Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Motivation Concepts in Organizational Behavior

Learning Objectives

• Describe the three key elements of motivation.

• Compare the early theories of motivation.

• Contrast content-based theories of motivation, including self-determination theory, regulatory-focus theory, and job engagement theory.

• Compare process-based theories of motivation: expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, and self-efficacy theory.

• Describe the forms of organizational justice, including distributive, procedural, informational, and interactional justice.

• Describe how contemporary theories of motivation complement one another.

Key Elements of Motivation

Definition and Components

Motivation refers to the processes that account for an individual's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal. Motivation levels can vary between individuals and within individuals at different times.

• Intensity: Refers to how hard a person tries to achieve a goal.

• Direction: The orientation of effort that benefits the organization or aligns with desired outcomes.

• Persistence: The duration a person can maintain effort toward a goal.

Early Theories of Motivation

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s theory proposes that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy, and individuals are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to higher-level needs.

• Physiological Needs: Basic survival needs such as food, water, and shelter.

• Safety-Security Needs: Protection from physical and emotional harm; stability.

• Social-Belongingness Needs: Relationships, affection, and love.

• Esteem Needs: Self-respect, recognition, and achievement.

• Self-Actualization Needs: Realizing one’s full potential and personal growth.

Need Level	Description	Examples of How Needs Are Met in an Organization
Self-actualization	Needs to realize one’s full potential as a human being	Using skills and striving to achieve full potential on the job
Esteem	Needs to feel good about oneself and be respected by others	Receiving promotions, recognition for accomplishments
Social-belongingness	Needs for social interaction, friendship, affection, and love	Good relations with coworkers, participating in social functions
Safety-security	Needs for security, stability, and a safe environment	Job security, medical benefits, safe working conditions
Physiological	Basic needs for survival	Minimum wage, ability to buy food and clothing

Additional info: Maslow’s theory is widely recognized for its intuitive logic, though empirical support is limited and it is less frequently researched in recent decades.

Alderfer’s ERG Theory

Alderfer’s ERG theory condenses Maslow’s five levels into three core needs:

• Existence Needs: Basic material and physiological requirements.

• Relatedness Needs: Interpersonal relationships and social interaction.

• Growth Needs: Personal development and creative or productive work.

Unlike Maslow, ERG theory allows for flexible movement among levels and does not require strict hierarchical progression.

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory (Motivator-Hygiene Theory)

Herzberg’s theory distinguishes between factors that cause job satisfaction (motivators) and those that cause dissatisfaction (hygiene factors).

• Motivators: Achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement.

• Hygiene Factors: Company policies, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations, working conditions.

According to Herzberg, the absence of hygiene factors causes dissatisfaction, but their presence does not necessarily motivate. Motivators are required for satisfaction.

Additional info: Criticisms include reliance on self-reports and questionable methodology.

McClelland’s Theory of Needs

McClelland identified three key needs that drive motivation:

• Need for Achievement (nAch): Drive to excel and achieve in relation to a set of standards.

• Need for Power (nPow): Desire to influence or control others.

• Need for Affiliation (nAff): Desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.

These needs are often subconscious and difficult to measure directly.

Contemporary Content-Based Theories

Self-Determination Theory

This theory emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation and the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

• Intrinsic motivation leads to higher engagement and satisfaction.

• Extrinsic rewards can sometimes undermine intrinsic motivation (cognitive evaluation theory).

• Individuals are motivated when their goals align with their interests and core values (self-concordance theory).

Applications: Choose jobs for intrinsic reasons; organizations should provide both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives.

Regulatory Focus Theory

People regulate their behavior through two main focuses:

• Promotion Focus: Striving for advancement and accomplishment; approaching desired goals.

• Prevention Focus: Fulfilling duties and obligations; avoiding negative outcomes.

Job Engagement Theory

Job engagement refers to the investment of physical, cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance. Higher engagement predicts better task performance and organizational citizenship behavior.

Contemporary Process-Based Theories

Goal-Setting Theory

Goals are central to motivation, directing attention, mobilizing effort, encouraging persistence, and facilitating strategy development.

• Specific and difficult goals, when accepted, lead to higher performance.

• Goal commitment, task characteristics, feedback, and goal orientation influence the effectiveness of goals.

• Management by Objectives (MBO) is a practical application involving participative goal setting, explicit time periods, and performance feedback.

Ethical Considerations: Overemphasis on goal attainment may lead to unethical behavior or avoidance of mastery.

Expectancy Theory

Expectancy theory posits that motivation depends on the expectation that effort will lead to performance, performance will lead to rewards, and rewards will satisfy personal goals.

• Effort-Performance Relationship: Will effort lead to good performance?

• Performance-Reward Relationship: Will performance lead to desired rewards?

• Rewards-Personal Goals Relationship: Are the rewards personally attractive?

The theory is often represented as:

$Motivation = Expectancy imes Instrumentality imes Valence$

Where:

• Expectancy: Belief that effort leads to performance.

• Instrumentality: Belief that performance leads to rewards.

• Valence: Value of the rewards to the individual.

Organizational Justice

Forms of Organizational Justice

Organizational justice refers to employees’ perceptions of fairness in the workplace. It includes:

• Distributive Justice: Fairness of outcome distributions (e.g., pay, rewards).

• Procedural Justice: Fairness of the processes used to determine outcomes.

• Informational Justice: Adequacy and honesty of information provided.

• Interactional Justice: Quality of interpersonal treatment during the implementation of procedures.

Perceived injustice can lead employees to change inputs, change outcomes, distort perceptions, choose different referents, or leave the organization.

Integrating Contemporary Theories of Motivation

Modern theories of motivation are complementary, providing a more complete understanding of what drives individuals in organizations. Managers should consider multiple perspectives to foster motivation and organizational justice.