Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology

Gerhard Ohrband13th lectureWork motivation

Course structure

Part I Introduction1 Managing diversity2 History and context for Work and Organizational

Psychology / Roles and methods

Part IIPeople at work3 Job Analysis and Design4 Personal Selection5 Training

Course structure

6 Performance Appraisal: Assessing and Developing Performance and Potential

7 Job Stress and Health

Part IIIHuman Factors at Work8 Workload and Task Allocation9 Work Environments and Performance10 The Design and Use of Work Technology11 Safety at Work

Course structure

Part IVOrganizations at Work12 Leadership and management13 Work motivation14 Teams: the challenges of cooperative work15 Organizational development (OD)

Part IV – Organizations at Work13 Motivation in the workplace

Outline:1. Introduction2. Content theories linked to accounts of general

motivation3. Content theories derived from studies of

unemployed workers4. Content theories derived from studies of worker

behaviour5. Process theories6. Job enlargement and enrichment7. Integrating the theories8. Individual differences

Outline This lecture summarizes the main theories

of work motivation. After this you should be able to1. Summarize the major tenets of the

theories2. Group the theories into types3. Evaluate the theories in terms of empirical

support and practical relevance4. Discuss the relationship between work

motivation and job satisfaction

1. Introduction

Why do people do x?

Arnold, Robertson and Cooper (1995): three features of motivation

1. Direction2. Effort3. Persistence

Perspectives in W/O Psychology Traditionally (fulfill

the aims of management):

Understand what motivates people so that their motivation could be increased; make them work harder and increase the profitability for the organization

Modern writers:Promote humanitarian

aims of increasing the workforce’s feelings of fulfillment, personal satisfaction and achievement

McGregor’s (1960) Theory X and Y

Managers hold one of two alternative ideologies about worker motivation

Theory X: “workers are inherently lazy, dislike work and have to be forced and controlled by a combination of rewards and penalties.”

Theory Y: “workers have a psychological need to work, they want to achieve and have responsibility”

Categorizing motivation theories

Content theories

Why do people work?

Process theories

What factors affect people’s willingness or persistence at work?

Types of theory of work motivation

Theories of workmotivation

Content theories Process theories

Based on generalmotivation

From studying unemployed

From studyingworkers

Emphasis on motivation

Emphasis on job satisfaction

2. Content theories linked to accounts of general motivation

Self-actualization

Esteem

Belongingness

Safety

Physiological

Growth needs

Deficiency needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

McClelland and need for achievement (nAch) Need for achievement (nAch): need to

accomplish something difficult Need for affiliation (nAff): need to

cooperate with other people Need for power (nPow): need to control the

activities of other people Questions: Do entrepreneurs have a

notably higher nAch? Do successful managers have s special profile, such as being high on nPow and low on nAff?

McClelland and need for achievement (nAch) Underlying assumptions:a) People differ in terms of their standing on certain key

constructsb) These key constructs are nAch, nAff etc. Debate on whether the latter is correct Concurrent constructs: Protestant work ethic

(Furnham, 1997); employment commitment (Banks and Henry, 1993)

Attention: such constructs may be more relevant to some

people than others and may not apply to workers at all levels, of both sexes, in all cultures.

Problems with measuring the constructs Is nAch learnable or inborn?

3. Content theories derived from studies of unemployed workers

Study the psychological effects of unemployment

Classic study by Jahoda, 1931, in the Austrian village of Marienthal

Manifest needs:Earning a living

Latent needs:•Social contact

•Status in the community•Purposefulness•Time structure

4. Content theories derived from studies of worker behaviour

Money? Harpaz (1989): “Would you work if you did not need the money?”“Yes”: Great Britain 66% - Japan 95%In most countries the percentages for women are slightly Lower than for men.

Elton Mayo (1993): “Hawthorne effect” – almost regardless of the environmental changes introduced the output of the workers increased.

How workers behave depends on their informal groups: the group will develop norms about the ‘proper’ amount of work to do, and workers will keep to these norms rather than maximize their own level of income.

