Exam 10: Motivating Employees

As indicated in the Connecting Through Social Media box, though Millennials seek and expect feedback, today's workplace does not accommodate a culture focused on shared appreciation among coworkers. Feedback is only given from employees' direct superiors.

Mariana works for a large pharmaceutical company. Last week she visited with an advisor at the nearby university because her employer encourages workers to continue their education. The company even gives employees time off to go to academic-related appointments during regularly scheduled work hours. One would assume that management at Mariana's company values the results of the Hawthorne studies, more so than traditional scientific management principles.

You get a lower grade in a course than your friend did even though you studied more during the semester and attended class more often. As a result, equity theory predicts that you might convince yourself that "Grades aren't all that important. After all, lots of people who succeed in the real world didn't make good grades in school."

Damon is assigned a different job at Simons' Securities every month. Damon enjoys the task variety and finds that switching jobs on a regular basis keeps the work from becoming boring. Simons' is using a technique known as job

Management at the local Leaves of Green restaurant is trying to improve task efficiency by breaking down jobs into simple steps and assigning each step to a different worker. The key benefit of this approach is that it is one of the most effective ways to achieve job enrichment.

Theory Y managers assume that the main factor that motivates most employees is the desire to earn more money.

Maslow classified the needs for basic items such as food, water, and shelter as

According to equity theory, what are employees most likely to ask?

Feedback helps enrich a job by satisfying an employee's esteem needs.

As a group, Millennials tend to be impatient, skeptical, and image driven.

High-context cultures tend to jump right in and get work done without worrying about developing close work relationships.

According to McGregor, Theory X managers assume that employees dislike work, and will avoid it if possible.

Motivational formulas are

According to expectancy theory, one of the things employees want to know before they commit to making a maximum effort on a task is whether the reward for accomplishing the task is worth the effort.

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

Jackie is creative and intelligent. She prefers to work on her own and on challenging projects. Jackie would be most effective when working for a Theory X manager.

A major problem with the MBO approach is that it provides no way for employees to provide input into the goal-setting process.

Herzberg's research found that improvements in the work environment were a more effective way to motivate employees than improvements in job content.

The tendency of employees to behave differently when they know they are being studied is known as the Taylor effect.

William Ouchi concluded that culture should not be a factor in one's management style.