Deck 14: Motivating Emlpoyees

Question 1

NASA believes that its 3,000 employees stay motivated year after year primarily because they receive great employee benefits.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

As a federal agency, regulations prohibit NASA from giving employees gifts or merchandise, but monetary awards are okay.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Motivation is a psychological state that indicates how people feel about their situation, based on their evaluation of the situation.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The four approaches that can be implemented by management to motivate and satisfy employees result in higher customer satisfaction and lower employee turnover.

Question 5

Managers can directly motivate and satisfy employees through personal communication, by setting realistic goals, and by offering recognition.

Question 6

According to the organization approach to employee motivation, work motivation and attitudes are stable aspects of an employee's psychological make-up, and managers have limited ability to change them.

Question 7

When the Gallup Organization interviewed 80,000 people about their work they found that employees tolerate a lot of negative aspects of their work if they work for a good manager.

Question 8

Effective communication is essential to ensuring employees have a sense of purpose and a meaningful mission.

Question 9

Goal-setting theory states that managers have little impact on the performance of their employees. The only way to increase performance is by offering additional compensation.

Question 10

If they accept the difficult goals their supervisors set for them and believe the goals are attainable, employees will put in more effort and usually perform better.

Question 11

A potential pitfall of goal-setting is that individual goals can create conflict among members of a team.

Question 12

Goal setting is a signal that tells employees that they are doing well and should continue with their current approaches or that they aren't doing very well and should try new approaches.

Question 13

Psychologist B. F. Skinner developed and extended much of the reinforcement theory.

Question 14

When the principles of reinforcement theory are used, it is sometimes referred to as behavior development.

Question 15

Punishment and extinction are two types of consequences that reduce or stop behaviors.

Question 16

Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated by creating a pleasant consequence.

Question 17

Punishment is the absence of any consequence following the occurrence of a behavior.

Question 18

When employees set their own goals, provide their own reinforcements, and monitor their own results they are self-managing.

Question 19

Employees who believe that exerting more effort results in better performance experience expectancy.

Question 20

Instrumentality refers to a person's perception of how useful the intended behavior or performance is for obtaining desired outcomes.

Question 21

In 2003, McDonald's decided that managers were leaving the company because they saw too little relationship between how well they performed and how much they were paid.

Question 22

To correct their increasing turnover rate, McDonald's overhauled their compensation approach and launched a new system - "Win and Grin."

Question 23

Valences are objective. The same outcome will have the same valence for one person as another.

Question 24

Understanding how employees think about the future in order to find solutions to behavior problems is one way a manager can apply expectancy theory.

Question 25

Goal-setting theory states that monetary awards must be are attached to performance if managers what to change employee behavior.

Question 26

The Ethical Challenge - Achieving Peak Performance - can help you recognize tempting situations when they present themselves.

Question 27

Knowledge of results is a critical psychological state that refers to whetheremployees perceive their work as valuable and worthwhile.

Question 28

According to a recent survey of 1,200 U.S. employees, the nature of the work they did was the most important factor in determining how people felt about staying with their current employer and how motivated they were to work hard.

Question 29

A surgeon who specializes in orthopedics is likely to experience a feeling of responsibility for the amount and quality of her or his work.

Question 30

Communication is one of the key job characteristics that lead to more satisfied and motivated employees.

Question 31

Managers working in countries outside the United States might experience cultural differences in the way motivation is influenced by the five key job characteristics.

Question 32

Employees with a strong (versus weak) growth need respond more favorably to enriched jobs.

Question 33

Enriched jobs might frustrate and dissatisfy employees with weak growth needs.

Question 34

Herzberg's two-factor model stresses job characteristics and individual practices in addressing the question of what motivates behavior.

Question 35

Hygiene factors are aspects of the organizational context that create positive feelings among employees.

Question 36

Jack in the Box restaurants learned the hard way that dissatisfaction with hygiene factors causes much of the employee turnover experienced by fast-food restaurants.

Question 37

From 1991 to 2006, Jack in the Box found that the turnover rate for crew members without health insurance was 3 times the rate for insured crew members.

Question 38

According to Herzberg, motivators lead to superior performance even if dissatisfiers are present.

Question 39

Noncash recognition programs are primarily a way for employers to avoid spending money on salary increases.

