Do you think that perseverance is as important as intelligence (IQ)? This is the question that Angela Duckworth, professor of psychology, has been investigating. She calls a high level of effort and persistence “grit” and defines it as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.”
Grit is the ability to stick to a goal and not give up even in the face of adversity. Research has shown that grit may be as important as intelligence. There are a lot of smart people who don’t achieve, and Duckworth’s research found students who had more grit but were not as intelligent as their peers worked harder and had higher GPAs.
Duckworth’s advice for people with a desire to achieve is: “If it’s important for you to become one of the best people in your field, you are going to have to stick with it when it’s hard.
Grit may be as essential as talent to high accomplishment.
Learning Objective 8.1: Identify and discuss the three parts of the motivation process.
Motivation has been defined as “what a person does (direction), how hard a person works (intensity), and how long a person works (persistence).
Learning Objective 8.1: Identify and discuss the three parts of the motivation process.
Figure 8.1. The Motivation Process.
An overview of the motivation process is shown in Figure 8.1 above.
This figure depicts motivation as a process that follows three stages.
First, a leader must energize their followers’ behavior by activating underlying needs and drives. For example, an employee may have a strong need for personal growth and want to learn new things on the job.
Second, the leader then directs the energized behavior toward goals that are important to person and the organization.
The third step in the figure is sustaining behavior. This is often done through the provision of rewards that employees value (such as a pay raise). Research shows that reward systems are necessary to sustain behavior over the long term. For motivation to be effective, feedback is needed so that the processes of energizing and directing behavior stay on track. Feedback is essential in a number of theories of motivation including goal-setting. Feedback is also a central part of the design of performance management systems.
Learning Objective 8.2: Compare and contrast Maslow’s hierarchy with McClelland’s need theory.
The most well-known theory of need motivation is the Maslow hierarchy of needs. The theory was the first to point out that there are individual differences in motivation.
The first level in the hierarchy of needs is physiological needs (e.g., hunger, sex, and other bodily needs).
The next level is safety needs (e.g., the need for protection from physical harm).
At the third level of the hierarchy are a person’s social needs (e.g., belongingness and friendship).
The fourth level is esteem needs (e.g., status and recognition from others).
Finally, at the top of the hierarchy is what Maslow termed self-actualization, which is the drive to meet our fullest capacity (e.g., growth and feeling fulfilled as a person).
Physiological and safety needs are lower-order needs and social, esteem, and self-actualization are higher-order needs, according to the theory. When a need is not satisfied, it becomes dominant. For example, if a person’s safety is threatened, then they focus on finding a place where there is no threat of physical harm.
Learning Objective 8.2: Compare and contrast Maslow’s hierarchy with McClelland’s need theory.
McClelland’s three fundamental needs:
Need for achievement (nAch)--the drive to succeed at high levels
Need for power (nPow)--the need to influence others to do what you want
Need for affiliation (nAff)--the need for close personal relationships
Most of McClelland’s research was on nAch. There is some research support for the idea that people who have a higher need to achieve do perform at higher levels and people with a higher nAch may be more successful entrepreneurs. However, a high need to achieve is not necessarily related to being an effective leader since those with higher nAch may be more interested in their own attainment rather than coaching others to succeed.
McClelland’s theory has received more research support than other need theories; however, the application of the theory to motivate followers is limited because these needs are believed to be learned at a young age (in other words, it may not be possible to increase an adult’s nAch).
Learning Objective 8.2: Compare and contrast Maslow’s hierarchy with McClelland’s need theory.
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory relates lower and higher order needs and relates them to Job Satisfaction. This is also called the “motivator–hygiene theory” and sought to answer the question of what people really want from their work.
When people think about what makes them dissatisfied with work, they think of things like supervision, pay, company policies, and the working conditions, which are called “hygiene.” On the other hand, when people think of what satisfies them, they are more likely to think of things like advancement, recognition, and achievement, called “motivators.” Hygiene factors can only bring a person’s satisfaction to the level of “no dissatisfaction” (in other words, they stop complaining about their pay). To motivate people, leaders need to focus on the motivators such as providing people with a sense of achievement.
Learning Objective 8.3: Produce an example of a SMART goal.
For goals to motivate employees, they must have certain properties. These goal-setting principles can be remembered with the acronym SMART for specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-based goals.
Smart Goal Setting
Specific: Well-defined, clear to anyone who has basic knowledge of the task.
