Deck 12: Motivating Employees: Achieving Superior Performance in the Workplace

Question 1

According to Maslow's theory, food, clothing, shelter, comfort and self-preservation are the needs at the lowest level of the hierarchy.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Maslow's theory indicates that employees have few needs beyond earning a paycheck.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Feedback in the simple motivation model serves to inform you whether behavior worked and should be used again.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In managing for motivation, you should think about employees as people who are investors; they are investing their time, energy, and intelligence in your organization.

Question 5

According to McClelland's theory, people learn their needs for power, achievement, and affiliation from their culture, and from life experiences; they are not born with them.

Question 6

Motivation cannot be directly observed in another's behavior; it must be inferred from one's behavior.

Question 7

Self-determination theory focuses primarily on intrinsic motivation and rewards rather than on extrinsic motivation and rewards.

Question 8

In McClelland's acquired needs theory, the desire to excel at challenging tasks is part of the need for affiliation.

Question 9

Managers use motivation to get talented prospective workers to work for them.

Question 10

To achieve psychological growth, according to the two-factor theory, people need to satisfy three innate needs including competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Question 11

According to Maslow, persons will attempt to satisfy their love needs after their physiological and safety needs are met.

Question 12

Fulfilled needs motivate people to perform specific behaviors to receive rewards that feedback and satisfy the original need.

Question 13

Self-determination theory assumes that people are driven to try to grow and attain fulfillment, with their behavior and well-being influenced by three innate needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Question 14

According to Maslow's theory, self-respect, status, reputation, recognition, and self-confidence are esteem needs.

Question 15

"I need close relationships." This statement reflects the desire for friendly and warm relations with other people, characteristic of the need for power.

Question 16

To motivate employees, employers need to primarily focus on fulfilling the top level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, self-actualization.

Question 17

An extrinsic reward such as money is the payoff a person receives from others for performing a particular task.

Question 18

Content perspectives, also known as need-based perspectives, are theories that emphasize the needs that motivate people. Content theory asks, "What kind of needs motivate employees in the workplace?"

Question 19

An example of an intrinsic reward occurred during an experiment by General Electric, which found that paying employees who were smokers up to $750 to quit and stay off cigarettes was three times as successful as a comparison group that got no paid incentives.

Question 20

Having a best friend at work is not a factor that is characteristic of the best workplaces.

Question 21

John's manager just told his team about this year's contest, the winner of which will receive an all-expense paid trip to Bangkok. John does not like to travel to places where he can't speak the language, so he is not very enthusiastic. This reward has a high valence for John.

Question 22

It is natural for people to set and strive for goals; even if people don't understand and accept the goals, the goal-setting process is useful.

Question 23

Those with a high need for achievement may be the least efficient managers because they resist making decisions that make others resent them.

Question 24

The three process perspectives on motivation are equity theory, expectancy theory, and goal-setting theory.

Question 25

No matter how fair managers think the organization's policies, procedures, and reward system are, each employee's perception of those factors is what counts.

Question 26

Equity theory is based on the idea that employees are motivated to see fairness in the rewards they expect for task performance and are motivated to resolve feelings of injustice.

Question 27

Inputs, outputs, and comparisons are the essential elements in equity setting theory.

Question 28

Need-based perspectives try to explain why employees have different needs, what behaviors they select to satisfy them and how they decide if their choices were successful.

Question 29

Your motivation, according to expectancy theory, involves the relationship between your effort, your personality, and the desirability of the outcomes (such as pay or recognition) of your performance.

Question 30

According to Herzberg's two-factor theory, a worker's salary and working conditions are possible sources of job satisfaction.

Question 31

If you are happy with accomplishment of a task being its own reward, you may have a high need for power.

Question 32

According to expectancy theory, for a person's motivation to be high, he or she must be high on all three elements: instrumentality, performance, and valence.

Question 33

If you assign a lot of importance or a high value to your prospective bonus or pay raise, then your valence is said to be high.

Question 34

In two-factor theory, motivating factors include achievement, recognition, and responsibility.

Question 35

Instrumentality, also called the performance-to-reward expectancy, is the expectation that successful performance of the task will lead to the outcome desired.

Question 36

In Herzberg's theory, the lower-level needs are known as hygiene factors, and the higher-level needs are called motivating factors.

Question 37

According to expectancy theory, assuming they have choices, people will make the choice that promises them the greatest reward if they think they can get it.

Question 38

According to equity theory, employees who feel they are being underrewarded might respond by doing less work, calling in sick, or leaving early.

Question 39

According to Herzberg, hygiene factors are associated with job dissatisfaction.

Question 40

McClelland identifies the need for institutional power as positive and involving problem solving to further mutual goals.

Question 41

You shouldn't reprimand in public, which would lead only to resentments that may have nothing to do with an employee's infractions.

Question 42

Goal-setting theory suggests behavior tends to be repeated if it has positive consequences and tends not to be if it has negative consequences.

Question 43

Reinforcement theory suggests that behavior with positive consequences tends to be repeated, whereas behavior with negative consequences tends not to be repeated.

Question 44

Most workers rate monetary benefits higher than a caring boss.

Question 45

Job enrichment consists of building into a job such motivating factors as responsibility, achievement, recognition, stimulating work, and advancement.

