Motivation & Performance

Professor Deborah Glynn

Spring 2020
 Agenda
• Attendance
• Housekeeping
• Motivation
• Daniel Pink Motivation Video
• Engstrom
• Wrap Up
 Today’s Session
• Identify principles and challenges related to
organization’s performance in good times and bad.
• Utilize organizational behavior theories, frameworks,
principles and tactics to prevent OB problems or
solve them by applying critical thinking skills.
• Evaluate the benefits and challenges of different
incentive plans to motivate employees and
recommend the best solution to achieve org’s goals.
Motivation
 The What and Why of Motivation

Motivation: the underlying

psychological influences over
Types of Motivation
our behavior or thoughts

Direction Extrinsic
Intensity Intrinsic
Persistence
Understanding Others’ Motivation
Three mistakes when interpreting other’s
motivations
– They are just like me
– They are all just like each other
– They are just like they were yesterday

Key Insight:
Different people have different needs at different times
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Morality,
creativity,
spontaneity,
Complete psychic
problem solvingfulfillment

Recognition,
Self-esteem, confidence,responsibility,
advancement
achievement, respect

Acceptance,
Family, friendship, intimacyinclusion

Job security,
Security of the body, growth
resources, potential
health

Salary
Air, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis
Herzberg Two Factors
McClelland’s Need Theory
Reinforcement Theory
Expectancy Theory: E->P->O Model
 Managerial Implications of EPO
FOR MANAGERS
Determine the outcomes that employees
value.
Identify good performance so appropriate
behaviors can be rewarded.
Make sure employees can achieve targeted
performance levels.
Link desired outcomes to targeted levels of
performance.
Make sure changes in outcomes are large
enough to motivate high effort.
Monitor the reward system for inequalities.
FOR ORGANIZATIONS
Reward people for desired performance,
and do not keep pay decisions secret.
Design challenging jobs.
Tie some rewards to group
accomplishments to build teamwork and
encourage cooperation.
Reward managers for creating, monitoring,
and maintaining expectancies,
instrumentalities, and outcomes that lead
to high effort and goal attainment.
Monitor employee motivation through
interviews or anonymous questionnaires.
Accommodate individual differences by
building flexibility into the motivation
program.
 Equity Theory
Motivation results from a person’s
effort-to-reward ratio
• Rewards include pay, promotions, security, Self Coworkers
recognition, autonomy, etc.
Effort Effort
• Effort includes time, reliability, Rewards Rewards
cooperation, sharing resources, etc.
• Effort-to-reward ratios are relative to peers
• Over-rewarded, Under-rewarded, Equal –
impacts your motivation
• Seek to restore equity
 How Does Goal Setting Work?
Goals that are specific and difficult lead to higher
performance.

Certain conditions are necessary for goal setting to work.

• People need ability and resources.
• People need to be committed to the goal.

Performance feedback and participation in deciding how to

achieve goals are necessary but not sufficient.

Goal achievement leads to job satisfaction.

Job Characteristics Model
 Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant:
Motivating in Good Times and in Bad

What’s going on at Engstrom?

The Current Situation
 The Current Situation
• Scanlon bonus plan adopted seven years earlier
• Every employee received bonuses for first five years of plan
• Employees did not earn bonus in recent months
• Engstrom Auto Mirror facing hard times (again).
• Sales, productivity, and product quality have all dropped
• Morale has plummeted after 46 of 255 employees laid-off
• Ron Bent charged with getting the plant back on track

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 Engstrom Mirror: What Went Wrong?

U S C C T
Uncover the Select Create Choose the Translate your
various the most a multitude solution(s) solution(s) into
potential critical of potential with the an effective
problems vis- problem(s). solutions. potential to implementation
à-vis business be the most plan.
goal. effective.

Let’s list them out on the board

 (Some) Problems Engstrom Faces
• Declining sales
• Workers dissatisfied by lack of bonus
• Declining worker productivity
• Drop in product quality
• Workforce engaging in pilfering
• Small plant attempting to serve huge
manufacturers
• Scanlon plan may not be working

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 Describe Scanlon Plans
• Three components:
– Monthly bonuses based on productivity above a
set level
– Employees propose improvement strategies
– Committees evaluate suggestions
• Work at the collective level; designed to
address needs of distressed companies
 Theoretical Benefits of Scanlon?