Measurable: Know if the goal is obtainable and how far away completion is. Know when it has been achieved.
Achievable: Agreement of stakeholders about what the goals should be. Make sure it is possible.
Relevant: The goal you set needs to matter--to the individual setting it and/or the organization.
Time Based: Enough time to achieve the goal, but not too much time.
Learning Objective 8.3: Produce an example of a SMART goal.
SMART goal setting has been applied using management by objectives (MBO). MBO is a performance appraisal program where leaders meet with their direct reports and set specific performance objectives jointly. Progress toward objectives is periodically reviewed and rewards are allocated on the basis of that progress.
Learning Objective 8.3: Produce an example of a SMART goal.
Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) is an alternative approach to understanding how individuals strive to meet their goals.
According to RFT, individuals who are promotion-focused are oriented toward growth and development, and becoming their ideal.
In contrast, individuals who are prevention-focused are oriented toward the things they feel that have to do and focus on their job responsibilities. It’s important to ensure that the person’s regulatory orientation (i.e., whether they are promotion- or prevention-focused) fits the situation they are in.
For example, a promotion-focused person will want to be provided with goals that stretch their abilities. Promotion-focused individuals have a need for achievement, focus on advancement, and set learning goals.
In contrast, a person who is prevention-focused would be stressed out by such stretch goals and should be given goals that are within their job description. A prevention focus is a tendency to aim for getting to an end because of a fear of an undesirable alternative. Prevention-focused individuals are vigilant and careful, emphasize fears, focus on avoiding threats, and set prevention goals. The motivating force of a prevention focus is the avoidance of pain.
Learning Objective 8.4: Describe the job characteristics theory (JCT) and why growth needs matter.
Figure 8.2. The Job Characteristics Model.
The work itself may have characteristics that have the potential to motivate people to higher levels of performance. Also, people are more satisfied when their work is interesting, and they may be less likely to quit. JCT is shown in Figure 8.2 above.
In this theory of motivation, jobs can be designed so that people are more motivated, satisfied, as well as perform better.
Much evidence supports the JCT concept that the presence of a set of job characteristics--variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback--does generate higher and more satisfying job performance
Learning Objective 8.4: Describe the job characteristics theory (JCT) and why growth needs matter.
The JCT specifies five core job dimensions. These dimensions combine to produce the critical psychological states that enhance motivation:
Skill variety--The extent to which people use different skills and abilities at work. The employee is not doing the same repetitive tasks over and over.
Task identity--The task is one that people experience from beginning to end. In other words, they identify with an entire work product.
Task significance--The degree to which the job is seen as having an impact on others. The work does something good for society.
Autonomy--The employee has the freedom to plan and perform his or her own work. The employees have discretion about their work and are not intensely supervised.
Feedback--The job provides information on how effective the employee’s work is. Just doing the work itself provides performance feedback.
Learning Objective 8.4: Describe the job characteristics theory (JCT) and why growth needs matter.
Job Characteristics Theory creates motivational jobs as they are designed to give internal rewards.
Positive outcomes are moderated by individual growth needs as each individual will respond differently.
In order for the jobs to increase motivation there should be a high degree of autonomy, feedback and a least one meaningfulness factor such as significance, identity, or variety.
Note that because the JCT is relatively individualistic, job enrichment strategies might not have the same effect in collectivistic cultures as they do in individualistic cultures like the United States.
Learning Objective 8.4: Describe the job characteristics theory (JCT) and why growth needs matter.
The design of jobs may lessen the experience of work stress.
There are some helpful ways to re-design a job to increase the motivation of the employees. Two common practices are job rotation and job enrichment.
In job rotation an organization will shift the employee to different tasks with similar skill requirements but all in the same organizational level.
In job enrichment a manager will expand an employee’s job by increasing the level of control the worker has in planning the job, executing it, or evaluating the work.
Learning Objective 8.4: Describe the job characteristics theory (JCT) and why growth needs matter.
Figure 8.3. The Relationship Between Job Control, Fatigue, Negative Affectivity, and Cognitive Failure.
Employees felt they had more job control, which is the authority to make decisions about their job on a day-to-day basis. The study also measured negative affectivity (being pessimistic) and cognitive failure, and the results are shown in Figure 8.3 above. This study also found asking for social support and executing job control to solve problems encourages further job redesign.
Work re-design appears to reduce stress (particularly when followers are empowered to make changes to their work to solve the problems they face).
Learning Objective 8.4: Describe the job characteristics theory (JCT) and why growth needs matter.
Figure 8.3. The Relationship Between Job Control, Fatigue, Negative Affectivity, and Cognitive Failure.
The term job crafting is used “to capture the actions employees take to shape, mold, and redefine their jobs.” Jobs vary in the degree of discretion that they offer, but in many cases, employees may be able to design aspects of their own work. Outcomes include changes to the work itself as well as interactions with others that may enhance the meaningfulness of the work performed.
Learning Objective 8.4: Describe the job characteristics theory (JCT) and why growth needs matter.
Table 8.1. Forms of Job Crafting.
Examples of job crafting are shown in Table 8.1 above.
A review of the job design literature states the following: “Job crafting is an exciting area of research.” However, the authors caution that there may be dysfunctional consequences from employees designing their own work that need research. For example, an employee might redesign their work to include extraneous meetings with other department members that causes them to be away from the office resulting in work disruptions to coworkers.
Learning Objective 8.5: Explain why fairness is a necessary condition for leadership using equity theory and the four types of organizational justice.
Despite our parents telling us that “life is not fair,” employees expect the workplace to be fair. This is, in part, due to the “just world hypothesis” or the belief that people should get what they deserve. There are situations in which employees experience anger when then don’t receive what they believe they deserve on a performance evaluation and subsequent pay raise.
It has been proposed that the need for fairness is a universal motive. For example, an employee may feel that he should have been promoted to a higher position instead of a coworker. Employees may react to even lesser outcomes, such as who gets an office that has a window in the work group. As these examples illustrate, concerns for fairness permeate the workplace, and effective leaders need to be aware of how followers might react to their decisions.
Learning Objective 8.5: Explain why fairness is a necessary condition for leadership using equity theory and the four types of organizational justice.
Equity theory focuses on distributive justice (what people receive as a result of their knowledge, skills, and effort on the job).
Learning Objective 8.5: Explain why fairness is a necessary condition for leadership using equity theory and the four types of organizational justice.
Figure 8.4. Equity Theory.
As shown in Figure 8.4 above, equity theory suggests that people may become demotivated or put forth less effort when they feel that what they give and what they get is not in balance. According to the theory, a person (the focal person, or FP) compares himself to the coworker (or CO). Next, he compares his inputs (skills, abilities, effort on the job) to his outcomes (e.g., a merit raise).
Three situations can occur in this comparison:
The inputs and outcomes for the FP equal the inputs and outcomes for the other (CO).
The input and outcomes for the FP are lower than the inputs and outcomes for the CO.
The input and outcomes for the FP are higher than the inputs and outcomes for the CO.
Learning Objective 8.5: Explain why fairness is a necessary condition for leadership using equity theory and the four types of organizational justice.
Equity Theory--Three situations can occur:
The inputs and outcomes for the FP equal the inputs and outcomes for the other (CO). What this means is that the FP puts in effort and receives a certain pay raise. This is compared with a CO who puts in more effort and receives a higher pay raise. There is balance because the FP recognizes that the CO works harder and gets a higher raise.
The input and outcomes for the FP are lower than the inputs and outcomes for the CO. For example, the FP views the ratio of his inputs and outcomes as less than the CO. The FP realizes that they are “underpaid,” and this causes dissonance or stress for the FP. In this situation, the FP may become demotivated (reduce inputs or efforts) to bring the ratios back to balance. If the situation persists, they may leave the situation entirely (find another job that pays better). This is referred to as underpayment inequity.
The input and outcomes for the FP are higher than the inputs and outcomes for the CO. For example, the FP makes the comparison of inputs to outcomes and views their ratio of inputs to outcomes as higher than his CO. The FP realizes that he is being “overpaid” for his contributions compared to his CO. This situation is interesting because while we might expect the FP to work harder, this typically does not happen. People are more likely to distort the perceptions of inputs and/or outcomes to justify or rationalize their relative overpayment inequity. For example, they may point to their degree being from a better business school or adjust their view of their CO’s input downward.
Learning Objective 8.5: Explain why fairness is a necessary condition for leadership using equity theory and the four types of organizational justice.
Organizational justice is the “members’ sense of the moral propriety of how they are treated.” When people feel an event is unfair, they may even experience moral outrage, which is a severe reaction to the perceived injustice (including strong emotions such as anger and resentment).
Organizational justice is now considered to have four components: distributive (equity), procedural, interactional, and informational.
