Motivation | Describe McClelland's theory of needs

Describe McClelland's theory of needs.

Answer:

McClelland's theory of needs states that workers are motivated by three needs: need for achievement, need for power, and need for affiliation. 

Individuals differ in the degree to which a particular need motivates them. Individuals with a high need for achievement have a drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards. 

Individuals with a high need for power need to make others behave in a way that they would not have otherwise behaved, while individuals with a high need for affiliation have the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships. 

The most successful managers will have an appropriate fit between their job and their dominant need.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Motivation | Describe three alternative work arrangements

Describe three alternative work arrangements.

Answer:

Three alternative work arrangements: flextime, job sharing, and telecommuting, alter work arrangements to increase motivation. 

Flextime, or flexible work hours, allows employees some discretion over their start and stop times, while requiring a specific number of hours per week. 

Job sharing allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40-hour-a-week job. 

Finally, telecommuting, allows employees to do work at home through a computer linked to their office.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Motivation | What is an employee involvement program?

What is an employee involvement program?

Answer:

Employee involvement programs are a way to increase workers' control and autonomy to improve their motivation, organizational commitment, productivity, and job satisfaction. Examples of involvement programs include participative management, representative participation, and quality circles. Participative management programs use joint decision making as a strategy to improve employee performance. Representative participation programs, widely required by law in Western Europe, provide for worker representation in company decision making. 

The two most common implementations of representative participation are work councils and board representatives. Quality circles, another form of employee involvement, are work groups of eight to ten employees and supervisors who have a shared area of responsibility. They meet regularly to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes of the problems, recommend solutions, and take corrective actions.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Motivation | Explain Herzberg's two-Factor theory

Explain Herzberg's Two-Factor theory.

Answer:

Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory suggests that there are two types of factors in the workplace: hygiene factors and motivational factors. Hygiene factors are extrinsic factors, such as supervision, pay, company policies, and working conditions. The absence of one or more hygiene factors can lead to a state of dissatisfaction, but their presence does not lead to a greater desire to excel at one's job. 

Motivational factors are intrinsic factors, like advancement, recognition, responsibility, and achievement, that are directly related to job satisfaction. The absence of motivational factors does not cause dissatisfaction; rather, a state of neutrality. 

Herzberg suggests that managers must make sure that hygiene factors have been addressed to move employees from a state of "dissatisfaction" to a state of "no dissatisfaction" and must add one or more motivational factors to move employees from "no satisfaction" to "satisfaction".

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Behavior | What is cognitive dissonance?

What is cognitive dissonance?





















Answer: Cognitive dissonance is any incompatibility between two or more attitudes, or between behavior and attitudes. Through this theory, Leon Festinger sought to explain the link between attitudes and behavior. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will attempt to reduce dissonance.


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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Behavior | What is the difference between job satisfaction and job involvement?

What is the difference between job satisfaction and job involvement? 























Answer: 
Job satisfaction is an individual's general attitude toward his or her job. A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive feelings about the job, while a person who is dissatisfied with his or her job holds negative feelings about the job. A closely related concept is job involvement. Job involvement is the degree to which a person identifies with his or her job, actively participates in it, and considers his or her performance important to self-worth. High levels of job involvement are positively related to organizational citizenship and job performance. 

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Control | Feedforward, Concurrent, & Feedback Controls

Explain feedforward, concurrent, and feedback controls and provide an example for each one. 

Answer: 

Feedforward control is the most desirable type of control—feedforward control—prevents anticipated problems since it takes place before the actual activity. Example—at St. Joseph's Hospital in West Bend, Indiana, a new facility was designed with identical rooms, nonslip floors, and glass walls to reduce errors in patient care and to increase employee safety.

Concurrent control, as its name implies, takes place while an activity is in progress. When control occurs while the work is being performed, management can correct problems before they come too costly. Example—When managers use management by walking around, which is a term describing when a manager is out in the work area interacting directly with employees, they're using concurrent control.

Feedback control, the most popular type of control relies on feedback. In feedback control, the control takes place after the activity is done. Example—when the Denver Mint discovered flawed Wisconsin quarters, it was discovered with feedback control. The damage had already occurred even though the organization corrected the problem once it was discovered.

Source: Management, 11e (Robbins/Coulter)