UPDATED: APRIL 17, 2018
Test 2: Tuesday, 4/24/2018
You should be able to explain and apply all of the topics, theories, concepts, and cases that we’ve
covered in class since Test 1 (except when noted). The exam is designed to take 75 minutes. It will
consist of multiple choice questions, true/false questions, and short answer type questions.
My goal
is to make it fair and challenging.
POTENTIAL SHORT ANSWER Q’s:
●
Job Design-Motivation /Job Characteristics Model
●
Netflix Reading/Why we hate HR
Chapter 13- Motivation at Work, Job Characteristics (see section in Chapter 14 on Job
Design/Job Characteristics)
What is the basic model of performance?
Performance = Ability X Motivation
Know motivation theories:
The key social science theories that underlie the best practices for compensating employees,
evaluating employees, and designing a job. Motivation and the desire to exert effort and persist at
achieving a certain goal are key in getting the best out of our employees.
●
Needs based theories (Maslow),
*does not have empirical validity
According to the model, only one level of need is capable of motivating behavior
at any given time. This level of need is said to be
prepotent
. Thus, if we are truly
starving (rather than just in need of a snack), we will not worry about shelter or
other people until we get something to eat. Only after we find food and satisfy
our physiological needs will we worry about security. Therefore, the other
important aspect of the theory is that humans are said to move neatly up the
hierarchy, one need at a time. There is some disagreement as to whether the
theory suggests that anyone can be completely self-actualized, although at one
point in time Maslow did propose a list of people he suggested were
self-actualized, including the pope and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Maslow's theory is useful because it focuses on needs and suggests that not
everyone would be motivated by the same set of needs at any one time. Thus,
from an organizational point of view, if we tried to motivate employees by
meeting their esteem needs (perhaps by assigning grand titles or giving people
more prestigious office locations such as the corner office), this would only be
effective for employees for whom these needs were important. This plan would
not work for employees who were focused on more basic needs that might be
satisfied by a pay increase (rather than a larger office).
Considerable research has been done on Maslow's theory,
and the results of
that research suggest that people are motivated by more than one level of need at
any point in time and do not always march neatly up the hierarchy—sometimes
they move down the hierarchy as well. In fact, some years later, Clayton Alderfer
proposed a variation on Maslow's theory that he called
ERG theory
. Alderfer's
theory substituted three levels of needs for Maslow's five (and he labeled them
existence needs
,
relatedness needs
, and
growth needs
). These three levels simply
collapse Maslow's five categories into three, but the more important aspect of
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