still recommended for the majority of employees.
b. The conclusions of goal-setting theory apply to those who accept and are committed to the goals. Difficult goals will lead to higher performance only if they are accepted.
3. Will employees try harder if they participate in the planning and formulation of goals?
a. It cannot be said that participation is always desirable.
b. However, participation is probably preferable to assigning goals whenever a manager expects resistance.
4. Will people do better when they get feedback on how well they are progressing toward their goals?
a. Feedback acts to guide behavior.
b. Self-generated feedback has been shown to be a more powerful motivator than externally generated feedback.
5. What four contingencies exist in goal-setting theory?
a. Feedback influences the goal-performance relationship.
b. Goal commitment is most likely to occur when goals are made public, when the individual has an internal locus of control, and when the goals are set by the individual rather than assigned.
c. Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.
d. National culture is a contingency that also affects goal-setting theory.
6. One may conclude that intentions, as defined by hard and specific goals, are a powerful motivating force in goal-setting efforts.
a. In the proper conditions, intentions can lead to higher performance.
b. However, no evidence exists that such goals are associated with increased job satisfaction.
c. Exhibit 16-5 summarizes the relationships among goals, motivation, and performance.

LEADERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

John Goodnight is the CEO and co-founder of SAS, based in Cary, North Carolina.  Mr. Goodnight founded his software company around the idea of “trust between our employees and the company.”   SAS, which has made Fortune magazine’s list of “Best Companies to Work For” for all 13 years, is “so legendary that even Google uses SAS as a model.”  With only 2 percent annual turnover and high profitability, Mr. Goodnight has done an excellent job of recognizing that employees are your most important asset!

B. Reinforcement theory is counter to goal-setting theory. It proposes that behavior is a function of its consequences.
1. Reinforcement theory argues that behavior is externally caused.
2. Reinforcers are consequences immedi¬ately following a response that increase the probability that the behavior will be repeated.
3. Reinforcement theory ignores factors such as goals, expectations, and needs; it focuses on what happens when a person takes an action.
4. How can the concept of reinforcement be used to explain motivation?
a. People will most likely engage in a desired behavior if they are rewarded for doing so.
b. These rewards are most effective if they immediately follow a desired response.
c. Behavior that isn’t rewarded or is punished is less likely to be repeated.
5. Managers can influence employees’ behavior by reinforcing the work behaviors they desire.

