Motivation, Schedules, Decisions, Communication in Organizations

Organizational Behavior Notes Motivation and Performance 1) Motivation and rewards Motivation accounts for the level and persistence of a person’s effort expended at work. Intrinsic rewards-positively valued work outcomes that the individual receives directly as a result of task performance. A feeling of achievement after completing a particular challenging task. Yves Chou nard, founder and CEO of Patagonia, Inc. says that ‘‘it’s easy to go to work when you get paid to do what you love to do.’’ Extrinsic rewards- positively valued work outcomes that are given to an individual by some other person in the work setting, such as sincere praise for a job, anything dealing with compensation or pay and benefits received at work. Sara Blakely leader of Spanx, ‘‘body shaping’’ underwear. Her ideas lead to product innovation and entrepreneur success. Blakely possess persistence in the face of adversity, which has led to her success. She won the National Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was voted Georgia’s Woman of the Year. Sara Blakely started her own foundation with the express purpose of ‘‘supporting and empowering women around the world.’’ Burgers and benefits are good at In-N-Out Burger. The work is a typical fast-food routine, but the California-based hamburger chain pays employees above-average salaries, gives part-timers paid vacation, and provides full-timers with 401(K) and health insurance plans. Most managers come from the ranks, and the firm has one of the lowest turnover rates in the industry. Scientific Management- Frederick Taylor’s work and his colleagues. Study a job carefully, break it into its small components, and establish exact time and motion requirements for each task to be done, and then train workers to do these tasks in the same way over and over again. The study is primarily for engineering job design efficiency. ‘‘Is job enrichment for everyone?’’ Organizational Behavior scholars answer ‘‘No.’’ A more diagnostic approach to job design was developed by Rich Hackman and Greg Oldham. Their job characteristics model provides a data-based approach for creating job designs with good person-job fits that maximize the potential for motivation and performance. The higher the job scores, the higher its motivational potential. Five core characteristics are: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy (the degree to which a job gives the employee substantial freedom), job feedback. Psychological empowerment- a sense of personal fulfillment and purpose that arouses one’s feelings of competency and commitment to the work. Three critical psychological states that have a positive impact on individual motivation, performance, and satisfaction: experienced meaningfulness of the work, responsibility for the outcomes of the work, knowledge of actual results of the work. 2) Work schedules done at the company. Work schedules are important as concerns for ‘‘work life’’ balance and more ‘‘family-friendly’’ employers are growing. Facts: 78% of American couples are dual wage earners, 63% believe they don’t have enough time for spouses and partners, 74% believe they don’t have enough time for their children, 35% are spending time caring for elderly relatives. Both Baby Boomers (87%) and Gen Ys (89%) rate flexible work as important. They also want opportunities to work remotely at least part of the time-Boomers (63%) and Gen Ys (69%). 3) Decision making and creativity Six rules for crisis management. 1. Figure out what is going on-take time to understand what is happening and the conditions under which the crisis might be resolved. 2. Remember that speed matters-attack the crisis as quickly as possible, trying to catch it when it is a small as possible. 3. Remember that slowly counts too-know when to back off and wait for a better opportunity to make progress with the crisis. 4. Respect the danger of the unfamiliar-understand the danger of all new territory 5. Value the skeptic-don’t look for and get too comfortable with agreement; appreciate skeptics and let them help you see things differently. 6. be ready to fight fire with fire-when things are going wrong and no one seems to care, you may have to start a crisis to get their attention. 4) Interpersonal communication Ralph Waldo Emerson ‘‘I can’t hear what you are say because who you are speaks so loudly.’’ Individuals with ego problems may twist what someone says to serve their own purpose, or may overly emphasize their own contributions while failing to acknowledge those of others. KISS-Keep It Short and Simple is a principle of communication that is always worth remembering. ‘‘We have two ears and one mouth so we should listen twice as much as we speak.’’ Greek philosopher Epictetus. Guidelines for active listening: 1. Listen for content-try to hear exactly what is being said. 2. Listen for feelings-try to identify how the source feels about things. 3. Respond to feelings-let the source know feelings are recognized. 4. Note all cues-be sensitive to both verbal and nonverbal expressions.