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2. Motivation &
Stress
Dr. Joe O’Mahoney 2007
07906133649

3. Learning objectives
•
To understand content and process theories of motivation
•
To know how organisations attempt to manage employee
motivation
•
To critique the theories, assumptions and practice of motivation
literature
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4. The Agenda
1. What is Motivation?
2. Theories of Motivation
3. Critiquing Motivation
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5. What is Motivation?
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6. What is motivation?
• What is my motivation?
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I am motivated (internal drive)
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What am I motivated to do?
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7. What motivates you?
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Motivators
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–
–
–
–
•
Security (physical, food, psychological)
Power (position, money, authority)
Sex
Social (peer-esteem, love, belonging)
Expression (creativity, achievement, identity)
It's not that I'm so
smart, it's just that I
stay with problems
longer.
Why does it matter?
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–
–
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If you’re not motivated you’re dead
Controlling people
Labour vs. Labour Power
The cost & inadequacy of supervision
I was saying
"I'm the greatest”
long before
I believed it.

8. Theories of Motivation
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9. Needs / Content Theories
• Needs / Content Theories
– Maslow
– Hertzberg
– Alderfer
Maslow
Maslow
Herzberg
Motivators
Hygiene
Factors
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10. Process Theories
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•
•
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Decision-making processes
E.g. Vroom, Porter and Lawler, Adams
Goal Setting
Expectancy Theory: M = E x I x V
But…overly rational? Too many variables?
Expectancy
Instrumentality
Valence
Effort - Performance Link
Performance - Rewards Link
Rewards - Personal Goals Link
No matter how much effort
you put in, probably not possible
Your tutor does not look
like someone who has £1 million
There are a lot of wonderful things
you could do with £1 million
to memorise the text in 24 hours
E=0
I=0
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V=1

11. Motivated to do what?
•
All cultures have….
– Hierarchies……but of what?
– Sex……..but with what?
– Groups….but of what?
•
Conditioning
– Pavlov and Skinner
– Reinforcement (punishment / reward)
– Peer pressure
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12. Managing Worker’s Motivations: HRM
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Needs
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Security
Social
Power
Expression
- pay, insurance, job security
- team work, feedback, socialising, respect
- authority, autonomy, decision-making, status
- achievement, challenge, innovation
Process: goals
– Goal Setting / Management by Objectives
– Specific, measurable, attainable goals
– Participation
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13. Critique of Motivation
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14. The failure of organisational motivation?
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Failure?
– Most efforts = short-term improvements (Herzberg, 1968)
– Little evidence in most jobs
– Modern programs do more harm than good e.g. portfolio careers,
deregulation, flexiblity, temporary contracts
•
Resistance motivators
– Making out
– Stories and identities (Frese, 1982)
– Games
•
Demotivated workers
– Often have highly motivated lives
– Experience higher rates of mental illness
– Redefine and lower their goals
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15. The social construction of motivation?
•
Social Influence
– Individualism vs. religion, class, community
– The American Dream
•
The media rhetoric
– X-Factor, Dragon’s Den, The Apprentice
– Winners and losers
•
The mundane reality
– Stuck in middle management
– Routine and boredom
– Short-term successes
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16. When Motivation Succeeds….
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Success?
– 24 hour jobs (WFH, Mobiles, Laptops)
– Devolving responsibility
– Enlarged jobs
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When motivation does not equal achievement = inadequacy
•
Identity control tied up in high performance (e.g. TQM)
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17. Stress
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Over-motivation?
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Highest motivated are the most stressed
Workaholics: 1/3 of high-performers ‘addicted’ to work
Hours, stress and insecurity are increasing
25% of men exhausted
20 of workers ‘extremely stressed’
Effects
– 4% days taken off sick
– Costs £13bn / years
– ¾ executives report stress affects their health, happiness & home
•
Presented as a problem to be ‘managed’
– Stress management techniques
– Counselling
– You need stress
•
The ‘social construction’ of stress?
– A 20th century phenomena
– Primary goal = to be happy
– No more hygiene needs?
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18. Why ‘motivation’ and not ‘persuasion’?

19. Questions?