Exam 10: Motivating Employees

The basic principle of equity theory is that employees try to

As part of their open communication strategy, management should reward upward communication, even if it is negative.

Chipper, the marketing director for Tee Time Golf Resort, is making plans for the annual tournament and is trying to determine the prize money for the top golfer. In past years, the resort successfully raised $25,000 through registration fees and sponsorship. This year, Chipper's general manager wants to attract some great local talent and announce the top prize at $10,000. However, Chipper thinks the resort cannot afford to announce a $10,000 top prize at the expense of losing out on a portion of the fees of less talented players who may decide not to register. He explains to the general manager that if they set the prize too high, several better-than-average golfers in the area will feel "out of their league" when the top players join in and therefore will be unmotivated to spend their money to participate. Chipper's analysis of the situation is reasonable according to

Theory X management has essentially disappeared from the real-world workplace.

Maslow would classify the need for recognition from others and for self-respect as ________ needs.

Lou is a professional house painter. During busy periods, he hires high school and college students to help complete his jobs. Lou explains that he knows the most efficient way to paint a house and he expects them to follow his instructions exactly. Lou's approach is consistent with the ideas of

Theory Y managers prefer

Until recently, Visual Electronics manufactured Blu-ray players on an assembly line with each worker performing only one simple task. Three months ago, the company began allowing individual employees to assemble entire systems, test the components, and even install the software that Visual Electronics includes with each of its players. Visual Electronics's new production method is an example of

Equity theory suggests that if employees perceive inequity in the workplace, they might respond with reduced productivity, higher absenteeism, or even voluntary resignation.

You are a graduate student in the chemistry department at Equity University. Several of your graduate student friends have positions in the business and English departments. While everyone's compensation and employee benefits are exactly the same, your department requires you to always show up and tutor students at least 4 hours each day and to serve on one university committee each semester. Your friends in the other departments are not required to follow these rules. Lately, you are doing your best to limit your daily obligation to 2 to 3 hours each day. Relating your situation to one of the theories we have studied, your goal of limiting inputs is explained by expectancy theory.

In order to understand how to motivate the various generations, we need to understand each generation's preferred mode of communication. Look at the following chart and fill in the blank cell.

A strength of Generation X managers is likely to be their

Jordan is conducting an experiment with her employees. She wants to see how temperatures affect the productivity of the team. Jordan just completed the first phase of her experiment, in which she had a group of employees perform job-related tasks in a special area where the temperature was 10 degrees cooler than on the factory floor. No matter the temperature, employees in the experimental group consistently outperformed employees in the factory. The Hawthorne effect suggests that the most likely reason for this improvement in performance is that the cooler working conditions allowed the employees in the experiment to work harder without getting tired.

Mary Kay is in charge of a nursing shift at a hospital. She wants to improve the motivation and performance level of the nurses under her direction. According to expectancy theory, one element of an effective motivational strategy is to

Frederick Taylor based his approach on the belief that each worker was an individual who should be treated as a unique asset to the firm.

Which of the following descriptions more appropriately reflects the way that Gen Xers prefer to communicate at work?

The Hawthorne studies determined that intrinsic rewards are always better than extrinsic rewards.

Special parking areas, dining rooms, and restrooms set aside for executives are barriers to open two-way communication within an organization.

A college graduate with a degree in psychology, Diana is in no hurry to find a job. In fact, she has elected to continue her education until she decides on the type of career she would like to pursue. Although she really likes some aspects of marketing, social work and social causes also appeal to her. Having worked part-time in a small business during college, she also thinks that working in her own business, independent of the control of others, may also be the way to go. Diana is typical of

Alyssa's supervisor was so impressed by her work that he named her the employee of the month. This praise from her supervisor is an example of a(n) ________ reward.