C. Job Design Theory can be used to influence employee motivation. Job design is the way tasks are combined to form complete jobs. Managers should design jobs to reflect the demands of the changing environment as well as the organization’s technology, and its employees’ skills, abilities, and preferences of its employees.
1. One of the earliest efforts at overcoming the drawbacks of job specialization was through increasing job scope, the number of different tasks required in a job and the frequency with which those tasks are repeated.
a. This type of job design is called job enlargement—the horizontal expansion of a job or an increase in job scope.
b. Job design programs that focused solely on task enlargement have had little success.
c. When knowledge enlargement activities were implemented, however, workers were more satisfied and made fewer errors.
2. Job enrichment, another approach to designing jobs, is the vertical expansion of a job by adding planning and evaluating responsi-bilities.
a. In job enrichment, job depth, the degree of control employees have over their work, is increased.
b. Research evidence has been inconclusive about the benefits of job enrichment activities.
3. The job characteristics model (JCM) is a framework for analyzing and designing jobs that identifies five primary job characteristics, their interrelationships, and their impact on employee productivity, motivation, and satisfaction. These five job dimensions are described below (see Exhibit 16-6):
a. Skill variety is the degree to which a job requires a variety of activities so that an employee can use a number of different skills and talents.
b. Task identity is the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
c. Task significance is the degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people.
d. Autonomy is the degree to which a job provides substantial free¬dom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out.
e. Feedback is the degree to which carrying out the work activities required by a job results in the individual’s obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance.
f. Skill variety, task identity, and task significance combine to create meaningful work. Autonomy leads to an increased sense of responsibility for outcomes of the work. Feedback leads to knowledge of the actual results of the work activities.
g. The JCM suggests that intrinsic (internal) rewards are gained when an employee learns (knowledge of results through feedback) that he/she personally (responsibility through autonomy of work) has performed well on a task that he/she cares about (experiences meaningfulness of work through skill variety, task identify, and/or task significance).
h. The more these three conditions characterize a job, the greater the employee’s work motivation, performance, and satisfaction and the lower his or her absenteeism and likelihood of resigning.
i. The JCM also provides specific guidelines to managers for job design (see Exhibit 16-7).
D.  Equity theory, developed by J. Stacey Adams, is the theory that an employee compares his/her job’s input-outcomes ratio with that of relevant others and then corrects any inequity (see Exhibit 16-8).
1. Referents are the persons, systems, or selves against which individuals compare themselves to assess equity.
2. Equity theory recognizes that individuals are concerned with their absolute rewards as well as the relationship of those rewards to what others receive.
3. What will employees do when they perceive an inequity?
a. Distort either their own or others’ inputs or outcomes.
b. Behave in some way to induce others to change their inputs or outcomes.
c. Behave in some way to change their own inputs or outcomes.
d. Choose a different comparison person.
e. Quit their job.
4. Historically, equity theory focused on distributive justice. Recent equity research has focused on issues of procedural justice. 
F. Expectancy theory is the theory that an individual tends to act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. Three relationships are important to this theory. (See Exhibit 16-9)
1. Effort-performance linkage (expectancy) is the probability perceived by the individual that exerting a given amount of effort will lead to a certain level of performance.
2. Performance-reward linkage (instrumentality) is the degree to which an individual believes that performing at a particular level is instrumental in, or will lead to, the attainment of a desired outcome.
3. Attractiveness of the reward (valence) is the importance that the individual places on the potential outcome or reward that can be achieved on the job.
4. Four features are inherent in expectancy theory:
a. What perceived outcomes does the job offer the employee?
b. How attractive do employees consider these outcomes to be?
c. What kind of behavior must the employee exhibit to achieve these outcomes?
d. How does the employee view his or her chance of doing what is asked?
5. The key to understanding expectancy theory is understanding an individual’s goal and the linkage between effort and performance, between performance and rewards, and between rewards and individual goal satisfaction.
G. Integrating Contemporary Theories of Motivation
 Exhibit 16-10 presents a model that integrates much of what is known about motivation.
1. The basic foundation is the simplified expectancy model.
2. The model also considers the achievement-need, reinforcement, equity, and JCM theories.
3. Rewards also play an important role in the model.

