BA105-1: BA105-1: Organizational BehaviorOrganizational Behavior

Professor Jim LincolnProfessor Jim Lincoln

Week 8: Lecture Week 8: Lecture

Motivation and Job Design Motivation and Job Design

2

Agenda

• Today – Business

• Slides on website• Readings: Robbins, Adler, PE…then Pfeffer, Brainard case

– Theories of motivation – Job design for motivation

• Thursday – Lecture windup; questions– Discuss NUMMI

• Adler paper• NUMMI video

– Discuss motivation issues in People Express – Go over exam

3

Rank-order (#1-#8) the following as to their importance to you as motivators in your job:

Benefits

Worthwhile

Praise

Pay

Learning

Security

Feels good

Skills

An experiment

4

Now rank-order (#1-#8) the following as to their importance for others’ motivations (imagine you were being paid for the accuracy of your predictions):

Benefits

Worthwhile

Praise

Pay

Learning

Security

Feels good

Skills

An experiment

5

Actual rank-order (#1-#8) of these factors based on a study by Heath (2000):

Self-Rating Others’ Rating1 Learning2 Skills3 Feel Good4 Pay5 Worthwhile6 Praise7 Benefits8 Security

1 Pay2 Skills3 Security4 Benefits5 Feel Good6 Learning7 Worthwhile8 Praise

What are the implications of these differences?What are the implications of these differences?

The importance of intrinsic & extrinsic rewards

6

Choose Between:

Job A: A moderately interest-ing and enjoyable job with high pay

Job B: An extremely interes-ting and enjoyable job with only average pay

Predicted

% who

Prefer A

Actual

% who

Prefer A

Sample

Size

United States 68 38 1713

Canada 54 33 2253

Sweden 42 8 1100

Finland 43 24 678

MBAs 62 45 140

How important is money?

7

Theories of extrinsic motivation(What are the managerial implications?)

• Homo economicus (Theory X, Taylor, principal/agent) M=f(R)– People are rational but selfish, opportunistic, & risk- and effort-averse.

They need strong incentives & close monitoring

• Expectancy/path-goal (Vroom) M = E(Ri) = (pi)Ri

– People are rational and goal-directed. They map paths to the attainment of rewards. Extrinsic rewards motivate only when the perceived probability of attainment is high

• Learning theory (Skinner)– People are not rational or goal-directed. Random behavior that is

rewarded is reinforced. Behavior that is punished is extinguished

• Equity theory: M = f(Rs/Es - Ro/Eo) – People benchmark the value of their extrinsic rewards on those of others.

Perceived inequity may be motivating or demotivating

8

Theory X and Theory YDouglas MacGregor: The Human Side of Enterprise, 1960

Theory X

1. People are motivated only by economic gain

2. People resist effort; tend to “soldier” on the job

3. People need clear, simple tasks and strong direction

4. People are selfish, individualistic, “look out for number one”

Theory Y1. People are motivated by many

nonfinancial rewards 2. People need challenge, variety,

feedback, closure in work3. People attach meaning and

value to work and worklife4. People are highly social and

sensitive to group norms  

9

10

The pain of inequity

Sitting on his back porch, with a view of a lake, his black Mercedes parked in the driveway, John Mariotti ponders the unfairness of life. "I see people I know couldn't carry my briefcase walking away with failure packages bigger than my net worth," says Mr. Mariotti, 57 years old, a former executive and now a Knoxville, Tenn., consultant who made more than $150,000 last year. Most people don't begrudge Bill Gates his billions. What seems to be more unnerving to high-wage earners is the belief that many of the new super-rich have stumbled into their wealth by being at the right place at the right time -- or, even more infuriatingly, have succeeded after failing at careers in law, medicine or big corporations.

WSJ 8/3/1998

11

Theories of intrinsic motivation(What are the managerial implications?)

• Theory Y (McGregor, Marx)– People find meaning & fulfillment through work (intrinsic rewards)

• Motivation/hygiene (Herzberg)– Extrinsic rewards reduce dissatisfaction; intrinsic rewards motivate

• Hierarchy of needs (Maslow)– People have needs that both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards fulfill. Intrinsic rewards motivate

only after a sufficient level of extrinsic reward is attained

• Cognitive dissonance (Festinger)– People as rationalizers: need consistency in cognitions & behavior

• Too much extrinsic reward makes work less intrinsically rewarding• Too little extrinsic reward makes work more intrinsically rewarding

12

Herzberg: motivation - hygiene

MASLOW’S NEEDS HIERARCHY APPLIED TO JOB DESIGN

MASLOW’S NEEDS HIERARCHY APPLIED TO JOB DESIGN

Pay/benefits

Job security

Friends at work

Challenging work

Recognition, respect

14

What exactly is motivating about money?

“Status is of great importance in all human relationships. The greatest incentive that money has, usually, is that it is a symbol of success... The resulting status is the real incentive. Money can be an incentive to the miser only.”

John F. Lincoln, CEO Lincoln Electric

15

Dilbert on cognitive dissonance

16

What makes a job intrinsically rewarding?

• Leadership– inspiring vision and charisma

• Culture and community– identification, commitment, respect

• Job tasks

17

What attributes of job tasks are intrinsically rewarding?

– Variety– Identity– Challenge & risk– Significance– Feedback– Contextual information (other processes; company finances)– Discretion– Responsibility– Personal growth – Social integration

18

Classical job design (Taylorism):Efficiency & reliability through standardization and control

• Narrow scope• Simple, repetitive tasks • Rigid rules & specs • Close, top-down supervision• Low autonomy• Low skill• Fixed pay (by job or time) or individual incentive pay• Long job ladders

Efficiency at the expense of motivation!

19

Job redesign for motivation• Classical (Taylorist) job design• Job rotation

– cross-train; pay for job skills

• Job enlargement (horizontal loading). Pull in:– support tasks– upstream and downstream production tasks

• Job enrichment (vertical loading). Pull down:– Authority, accountability, responsibility

• Switch to teams– Off-line problem-solving– On-line self-managing

• Industrial democracy– European supervisory boards; works councils; Saturn; People Express

Low

- Scope and E

mpow

erment-H

igh

20

What does the NUMMI case say about job redesign?

21

• Managers ignore at their peril our tendency to seek intrinsic rationales for work activities.

• Human motivation has complex causes that may work in contradictory ways

• Managers need to think about those channels in designing job and reward systems

• Be clear about your own motivational assumptions before you begin designing job and reward systems.

• The theories of motivation managers carry in their heads can become self-fulfilling prophecies

• Efficiency and motivation are not contradictory goals in job design

Takeaways