Military Psychology

Gerhard Ohrband – ULIM University, Moldova

5th lecture

Individual and group behaviour

Course structure

1. Introduction: Historical Overview, main applications2. Environmental Stressors3. Leadership4. Team Effectiveness5. Individual and Group Behaviour6. Clinical Psychology7. Selection and Classification8. Training 9. Human Factor Engineering10. Psychotherapy and Counseling11. Terrorism12. Trauma Therapy13. Psychological Warfare14. Ethical Issues for a Psychologist in the Armed Forces15. Review: Preparation for the exams

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. Direction

2. Effort

3. 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 model

Environmental 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.