16.4 CURRENT ISSUES IN MOTIVATION
 Understanding and predicting employee motivation continues to be one of the most popular areas in management research. Several significant workplace issues are important to examine in understanding motivation.
A. Motivating in Tough Economic Circumstances
Tough economic times leave companies with tight budgets, minimal or no pay raises, benefit cuts, no bonuses, long hours doing the work of those who had been laid off.  As conditions worsen, employee confidence, optimism, and job engagement plummeted as well. During these times managers are have to be creative in keeping their employees’ efforts energized, directed, and sustained toward achieving goals. This means motivating employees in ways that don’t involve money or that were relatively inexpensive. Suggestions include:
1. Holding meetings with employees to keep the lines of communication open and to get their input on issues.
2. Establishing a common goal, such as maintaining excellent customer service, to keep everyone focused.
3. Creating a community feel so employees could see that managers cared about them and their work.
4. Giving employees opportunities to continue to learn and grow.
5. And, of course, an encouraging word always went a long way.
B. Managing Cross-Cultural Motivational Challenges
 In today’s global environment, motivational programs that work in one location may not be effective in another. An American bias exists in some of the motivational theories. For example, in Japan, Greece, and Mexico, security needs would appear at the top of Maslow’s pyramid.  The motivation concept of achievement need clearly has an American bias. Equity theory is relatively strong in the United States, based on pay-for-performance systems.
C. Motivating Unique Groups of Workers.
1. Motivating a diverse workforce requires managers to think in terms of flexibility. Lifestyle (e.g., single parenthood) is an important factor.
a. A compressed workweek is a workweek where employees work longer hours per day but fewer days per week.
b. Flexible work hours (flextime) is a scheduling system in which employees are required to work a number of hours a week, but are free, within limits, to vary the hours of work.
c. Job sharing is the practice of having two or more people split a full-time job.
d. Telecommuting is a job approach where employees work at home and are linked to the workplace by computer and modem.
e. The advantages of telecommuting include a decrease in the time and stress of commuting and an increase in flexibility to cope with family demands.
f. Drawbacks of telecommuting center on the lack of social contact, the reward system used, and the separation of organization work and homework.
2. Motivating professionals
This group of employees values challenging work, problem solving, and support
3. Motivating contingent workers
a. Contingent workers do not have the security or stability that permanent employees do.
b. Managers might use the opportunity for permanent status, opportunity for training, and equitable treatment to motivate contingent workers.
4. Motivating low-skilled, minimum wage workers is one of the most difficult motivation challenges a manager can face.
a. Although money is important as a motivator, it is not the only reward that people seek and that managers use.
b. Job design and expectancy theories can provide some answers to motivating low-skilled, minimum wage workers.
D. Designing Appropriate Rewards Programs
1. Open-book management is a motivational approach in which an organization’s financial statements (the “books”) are shared with all employees.
a. The goal of open-book management is to motivate employees to think as an owner would think as a result of being able to see the impact their decisions and actions have on financial results.
b. In order for open-book management to be effective, employees must be taught the fundamentals of financial statement analysis.
2. Employee recognition programs consist of personal attention and expressions of interest, approval, and appreciation for a job well done.
3. Pay-for-performance programs are variable compensation plans that pay employees on the basis of some performance measure.
a. Performance-based compensation is probably most compatible with expectancy theory.
b. The increasing popularity of pay-for-performance programs can be explained in terms of both motivation and cost control.
c. Do pay-for-performance programs work? Studies seem to indicate that they do.

LET’S GET REAL: MY RESPONSE
Aisha Warren
Retail Store Manager
Dots, LLC
Warren, MI

Ms. Warren suggests that the Republic of Tea perform an employee survey, the results of which could be used to determine what motivates employees.  The survey results could be used to determine rewards for contest and new ways to motivate great performance.  The premise is simple, people deserve to be rewarded and reinforcement for outstanding work shows employees that they are appreciated.  Ms. Warren argues that if you take care of your team, the team will take care of you.

Answers to Review and Discussion Questions 

1. What is motivation? Explain the three key elements of motivation.
Motivation is the process by which a person’s efforts are energized, directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal. The energy element is a measure of intensity, drive, or vigor. The high level of effort needs to be directed in ways that help the organization achieve its goals. Employees must persist in putting forth effort to achieve those goals.

2. Describe each of the four early theories of motivation.
In Maslow’s hierarchy, individuals move up the hierarchy of five needs (physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization) as needs are substantially satisfied. A need that’s substantially satisfied no longer motivates. A Theory X manager believes that people don’t like to work or won’t seek out responsibility so they have to be threatened and coerced to work. A Theory Y manager assumes that people like to work and seek out responsibility, so they will exercise self-motivation and self-direction. Herzberg’s theory proposed that intrinsic factors associated with job satisfaction were what motivated people. Extrinsic factors associated with job dissatisfaction simply kept people from being dissatisfied. Three-needs theory proposed three acquired needs that are major motives in work: need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power.

