Exam 7: Motivation in Organizations

Table 7.4 The production department is implementing a job design program. Alfonso has been given the responsibility. Leading a team of managers and hourly employees, Alfonso is to come up with the best way to implement the program. As techniques are discussed, it appears that the workers are reluctant to accept management's push to give each employee more tasks to perform while not increasing responsibility or the needed task skills. The hourly workers want more control over their jobs and greater responsibilities. Alfonso explains they still need to determine what elements need to be enriched for the program to work. He further explains that employees have reported through an organizational survey that their first desire is to experience meaningfulness in their jobs, and they don't really want increased responsibility and accountability, feeling it will add too much stress to their jobs. -Refer to Table 7.4. Based on the employee survey, not the opinion of the employees on the committee, which job dimensions should the group not enrich?

Research has shown that people will work at the highest level when performance goals are:

Table 7.2 John is working on his department's annual plan. Employee performance has been okay and commitment to his department's goals moderate. In the past John has asked his employees to do their best. This year he is asking each employee to work with him in determining exactly what that employee is going to accomplish this year. John wants his people to feel the goals are theirs, to invest in their accomplishment. He wants them to believe that they can accomplish these goals. He thinks he can help this whole process by meeting with each employee quarterly and talking about where the department is and where the employee is in regards to goal accomplishment. -Refer to Table 7.2. In the past what principle of goal setting did John violate?

Table 7.2 John is working on his department's annual plan. Employee performance has been okay and commitment to his department's goals moderate. In the past John has asked his employees to do their best. This year he is asking each employee to work with him in determining exactly what that employee is going to accomplish this year. John wants his people to feel the goals are theirs, to invest in their accomplishment. He wants them to believe that they can accomplish these goals. He thinks he can help this whole process by meeting with each employee quarterly and talking about where the department is and where the employee is in regards to goal accomplishment. -Refer to Table 7.2. John's concern about his people's believing they can accomplish the goals is a concern over:

In expectancy theory, ________ is the belief that high amounts of effort will lead to good performance.

Table 7.4 The production department is implementing a job design program. Alfonso has been given the responsibility. Leading a team of managers and hourly employees, Alfonso is to come up with the best way to implement the program. As techniques are discussed, it appears that the workers are reluctant to accept management's push to give each employee more tasks to perform while not increasing responsibility or the needed task skills. The hourly workers want more control over their jobs and greater responsibilities. Alfonso explains they still need to determine what elements need to be enriched for the program to work. He further explains that employees have reported through an organizational survey that their first desire is to experience meaningfulness in their jobs, and they don't really want increased responsibility and accountability, feeling it will add too much stress to their jobs. -Refer to Table 7.4. The hourly workers are favoring what type of job design program?

The concept of motivation is concerned with:

When a manager is thinking about motivating people and is considering the choices available, he/she is considering the element of ________ in motivation.

If individual arousal and direction are strong enough, the lack of a maintenance step in the motivation process will not decrease individual motivation.

If a job is redesigned to include more tasks at the same level, but the skills needed to do the job are neither changed nor increased, then that job has been ________.

The job characteristics model is especially effective in describing the behavior of workers who are high in:

Goal-setting theory is closely tied to the self-management concept of:

When speaking of motivation, it is apparent that:

The degree of impact a job is believed to have on others is known as task identity.

Table 7.1 Shue-Fan is surprised at the amount of motivational energy her recent "pep-talk" seems to have created in her staff. They seem to be very concerned about making her happy and making a good impression on her. As she ponders their reaction, she concludes that her emphasis on helping her employees develop their potential is really paying off. An employee approaches her and asks if their team could create a team T-shirt and wear it on casual dress day. Shue-Fan agrees. Finally, Shue-Fan decides the company ought to do more to recognize employee accomplishments, so she proposes a company-wide recognition/awards program. -Refer to Table 7.1. Shue-Fan is surprised by the motivational element of:

Managers can increase employee motivation by giving them more responsibility and control. This is done by:

The best established finding about goal-setting is that:

Generally speaking, the only types of rewards that motivate employees are monetary.

People perform at a higher level when:

Jessica is trying to increase the freedom and discretion that employees have in scheduling and planning their work. Based on the job characteristics model, Jessica is trying to increase: