Motivational Implications of Reinforcement Theory

Komaki, Coombs, Schepam

  1. Reinforcement theory in applied settings

A. Aims

    1. To motivate workers to maintain their performance over extended periods of time
    2. Three aspects of motivation
    1. initiating
    2. directing
    3. maintaining performance

-reinforcement theory deals mainly with this aspect

B. Features of Reinforcement Theory

    1. Focuses on performance consequences
    1. When frequent, contingent, positive consequences follow performance, substantial evidence of improvements
    2. "Behavior is a function of its consequences."
    3. Antecedents: Occur before behavior: training; setting of goals; communication of company policy; function in an educational role
    4. Consequences: Occur after behavior: feedback; recognition; incentives; function in a motivational role
    1. Emphasis on Rigorous Evaluation
    1. Empirical data
    2. Applied operant measures – look at actual procedure (what is done) rather than outcomes
    3. Focus on interrater reliability: Done with control groups (pretest – posttest design or reversal and multiple baseline designs( allows for cause and effect assurance)

C. Four-step process

    1. Specify desired behaviors
    1. Do behavior, not traits
    1. Measure desired performance
    1. Trained observers passing interrater reliability tests, then observe performance
    1. Provide frequent, contingent, positive consequences
    1. feedback, graphs of progress
    1. Evaluate effectiveness on the job
    1. With-in group research design (multiple baseline)

 

  1. Using Reinforcement Theory to Promote Performance
    1. With a variety of target behaviors
    1. Productivity improvements
    2. Attendance and punctuality improvements
    3. Safety and health practices improvements
    4. Quality of service improvements
    1. Wide range of subjects and settings
    1. Military, hospitals, ball players, bus drivers
    1. Wide range of different types of consequences
    1. Organizational
    1. pay raise; promotion; special training
    1. Generalized
    1. cash; frequent flyer miles
    1. Activity
    1. Premack Principle: Reinforcer is the behavior workers want to engage in the most
    1. Social
    1. commendations. compliments, reviews, recognition
    1. Informational
    1. detailed feedback

*Can use a combo of these consequences

    1. Extended durations

 

  1. Using Reinforcement Theory to Understand Why People Do What They Do
    1. Behaviors mistakenly reinforced
    1. Rewarding A while hoping for B
    1. Inadvertently reinforce undesired behaviors by allotting rewards when desired goal is not actual met
    1. Negatively reinforcing a behavior
    1. i.e., Giving a promotion to a senior employee to avoid legal problems. Neg. rein. talented, junior employee that really deserves promotion
    1. How desired behaviors are inadvertently discouraged
    1. Punishment by application
    1. Actually punished for doing what you should (engineers)
    1. Punishment by removal
    1. Withdrawal of a positive reinforcer following a person’s behavior (budget cuts)
    1. Extinction
    1. i.e., Safe performance receives little of NO feedback
  1. Looking ahead
    1. Can use reinforcement theory to
    1. Reinforce entry-level workers
    2. Help organizations recover from M&A
    3. Create individual motivational programs

Equity Theory Predictions of Behavior in Organizations

Mowday

  1. Social Exchange Theories: A useful framework for understanding how social interactions in the workplace influence employee reactions to their jobs
    1. Based on two assumptions about human behavior
    1. Assumed similarity between the process through which individuals evaluate their social relationships
    2. Process through which individuals decide whether or not a particular exchange is satisfactory
    1. Social interactions play a central role in providing information to the individuals on the quality of their relationships with others
  1. Equity Theory (Adams)
    1. Inputs and outcomes: the major components of theory: What a person contributes to the exchange
    1. inputs: previous work experience; education; effort
    2. outcomes: job assignments; benefits; status
    1. Existence of an input or outcome must be recognized by one or both parties to the exchange. Must be considered relevant.
    2. A person evaluates outcomes by comparing them with those of others.
    3. Equity exists when the ratio of person’s outcomes to inputs in equal to the ratio of other’s outcomes and inputs. People determine whether they have been treated fairly at work by examining their own payoff ratio of outcomes (size of raise) to inputs (level of performance) and comparing that to the corresponding O-I ratio obtained by co-workers (comparison others).
    4. Consequence of inequity
    1. Perceived inequity creates tension in individual
    2. Amount of tension is proportional to amount of inequity
    3. Tension created in individual will motivate him to reduce it
    4. Strength of motivation to reduce inequity is proportional to perceived inequity
    1. Reduction of inequity
    1. Altering inputs
    2. Altering outcomes
    3. Cognitively distorting I/Os
    4. Leaving the field
    5. Taking action designed to change I/Os of others
    6. Changing comparison others