3. How do goal-setting, reinforcement, and equity theories explain employee motivation?
Goal-setting theory says that specific goals increase performance, and difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than do easy goals. Important points in goal setting theory include intention to work toward a goal as a major source of job motivation; specific hard goals that produce higher levels of output than generalized goals; participation in setting goals as preferable to assigning goals, but not always; feedback that guides and motivates behavior, especially self-generated feedback; and contingencies that affect goal setting—goal commitment, self-efficacy, and national culture. Reinforcement theory says that behavior is a function of its consequences. To motivate, use positive reinforcers to reinforce desirable behaviors. Ignore undesirable behavior rather than punishing it.
Equity theory focuses on how employees compare their inputs–outcomes ratios to relevant others’ ratios. A perception of inequity will cause an employee to do something about it. Procedural justice has a greater influence on employee satisfaction than does distributive justice.

4. What are the different job design approaches to motivation?
Job enlargement involves horizontally expanding job scope by adding more tasks or increasing how many times the tasks are done. Job enrichment vertically expands job depth by giving employees more control over their work. The job characteristics model says five core job dimensions (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) are used to design motivating jobs. Another job design approach proposed looking at relational aspects and proactive aspects of jobs.

5. Explain the three key linkages in expectancy theory and their role in motivation.
Expectancy theory says that an individual tends to act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a desired outcome. Expectancy is the effort–performance linkage (how much effort do I need to exert to achieve a certain level of performance); instrumentality is the performance–reward linkage (achieving at a certain level of performance will get me a specific reward); and valence is the attractiveness
of the reward (Is it the reward that I want?).

6. What economic and cross-cultural challenges do managers face when motivating employees?
During tough economic conditions, managers must look for creative ways to keep employees’ efforts energized, directed, and sustained toward achieving goals. Most motivational theories were developed in the United States and have a North American bias. Some theories (Maslow’s need hierarchy, achievement need, and equity theory) don’t work well for other cultures. However, the desire for interesting work seems important to all workers and Herzberg’s motivator (intrinsic) factors may be universal.

7. What challenges do managers face in motivating today’s workforce?
Managers face challenges in motivating unique groups of workers. A diverse workforce is looking for flexibility. Professionals want job challenge and support, and are motivated by the work itself. Contingent workers want the opportunity to become permanent or to receive skills training. Recognition programs and sincere appreciation for work done can be used to motivate low-skilled, minimum-wage workers.

8. Describe open book management, employee recognition, and pay-for-performance programs.
Open-book management is when financial statements (the books) are shared with employees who have been taught what they mean. Employee recognition programs consist of personal attention, approval, and appreciation for a job well done. Pay-for-performance programs are variable compensation plans that pay employees on the basis of some performance measure.

9. Most of us have to work for a living, and a job is a central part of our lives. So why do managers have to worry so much about employee motivation issues?
Even though most of us have to work for a living in order to support ourselves and those who are dependent upon us, managers still have to worry about employee motivation because some employees are not always willing to put forth the effort to do their job to the best of their ability.
Even when employees are willing to put forth their best effort, managers must take steps to ensure that their motivation will be sustained over time, in spite of personal or professional setbacks and factors in the external environment over which they and their employees may have no control. Managers must have knowledge of motivational theories and understand the individual differences and perceptions of their employees in order to choose rewards that will be effective in motivating them to work together to reach organizational goals.

10. Can an individual be too motivated? Discuss.
This question can serve as an excellent springboard for small group discussion.  Students may express strong opinions in their answers to this question, depending upon their employment experiences and the types of managers and employees with whom they have already worked.  Their answers to this question will likely introduce ethical considerations in relation to motivation and the willingness of some individuals to lose sight of ethical standards in pursuit of a goal.

Your Turn to be a Manager 

• A good habit to get into if you don’t already do it is goal setting. Set goals for yourself using the suggestions from goal-setting theory. Write them down and keep them in a notebook. Track your progress toward achieving these goals.

• Pay attention to times when you’re highly motivated and times when you’re not as motivated. Write down a description of these times. What accounts for the difference in your level of motivation?

• Interview three managers about how they motivate their employees. What have they found that works best? Write up your findings in a report and be prepared to present it in class.