• Motivated workers produce ideas as well as effort

• Increased cooperation and collaboration
• Strong communication lines between
management and the workforce
• Workers try to reduce overtime, work smarter not
harder
• A culture that is change-ready

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What Are The Critical Problems Engstrom Faces?

U S C C T
Uncover the Select Create Choose the Translate your
various the most a multitude solution(s) solution(s) into
potential critical of potential with the an effective
problems vis-à- problem(s) solutions. potential to implementation
vis business be the most plan.
goal. effective.

Buzz Groups: What are the CAUSES of the problem?

Most Critical Problem Ron Bent Faces

Can Content and Process Theories Help?

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 Feedback
Why is feedback important?
• Has the potential to boost performance
• Given less often and les well than people would like
• Dramatically underutilized

Feedback serves two functions.

1. Instructional
2. Motivational
 Key Problems with
Scanlon at Engstrom:
• No clear link from effort to performance
– Employees lack sufficient control over goal achievement
(too many other factors in play)
• No clear link from performance to reward
– Plan too complex for workers to understand
– Target keeps moving
• Perception that some people are unfairly receiving
bonuses, that management gets more than fair
share

25
What Are Potential Solutions To The Problems?

U S C C T
Uncover the Select Create Choose the Translate your
various the most a multitude solution(s) solution(s) into
potential critical of potential with the an effective
problems vis-à- problem(s) solutions. potential to implementation
vis business be the most plan.
goal. effective.
Where do solutions come from?

Motivation theories, concepts & frameworks

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 Reconsider Frameworks
• Expectancy model—E-P-O
• Equity theory
• Goal Setting - SMART goals
• Classic reinforcement
• Job characteristics
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

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 Performance Management
What other
considerations do
we need to keep in
mind?
• Goals
• Metrics
• Feedback
• Reinforcement
 Propose a Solution

U S C C T
Uncover the Select Create Choose the Translate your
various the most a multitude solution(s) solution(s) into
potential critical of potential with the an effective
problems vis-à- problem(s) solutions. potential to implementation
vis business be the most plan.
goal. effective.
 Possible Components of an
Implementation Plan
• Tighten E – P – O links
• Simplify bonus formula
• Adjust bonus calculations so that bonuses become achievable
• Communicate new formula and targets with employees
• Communicate likelihood of future layoffs to assuage fears
• Use job characteristics model to examine whether employees’
intrinsic interest can be increased
• Increase task significance by stressing the importance of
quality—these mirrors are crucial safety equipment and can save
people’s lives
 Conditions for Success of Scanlon Plan?
• Union-management dialogue
• Education of workers and management
• Participation and mutual influence in determining formula
• Worker commitment to plan – vote
• An effective way for employees to participate in finding
improvements
• Effective supervisors and managers
• Workers who are skilled technically and interpersonally
• Culture of collaboration

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 Individual-Based Incentives
Pros Cons
• People repeat • Can create single-minded
performance that is pursuit of monetary result
rewarded
• Often does not reward
• Free-rider problem is teamwork or coordination
ameliorated
• People may question
whether performance is
fairly rewarded

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 Team-Based Incentives

Pros Cons
• Fosters cohesiveness • Free-riding
• Promotes intra-team • Inter-group competition
coordination may increase
• Easier to reward teams • Inter-group cooperation
accurately and fairly may decrease

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 Organization-Wide Incentives

Pros Cons
• Increased organization- • Free-riding
wide cohesiveness
• Disagreement about
• Foster participation in criteria used to trigger
management decisions bonus
• Encourage ideas aimed as • Management-labor conflict
improving efficacy

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 Key Takeaways
• The USC-CT framework can be used to help
you systematically analyze complex problems
• Motivation theories – content & process – are
tools that can help you:
– Understand motivational problems
– Identify ways to motivate others to act in ways
you’d like them to and motivate yourself to pursue
challenging goals
– Solve motivational problems

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 Daniel Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation
• https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_mot
ivation?language=en. (18 min)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnu
FjJc (11 min)