Exam 10: Motivating Employees

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

The first step in any motivational program is to establish open communication among employees in order to encourage teamwork and cooperation.

When reflecting upon the newer generation,each older generation says the same thing:

Several advocacy groups in the U.S.monitor firms that do business with sweatshops in developing nations.These watchdog groups are concerned about human rights abuses in foreign factories,often citing unsafe and unclean working conditions.Recently,business experts have shed new light on this issue,stating that these factories that do not meet the standards of developed nations are still perceived by their workers as a better way of life than what they had before because these employers offer steady wages.According to Maslow,these workers are motivated to satisfy which of his hierarchy of needs?

Herzberg's research identified the key factors that motivate workers,including company policies and administration,wage rates,interpersonal relations with co-workers,and physical environment at work.

A 25-year employee at a mid-sized company remarked,"I can remember when we were small enough that we had time for water cooler talk! Sometimes I wish we could go back a few years when everyone liked being here.Now,we seem to be more excited about our next raise rather than our next product launch!" According to the Spotlight on Small Business Box,"Big Motivators for Small Business",small businesses seem to be better at motivating employees with open communication and more broad-based responsibilities,where employees exchange ideas and become generalists at what they do. Small businesses have a greater opportunity to motivate with open communication and broad-based responsibilities.As mentioned in the Spotlight on Small Business box,the employee has more opportunity to speak his/her mind,and feels less like another "drone in the great corporate beehive."

A central characteristic of management by objectives is that:

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:

When studying the differences in generations,it is fair to say that many ideas that each group shares resulted from common experiences during the first ten years of life. Groups that are designated as generations (the baby boomers,Gen Xers,Gen Y (or millennials)are linked together by experiences they shared during their formative years (up to around 10 years of age).

Herzberg's study showed that pay was the job characteristic that ranked highest as a motivator.

The Green Velvet Lawn Care Company teaches all of its employees specific methods for fertilizing and seeding lawns.The methods are designed to ensure adequate lawn coverage with a minimum of time and effort.All employees are expected to follow these methods precisely.Green Velvet's approach to lawn care is consistent with the ideas of scientific management. Scientific management focused on finding the most efficient way to perform tasks and teaching these methods to employees.

Douglas McGregor described two very different sets of managerial attitudes about employees,which he called:

Describe the contributions of scientific management to improving worker productivity.What are some of the limitations of this approach?

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth developed the principle of __________,which said that every job could be broken down into a series of elementary motions.

The Hawthorne studies concluded that productivity at work seldom changed,but an employee's attitude could show significant improvement if he/she were given the opportunity to think critically at work. The Hawthorne studies indicated that there were special motivators besides higher wages that motivated employees to be more productive.Mayo concluded that workers who perceived that they were a special,elite group who were specifically chosen for an experiment and permitted to provide input into the experiment became motivated to perform better.

Jill operates her own small business and is a strong advocate of equity theory.Because of her acceptance of this theory,Jill is likely to try to assure employees that they are compensated in a way that reflects their efforts and contributions relative to those of other employees. Equity theory suggests that employees attempt to maintain a balance between inputs and outputs of others in similar positions.If employees perceive that they are being unfairly compensated they are likely to reduce their effort and be less productive.

Even across generations,motivation is likely to:

Dane works as a sales representative for the Better Butter Company.He is about to meet with his manager to review his progress toward meeting the sales objectives they agreed to at the beginning of the year.Dane likes the fact that managers at Better Butter listen to their subordinates' ideas and get everyone involved in setting goals and objectives.Dane's experience suggests that Better Butter is utilizing:

________ means acting as a resource to a subordinate by teaching,guiding and making recommendations,without actively doing any of the subordinate's work.

Herzberg used the term hygiene factor to refer to an element of job content that was most important as a source of worker motivation.