• Using the job characteristics model, redesign the following jobs to be more motivating: retail store sales associate, utility company meter reader, and check-out cashier at a discount store. In a written report, describe for each job at least two specific actions you would take for each of the five core job dimensions.

• Do some serious thinking about what you want from the job you get after graduation. Make a list of what’s important to you. Are you looking for a pleasant work environment, challenging work, flexible work hours, fun coworkers, or something else? Discuss how you will discover whether a particular job will help you get those things.

• Steve’s and Mary’s recommended readings: Terry R. Bacon, What People Want (Davies-Black Publishing, 2006); Dennis W. Bakke, Joy at Work (PVG, 2005); Leon Martel, High Performers (Jossey-Bass, 2002); Jon R. Katzenbach, Peak Performance (Harvard Business School Press, 2000); and Steven Kerr (ed.), Ultimate Rewards: What Really Motivates People to Achieve (Harvard Business School Press, 1997).

• Find five different examples of employee recognition programs. These could be organizations with which you’re familiar, or they could come from articles that you find. Write a report describing your examples and evaluating what you think about the various approaches.

• Go to the Web site of the Great Place to Work Institute, www.greatplacetowork.com. What does it say about what makes an organization a great place to work? Next, locate the site’s lists of the best companies to work for. Choose one company from each of the international lists. Research each company and describe what it does that makes it a great place to work.

• In your own words, write down three things you learned in this chapter about being a good manager.

• Self-knowledge can be a powerful learning tool. Go to mymanagementlab and complete these self-assessment exercises: What Motivates Me? What Are My Dominant Needs? What Rewards Do I Value Most? What’s My View on the Nature of People? How Sensitive Am I to Equity Differences? What’s My Job’s Motivating Potential? Do I Want an Enriched Job? What Are My Course Performance Goals? How Confident Am I in My Ability to Succeed? What’s My Attitude Toward Achievement? Using the results of your assessments, identify personal strengths and weaknesses. What will you do to reinforce your strengths and improve your weaknesses?

ETHICS DILEMMA
Retailers often have employees memorize scripts for dealing with customer questions or to help standardize sales pitches. In this dilemma, students are asked their opinion of these techniques.  Students are to consider if the use of scripts crosses an ethical line or are they a necessary technique to improve efficiency and productivity.  Some of the students in class may be more familiar with the use of scripts as they have had to learn them for one of their past or present jobs. 

While the use of scripts follows the philosophy of Theory X management, it probably does not cross the line of what would be considered unethical.  By explaining to employees the purpose of scripts in more detail, managers could leave it up to employees to decide if they would like to develop their own, more personalized, script.  Employees could also be reinforced for communicating effectively with customers.

SKILLS EXERCISE
Developing Your Motivating Employees Skill

Several suggestions for motivating employees are provided, based on what is currently known about motivation.
A. Recognize individual differences in terms of needs, attitudes, personality, and other important individual factors.
B. Match people to jobs by identifying what needs are important to individuals and trying to provide jobs that allow them to fulfill those needs.
C. Use goals because the literature on goal setting suggests that managers should ensure that employees have hard, specific goals and feedback on how well they are performing in pursuit of those goals.
D. Ensure that goals are perceived as attainable. Employees who see goals as unattainable will reduce their levels of effort.
E. Individualize rewards. Because employees have different needs, what is a reward and reinforcer to one may not work for another.
F. Link rewards to performance by making rewards contingent on desired levels of performance.
G. Check the system for equity. Employees should perceive that the rewards or outcomes are equal to the inputs given.
H. Don’t ignore money. The allocation of performance-based increases, piecework bonuses, and other pay incentives is important in determining employee motivation.

WORKING TOGETHER—Team-Based Exercise 

Students are instructed to list and rank order five criteria that would be most important to them in a job. Then they are to break into small groups and compare responses for patterns.

You may wish to assign the listing and rank ordering prior to class in order to allow enough time for students to compile their lists carefully. You may also want to revisit the “Managing Your Career” box in this chapter, as it provides research results on the topic of important employment criteria.

