Exam 10: Motivating Employees

List the generations in the workplace today, and provide at least two characteristics of each generation that affect their motivation.

Gen Xers and Millennials will be more tolerant of change than Baby Boomers.

Michael was asked by his team leader to explore and evaluate the best ways to communicate with customers through social media. Although Michael is relatively new to the company, and is not well versed on the entire product line, he is a Millennial, which makes him overall well suited to knowing how people find things in common with others in an online environment.

American employees put great value in being treated fairly. According to equity theory, if things seem unfair, they will do their best to make them equitable by withholding effort, increasing effort, or by rationalizing that they are undeserving of the same as others.

According to Maslow, a satisfied need is no longer a motivator.

The concept engagement is used to describe the level of passion and motivation that a person has about their work.

The sense of satisfaction you get when you achieve an important goal is an intrinsic reward.

Theory X managers are likely to believe that

Theory ________ managers see employees as having a general dislike for work and an unwillingness to accept responsibility.

Herzberg's research identified several ________ factors that did not necessarily motivate employees if they were increased, but could cause employees to become dissatisfied if they were missing or inadequate.

According to the Adapting to Change box, companies have taken to using mobile apps to track employee engagement.

Using job enrichment strategy, management can contribute to improved motivation and worker performance primarily by increasing employee pay.

Seamus dropped out of school as a 16-year-old and needs to support himself, though he has few skills. He is a part-time employee at a department store earning minimum wage. Seamus wants to earn more, but hasn't been able to find a better job since he is without the right qualifications. He is having a hard time paying his rent and his mounting bills. He even started to skip breakfast to save on food costs. Seamus is having trouble meeting his

Skill variety is one of the characteristics of work that lead to improved motivation and performance.

Upper Hand Industries regularly moves employees from one job to another in order to improve motivation. Upper Hand's strategy is job enlargement.

________ blends Japanese and American management practices into a hybrid approach which calls for long-term employment, collective decision making, and individual responsibility for the outcome of decisions.

The personal satisfaction people feel when they have done a job well is a(n) ________ reward.

Mini-Case The first meeting between the new CEO of Game Guys, Inc., John Noble, and Howie Spradlin, the production manager, did not go smoothly. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the problem of declining productivity and to develop a strategy to turn the situation around. Howie started the conversation by handing Mr. Noble the most recent production report. "I've always thought that most of our employees were lazy, and now I've got proof," Howie stated. "We pay these guys the highest wages in the industry, provide them with a safe place to work, and make the job as simple as possible. We aren't asking these guys to do brain surgery, but productivity still lags and our production costs increase. I've told all the supervisors to watch these lazy bums every second to make sure they put in a full day's work. If those guys think I'm going to let them get away with goofing off, they're in for a rude awakening." CEO Noble responded in a way that surprised Howie. "Maybe these employees aren't lazy, Howie, maybe they are just bored and resent the way we've treated them," he said. "The employees are experienced and well trained. They might work harder and smarter if the work were more interesting and rewarding. Their attitudes might even improve if we treated them with more respect. Maybe one of the best ways for you and me to understand where they're coming from is to spend some time alongside them." For the next hour, the two discussed ways to improve worker motivation and performance. Howie left the meeting with an unsettled feeling. Many of Mr. Noble's suggestions seemed naïve to Howie. "Mr. Noble is the boss, but I think he is too optimistic regarding human nature," Howie mused. Reluctantly, Howie had to admit that his own approach had not succeeded in improving the plant's performance. He decided to take a hard look at some of Mr. Noble's ideas. -According to McGregor, Howie's views of his employees suggest he is a ________ manager.

A basic idea of ________ was to conduct time-motion studies to find the best way to perform each task, then teach people to use these methods.

Frederick Taylor's goal was to find ways to improve worker motivation by making work more interesting and challenging.