Motivation in the Workplace

Module from SIOP

Workplace Motivation

• Why do people work? Why do other people? • What motivates you to work harder at work or in

school? What de-motivates you?

• What could your boss or teacher do to get you to work harder?

• How would you use your knowledge of the psychology of motivation to increase workplace performance?

Motivation in Industrial-Organizational Psychology

• Research and Practice in I-O tends not to focus on biological / physiological theories

• Instead, we tend to construct our research and interventions around the following approaches (as well as others):– Behavioral: Goal Setting – Cognitive Processes: Decision Making– Need Satisfaction

Goal Setting• Setting goals for workplace performance tends to be one of the

most effective motivators• The most motivating goals are

– Specific• “Get an average customer satisfaction score of at least 95.5” is better then “Get

high customer satisfaction ratings”

– Difficult but attainable/realistic• “Get an average customer satisfaction score of at least 95.5” is better than “Get an

average customer satisfaction score of 75.5”

• The effectiveness of goals also depends on– Commitment to the goal. Employees need to be committed to achieving

the goal– Feedback. Goals work better when employees can see whether they’re

making progress toward the goal

Cognitive Processes (Expectancy Theory)

• Behavior such as high job performance is more likely if employees have positive perceptions of:– Valence: How good is what I get if I’m successful at

this task? – Instrumentality: If I am successful at this task, how

likely is it that I’ll get those outcomes I thought about above?

– Expectancy: If I try hard, how likely is it that I’ll actually be able to be successful?

Need Satisfaction

• Employees will work to satisfy their needs / higher order goals– Survival (e.g., having enough money to live)– Agency (control over one’s environment)– Esteem (being viewed positively)– Affiliation (social relationships)

• Job Characteristics Model– Skill variety (lots of different skills used)– Task identity (‘entire’ unit of work)– Task significance (the job should be important)– Autonomy (choice of how to perform the task)– Feedback

For More Information…

Diefendorff, J. M., & Chandler, M. M. (2010). Motivating employees. In S. Zedeck (Ed.), APA Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 65-135). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Jex, S. M., & Britt, T. W. (2008). Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach (2nd Ed.). (Chapters 8 & 9). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57, 705-717.