Introduction to Motivation

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Introduction to Motivation

At one time, employees were considered just another input into the production of goods and services What perhaps changed this way of thinking about employees was research, referred to as the Hawthorne Studies, conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1932 (Dickson, 1973) This study found employees are not motivated solely by money and employee behavior is linked to their attitudes (Dickson, 1973) The Hawthorne Studies began the human relations approach to management, whereby the needs and motivation

of employees become the primary focus of managers (Bedeian, 1993)

Motivation Theories

Understanding what motivated employees and how they were motivated was the focus of many researchers following the publication of the Hawthorne Study results (Terpstra, 1979) Five major approaches that have led to our understanding of motivation are Maslow's need-hierarchy theory, Herzberg's two- factor theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, Adams' equity theory, and Skinner's reinforcement theory

According to Maslow, employees have five levels of needs (Maslow, 1943):

physiological, safety, social, ego, and self- actualizing Maslow argued that lower level needs had to be satisfied before the next higher level need would motivate employees Herzberg's work categorized motivation into two factors: motivators and hygienes

(Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959) Motivator or intrinsic factors, such as

achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such

as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction

Vroom's theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards (Vroom, 1964) Rewards may be either positive or negative The more positive the reward the more likely the employee will be highly motivated Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the employee will be motivated

Adams' theory states that employees strive for equity between themselves and other workers Equity is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee outcomes over inputs (Adams, 1965)

Skinner's theory simply states those employees' behaviors that lead to positive outcomes will be repeated and behaviors that lead to negative outcomes will not be repeated

(Skinner, 1953) Managers should positively reinforce employee behaviors that lead to positive outcomes Managers should negatively reinforce employee behavior that leads tonegative outcomes

Motivation Defined

Many contemporary authors have also defined the concept of motivation Motivation has been defined as: the psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction

(Kreitner, 1995); a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford, Bedeian, & Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an

unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993) For this paper, motivation is operationally defined as the inner force that drives individuals to

accomplish personal and organizational goals

The Role of Motivation

Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994) Motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces Motivated employees help organizations survive Motivated employees are more productive To be effective,

managers need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly (Bowen & Radhakrishna, 1991) For example, research suggests that as employees' income increases, money becomes less of a motivator (Kovach, 1987) Also,

as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator

of the study was to compare the results of this study with the study results from other populations

Methodology

The research design for this study employed a descriptive survey method The target population of this study included employees at the Piketon Research and Extension Center and Enterprise Center (centers) The sample size included all 25 employees of the target population Twenty-three of the 25 employees participated in the survey for a participation rate of 92% The centers are in Piketon, Ohio

The mission of the Enterprise Center is to facilitate individual and community leader awareness and provide assistance in preparing and accessing economic opportunities in southern Ohio The Enterprise Center has three programs: alternatives in agriculture, small business development, and women's business development The mission of the Piketon Research and Extension Center is to conduct research and educational programs designed to enhance economic development in southern Ohio The Piketon Research and Extension Center has five programs: aquaculture, community economic development, horticulture, forestry, and soil and water resources

From a review of literature, a survey questionnaire was developed to collect data for the study (Bowen & Radhakrishna, 1991; Harpaz, 1990; Kovach, 1987) Data was collected through use of a written questionnaire hand-delivered to participants Questionnaires were filled out by participants and returned to an intra-departmental mailbox The

questionnaire asked participants to rank the importance of ten factors that motivated them

in doing their work: 1=most important 10=least important Face and content validity for the instrument were established using two administrative and professional employees

at The Ohio State University The instrument was pilot tested with three similarly situatedemployees within the university As a result of the pilot test, minor changes in word selection and instructions were made to the questionnaire

Results and Discussion

The ranked order of motivating factors were: (a) interesting work, (b) good wages, (c) full appreciation of work done, (d) job security, (e) good working conditions, (f)

promotions and growth in the organization, (g) feeling of being in on things, (h) personal loyalty to employees, (i) tactful discipline, and (j) sympathetic help with personal

problems

A comparison of these results to Maslow's need-hierarchy theory provides some

interesting insight into employee motivation The number one ranked motivator,

interesting work, is a self-actualizing factor The number two ranked motivator, good wages, is a physiological factor The number three ranked motivator, full appreciation of work done, is an esteem factor The number four ranked motivator, job security, is a safety factor Therefore, according to Maslow (1943), if managers wish to address the most important motivational factor of Centers' employees, interesting work,

physiological, safety, social, and esteem factors must first be satisfied If managers wished to address the second most important motivational factor of centers' employees, good pay, increased pay would suffice Contrary to what Maslow's theory suggests, the range of motivational factors are mixed in this study Maslow's conclusions that lower level motivational factors must be met before ascending to the next level were not

confirmed by this study

The following example compares the highest ranked motivational factor (interesting work) to Vroom's expectancy theory Assume that a Centers employee just attended a staff meeting where he/she learned a major emphasis would be placed on seeking

additional external program funds Additionally, employees who are successful in

securing funds will be given more opportunities to explore their own research and

extension interests (interesting work) Employees who do not secure additional funds will

be required to work on research and extension programs identified by the director The employee realizes that the more research he/she does regarding funding sources and the more proposals he/she writes, the greater the likelihood he/she will receive external funding

Because the state legislature has not increased appropriations to the centers for the next two years (funds for independent research and extension projects will be scaled back), the

employee sees a direct relationship between performance (obtaining external funds) and rewards (independent research and Extension projects) Further, the employee went to work for the centers, in part, because of the opportunity to conduct independent research and extension projects The employee will be motivated if he/she is successful in

obtaining external funds and given the opportunity to conduct independent research and extension projects On the other hand, motivation will be diminished if the employee is successful in obtaining external funds and the director denies the request to conduct independent research and Extension projects

The following example compares the third highest ranked motivational factor (full appreciation of work done) to Adams's equity theory If an employee at the centers feels that there is a lack of appreciation for work done, as being too low relative to another employee, an inequity may exist and the employee will be dis-motivated Further, if all the employees at the centers feel that there is a lack of appreciation for work done, inequity may exist Adams (1965) stated employees will attempt to restore equity throughvarious means, some of which may be counter- productive to organizational goals and objectives For instance, employees who feel their work is not being appreciated may work less or undervalue the work of other employees

This final example compares the two highest motivational factors to Herzberg's factor theory The highest ranked motivator, interesting work, is a motivator factor The second ranked motivator, good wages is a hygiene factor Herzberg, Mausner, &

two-Snyderman (1959) stated that to the degree that motivators are present in a job,

motivation will occur The absence of motivators does not lead to dissatisfaction Further,they stated that to the degree that hygienes are absent from a job, dissatisfaction will occur When present, hygienes prevent dissatisfaction, but do not lead to satisfaction In our example, the lack of interesting work (motivator) for the centers' employees would not lead to dissatisfaction Paying centers' employees lower wages (hygiene) than what they believe to be fair may lead to job dissatisfaction Conversely, employees will be motivated when they are doing interesting work and but will not necessarily be motivated

by higher pay

The discussion above, about the ranked importance of motivational factors as related to motivational theory, is only part of the picture The other part is how these rankings compare with related research A study of industrial employees, conducted by Kovach (1987), yielded the following ranked order of motivational factors: (a) interesting work, (b) full appreciation of work done, and (c) feeling of being in on things Another study of employees, conducted by Harpaz (1990), yielded the following ranked order of

motivational factors: (a) interesting work, (b) good wages, and (c) job security

In this study and the two cited above, interesting work ranked as the most important motivational factor Pay was not ranked as one of the most important motivational factors

by Kovach (1987), but was ranked second in this research and by Harpaz (1990) Full appreciation of work done was not ranked as one of the most important motivational factors by Harpaz (1990), but was ranked second in this research and by Kovach (1987) The discrepancies in these research findings supports the idea that what motivates

employees differs given the context in which the employee works What is clear,

however, is that employees rank interesting work as the most important motivational factor

Implications for Centers and Extension

The ranked importance of motivational factors of employees at the centers provides useful information for the centers' director and employees Knowing how to use this information in motivating centers' employees is complex The strategy for motivating centers' employees depends on which motivation theories are used as a reference point IfHertzberg's theory is followed, management should begin by focusing on pay and job security (hygiene factors) before focusing on interesting work and full appreciation of work done (motivator factors) If Adams' equity theory is followed, management should begin by focusing on areas where there may be perceived inequities (pay and full

appreciation of work done) before focusing on interesting work and job security If Vroom's theory is followed, management should begin by focusing on rewarding (pay and interesting work) employee effort in achieving organizational goals and objectives Regardless of which theory is followed, interesting work and employee pay appear to be important links to higher motivation of centers' employees Options such as job

enlargement, job enrichment, promotions, internal and external stipends, monetary, and non-monetary compensation should be considered Job enlargement can be used (by managers) to make work more interesting (for employees) by increasing the number and variety of activities performed Job enrichment can used to make work more interesting and increase pay by adding higher level responsibilities to a job and providing monetary compensation (raise or stipend) to employees for accepting this responsibility These are just two examples of an infinite number of methods to increase motivation of employees

at the centers The key to motivating centers' employees is to know what motivates them and designing a motivation program based on those needs

The results presented in this paper also have implications for the entire Cooperative Extension Sysyem The effectiveness of Extension is dependent upon the motivation of its employees (Chesney, 1992; Buford, 1990; Smith, 1990) Knowing what motivates employees and incorporating this knowledge into the reward system will help Extension identify, recruit, employ, train, and retain a productive workforce Motivating Extension employees requires both managers and employees working together (Buford, 1993) Extension employees must be willing to let managers know what motivates them, and managers must be willing to design reward systems that motivate employees Survey results, like those presented here, are useful in helping Extension managers determine what motivates employees (Bowen & Radhakrishna, 1991) If properly designed reward systems are not implemented, however, employees will not be motivated

References

Adams, J S (1965) Inequity in social exchange In L Berkowitz (ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology New York: Academic Press

Bedeian, A G (1993) Management (3rd ed.) New York: Dryden Press

Bowen, B E., & Radhakrishna, R B (1991) Job satisfaction of agricultural education faculty: A constant phenomena Journal of Agricultural Education, 32 (2) 16-22

Buford, J A., Jr., Bedeian, A G., & Lindner, J R (1995) Management in Extension (3rded.) Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Extension

Buford, J A., Jr (1990) Extension management in the information age Journal of Extension, 28 (1)

Buford, J A., Jr (1993) Be your own boss Journal of Extension, 31 (1)

Chesney, C E (1992) Work force 2000: is Extension agriculture ready? Journal of Extension, 30 (2)

Dickson, W J (1973) Hawthorne experiments In C Heyel (ed.), The encyclopedia of management, 2nd ed (pp 298-302) New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold

Harpaz, I (1990) The importance of work goals: an international perspective Journal of International Business Studies, 21 75-93

Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B B (1959) The motivation to work New York: John Wiley & Sons

Higgins, J M (1994) The management challenge (2nd ed.) New York: Macmillan

Kovach, K A (1987) What motivates employees? Workers and supervisors give

different answers Business Horizons, 30 58-65

Kreitner, R (1995) Management (6th ed.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company

Maslow, A H (1943) A theory of human motivation Psychological Review, July 1943 370-396

Skinner, B F (1953) Science and Human Behavior New York: Free Press

Smith, G P (1994) Motivation In W Tracey (ed.), Human resources management and development handbook (2nd ed.)

Smith, K L (1990) The future of leaders in Extension Journal of Extension, 28 (1)

Terpstra, D E (1979) Theories of motivation: borrowing the best Personnel Journal, 58

376

Vroom, V H (1964) Work and motivation New York: Wiley

ten tips for questionnaires on employee motivation

1 What is the 'primary aim' of your company?

Your employees may be more motivated if they understand the primary aim of your business Ask questions to establish how clear they are about your company's principles, priorities and mission

2 What obstacles stop employees performing to best effect?

Questionnaires on employee motivation should include questions about what employees are tolerating in their work and home lives The company can eliminate practices that zapmotivation

3 What really motivates your staff?

It is often assumed that all people are motivated by the same things Actually we are motivated by a whole range of factors Include questions to elicit what really motivates employees, including learning about their values Are they motivated by financial

rewards, status, praise and acknowledgment, competition, job security, public

recognition, fear, perfectionism, results

4 Do employees feel empowered?

Do your employees feel they have job descriptions that give them some autonomy and allow them to find their own solutions or are they given a list of tasks to perform and simply told what to do?

