Session 7

Psychology and Sociology - 1

Psychology and Sociology – Motivation

Definitions
 Motivation are the processes that account for an individuals intensity,
direction and persistence of effort towards attaining a goal.
 Intrinsic motivation is doing an activity because it is interesting and
enjoyable. It is doing an activity because we want to.
 Extrinsic motivation is doing an activity because of the benefits it can
bring or avoid negative consequences. It is doing an activity because you
are driven by its consequences (because you have to).

Concepts
Motivation: What is it?
 Push towards an activity with good energy
 Not only about quantity but also about quality.
 Extremely complex
 Without motivation, employees would waste on average 30 minutes at
work.
Early theories of motivation
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (no empirical evidence)
o When someone is hungry, he will only focus on that and forget
everything else
o It is not valid because research has proven it wrong
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Contemporary theories
 Self-determination Theory:
o The first airplane
 Samuel Pierpont Langley: motivated by consequences:
money, famous
 The wright brothers: motivated by task: wanting to create
1st plane
o 3 basic needs (We need to feel that we…)
 Competence: … are good at something
 Autonomy: … have choices and control over our actions.
 Relatedness: … are connected to others through positive
relationships.
 These 3 needs are universal and need to be satisfied to feel
happy.
 Lead to intrinsic motivation
o Intrinsic motivation
 Example: Reading additional articles which are not required
to read for school because you are actually enjoying reading
these articles.
o Extrinsic motivation
 Different levels of extrinsic motivation
 One nurse fears her employer VS. one nurse wants a
promotion
 Example: Good marks, bad marks or resit exam, income or
bonus, avoidance of a punishment, trust from employees
o Rewards can also be a source of intrinsic motivation
 Giving positive feedback
 Bonuses can be either intrinsic or extrinsic
o Outcomes associated with intrinsic motivation
 More flexibility and creativity
 Increased performance
 Improved quality of relationships
 Increased happiness and health, etc.
o Effect of the desire to learn on work performance
 Job enlargement – Increase intrinsic motivation
 Horizontal expansion
o Variation in tasks
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o Same level of expertise and responsibility

 Variation in tasks will increase an employee feeling of
competence and their intrinsic motivation
 McDonalds example: Day 1: BigMac, Day 2: Cashier …
 Job enrichment – Increase intrinsic motivation
 Vertical expansion
o Improve the level of control
o Increase the level of responsibility
o Increase the level of expertise
 Same employee does same job but with more control
and responsibility
 Employee involvement – Increase intrinsic motivation
 Giving more power to the employee in the decision-
making process
o Participative management: Direct involvement
in decision
o Representative participation: Employees are
represented by someone in decision.
 Goal setting Theory
o Intensity - Goals energise us
 Difficult goals increase our level of effort and performance
 People will...
 … put more effort.
 … Focus more on the task.
 … persist in order to achieve the goal.
 … seek ways to be more efficient.
 If your manager gives you a higher goal than your co-
workers
 You may see it as a source of confidence
 It will increase your feeling of self-efficacy
 It will increase your performance
 Higher job satisfaction
o Direction – Goals focus our energies on things that matter
 Help to prioritise and focus on behaviour to reach goal
o Persistence – Goals affect our persistence
 Stay committed to omit admitting of failure (especially if
goals are public)
o SMART goals
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 Specific (Is your goal clear or vague?)

 Measurable (Do you have a reliable way to evaluate your
performance?)
 Attainable (Is your goals not too difficult?)
 Relevant (is your goals important to you?)
 Time bound (Do you have a specific deadline?)
o Goals be related to quantity or quality of performance?
 Set both: Quality and quantity goals!
o Goals be related to process or outcomes
 Complex tasks: process
 Simple tasks: outcomes
o Goals be set only by supervisor?
 Participative goal-setting and then assigning goals without
discussion
o Goals be set on individual or team level?
 Cooperation between team members: team
 Independent work: individual
 However individual goals
 Increase competition, decrease team performance,
help between employees
 Create goals on individual and team level!
Predictors of motivation (not covered in lecture)
 Money
 Trust
 Meaning
 Justice