 

  1. Concept of Equity: A positive association between an employee’s efforts and performance on the job and the pay received (Goodman, 1977). *review pg. 63 for Distribution Rules
  2. Equity vs. Expectancy
    1. As long as perceived inequity influences the attractiveness of the outcomes/valence, then the two theories can explain each other. i.e., overpayment studies

Procedural Justice and Worker Motivation

Cropanzo, Folger

Distributive Justice: What it means to be treated fairly by way of examining outcomes of situations.

Procedural Justice: Focuses on the fairness of the MANNER in which the decision-making process is conducted.

*Distinction between WHAT was decided and HOW is what decided – two justices can be evaluated independently of one another*

  1. Procedural Justice as a Supplement to Equity Theory

    1. Equity theory does not focus on procedural justice therefor has limitations towards predicting which action an employee will take to reduce tension caused by the perceived inequity of I-O ration.
    2. For a decision to be made in a procedurally fair manner, must consider:

    1. The extent to which the decision maker exhibits neutrality
    2. The extent to which the decision maker’s intentions can be trusted
    3. The extent to which the decision maker shows respects for the rights of the parties of the decision (who it affects).

    1. Two component model of procedural justice

    1. Components:

    1. Person’s perception of having received an inequitable outcome
    2. Perceptions of events leading up to outcome

    1. States the unfair outcomes (distributive component) motivates employees to DO SOMETHING to rectify inequity

*PROCEDURAL JUSTICE SHOULD MOTIVATE EMPLOYEE TOWARDS ACTIONS VIEWED BY MANAGEMENT AS DESTRUCTIVE – AND SHOULD MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES TO BE MORE CONSTRUCTIVE!

Leadership: Do Traits Matter?

Kirkpatrick; Locke

Great Man Leadership Theory: Leadership qualities were inherited. This theory is outdated now due to the flexibility and growth of the organization and the new democratic model of operation.

Leaders MUST MOTIVATE

  1. Trait: Refers to peoples’ general characteristics, including capacities, motives, or patterns of behavior. Stodgill questioned the Trait Theory saying that research showed that no traits were universally associated with effective leadership and that situational factors were also influential. Trait theory making a comeback with six traits on which leaders differ from non-leaders:
    1. Drive: achievement, ambition (desire to get ahead), energy (to sustain achievement drive), tenacity (to overcome obstacles), and initiative (proactive). Reflects a high effort level
    1. Careful that these same traits do not result in a manager who tries to accomplish everything alone, thereby failing to develop subordinate commitment and responsibility
    1. Leadership motivation
    1. A willingness to assume responsibility, to influence others, to win an argument
    2. Must be willing to exercise power over subordinates and make appropriate use of positive and negative sanctions.
    3. Personalized Power Motive vs. Socialized Power Motive
    1. Little self-control, impulsive, needs status, accumulating power solely for the sake of dominating others, leading to dependent followers VS.
    2. Using power to achieve desired goals, vision, develops networks and coalitions, gains cooperation from others, use of role modeling
    1. Honesty and Integrity
    1. Integrity: Correspondence between word and deed
    2. Honesty: Being truthful or non-deceitful
    3. These two form a trusting relationship between leader and subordinate
    1. Self-Confidence
    1. Plays an important role in decision making and in gaining others
    1. Emotional Stability
    2. Cognitive Ability
    1. Conceptually skilled
    1. Knowledge of Business
    1. So leader can understand the concerns of subordinates in all levels of industry
    1. Other traits
    1. Charisma
    2. Creativity/Originality
    3. Flexibility

 