Distributive justice refers to the fairness of decisions made as perceived by followers as described above.
Procedural justice is the perception of how fair the process was in making decisions that affect employees. There are certain rules of fair process that are expected by employees., For example, employees want to have a voice in decisions that affect them. They also want some form of an appeal process or way to correct something they see as unfair. Third, they want procedures to be consistent across people and over time. They also want the process to be unbiased and to represent the concerns of everyone affected by the decision. Finally, procedures need to be based on accurate information. Procedural justice has been shown to be more important than distributive justice in how followers respond to the decisions of their leaders in two meta-analytic studies that included a variety of organizational and occupational samples.
Interpersonal justice refers to how employees are treated by their leaders including respect and propriety (which refers to whether the leader refrains from offending the follower with comments that are inappropriate).,
Informational justice, which refers to the perceived fairness of the communications made by leaders during a process. Informational justice includes full explanations of processes and the perception that the leader is being truthful., For example, during the great recession of 2008, many organizations had zero pay raises. When this happened, leaders provided explanations for why raises were zero for hardworking employees because of the economic situation. Figure 8.5 summarizes the four components of organization justice and provides a sample item from an organizational justice measure to illustrate each aspect of justice.
Learning Objective 8.5: Explain why fairness is a necessary condition for leadership using equity theory and the four types of organizational justice.
Figure 8.5: Components of Organizational Justice
Figure 8.5 above summarizes the four components of organization justice and provides a sample item from an organizational justice measure to illustrate each aspect of justice
Distributive justice refers to the fairness of decisions made as perceived by followers as described above.
Procedural justice is the perception of how fair the process was in making decisions that affect employees. There are certain rules of fair process that are expected by employees., For example, employees want to have a voice in decisions that affect them. They also want some form of an appeal process or way to correct something they see as unfair. Third, they want procedures to be consistent across people and over time. They also want the process to be unbiased and to represent the concerns of everyone affected by the decision. Finally, procedures need to be based on accurate information. Procedural justice has been shown to be more important than distributive justice in how followers respond to the decisions of their leaders in two meta-analytic studies that included a variety of organizational and occupational samples.
Interpersonal justice refers to how employees are treated by their leaders including respect and propriety (which refers to whether the leader refrains from offending the follower with comments that are inappropriate).,
Informational justice, which refers to the perceived fairness of the communications made by leaders during a process. Informational justice includes full explanations of processes and the perception that the leader is being truthful., For example, during the great recession of 2008, many organizations had zero pay raises. When this happened, leaders provided explanations for why raises were zero for hardworking employees because of the economic situation.
Learning Objective 8.6: Describe how the expectancy theory of motivation predicts effort.
Expectancy theory has become a standard in motivation, as reflected by its incorporation as a general framework for a wide variety of research.” The expectancy theory of motivation has received mixed research support but does provide insight into the process of motivation.
The theory has three basic principles:
Employees decide to put forth effort when they believe that their effort will lead to good performance. This is called the effort à performance relationship, which is the probability that a person believes that their effort will lead to performance (designated as the E à P expectancy).
The employee’s performance will be evaluated accurately and will lead to rewards (e.g., pay raises, bonuses). This is the follower’s estimated probability that if they perform well, they will actually receive the reward from the organization (designated as the P à O instrumentality).
The employees value the rewards offered by the organization. One level of performance may have multiple outcomes (such as a salary increase and a bonus) (designated as the list of valences, Vs, which can be either positive or negative). For example, a negative outcome associated with high performance might be having to stay late at work to accomplish a task and the employee misses his daughter’s violin solo at a school concert. So, receiving a salary increase and a bonus has a positive (+) valence. At the same time, having to work late has a negative (–) valence.
Learning Objective 8.6: Describe how the expectancy theory of motivation predicts effort.
The employees value the rewards offered by the organization. One level of performance may have multiple outcomes (such as a salary increase and a bonus) (designated as the list of valences, Vs, which can be either positive or negative). For example, a negative outcome associated with high performance might be having to stay late at work to accomplish a task and the employee misses his daughter’s violin solo at a school concert. So, receiving a salary increase and a bonus has a positive (+) valence. At the same time, having to work late has a negative (–) valence.
Learning Objective 8.6: Describe how the expectancy theory of motivation predicts effort.