Question 46

Behavior modification is the use of reinforcement theory to change human behavior.

Question 47

The number one reason people quit their jobs is their dissatisfaction with their supervisors, not their paychecks.

Question 48

To use positive reinforcement, give praise to employees not for showing up for work on time (an expected part of any job) but for showing up early.

Question 49

Fitting people to jobs is based on the assumption that people are underutilized at work and that they want more variety and responsibility.

Question 50

According to the job design model, five core characteristics affect a worker's motivation because they affect three critical psychological states: meaningfulness of work, responsibility for results, and knowledge of results.

Question 51

The five core job characteristics are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.

Question 52

Positive reinforcement is the process of strengthening a behavior by withdrawing something negative.

Question 53

Reinforcement is anything that causes a given behavior to be repeated or inhibited.

Question 54

Job simplification involves the division of an organization's work among its employees and the application of motivational theories to jobs to increase satisfaction and performance.

Question 55

Job design is positively associated with employee performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, physical and psychological well-being, as well as lower absenteeism and intentions to quit.

Question 56

Simplified, repetitive jobs lead to job dissatisfaction, poor mental health, and a low sense of accomplishment and personal growth.

Question 57

To be most motivating, goals should be specific and challenging but achievable.

Question 58

For incentive compensation plans to work, rewards must be linked to performance and be measurable; they must satisfy individual needs; they must be agreed on by manager and employee; and they must be perceived as being equitable, believable, and achievable by employees.

Question 59

In reinforcement theory, both extinction and punishment increase the likelihood that a given behavior will be repeated.

Question 60

The task significance for a craftsperson who goes through all the steps to build a handmade acoustic guitar is higher than it is for an assembly-line worker who just installs windshields on cars.

Question 61

Content perspectives, also known as need-based perspectives, include all except which one of the following theories?

A) Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory
B) Herzberg's two-factor theory
C) McClelland's acquired needs theory
D) Equity theory
E) Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory

Question 62

A manager should administer punishment in public in front of employees because the embarrassment enhances the punishment and its effectiveness.

Question 63

After three shuttle accidents in three months, one of which resulted in a critical injury to a driver, Citywide Shuttle drivers received additional training and all shuttles were retrofitted with new braking systems. This helps to satisfy which of Maslow's needs?

A) self-actualization
B) safety
C) love
D) esteem
E) physiological

Question 64

To achieve psychological growth, according to the self-determination theory, people need to satisfy the three innate needs: competence, autonomy, and _____.

A) affiliation
B) power
C) relatedness
D) pay
E) safety

Question 65

Maslow's levels of needs, in order from lowest (most basic) to highest level, are _____.

A) self-actualization, esteem, love, safety, and physiological
B) safety, love, esteem, self-actualization, and physiological
C) physiological, safety, self-actualization, esteem, and love
D) safety, physiological, esteem, love, and self-actualization
E) physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization

Question 66

The need for status, reputation, and recognition are part of _____.

A) self-actualization
B) love
C) esteem
D) safety
E) physiological

Question 67

The four principal perspectives on motivation are (1) content, (2) process, (3) competence, and (4) reinforcement.

Question 68

Our perceptions of equity or fair treatment are significantly associated with job satisfaction, commitment, performance, and turnover.

Question 69

McClelland believes that achievement, affiliation, and power are major motives which determine people's behavior in the workplace and that we learn these from the culture and our life experiences.

Question 70

Gainsharing allow certain employees to buy stock at a future date for a discounted price.

Question 71

Pay for knowledge, also known as skill-based pay, ties pay to the number of job-relevant skills or academic degrees employees earn.

Question 72

For managers, the importance of Maslow's contribution is that he showed that workers _____.

A) are interested only in compensation that helps them fulfill physiological needs
B) are as complex as their organization
C) have needs beyond that of just earning a paycheck
D) expect an employer to fulfill every level in their hierarchy of needs
E) have needs that cannot be understood by their employer

Question 73

A simple model of motivation does not include which of the following?

A) unfulfilled need
B) motivation
C) behaviors
D) rewards
E) punishment

Question 74

______ is defined as the psychological processes that arouse and direct goal-directed behavior.

A) Self-actualization
B) Productivity
C) Self-determination
D) Reinforcement
E) Motivation

Question 75

Ricardo's sales manager just informed his sales team that all sales in January will earn an extra 5% commission. The team gets right to work, being motivated by a(n) _____.

A) extrinsic reward
B) physiological need
C) high need for power
D) intrinsic reward
E) hygiene factor

Question 76

New research shows that the cubicle is not a motivational environment, stifling creativity and morale for many workers.

Question 77

An accounting firm reimburses employees for tuition and fees if they complete job-related coursework with a B or better, which helps them meet which of Maslow's levels of need?

A) love
B) esteem
C) self-actualization
D) safety
E) physiological

Question 78

Intrinsic motivation is not as long lasting as extrinsic motivation, and has a less positive impact on task performance.

Question 79

Managers can use both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to encourage better work performance.

Question 80

Paula's management professor just told her class that the final exam is optional for students like her who currently have anA. She decides to take the exam anyway, since she likes the subject and wants to master the material. Paula is motivated to take the exam by a(n) _____.

A) hygiene factor
B) physiological need
C) high need for power
D) extrinsic reward
E) intrinsic reward