  1. The Rest of the Story
    1. Three categories of factors necessary for actualize potential of a good leader:
    1. Skills
    1. Narrower than traits; specific capacities for action: decision-making, problem solving, performance appraisal.
    1. Creating a vision
    1. vision: a concept of what the organization should be
    1. Implementing a vision
    1. structuring
    2. selection and training
    3. motivating
    4. managing information
    5. team building
    6. promoting change and innovation

 

  1. Management Implications
    1. Cognitive ability is the least trainable of the six traits of leadership
    2. Drive is fairly constant over time
    3. Desire to lead is difficult to judge
    4. Knowledge of job and industry can be achieved with training
    5. Honesty and integrity is something that is either accepted or rejected by a leader

Corporation, Culture and Commitment: Motivation and Social Control in Organizations

O’Reilly

 

    1. What is Culture?
    1. Culture as Control: a control system = the knowledge that someone who knows and cares in paying close attention to what we do and can tell us when deviations are occurring.
    1. performance appraisals – planning and budgeting systems
    2. MBO performance and appraisal system
    3. *A control system, no matter how carefully designed, works only when those being monitored believe that people who matter care about the results and are paying close attention
    4. Social control system = A culture in the form of shared expectations
    1. Culture as Normative Order
    1. Norms: socially created standards that help us interpret and evaluate events; expectations about what are appropriate or inappropriate attitudes and behaviors.
    2. Central values and styles that characterize a firm that can form the basis for the development of norms that attach approval of disapproval to holding certain attitudes or beliefs and to acting certain ways.
    3. It is through norms – the expectations shared by group members and the approval or disapproval attached to these expectations – that culture is developed and maintained.
    4. Norms can vary on two dimensions
    1. intensity or amount of approval/disapproval attached to an expectation
    2. the degree of consensus or consistency with which a norm is shared
    1. Only when there exist both intensity and consensus that strong cultures exist
    1. Culture and commitment
    1. Organizational commitment: An individual’s psychological bond to the organization, including a sense of job involvement, loyalty, and a belief in the values of the organization.
    1. compliance: person accepts the influence of others mainly to obtain something (i.e., pay)
    2. identification: person accepts influence in order to maintain a satisfying, self-defining relationship (i.e., pride in organization)
    3. internalization: person finds the values of the organization to be intrinsically rewarding with personal values

 

  1. How is Culture Developed?
    1. Constructing social realities
    1. Strong situation where there are clean incentives and expectations about what constitutes appropriate attitudes and behaviors can be very powerful
    2. When we care about what others think of these norms/social expectations are also powerful
    1. Mechanisms for Developing Culture
    1. Participation
    1. A large number of psychological experiments have convincingly shown that participation can lead to both commitment and enjoyment across all situations
    1. Management as Symbolic Action
    1. Management takes clear visible actions in support of the cultural values
    1. Information from Others
    1. Create strong social construction of reality by minimizing contradictory interpretations from management and co-workers
    1. Comprehensive Reward Systems
    1. immediate, positive, contingent
    1. Managing Culture
    1. Identify strategic objectives of unit – specify short term objectives and necessary actions
    2. Analyze existing values and norms that characterize the organization:
    1. Focus on what people in the unit feel is expected of them, then what is actually rewarded
    2. What does it take to get ahead?
    3. What stories are routinely told?
    4. Who are the people that exemplify the group?
    1. Any conflicts between these norms and what is needed and currently rewarded?
    2. Design programs to shape or develop desired norms

Chapter 5: Job Attitudes and Employee Behavior

Attitude: A predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable way to persons or objects in one’s environment. Three assumptions:

  1. Hypothetical construct: Must infer existence of attitudes from peoples’ behaviors
  2. Unidimensional construct: Ranging from very positive to very negative
  3. Relevant to subsequent behavior

Job attitudes:

  1. Beliefs about the job
  2. The attitude itself
  3. The behavioral intentions that result from the attitude


A Restatement of the Satisfaction-Performance Hypothesis

Organ

Organ draws on social psychological exchange theory to offer why job satisfaction might account for more variance in informal helping and compliance than in more narrow measures of productivity or in-role performance.

  1. "Performance" as Organizational Citizenship Behavior
  1. OCB: Helpful, constructive gestures exhibited by organization members and valued or appreciated by official, but not related directly to individual productivity not inhering in the enforceable requirements of the individual’s role
  2. Two rationales for the link between job satisfaction and individual citizenship behaviors:
    1. From social exchange theory: individuals will feel bound by the norm of reciprocity when given the resources, treatment, and opportunities that induce satisfaction. Will engage in behaviors such as cooperation, supportiveness of supervisor, helping behaviors, etc.
    2. From observations of prosocial and altruistic behavior: Job satisfaction should represent the chronic mood state of an organizational member, then those most satisfied should have a characteristic predisposition toward prosocial gestures. (r=.41)
    3. Opposite has been tested and consistently negative correlations were found between self-reports of job stress and five different measures of prosocial behavior.

Major Causes of Absenteeism

Rhodes, Steers

  1. Three explanatory models for absenteeism
  1. Pain-Avoidance Models: Job dissatisfaction represents the primary cause of absenteeism
    1. Little support for the absence as pain-avoidance theory.
    2. Beneficial to include attitudinal variables in more comprehensive models of absenteeism
    1. Attitudes can serve to pull the individual toward the organization if positive, and vice versa
  1. Adjustment-to-Work Models: Absence from work is viewed as a consequence of organizational socialization and other adaptive processes in response to job demands
    1. Hill and Trist: Means of withdrawal from stressful work situations. Speculative
    2. Gibson: Explains absence based on the contractual relationship bw. the individual and the organization. Exchange theory.
    3. Rosse and Miller: Concerned with behavioral shifts. i.e., sunny day – dissatisfied with being at work – absent to achieve positive mood state or improve person’s situation
    1. focuses on absence as one of several behavioral responses available to individuals in dealing with relative dissatisfaction
    2. draws attention to dynamic nature of absence behavior
    3. antecedents to absenteeism can come from within the workplace or outside it
    1. Chadwick-Jones, Nicholson, Johns: Social exchange rather then individual motivations. Draws on the culture. see page 412-413.
    1. Salience: Degree of distinctiveness of beliefs about absence. The more salient the culture, the more homogenous are the beliefs and the more impact it has on the individual, resulting in clear norms regarding attendance behavior.
    2. Trust: Whether tasks are high in discretion. Professional = high; Manufacturing = low
    3. Four types of absence cultures:
    1. dependent culture: low s, high t
    2. moral culture: high s, high t
    3. fragmented culture: low s, high t
    4. conflictual culture: high s, low t
  1. Decision Models: Designed with the expectancy-valence framework. View absence behavior as largely rational in nature and determined by the individual’s subjective evaluation of the costs and benefits associated with absence and its alternative
    1. Economic models: employees restore balance of effort-rewarded ratios with absenteeism
    2. Psychological models: I-O ratio

 

  1. Toward a Diagnostic Model of Attendance: Steers and Rhodes = In this model, there is increased attention to absence culture, organizational practices, societal context, and perceived ability to attend.
    1. Influences on attendance motivation
    1. prevailing absence culture
    2. organizational policies and practices
    3. employee attitudes, values, and goals
    1. Absence culture
    2. Organizational Practices
    3. Employee Attitudes, Values, and Goals
    4. Influences on Perceived Ability to Attend
    5. Societal Context and Reciprocal Relationships (i.e., differences globally)

*THIS MODEL MUST BE VIEWED AS BEING IN A CONSTANT STATE OF FLUX AND WHERE A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN ONE VARIABLE CAN SET OFF A CHAIN REACTION THAT ULTIMATELY AFFECTS MANY OF THE OTHER VARIABLE, INCLUDING ATTENDANCE BEHAVIOR ITSELF*

Social Cognitive Theory of Organizational Management p84

Wood, Bandura

I. Social Cognitive Theory: Explains psychosocial functioning in terms of triadic reciprocal causation.

    1. Behavior, cognitive, and other personal factors and environmental events operate as interacting determinants that influence each other bidirectionally
    2. Three aspects relevant to organizational field
    1. development of people’s cognitive, social and behavioral competencies through mastery modeling
    2. cultivation of people’s beliefs in their capabilities so that they will use their talents effectively
    3. enhancement of people’s motivation through goal systems