Question 40

To make sure managers use good judgment when giving awards, Intuit developed a Web site designed to help them. It explains the importance of linking the awards they give to achieving business objectives.

Question 41

At Intuit, the company's Thanks Program gives employees rewards for whistle-blowing on unethical activities.

Question 42

Overrewarded employees tend to perform about the same in their jobs as employees who haven't been so well rewarded.

Question 43

When people are dissatisfied, they usually do something about it.

Question 44

Timothy Nevotti owns and operates an industrial distribution firm. He organizes and pays for the company's intramural sports program. According to Maslow, Nevotti is trying to satisfy his employees' esteem needs.

Question 45

At Chef Anthony Bourdain's restaurant, Les Halles, jobs are specialized, the rules are rigid, and compliance with the rules is absolutely mandatory.

Question 46

Chef Anthony Bourdain believes that addressing his employee's compensation needs is the most powerful way he can motivate them to perform effectively as a team.

Question 47

The satisfaction-progression hypothesis states that a need is a motivator until it becomes satisfied.

Question 48

Managers cannot eliminate the frustration level employees feel as a result of the lack of upward career mobility during company downturns.

Question 49

Feedback is essential to motivation regardless of whether employees are performing well or poorly.

Question 50

Jobs designed to meet the principles of job characteristics theory tend to be less satisfying than other jobs.

Question 51

To be motivators, rewards must reflect the things that employees value.

Question 52

To sustain the initial enthusiasm the employees bring to their jobs, space center managers at NASA work hard to support a culture built around the values of:

A) safety
B) teamwork
C) integrity
D) all of the above

Question 53

At NASA, employees may receive awards at ceremonies attended by family and friends. The many types of awards employees receive at these ceremonies include all of the following except:

A) length-of-service awards
B) technical achievement awards
C) pay-for-performance bonus checks
D) the Distinguished Service Medal

Question 54

A psychological state that exists whenever internal and/or external forces stimulate,direct, or maintain behaviors is known as __________.

A) reinforcement
B) motivation
C) individual differences
D) empowerment

Question 55

The question of what motivates people at work is a fundamental one that has long been of interest to managers and researchers alike. Which of the following is not one of the generally accepted approaches that offer some insight into this complex topic?

A) the organization approach
B) the job design approach
C) the individual differences approach
D) the peak performance approach

Question 56

Which approach to motivating employees focuses on how the behaviors of managers influence the satisfaction and motivation of their employees?

A) job design approach
B) individual differences approach
C) managerial approach
D) organization approach

Question 57

Tyrell Anderson, a food-service manager for Hyatt Corporation, sets goals for his employees including maintaining food portion sizes, ensuring dining room cleanliness, and improving cashier's speed. When employees reach their goals they receive rewards and when they don't, he discusses with the employees how they can improve their performance. What approach to understanding motivation is Anderson taking with his employees?

A) managerial approach
B) job design approach
C) individual differences approach
D) organization approach

Question 58

Which approach to motivating employees emphasizes the design of jobs?

A) managerial
B) individual differences
C) organization
D) job design

Question 59

Ricardo Cruz, a technical writer for Metro News, telecommutes to enable him to take care of his disabled son. He has the discretion to schedule his work hours each day so long as the daily deadline for his editorial column is met. Which approach to job satisfaction and motivation does this illustrate?

A) organization approach
B) instrumental approach
C) individual differences approach
D) managerial approach

Question 60

Organizational practices that affect motivation include all of the following except __________.

A) development opportunities
B) appropriate benefits
C) reward structure
D) strategic planning

Question 61

Stephanie Brister is an oncology nurse specialist at a large medical clinic. She has become discouraged lately with the benefits given to recently-hired nurses, believing they are receiving a much more generous package of bonuses, child care, training, and paid vacations than those nurses who have been at the clinic for many years. What approach to motivation should the physicians employ in order to retain Brister?

A) managerial approach
B) organization approach
C) individual differences approach
D) job design approach

Question 62

__________ are the unique needs, values, personalities, and other characteristics that employees bring to their jobs.

A) Individual differences
B) Concurrent approaches to motivation
C) Job designs
D) Process approaches to motivation

Question 63

One employee of a firm is motivated by money, while another employee of the same organization works every day because the job offers challenges and stretches her competencies to the limit. These variations can best be explained by __________.

