商学导论Cha 10chap 10 学习要点

Chapter 10: Motivating Employees Outline Introduction A. The Learning Goals of this chapter are to: 1. Explain how motivating employees can increase the value of a firm. 2. Describe the theories of motivation. 3. Discuss how a firm can motivate disgruntled employees. 4. Describe how firms can enhance job satisfaction and thereby enhance motivation. B. Chapter 10 is concerned with motivation of employees. Since the performance of a firm is highly dependent on the performance of its employees, managers must take steps to ensure that workers are properly motivated. I. The Value of Motivation C. Most businesses are successful not just because of their business idea, but because of their employees. D. Even the most intrinsically motivated workers need a workplace that motivates them. To the extent that a firm can motivate its employees, it can increase their productivity. II. Theories on Motivation This chapter begins with the recognition that employee motivation depends on job satisfaction. The text cites passages from the annual reports of two large corporations to document the fact that major companies recognize the need to satisfy their workers. It then summarizes ideas from several famous theories of worker motivation to provide insights into how this can be accomplished. A. The Hawthorne studies were conducted during the late 1920s at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric near Chicago. The studies were designed to see how changes in working conditions (such as the level of illumination and the length of breaks) affected worker performance. Researchers found that the productivity of the workers in the study increased even when physical working conditions worsened. The researchers concluded that the motivation of the workers improved because participation in the experiments made them feel more appreciated. The results of these studies are summarized in Exhibit 10.1. B. Abraham Maslow developed a theory in 1943 that related human motivation to a hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, people rank their needs into five general categories. Once people have achieved their needs in a given category, they are motivated by the desire to satisfy the needs of the next higher level. Firm’s can motivate workers by helping them satisfy their needs. Exhibit 10.2 illustrates Maslow’s hierarchy, which includes the following levels: 1. Physiological needs are the most basic needs of all. These needs are for the basic requirements for survival, such as the need for food and shelter. 2. Safety needs make up the second level of Maslow’s hierarchy. These involve the need for things like safe working conditions and job security. 3. The third level of the hierarchy consists of social needs, reflecting the desire to be accepted as part of a group. 4. Esteem needs, which reflect the need for respect, recognition, and prestige, are fourth on Maslow’s list. 5. The final, highest order of needs is for self-actualization. These needs reflect the desire of people to reach their full potential. C. A study by Frederick Herzberg in the late 1950s tried to identify which characteristics of jobs led to worker dissatisfaction and which contributed to worker satisfaction. 1. The study found that some characteristics, which Herzberg called hygiene factors, must be maintained at adequate levels in order to prevent dissatisfaction. However, improvements in hygiene factors did not necessarily lead to higher levels of satisfaction. 2. A different set of characteristics, which Herzberg designated motivational factors, were responsible for increasing satisfaction. Herzberg found that salary, working conditions, and job security were among the key hygiene factors. Key motivational factors included recognition, opportunities for advancement, and responsibility. 3. Exhibit 10.3 summarizes the results of Herzberg’s study and provides additional examples of hygiene factors and motivational factors. D. Douglas McGregor provided an explanation of how supervisors’ perceptions of workers affect the way they attempt to motivate workers. McGregor described two types of supervisors: 1. Theory X supervisors believe most workers dislike work and will avoid it whenever possible. This type of supervisor will monitor workers closely, exercise tight control, and delegate very little authority. 2. Theory Y supervisors view employees more favorably, believing that they are willing to work and accept responsibility. Theory Y supervisors give workers more freedom to use their creativity and are more willing to delegate authority. 3. The key assumptions of Theory X and Theory Y supervisors are summarized in Exhibit 10.4. E. During the 1980s a theory of worker motivation, called Theory Z, was developed. This approach was based in part on Japanese management techniques that encourage worker participation in decision making and less specialized career paths. Theory Z attempts to improve motivation by giving workers more responsibility and making them feel more appreciated. F. Expectancy theory suggests that an employee’s efforts are influenced by the expected outcomes of those efforts. Therefore, employees will be motivated to achieve goals if they are achievable and offered a reward, such as an opportunity for advancement or better compensation. G. Equity theory suggests that an employee’s compensation should be equitable, meaning that pay should be proportional to the employee’s contribution to the firm. Workers can become dissatisfied if they believe they are unfairly compensated. Exhibit 10.5 illustrates the basic idea behind equity theory. One problem with implementing equity theory is that the measurement of worker contributions can be complex and subjective, leading to disagreements between workers and supervisors about what pay level is equitable for each worker. H. Reinforcement theory suggests that reinforcement can influence behavior. 1. Positive reinforcement motivates by providing rewards for desirable performance. 2. Negative reinforcement motivates by encouraging employees to behave in a way that avoids undesirable consequences. 3. Exhibit 10.6 illustrates the ideas behind reinforcement theory. I. Exhibit 10.7 summarizes the motivational guidelines offered by each of the major theories discussed in the text. Several basic conclusions can be derived from these theories: 1. Supervisors should attempt to compensate employees equitably. Job dissatisfaction can arise if workers believe that they are unfairly compensated. 2. Workers have a broad array of needs. Jobs that help them satisfy their needs provide more job satisfaction and improve motivation. 3. In order to be motivated to work toward a goal, employees must believe that the goal is achievable and that they will receive a desirable reward if they are successful. III. Motivating Disgruntled Employees A firm may not be able to motivate some of its disgruntled employees, regardless of what it tries. The disgruntled employees might decide to seek employment elsewhere, which would be beneficial to the firm. However, if they stay in their jobs, but avoid doing their work and continue to perform poorly, they should be fired so their bad attitudes will not affect other workers. IV. How Firms Can Enhance Job Satisfaction and Motivation A. Job enrichment programs designed to enhance worker motivation commonly include the following elements: 1. Adequate compensation program 2. Job security 3. Flexible work schedule 4. Employee involvement programs The text discusses each of these elements in detail. B. An adequate compensation program should ensure that workers who achieve the highest levels of performance receive the highest percentage raises. Thus, a merit system, which bases pay on performance, tends to be more effective than an across-the-board system in which all workers are allocated similar raises. Firms may set up various types of incentive plans that reward employees for achieving specific performance goals. 1. Examples of Compensation Programs: The text cites several examples of how specific real-world firms such as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Nucor, and Kodak compensate their employees. In each case, workers receive some sort of bonus or reward pay tied to their performance or the overall success of the company. The text also points out that some companies grant shares of stock to employees as part of their compensation. This keeps employees focused on the goal of increasing the value of the firm, since that will increase the value of their stock. 2. Developing a Proper Compensation Plan: A compensation plan can motivate employees if it contains the following characteristics: a. Aligned with Business Goals: The compensation plan should be set only after the goals of the firm have been established. The pay plan should be designed to ensure that workers are compensated in a manner consistent with their ability to satisfy business goals. b. Aligned with Specific Employee Goals: A compensation plan will be more effective if it clearly specifies individual employee goals. c. Achievable Goals: Employees will not respond to incentive systems that are based on unrealistic goals that they have no hope of achieving. Managers can enhance worker motivation by offering employees the opportunity to earn numerous achievable bonuses (or other rewards). Of course, employees must be aware of rewards before they can affect motivation. Thus, a firm should inform workers of incentive compensation plans at the beginning of the year rather than waiting until the end of the year to offer rewards. d. Employee Input: Job satisfaction will be greater if workers are consulted about the compensation plan before it is put into effect. C. One way of improving worker satisfaction is to offer greater job security. Workers who are worried about losing their job often have low morale and feel little loyalty to their company. Firms can provide more job security by training employees to handle various tasks so that they can be assigned other duties if their typical assignments are no longer needed. D. Flexible work schedules, or flextime programs, are another way a firm can enrich jobs and enhance employee motivation. Some firms have also experimented with a compressed work week in which workers work the same number of hours, but in fewer days. Job sharing, where two or more people share a particular work schedule, is another method of providing workers with more flexibility. E. Employee involvement programs seek to improve worker motivation by allowing workers to be more involved in making decisions or by giving them additional responsibilities. The text describes several methods of increasing employee involvement: 1. Job enlargement expands the jobs assigned to employees, giving them a greater variety of tasks to perform. 2. Job rotation allows a set of employees to periodically rotate their assignments. This not only relieves the boredom associated with doing the same job all of the time, but also allows workers to gain additional skills, enabling them to move into a different position if their primary job is eliminated. 3. A broader approach to employee involvement is worker empowerment, which seeks to get workers more involved in decision making and gives them more authority. e. Empowered employees are often in a position to make more informed decisions concerning the tasks they perform than supervisors who are not directly involved. f. Though technically not the same thing, participative management is closely linked to worker empowerment. Empowerment actually gives workers the authority to make decisions about their jobs, while participative management simply means that managers seek more input from workers before making decisions. However, both approaches reflect more responsibilities for employees. g. Management by objectives (MBO) is a popular form of participative management. This technique typically allows employees to participate in setting their own goals that determine how they will be evaluated. MBO also allows employees the ability to use their own creativity to achieve their goals. 4. Teamwork is another approach to increasing employee involvement. This approach gives a group of employees with varied job positions the responsibility to achieve a specific goal. The text cites examples of how companies like Goodyear, DaimlerChrysler, and the Jaguar subsidiary of Ford Motor Company used teamwork to improve worker motivation. 5. In open-book management, the firm educates workers on their contribution to the firm and how the performance of their job affects key performance indicators that are relevant to the firm’s owners. Management allows employees to periodically assess their own performance levels. Open-book management has three notable characteristics: h. All employees are trained to interpret key performance measures that affect the firm’s profits and value, and these measures are widely available to employees. i. Employees are given the power to make decisions and are trained to understand how the results of their decisions will affect the firm’s performance. j. The compensation of workers is aligned with their contribution to the firm’s overall performance. F. The chapter identifies and explains a variety of methods to increase motivation. Although the various methods take different approaches, each seeks to improve motivation by increasing job satisfaction. These methods are not mutually exclusive. Exhibit 10.9 illustrates the methods that can enhance job satisfaction and therefore motivate employees. Typically, firms try to develop a set of programs that use several of the approaches. Exhibit 10.10 lists some of the firms that have been frequently cited as the best firms for which to work, along with the methods they have used to achieve such high job satisfaction. 6