5 Are there any recent changes in the company that might have affected motivation?

If your company has made redundancies, imposed a recruitment freeze or lost a number

of key people this will have an effect on motivation Collect information from employees about their fears, thoughts and concerns relating to these events Even if they are

unfounded, treat them with respect and honesty

6 What are the patterns of motivation in your company?

Who is most motivated and why? What lessons can you learn from patches of high and low motivation in your company?

7 Are employee goals and company goals aligned?

First, the company needs to establish how it wants individuals to spend their time based

on what is most valuable Secondly this needs to be compared with how individuals

actually spend their time You may find employees are highly motivated but about the

"wrong" priorities

8 How do employees feel about the company?

Do they feel safe, loyal, valued and taken care of? Or do they feel taken advantage of, dispensable and invisible? Ask them what would improve their loyalty and commitment

9 How involved are employees in company development?

Do they feel listened to and heard? Are they consulted? And, if they are consulted, are their opinions taken seriously? Are there regular opportunities for them to give feedback?

10 Is the company's internal image consistent with its external one?

Your company may present itself to the world as the 'caring airline', 'the forward thinkingtechnology company' or the 'family hotel chain' Your employees would have been influenced, and their expectations set, to this image when they joined your company If you do not mirror this image within your company in the way you treat employees you may notice motivation problems Find out what the disparity is between the employees image of the company from the outside and from the inside

The success of any business depends largely on the motivation of the employees Human resources are essential to the prosperity, productivity and performance of any company Motivation is the key to creating an environment where optimal performance is possible

So how do you ensure that individual motivation is at its peak within your workplace?Every person has their own set of motivations and personal incentives to work hard or not

as the case may be Some are motivated by recognition whilst others are motivated by cash incentives Whatever the employees motivation, the key to promoting that

motivation as an employer is understanding and incentive

Employee incentive programs go a long way towards ensuring employees feel

appreciated and worthwhile This alone can help with employee motivation across the board The great thing about these programs is they are very individualized That is you tailor your programs to suit the needs and wants of your employees Incentive programs increase motivation because they are not only encouraging productive performance but also show employees the company cares

Employee Motivation

1996 TEN article by Ed Zimmer, 734-663-8000, The Entrepreneur Network, Ann Arbor,

MI

This article is in response to Edd Tury's questioning in last month's Growing Pains

column of how to motivate employees

The classic paper on this subject is one by Frederick Herzberg, "One More Time: How Do

You Motivate Employees?", published sometime in the '70s in the Harvard Business

Review (I don't remember the issue, but if you want a copy, I'm sure a librarian can find

it for you.)

Herzberg was (and maybe still is) Professor and Chairman of the Psychology Department

at Case Western Reserve He's the father of the "job enrichment" approach to employee motivation, coining that term in that paper (and if still living, I'm sure quite distraught with the gross caricature others have made of that term in the intervening years)

The essential insight that he added to the subject is that job satisfaction is NOT the opposite of job dissatisfaction Rather the opposite of job satisfaction is no job

satisfaction and, likewise, the opposite of job dissatisfaction is no job dissatisfaction

And he went on to show that the factors that influence job satisfaction are different from

— and largely independent of — those that affect job dissatisfaction

Herzberg's paper, when I discovered it in the late '70s, caused a paradigm shift in my

understanding of employee motivation It resulted in a total reorganization of my

company and in the way I viewed (and continue to view) employees and my

Under expanding employee-rights law, you have like 90 days to make that

determination If they're not fitting in — or even if you have reservations about their fitting in — let them go! Once they've passed that initial trial period, you have an

obligation — moral if not legal — to help that person become the best employee that he

or she can be