BUS-201-202: TUTORIAL 7 (CHAPTER 7 & 8)

Class Exercise (Chapter 7)

In most universities, professors use fear to motivate students to performance. They are
likely to say something like, “Study hard to make a good grade on the test. If you
don’t, you’ll fail the class!” This has led to an emphasis on students’ parts to make a
grade rather that learn the information.
1. Divide the class into groups of three to five students each.
2. Ask students to discuss what their goals are in the class.
3. Students should identify their first objective. Is it to make a grade? Or is it to
learn the topic? Ask them to be honest. Most often the first is the primary
objective of most students
4. Ask the groups to compare this finding against goal-setting theory and
expectation theory.
5. Discuss whether or not these theories would make a difference in a professor’s
approach to motivation of student performance. Do the students believe their
performance would be affected by different motivational approaches?

Class Exercise (Chapter 8)

1. Divide the class into groups of three to five students.

2. Ask students to look at this Web site
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/12/ceo-compensation-11_rank.html
3. Student should work as a team to analyze the 2011 list for several
characteristics
a. What is the ratio of men to women? Why do you find the results
you find?
b. Categorize CEO pay by related industry. Are there any patterns of
CEO compensation?
4. Ask the teams to make a presentation to the class regarding findings

REVIEW QUESTIONS (CHAPTER 7)

1. Describe the three key elements of motivation?

Answer:
a. Motivation is the processes that account for an individual’s intensity,
direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal – specifically,
an organizational goal.
b. The key elements of motivation are:
i. Intensity – how hard a person tries
ii. Direction – effort that is channeled toward, and consistent with,
organizational goals
iii. Persistence – how long a person can maintain effort
(Learning Objectives: Describe the three key elements of motivation: Learning Outcomes:
Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational performance; and
AACSB Learning Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)
2. Identify the early theories of motivation and evaluate their applicability today.
Answer:
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
2. Alderfer’s ERG (Existence, Relatedness, and Growth)
3. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
4. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
5. McClelland’s Theory of Needs
Most of the theories have not been proven to be valid although, they form a basis
for the contemporary theories that are used by managers today. (Learning Objectives:
Identify the early theories of motivation and evaluate their applicability today; Learning
Outcomes: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational
performance; and AACSB Learning Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)

3. Apply the predications of self-determination theory to intrinsic and extrinsic

rewards.
Answer: Self-determination theory proposes that people prefer to feel they have
control over their actions, so anything that makes a previously enjoyed task feel
more like an obligation than a freely chosen activity will undermine motivation.
Much research on self-determination theory in OB has focused on cognitive
evaluation theory, which hypothesizes that extrinsic rewards will reduce intrinsic
interest in a task. When people are paid for work, it feels less like something they
want to do and more like something they have to do. Intrinsic and extrinsic
rewards are not independent; extrinsic rewards decrease intrinsic rewards; pay
should be noncontingent on performance; and verbal rewards increase intrinsic
motivation; tangible rewards reduce it. (Learning Objectives: Apply the predications of
self-determination theory to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards; Learning Outcomes: Describe the
major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational performance; and AACSB
Learning Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)

4. Understand the implications of employee engagement for management.

Answer: One key to understanding employee engagement is the degree to which
an employee believes it is meaningful to engage in work. Another factor is a
match between the individual’s values and those of the organization. Leadership
behaviors that inspire workers to a greater sense of mission also increase
employee engagement. One of the critiques of engagement is that the construct is
partially redundant with job attitudes like satisfaction or stress. Engagement may
also predict important work outcomes better than traditional job attitudes. Others
critics note there may be a “dark side” to engagement, as evidenced by positive
relationships between engagement and work-family conflict. Further research
exploring how engagement relates to these negative outcomes may help clarify
whether some highly engaged employees might be getting “too much of a good
thing.” (Learning Objectives: Understand the implications of employee engagement for
managements; Learning Outcomes: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to
organizational performance; and AACSB Learning Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)

5. Compare and contrast goal-setting theory and management by objective.

Answer: Goal-setting theory states that specific and difficult goals, with self-
generated feedback, lead to higher performance. Difficult goals: focus and direct
 attention, energize the person to work harder, difficulty increases persistence and
force people to be more effective and efficient. Intentions articulated in difficult
and specific goals can be a potent motivating force. The motivating power of
goal-setting theory has been proven on more than 100 tasks ivolving more than
40,000 participants across a variety of industries. Setting specific, challenging
goals for employees is one of the best things that managers can do to improve
performance.
Management by objective is an implmentation of Goal-setting. Organiational
goals are translated to specific objectives. Four components of MBO are
a. Goal specificity
b. Participation in decision making
c. Explicit time period
d. Performance feedback
(Learning Objectives: Compare and contrast goal-setting theory and management by objective;
Learning Outcomes: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational
performance; and AACSB Learning Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)