II. Development of Competencies through Mastery Modeling

    1. Mechanisms Governing Modeling
    1. Observational learning in governed by four component processes
    1. attentional processes: what people selectively observe for modeling influences and what they take from them
    2. representational processes: retention is enhanced when people symbolically transform the modeled information into memory codes and rehearse coded information
    3. behavioral production processes: coded info translated into appropriate courses of action; them compare actions to own conceptual model of behavior; modify behavior to rectify any discrepancies bw. action and conceptual model
    4. motivational processes: positive reinforcements will influence behavior
    1. Guided Mastery Modeling: method that produces the best results.
    1. Three elements
    1. Effective modeling teaches people general rules and strategies for dealing with different situations
    2. People need guidance and opportunities to perfect new skills (simulated): role-playing, feedback
    3. People finally need a transfer program aimed at providing self-direct success. Newly acquired skills are first tried on the job in situations that are likely to produce good results
    1. To enhance competencies, people need instructive modeling, guided practice with corrective feedback, and help in transferring new skills to everyday situations

 

  1. Self-efficacy Regulatory Mechanism: to be successful, one not only must possess the required skills, but also a resilient self-belief in one’s capabilities to exercise control over events to accomplish goals
    1. Sources of self-efficacy beliefs
    1. Mastery experiences: performance successes strengthen self beliefs of capability
    2. Modeling: through the social comparison process, self beliefs are strengthened
    3. Social persuasion: people receive realistic encouragement, they are more likely to exert greater effort and to become successful (than if they had self-doubts)
    4. Successful motivators and efficacy builders assign tasks to people in ways that bring success and avoid placing them prematurely in situations in which they are likely to fail.
    5. Good physical health is a determinant, too
    1. Diverse effects on self-efficacy beliefs
    1. The stronger a person’s self-efficacy, the more likely they will take chances in their career
    2. Self-beliefs also determine their level of motivation. Strong perseverance usually pays off in performance accomplishments
    1. Those who believe they cannot manage potential difficulties experience high levels of stress. Vice versa and will take on obstacles
  1. Self-Regulation of Motivation and Action Though Goal Systems
    1. People seek self-satisfaction from fulfilling valued goals. They are motivated by discontent with substandard performances
    1. Discrepancies between behavior and personal standards generate self-reactive influences, which serve as motivators and guides for action designed to achieve desired results
    1. Hierarchical Dual Control Mechanism
    1. Human self-motivation relies on discrepancy production and discrepancy reduction
    1. Set goals – accomplish goal – set higher goals and adopt further challenges creating new discrepancies to be mastered
    1. Diverse effects of goals
    1. Motivation is best regulated by long-range goals that set the course for one’s efforts combined with a series of attainable goals that guide and sustains the efforts along the way.
    2. Break complex, long-term goals into short-term attainable goals to generate high aspiration and feelings of success
    1. Self-influence governing cognitive motivation

Goal Setting Theory: An Introduction

Locke, Latham

I. Goals as Regulators of Action

    1. GS theory assumes that goals (ideas of future, desired end states) play a causal role in action
    2. Two categories of goal-directed action
    1. Nonconsciously goal-directed (photosynthesis, breathing, digestion, blood circulation)
    2. Consciously goal-directed or purposeful actions (hunting for food, productive work)
    1. Both types share three features that justify their being goal-directed
    1. self-generation
    2. value-significance
    3. goal-causation

*The biological basis of goal-directed action is the organism’s need to sustain its life by taking the actions its nature requires

    1. Humans have the capacity for reason. They have a choice as to whether they set goals, and as to what type of goals they set.
    2. GS theory assumes that human action is directed by conscious goals and intentions
    3. A goal does not have to be in conscious awareness every second during the action (Ph.D. example). In habitual action, there is some degree of conscious initiation of the action, but once initiated, the action flows with minimal conscious effort (driving to work)
    4. GS theory assumes that goals people have on a task influence what they will do and how well they will perform.