Figure 8.6: The Expectancy Theory of Motivation
A summary of the expectancy theory of motivation is shown in Figure 8.7. Expectancy theory highlights the role that a leader plays in motivating followers by strengthening their perception that they can perform a task--their self-efficacy (you will learn more about self-efficacy in the next chapter). Also, the leader can reassure followers that if they perform, they will be rewarded. Finally, the leader can engage in candid conversations with followers regarding what rewards they value most (and therefore, most motivating).
In sum leaders can take several actions to motive employees based upon VIE theory:
First, leaders should ensure that their employees expect that they can achieve whatever goals are set. This begins with selecting employees who have the knowledge, skills and ability (KSA) to perform the goals, and them.
Second, leaders should offer rewards that employees value (positive valences). Keep in mind that employees may not value the same things as leaders and managers.
Third, leaders should make a strong linkage between goal attainment and valued rewards. Employees must also perceive this linkage; don’t assume that they see the association between performance and rewards.
Learning Objective 8.7: Explain how self-fulfilling prophecies affect motivation.
Perceptions sometimes result in the self-fulfilling prophecy, or Pygmalion effect, in which the high expectations of performance by leaders actually create conditions in which followers succeed.
Research on the Pygmalion effect suggests managers can boost performance by raising their expectations of followers. This occurs through higher goals being set and followers being more engaged and striving to learn more on the job.
Learning Objective 8.7: Explain how self-fulfilling prophecies affect motivation.
Leaders in organizations can communicate high expectations to followers in the following four ways:
Create a warmer emotional climate.
Teach more and increasingly challenging.
Invite followers to ask questions of clarification.
Provide feedback on performance.
Learning Objective 8.7: Explain how self-fulfilling prophecies affect motivation.
What about a person’s expectations of himself or herself?
The Galatea effect is present when an individual sets high expectations for themselves and then performs to these expectations. Such a follower already has high self-esteem and believes in his or her ability to succeed. The Galatea effect was examined by conducting an experiment where subjects’ self-esteem was boosted by a series of positive feedback messages. This intervention resulted in improved self-esteem, motivation, and an impact on performance. Thus, leaders need to provide ongoing feedback and provide challenging assignments to increase follower expectations. The Galatea effect suggests followers may even exceed the leader’s expectations when they have confidence in their ability to succeed.
Learning Objective 8.7: Explain how self-fulfilling prophecies affect motivation.
As might be expected, expectations may also work in the opposite direction where lower expectations lead to lower performance and this is called the Golem effect. Golem comes from the Hebrew slang for dumbbell. Bosses can “kill” followers’ motivation by having low expectations.
A 2-year study was conducted of 50 boss–subordinate pairings; the managers were asked to differentiate high performers from low performers. Within 5 min of meeting and working with new employees, managers could easily evaluate their future performance. They unanimously stated that the low performers were passive, less motivated, less proactive, and so on. Some followers were classified as not having potential; therefore, the managers spent less time providing them with instructions on how to do their jobs.
The managers viewed the low performers as weak and, thus, did not assign challenging tasks to them where they could learn new skills. When the “weak” performers began to notice the bosses’ treatment, they became disengaged, and their performance deteriorated and ended up matching the boss’ expectations. In effect, these bosses set the followers up to fail. It is possible, through training, to reverse the Golem effect (“de-Golemization”) in which supervisors can change their expectations of low performance to higher performance, and followers respond positively with more effort
This chapter has discussed how leaders serve as motivators for their followers. But is everyone equally motivated to be a leader?
Research on Motivation to Lead (MTL) has addressed this interesting question. The MTL is defined as “an individual differences construct that affects a leader’s or leader-to-be’s decisions to assume leadership training, roles, and responsibilities and that affect his or her intensity of effort at leading and persistence as a leader.” This research has found that people have different reasons for wanting to be a leader.
There are three basic reasons, based on the measurement of MTL:
Affective-identity MTL--the natural tendency to lead others, reflects the value an individual places on a leadership role and most directly reflects leadership self-efficacy and experience. For example, how would you answer the question, “most of the time I prefer to be a leader rather than a follower when working in a group”?
Social-normative MTL--the tendency to lead because of a sense of duty or responsibility, is associated with general attitudes towards social norms. For example, how would you answer the question, “I feel that I have a duty to lead others if I am asked”?
Non-calculative MTL--where people agree to lead without calculating the costs and benefits of assuming leadership, is associated with an individual’s level of altruism. For example, how would you answer the question, “I am only interested in leading a group if there are clear advantages for me”? (if your answer is no, you tend to have a higher non-calculative MTL)
