Exam 7: Creating a Motivating Work Setting

Workers who are dissatisfied with their work context spend significant amounts of energy dealing with their dissatisfaction and are not able to appreciate and respond to the potential for intrinsic motivation on their jobs.

According to goal-setting theory, difficult goals lead to higher motivation and performance than do easy or moderate goals.

Job enrichment involves designing jobs to provide employees with opportunities for growth by giving them more responsibility and control over their work.

________ outlines the job dimensions that lead to high levels of intrinsic motivation.

The disadvantages of scientific management include all of the following EXCEPT ________.

How can managers enrich jobs?

What is scientific management? What principles were stressed by Taylor?

Possible disadvantages of job enrichment include all of the following EXCEPT ________.

Contrast job enlargement and job enrichment.

Tim, a seasoned car salesman, takes a job at a new company with much better pay and flexibility than his previous job. On his first day of work, his new co-workers tell him how horrible the pay is and how unsatisfied they are. Using the social information processing model, Tim will MOST LIKELY ________.

Job design does not influence the motivation of employees and their input levels.

A manager is deciding who should train his new employee. Andrea is talented but dissatisfied. Sam is a skilled employee and has a high level of affective commitment. George, who has worked at the company for years, ranks high on neuroticism. Laura, a recently demoted employee, performs similar tasks that the new employee will be expected to do. Using the social information processing model, who would be BEST to train the new employee if the manager hopes that the new employee will have a positive view of his work?

Setting specific and difficult goals reduces performance when employees lack the skills and abilities to perform at a high level.

If an employee has an MPS score of 343, he MOST LIKELY feels ________.

The key goal of scientific management is maximizing performance.

Managers try to design jobs which accomplish all of the following EXCEPT ________.

What are the major characteristics of goals that lead to higher levels of motivation and performance?

Both ________ attempt to overcome some of the problems that arise when jobs are designed according to the principles of scientific management.

Experienced meaningfulness of work is the degree to which employees feel their jobs are important and worthwhile.

Salancik and Pfeffer propose that how employees perceive and respond to the design of their jobs is influenced by their moods.