6. Contrast reinforcement theory and goal setting theory.

Answer: Reinforcement theory is a theory that believes that behavior is a
function of consequences. It is similar to Goal-Setting Theory, in that it is focused
on a behavioral approach rather than a cognitive one. It is a counterpoint to goal-
setting theory, in the sense that it argues that reinforcement conditions behavior.
This theory views behavior as environmentally-caused . Although it is not strictly
a theory of motivation because it does not adress what initiates behavior, it does
provide an analysis of what controls behavior. According to research,
reinforcement is an influence on behavior but not the only one. (Learning Objectives:
Contrast reinforcement theory and goal setting theory; Learning Outcomes: Describe the major
theories of motivation and relate them to organizational performance; and AACSB Learning
Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)

7. Demonstrate how organizational justice is a refinement of equity theory.

Answer: The equity theory says that employees compare their ratios of
outcomes-to-inputs of relevant others and then respond to eliminate any
inequities. It has been somewhat supplanted because equity theory has focused on
distributive justice which is the employee’s perceived fairness of the amount and
allocation of rewards among individuals. Organizational justice is broader and
equity is now viewed from an overall perception of what is fair in the workplace.
(Learning Objectives: Demonstrate how organizational justice is a refinement of equity theory;
Learning Outcomes: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational
performance; and AACSB Learning Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)

8. Apply the key tenets of expectancy theory to motivating employees.

Answer: Expectancy theory says that the strength of a tendency to act in a
certain way depends on the strength of an expectation and that the act will be
followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of the outcome to the
individual. Expectancy thoery focuses on three relationships: effort-perfomance
relationship; performance-reward relationship and rewards-personal goals
 relationship. This research has been difficult to replicate and therefore validate.
Some others believe it is limited in application and idealistic since it is based on a
high correlation between perfomance and rewards in a job situation. (Learning
Objectives: Apply the key tenets of expectancy theory to motivating employees; Learning
Outcomes: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational
performance; and AACSB Learning Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)

9. Compare contemporary theories of motivation.

Answer: contemporary theories have one thing in common: Each has a reasonable
degree of valid supporting documentation. This doesn’t mean they are
unquestionably right. We call them “contemporary theories” because they
represent the current state of thinking in explaining employee motivation. Self-
Determination proposes that people prefer to feel they have control over their
actions, so anything that makes a previously enjoyed task feel more like an
obligation than a freely chosen activity will undermine motivation.

Job engagement, the investment of an employee’s physical, cognitive, and

emotional energies into job performance. Practicing managers and scholars alike
have lately become interested in facilitating job engagement, believing something
deeper than liking a job or finding it interesting drives performance.

In the late 1960s, Edwin Locke proposed that intentions to work toward a goal are
a major source of work motivation. Goals tell an employee what needs to be done
and how much effort is needed. Evidence strongly suggests, that specific goals
increase performance, that difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher
performance than do easy goals; and that feedback leads to higher performance
than does non feedback.

Efficacy Theory, known also as social cognitive theory and social learning theory
Suggests that the higher your self-efficacy, the more confidence you have in your
ability to succeed in a task. Self-efficacy can create a positive spiral in which
those with high efficacy become more engaged in their tasks and then, in turn,
increase performance, which increases efficacy further.

(Learning Objectives: Compare contemporary theories of motivation: Learning Outcomes:

Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational performance; and
AACSB Learning Goals: Reflective thinking skills.)

