Essentials of

Organizational Behavior,
10/e
Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A.
Judge

Chapter 6

Motivation: From
Concepts
to Application
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After studying this chapter,

you should be able to:
1.

Describe the way in which employees can be

motivated by changing their work environment.

2.

Compare and contrast the three main ways jobs can

be redesigned.

3.

Give examples of employee involvement measures

and how they can motivate employees.

4.

Describe the four major strategic rewards decisions.

5.

Demonstrate how the different types of variablepay programs can increase employee motivation.

6.

Describe how the application of motivation theories

varies across cultures.

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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Motivating by Changing
the Work Environment:
JCM
The Job Characteristics Model - jobs are
described in terms of five core
dimensions:
Skill variety
Task identity
Task significance
Autonomy
Feedback
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The Job Characteristics

Model

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JCM: Designing
Motivational Jobs
JCM-designed jobs give internal rewards
Individuals growth needs are
moderating factors
Motivating jobs must be:
Autonomous
Provide feedback, and
Have at least one of the three meaningfulness
factors
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How Can Jobs be

Redesigned?
Job Rotation
The periodic shifting of an employee from one
task to another

Job Enlargement
Increasing the number and variety of tasks

Job Enrichment
Increasing the degree to which the worker
controls the planning, execution and
evaluation of the work
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Guidelines for Enriching a

Job Using JCM

Enrichment reduces turnover and absenteeism

while increasing satisfaction.
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Alternate Work
Arrangements
Flextime
Some discretion over when
worker starts and leaves

Job Sharing
Two or more individuals split
a traditional job

Telecommuting
Work remotely at least two
days per week
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6-8

Employee
Involvement
A participative process that
uses the input of employees
to increase their
commitment to the
organizations success
Two types:
Participative Management
Representative Participation
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Participative Management
Subordinates share a significant degree
of decision-making power with superiors
Required conditions:
Issues must be relevant
Employees must be competent and knowledgeable
All parties must act in good faith

Only a modest influence on productivity,

motivation, and job satisfaction

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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Representative
Participation
Workers are represented by a small
group of employees who participate
in decisions affecting personnel
Works Councils
Board membership

Desires to redistribute power within

an organization
Does not appear to be very
motivational
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Rewarding
Employees
Major strategic rewards
decisions:
1. What to pay employees
2. How to pay individual
employees
3. What benefits to offer
4. How to construct employee
recognition programs
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1. What to Pay
Need to establish a pay structure
Balance between:
Internal equity the worth of the job to the
organization
External equity the external
competitiveness of an organizations pay
relative to pay elsewhere in its industry

A strategic decision with trade-offs

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2. How to Pay:
Variable-Pay Programs
Bases a portion of the pay on a given
measure of performance
Piece-Rate Pay workers are paid a fixed sum
for each unit of production completed
Merit-Based Pay pay is based on individual
performance appraisal ratings
Bonuses rewards employees for recent
performance
Skill-Based Pay pay is based on skills
acquired instead of job title or rank doesnt
address the level of performance
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More Variable Pay

Programs
Profit-Sharing Plans organization-wide programs
that distribute compensation based on an
established formula designed around profitability
Gainsharing compensation based on sharing of
gains from improved productivity
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
plans in which employees acquire stock, often at
below-market prices

While itit appears

appears that
that pay
pay does
does increase
increase
While
productivity, itit seems
seems that
that not
not everyone
everyone responds
responds
productivity,
positively to
to variable-pay
variable-pay plans.
plans.
positively
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3. What Benefit to Offer:

Flexible Benefits
Each employee creates a
benefit package tailored to
their own needs and situation
Modular plans predesigned
packages to meet the needs of
a specific group
Core-plus plans core of
essential benefits and menu of
options to choose from
Flexible spending plans
full choice from menu of
options
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4. How to Recognize Them:

Employee Recognition
Programs

In addition to pay there are intrinsic

rewards
Can be as simple as a spontaneous comment
Can be formalized in a program

Recognition is the most powerful

workplace motivator and the least
expensive!

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Global Implications
Do motivational approaches vary by
culture?

Job Characteristics/Enrichment: may not be the

same in collectivist cultures

Telecommuting, variable pay, flexible

benefits: while all of these seem to be on the
increase, not enough research has been done to
make any conclusions

Employee Involvement: important to modify

practices to reflect national culture

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Implications for Managers

Recognize and allow for individual
differences
Use specific goals and feedback
Allow employees to participate in
decisions that affect them
Link rewards to performance
Check the reward system for equity
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Keep in Mind
Most people respond to the intrinsic
job characteristics of the JCM
It is not clear that employee
involvement programs work use
caution!
Variable-pay plans can enhance
motivation
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Summary
1.

Described the way in which employees could be

motivated by changing their work environment.

2.

Compared and contrasted the three main ways jobs

could be redesigned.

3.

Gave examples of employee involvement measures

and how they could motivate employees.

4.

Described the four major strategic rewards decisions.

5.

Demonstrated how the different types of variable-pay

programs could increase employee motivation.

6.

Described how the application of motivation theories

varied across cultures.

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

6-21

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electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of the publisher. Printed in the United States of
America.

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