Warr’s vitamin modelEnvironmental features Type Matching personal characteristic

Opportunity for control AD High GNS, high ability

Opportunity for skill use AD High GNS, relevant unused skills

Externally generated goals AD High GNS, high nAch

Variety AD High GNS

Environmental clarity AD High GNS, external control beliefs

Availability of money CE High desire for money

Physical security CE High desire for physical security

Opportunity for interpersonal contact

AD High sociability

Valued social position CE High desire for social esteem

Vitamin model

5. Process theories

Expectancy (VIE) theory: Vroom (1964): people are motivated

to behave so that they obtain the outcomes which they believe will provide the results they desire.

Valence Instrumentality Expectancy

Goal-setting theory (Locke, 1968)

Basic tenets: Difficult goals lead to higher performance than

easy goals Specific goals lead to higher performance than

general goals Feedback on performance is necessary if

difficult specific goals are to show their benefitsQualifications: The goals have to be accepted by the

employee The difficult goals cannot be too difficult

Job characteristics model (Hackman and Oldham, 1976)

Core job Dimensions

Skill variety

Task identity

TaskSignificance

Autonomy

Task feedback

Psychological states

Experienced meaningfulnessof the work

Experienced responsibilityfor outcome of the work

Outcomes

High internalworkMotivation

High qualitywork performance

High satisfactionwith the work

Low absenteeismand turnover

Knowledge of the actualresults of the work Activities

Growth Need Strength

Job characteristics model

MPS= (skill variety + task identity + task significance)

x autonomy x feedback

3

MPS: motivational potential score

Herzberg’s two-factor theory of job satisfaction

Two qualitatively different types of factors

Motivators: factors leading to satisfaction (receiving recognition, being given responsibility)

Hygiene factors: factors leading to dissatisfaction (relations with superiors, working conditions and pay)

Other theories

Met expectations theory Equity theory Landy’s opponent-process model of

job satisfaction

6. Job enlargement and enrichment

Job enlargement: adding other jobs of a similar level to a particular job

Job enrichment: adding tasks of a higher level

Example: an assembler may have the job ‘enriched’ by being asked to inspect the quality of the assembling as well as doing the assembling itself

7. Integrating the theories

Mediating mechanisms:•Effort•Persistence•Direction•Task strategies

Specific high goals

High expectancy,self-efficacy

Commitment to theorganization and its

goals

Satisfaction and anticipated satisfaction

Contingent andNon-contingent rewards

High performance

Moderating factors:•Goal commitment•Feedback•Ability•Task complexity•Situational constraints

The high performance cycle of Locke and Latham (1990)

8. Individual differences

Bond and Smith (1996) reviewed cross-cultural work in organizational psychology.Excerpt: “… achievement motivation, at least in East Asian collectivist cultures, is more socially oriented … the Western pattern of compulsive working with attendant health risks appears here to be attenuated by the centrality of family within Chinese culture (p.224)

Discussion Points:1. Which of the theories is best suited to including

cultural differences in work motivation?2. Taking any two of the theories, consider whether

they are relevant to people who are not working, such as retired people. Should they be relevant to non-workers?

3. What are the main criteria one should use in judging the theories, and what is the most important single criterion?

4. Would the theories be different if they had been constructed by the workforce rather than by the management?

5. Do the theories help us to understand the work/home interface, and people’s needs to balance the demands of work and home?

Literature: Arnold, J., Cooper, C.L. and Robertson, I.T. (1995). Work

Psychology. 2nd edn. London: Pitman. Banks, M.H. and Henry, P. (1993). Change and stability in

employment commitment. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 66, 177-84.

Bond, M.H. and Smith, P.B. (1996). Cross-cultural social and organizational psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 203-235.

Furnham, A. (1997). The Psychology of Behaviour at Work. Hove: Psychology Press.

Hackman, J.R. and Oldham, G.R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: test of a new theory. Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance, 16, 250-79.

Harpaz (1989). Non-financial employment commitment: a cross-national comparison. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 62, 147-150.

McGregor, D. (1960). The Human Side of Entreprise. New York: McGraw-Hill.