II. Levels of Explanation

    1. First level
    1. What is the relationship between goals and task performance
    2. What factors affect this relationship
    3. Feedback and expectancy/self-efficacy play a major role at this level
    1. Second level
    1. What factors affect goal choice and commitment
    2. Relation of goal choice to personality
    3. Where do goals come from
    1. Third level
    1. Identify the sources and roots of the individual’s values, motives, and personality
    1. Nature of an individual’s thinking affects
    1. Specific goals or vague goals being set
    2. Long range or short range
    3. Consistent or contradictory
    4. Degree of commitment to goals
  1. Goal Setting Theory: A Brief History
    1. Applied Precursors
    1. Taylor
    2. MBO
  1. Dimensions of Goals
    1. Intentions are similar in meaning to goals.
    2. Attitudes, in the form of valences, and norms are integrated in to goal-setting theory.
    3. Perceived control is similar in meaning to self-efficacy
    4. Goals have two main attributes:
    1. goal content: object of result being sought (raise, house, car, winning, higher self-esteem, less anxiety)
    2. goal intensity: scope of goal setting process; effort required to form goal; goal as a priority; commitment to goal; importance of goal

An Integrated Control Theory Model of Work Motivation

Klein

Work Motivation: The set of psychological processes that cause the initiation, direction, intensity, and persistence of behavior

I. Control Theory

    1. Incorporates feedback, goal-setting, expectancy, and attribution theories
    2. Feedback loop is the fundamental building block of action. Four elements
    1. referent standard/goal
    2. sensor or input function
    3. comparator
    4. effector or output function

*example: salesperson must meet quarterly sales quota (standard/goal); information salesperson receives about performance (input); information compared to standard (comparator); takes corrective action to rectify discrepancy between goal and comparison

    1. Two elements of control theory
    1. cognitive: internal goals; processing of information about one’s current state; comparison of state with goals
    2. affective: perceived discrepanies between state and goals; actions taken to rectify
    1. Develop subgoals or goal hierarchy

II. An Integrated Control Theory Model (pg. 125 for model)

    1. Similar to Feedback Loop except there is an inclusion of several cognitive processes between the comparator and the effector
    1. Additional processes reflect that in human systems neither the sensor, standards, nor effector are fixed quantities.
    1. Goals and Feedback are Dual Elements of a single motivational process.
    1. The more frequent and immediate the feedback, the more effective it is
    1. Comparator
    1. When feedback is perceived, it is tested against the goal through a psychological process represented by the comparator.
    2. Three results of comparison:
    1. individual is on target toward meeting the goal
    2. individual in behind schedule
    3. individual is ahead of schedule

*if process reveals an error, response will be initiated in order to correct that error

    1. Unconscious Scripted Response
    1. Scripts: overlearned performance programs, cognitive structures that provide sequences of events for familiar situations
    1. routine work behaviors are executed via scripts
    2. script interruption often will result in the perception of an error and a shift to conscious processing
    1. Conscious Response
    1. When the automatic feedback loop is interrupted, an individual will reassess the likelihood of meeting the goal. This assessment entails processing the available information, and it results in an outcome expectancy, a subject estimate of the likelihood that the goal can be attained, given the nature of the situation and the available options.
    1. Attributional Search
    1. Factors influencing outcome expectancies:
    1. past performance
    2. locus of control
    3. social influence
    4. attributions
    1. SEU: The utility is construed to be a multiplicative function of the attractiveness of goal attainment and the expectancy of attaining that goal
    1. Individuals are more likely to remain committed to a goal when they have a high expectancy of reaching it and when their perceived value of goal attainment is high
    1. Response Decision
    1. If the resulting SEU of goal attainment is high, continued effort toward that goal should result
    2. If SEU is low, the predicted response is withdrawal
  1. Conclusions
    1. Control theory perspective explicitly integrates goal setting, feedback, expectancy, and attribution theories as well as implicitly integrating several other constructs such as social learning theory, need theories, and information processing.
    2. Focuses attention on the cognitive processes underlying motivation
    3. Hierarchically organized feedback loops provide an explanation of how automatic and conscious processes operate simultaneously to initiate and direct behavior
    4. Control Theory focuses attention of the self-regulation of behavior
    5. Numerous propositions can be derived from the integrated model regarding:
    1. the nature of goals and feedback
    2. cognitive, behavioral, and affective reaction over time to goals, performance, and feedback
    3. role of attributions, expectancies, and goal hierarchies in determining those reactions
    1. Generates Research Programs
    1. Include examining the links between motivation and learning and between work attitudes and goal-based withdrawal behaviors
    2. Examines the functioning of goal hierarchies, multiple and competing goals, and the modifications of goals over time