Answers to Case Application Questions 

Searching For …

1.  What’s it like to work at Google? (Hint: Go to Google’s Web site and click on About Google. Find the section Jobs at Google.) What’s your assessment of the company’s work environment?
There is also information provided by other companies, such as Fortune Magazine, on Google’s high level of employee satisfaction.  In 2010, Google was again ranked by Fortune Magazine as the number one, best company to work for.   Generally, Google does very well providing benefits for its employees including generous 401K plans, health insurance, fitness memberships, job sharing, and even paid time off to work on social causes.  Engineers also get a say in what projects they have to work on.

2.  Google is doing a lot for its employees, but obviously it’s not done enough to retain several of its talented employees. Using what you’ve learned from studying the various motivation theories, what does this situation tell you about employee motivation?
Students may apply several theories in answering this question.  Two theories that may be particularly useful for students to think about are equity theory and expectancy theory.  Applying equity theory, students can discuss the concepts of distributive justice and underreward inequity.  Applying expectancy theory, students may discuss the concept of valence (attractiveness of the reward) and the idea being that employees are doing the majority of the work and do not perceive the reward as attractive enough.

3.  What do you think is Google’s biggest challenge in keeping employees motivated?
Setting such a high bar, Google has created a situation where it will be difficult for the next set of benefits to “outdo” last year’s package.  As Google continues to grow and expand into new markets, employees may see some of their benefits scaled down as the company becomes larger and more profit oriented.  The idea of taking benefits away from employees is sure to be seen as a big loss and will not be welcomed.

4.  If you were managing a team of Google employees, how would you keep them motivated?
Google has excelled at providing employees with an exciting organizational culture and a wide array of benefits.  They have effectively positioned themselves as a leader in the industry for providing a wonderful place to work (described as paradise by some).  Ask students from a Generation Y perspective what could Google do to continue to develop this culture of success?

Best Practices at Best Buy

1. Describe the elements of ROWE. What do you think might be the advantages and drawbacks of this program?
From the Best Buy website, “In the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) at Best Buy's corporate office, our employees are trusted to manage their lives - and their work - without being judged or micro-managed by others. ROWE means that employees are rewarded for outcomes, not activities, and leaders get to focus on the things that truly drive business results. It also means: increased productivity, reduced voluntary employee turnover, and increased levels of engagement for our people.”

The disadvantages of such a program are perceived loss of control of employees, increased training time, and increased difficulty monitoring and evaluating employee behavior.

2. Using one or more motivation theories from the chapter, explain why you think ROWE works.
This program fits in with several theories of motivation, Theory Y – giving employee more discretion in what they do in their jobs and making work more challenging, Goal Setting – by allowing employees to participate more in the goal setting process as far as the conditions of work, then employees are more likely to accept and accomplish the goal. Expectancy Theory – this program uses some aspects of goal setting, generating expectancies for employees and establishing outcomes.

3. What might be the challenges for managers in motivating employees in a program like this?
By allowing employees more flexibility in the when and where of work, it makes the manager’s job more difficult in evaluating employee inputs.  Without evaluation and control, it is difficult to assign compensation and other reinforces for behavior.  Most of these problems can be solved with appropriate communication and performance monitoring systems.

4. Does this sound like something you would be comfortable with? Why or why not?
Most students should report a preference for this type of arrangement.  This is especially true of Gen X and Gen Y employees who value greater flexibility.  Some however, may be put off by the high degree of autonomy granted to employees.  Too much freedom may actually intimidate some workers.

5. What’s your interpretation of the statement that “Work isn’t a place you go—it’s something you do”? Do you agree? Why or why not?
Unfortunately, many employees see their contributions to their employers based on the amount of time they put in, not the amount of effort.  Just being at work does not help the organization accomplish their goals.  Too many people sit at work waiting for 5:00 so they can leave. Once employees see that an organization’s survival depends on work being done, then they see the benefit of losing the focus on time and place.