REVIEW QUESTIONS (CHAPTER 8)

1. What is the job characteristics model? How does it motivate employees?
Answer: The job characteristics model is the Hackman and Oldham’s
concept that any job can be described through five core job dimensions:

a. Skill variety – Requirements for different tasks in the job.

b. Task identity – Completion of a whole piece of work.
c. Task significance – The job’s impact on others.
d. Autonomy – Level of discretion in decision making.
e. Feedback – Amount of direct and clear information on
performance.
The way elements in a job are organized (job design) impacts motivation,
satisfaction, and performance. (Covers Learning Objective: Describe the job
characteristics model and evaluate the way it motivates by changing the work
environment; Learning Outcome: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate
them to organizational performance; AACSB Learning Goal: Reflective thinking skills)

2. What are the three major ways that jobs can be redesigned? In your view,
in what situations would one of the methods be favored over the others?
Answer: Job Rotation - The periodic shifting of a worker from one task to
another

Job Enlargement - The horizontal expansion of jobs

Job Enrichment - The vertical expansion of jobs

Job enrichment would be favored when employees need to be able to

handle a customer issue from start to finish. Individuals can feel more of
a sense of accomplishment and accountability while becoming an expert
is a number of areas. (Covers Learning Objective: Compare and contrast the three
main ways jobs can be redesigned; Learning Outcome: Describe the major theories of
motivation and relate them to organizational performance; AACSB Learning Goal:
Reflective thinking skills.)

3. What are the three alternative work arrangements of flextime, job

sharing, and telecommuting? What are the advantages and disadvantages
of each?
Answer:

a. Flextime - Employees work during a common core time period

each day but have discretion in forming their total workday from a
flexible set of hours outside the core.
b. Job Sharing - The practice of having two or more people split a 40-
hour-a-week job.
c. Telecommuting - Employees do their work at home at least two
days a week on a computer that is linked to their office.
The advantages are that each offers alternative work options so flexibility
can be built into an employee’s schedule. They all often reduce
 absenteeism and turnover for a company. Flextime is not applicable to
every job. It reduces traffic congestion, increase autonomy, increases
productivity, etc. Job sharing allows a company to use more than one
person for a job and increases flexibility. The drawback is locating
compatible workers. Telecommuting allows companies to select from a
larger labor pool. Increases productivity, reduces turnover, improves
morale and reduces office-space costs. The downside is the lack of direct
supervision of employees by managers. Also feelings of worker isolation
can be a problem. (Covers Learning Objective: Identify three alternative work
arrangements and show how they might motivate employees; Learning Outcome:
Describe the major theories of Motivation and relate them to organizational performance;
AACSB Learning Goal: Reflective thinking skills.)

4. What are employee involvement programs? How might they increase

employee motivation?
Answer: Employee involvement programs are a participative process
that uses the input of employees to increase their commitment to the
organization’s success. They can increase motivation by increasing
worker autonomy and control over their work lives/involvement in
organizations through programs like participative management,
representative participation like work councils and quality circles, a
group that regularly meets to discuss their quality programs and take
corrective actions. (Covers Learning Objective: Give examples of employee
involvement measures and how they can motivate employees; Learning Outcome:
Describe the major theories of Motivation and relate them to organizational performance;
AACSB Learning Goal: Reflective thinking skills.)

5. What is variable pay? What are the variable-pay programs that are used
to motivate employees? What are their advantages and disadvantages?
Answer:

a. Variable pay is a portion of an employee’s pay that is based on

some individual and/or organizational measure of performance.
b. Piece Rate:
i. Workers are paid a fixed sum for each unit of production
completed
ii. Weakness: not feasible for many jobs
c. Merit-Based:
i. Based on performance appraisal ratings
ii. Gap increasing between average and top-performers
iii. Weaknesses: validity of system based on annual appraisals,
pay pool can be small, unions strongly resist
d. Bonuses:
i. Rewards recent performance
ii. Weakness: employees consider this a pay
(Covers Learning Objective: Demonstrate how different types of variable-pay programs
can increase employee motivation; Learning Outcome: Describe the major theories of
 Motivation and relate them to organizational performance; AACSB Learning Goal:
Reflective thinking skills.)

6. How can flexible benefits motivate employees?

Answer: Flexible benefits allow employees tailor their benefit program to
meet their personal need by picking and choosing from a menu of benefit
options. Consistent with expectancy theory, flexible benefits individualize
rewards by allowing each employee to select the benefits that fit his or
her current needs. (Covers Learning Objective: Show how flexible benefits turn
benefits into motivators; Learning Outcome: Describe the major theories of Motivation
and relate them to organizational performance; AACSB Learning Goal: Reflective thinking
skills.)

7. What are the motivational benefits of intrinsic rewards?

Answer: Intrinsic rewards stimulate intrinsic motivation through
personal attention given to employee approval and appreciation for a job
well done. This is growing in popularity and usage. (Covers Learning
Objective: Identify the motivational benefits of intrinsic rewards; Learning Outcome:
Describe the major theories of Motivation and relate them to organizational performance;
AACSB Learning Goal: Reflective thinking skills.)