Organizational Psychology and the Pursuit of the Happy/Productive Worker

Staw

I. Approaches to the Happy/Productive Worker

    1. Early research involved searching for a relationship between satisfaction and productivity
    1. Organizational psychologists have had to contend with the fact that happiness and productivity may not necessarily go together.
    1. Some theories focus on ways to increase job satisfaction, with the implicit assumption that performance will necessarily follow; some strive to directly increase performance with the assumption that satisfaction will result; some note that satisfaction and performance will be a joint product of implementing certain changes in the organization

II. Changing Job Attitudes

    1. Currently, the major debate in the job design area concerns whether individuals are more sensitive to objective job conditions or social cues.
    1. Hackman & Oldman: JDS
    2. Social Information Processing theory: co-worker influence
    1. Debate between job design and social information processing. Two shifts:
    1. Organizational psychology now places greater emphasis on the role of cognition and subjective evaluation in the way people respond to jobs. Staw: need to be reminded that perceptions of job characteristics do not necessarily reflect reality, yet they can determine how we respond to that reality
    2. Situationalism: stressing how even slight alteration in job context can influence one’s perception of a job

III. The Consistency of Job Attitudes

    1. Job satisfaction: a "sticky variable": one that is not so easily changed by outside influence
    1. Garbarino: Job attitudes are fairly constant; when reality changes for either better or worse, we can distort that reality to fit our underlying disposition
    2. *Predisposition to be either happy or sad in most situations
    1. The attitudinal consistency study
    1. Found the job satisfaction was fairly consistent over time
    2. Job satisfaction showed consistency even when people changed jobs; their employers; and their occupations
    1. Dispositional Study
    1. Intergenerational Study: sought to relate early personality characteristics to job attitudes later in life
    1. got longitudinal data from 50 year study
    2. constructed an effective disposition scale that measured a very general positive-negative orientation of people.
    3. Found that affective dispositions (junior and high school) significantly predicted job attitudes during middle and late adulthood
    4. Fair amount of consistency in job attitudes and there are dispositional and situational sources of job satisfaction
  1. The Intransigence of Job Performance
    1. If the employee really wants to perform better, his or her performance will naturally go up
    2. Factors contributing to the consistency of performance:
    1. personality dimensions such as dependability and self-confidence
    2. a high energy level
    3. Assessment centers use personality tests to predict performance in many corporate settings
    1. External factors and not a person’s personality may also contribute to an improvement in performance
  1. Evaluating the Three Systems
    1. The systems
    1. Individually-oriented systems work by tapping the desires and goals of individuals and by taking advantage of our cultural affinity for independence
    2. Group-oriented systems work by taking advantage of our more social selves, using group pressures and loyalty as the means of enforcing desired behavior and dispensing praise for accomplishments
    3. Organizationally-oriented systems function by building intense attraction to the goals of an institution, where individual pleasure is derived from serving the collective welfare (individual goals are tied into the progress of the organization: profit sharing, stock options, etc)
    1. Need to realize that each motivational system has its relative S & Ws

Pattern of Influence Behavior for Managers

Yukl, Falbe, Youn

  1. to assess directional differences in the use of influence tactics
  2. to identify tactics used together frequently and tactics used alone
  3. to identify typical patterns in the sequencing of tactics

I. Model and Hypotheses

    1. Underlying assumption that most managers will prefer to use tactics that are
    1. feasible in terms of the agent’s position and personal power in relation to the target
    2. socially acceptable
    3. that are not costly (in terms of time, effort, loss of resources, alienation of the target)
    4. likely to be effective for a particular objective
    1. Directional Differences in the Use of Tactics

1. Table 1 on pg. 357