A) intelligence
B) job characteristics
C) individual differences
D) abilities

Question 64

A good manager is someone who does all of the following except:

A) provides employees with praise and recognition
B) inspires employees with one-on-one communication
C) gives employees specific and challenging goals
D) good managers do all of the above

Question 65

The _____________ theory states that managers can direct the performance of their employees by assigning specific, difficult goals that employees accept and are willing to commit to.

A) reinforcement
B) goal-setting
C) extinction
D) contingency

Question 66

Which of the following statements does not correctly describe goal-setting theory?

A) Goal setting works best when employees receive timely feedback about the progress they are making toward achieving their goals
B) Team goals can improve group performance
C) Goals should not be too specific because more general work best
D) If the goals are too easy or so difficult that employees reject them as impossible, the goals will have no motivational effects

Question 67

Goal setting should consider all of the following except __________.

A) specificity of goals
B) difficulty of goals
C) acceptance of goals
D) equity of goals

Question 68

One of the benefits of goal setting is that __________.

A) employees are energized to exert more effort
B) employees are directed toward the most important work activities and away from irrelevant tasks
C) employees are encouraged to persist in their work efforts
D) all of the above

Question 69

Management by objectives (MBO) can be a successful motivator of employees if all of the following exist except:

A) managers set the goals with the understanding that future performance evaluations and rewards will be based on job market conditions
B) managers and employees review past performance and identify objectives for the future
C) employees receive rewards for achieving the goal
D) employees have the competencies to achieve the goal

Question 70

__________is a signal that tells employees that they are doing well and should continue with their current approaches or that they aren't doing very well and should try new approaches.

A) Goal commitment
B) Management by Objectives
C) Feedback
D) Goal acceptance

Question 71

Yoojin Choi is the human resources director for a large advertising agency. Choi has always believed in the reinforcement model of motivation. Accordingly, Choi's management style emphasizes __________.

A) behavior therapy without the use of punishments
B) the application of rewards and punishments
C) satisfaction of higher-order needs
D) intrinsic rewards

Question 72

The reinforcement model describes a basic process by which a person's __________ to a __________ results in a specific __________, which in turn shapes future behaviors.

A) consequence; stimulus; response
B) response; consequence; stimuli
C) stimulus; response; consequence
D) response; stimulus; consequence

Question 73

__________ is not one of the four types of consequences that can modify behavior, according to reinforcement theory.

A) Extinction
B) Termination
C) Punishment
D) Negative reinforcement

Question 74

Which of the following statements does not correctly describe reinforcement theory?

A) Reinforcement theory is a process by which rewards and punishments influence behavior.
B) Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement are consequences that strengthen or maintain behaviors.
C) Whether a consequence is pleasant or unpleasant is determined by two factors: the action that follows the behavior and the nature of the outcome.
D) The correct sequence of the reinforcement process is as follows: stimulus, consequence, response, future behavior.

Question 75

__________ is the absence of any consequence following the occurrence of a behavior.

A) Punishment
B) Negative reinforcement
C) Extinction
D) Withdrawal

Question 76

__________ is an attempt to discourage a behavior by the application of negative consequence whenever it does occur.

A) Punishment
B) Extinction
C) Negative reinforcement
D) Positive reinforcement

Question 77

__________ occurs when a person engages in behavior in anticipation of avoiding unpleasant consequences in the future.

A) Consideration behavior
B) Positive reinforcement
C) Negative reinforcement
D) Extinction

Question 78

Johnny Burner is from a small, rural town in Iowa. Burner is teased often by his East Coast friends because he speaks with a strong Midwestern accent. Burner practices behavior modification by never responding to their comments. In essence, Burner is trying to stop the undesired comments through __________.

A) punishment
B) engaging behavior
C) elimination
D) extinction

Question 79

Although the reinforcement model has many positive features, it also has some drawbacks. However, __________ is not one of the problems typically associated with the reinforcement model.

A) it does a poor job of describing conditions that lead to behavior change
B) it fails to recognize the number of people motivated by the job itself
C) it oversimplifies behavior and behavior change
D) it puts a heavy emphasis on external rewards

Question 80

When does extinction usually occur?

A) when all negative reinforcements have failed to change bad behavior
B) when the positive reinforcement that once normally resulted from the behavior is removed
C) when all positive reinforcements stop encouraging workers to perform better
D) when employees become non-responsive to any stimulus