01-11-2023 - Workplace Behavior - Class Summary

EMPLOYEE
MOTIVATION
A POWERFUL MODEL
NOVEMBER 1, 2023
1. WHY THE AUTHOR FELT THE NEED TO REVISIT MOTIVATION
MODELS?
There are certain variables, performance, outcomes without backed by psychology are discussed by author. Before
variables have been less variance, Given HBR article is more focused on more variance in the commitments, satisfaction
and performance. studies showed, strikingly, that an organization’s ability to meet the four fundamental drives explains,
on average, about 60% of employees’ variance on motivational indicators (previous models have explained about 30%).
2. WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCE VARIABLES EXPLAINED BY

AUTHOR?
• Commitment
• Satisfaction
• Performance
3. WHAT ARE THE DRIVERS OF MOTIVATION AND WHAT ARE THE

LEVERS OF ORGANIZATION?
There are four drivers that underlie motivations because the four drivers are hardwired into our brains, the degree to
which they are satisfied directly affects our emotions and, by extension and our behavior.
• The drive to Acquire – We are all driven to acquire scarce goods that bolster our sense of well-being. We
experience delight when this drive is fulfilled, discontentment when it is thwarted. This phenomenon applies not
only to physical goods like food, clothing, housing, and money, but also to experiences like travel and
entertainment – not to mention events that improve social status, such as being promoted and getting a corner
office or a place on the corporate board.
If we compare Moslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with the drive of “Acquire”, we can say that acquire is equivalent
of physiological needs and Safety & security.
• The drive to bond – The drive to bond accounts for the enormous boost in motivation when employees feel
proud of belonging to the organization and for their loss of morale when the institution betrays them. It also
explains why employees find it hard to break out of divisional or functional silos: People become attached to
their closest cohorts. But it’s true that the ability to form attachments to larger collectives sometimes leads
employees to care more about the organization than about their local group within it.
We bond only if there is alignment of values between two people. If not, the bond won’t be strong enough.
• The drive to comprehend - The drive to comprehend accounts for the desire to make a meaningful
contribution. Employees are motivated by jobs that challenge them and enable them to grow and learn, and they
are demoralized by those that seem to be monotonous or to lead to a dead end.
How person perceive if task is meaningful plays a crucial role to someone gets motivated.
• The drive to defend - This drive is rooted in the basic fight-or-flight response common to most animals. In
humans, it manifests itself not just as aggressive or defensive behavior, but also as a quest to create institutions
that promote justice, that have clear goals and intentions, and that allow people to express their ideas and
opinions. Fulfilling the drive to defend leads to feelings of security and confidence; not fulfilling it produces strong
negative emotions like fear and resentment. The drive to defend tells us a lot about people’s resistance to
change; it’s one reason employees can be devastated by the prospect of a merger or acquisition – an especially
significant change – even if the deal represents the only hope for an organization’s survival.
It is more from a point of view that if someone recognize a person or Boss/ Manager defend me regarding
various tasks. Employee takes a challenging task, knowing that Boss/Manager backed him/her for anything during
task.
In case of Merger & Acquisition, organization can take initiative like no layoffs and after some time period, tasks
should align with individual qualifications to boost motivation.
In given article, Author discussed about 4 levers of Motivation as per drivers mentioned above.
• The Reward System – This is lever for the drive to acquire. how effectively it discriminates between good
and poor performers, ties rewards to performance, and gives the best people opportunities for advancement.
Eg – RBS vs NatWest case given in the article.
Social Loafing- It is a social psychology phenomenon where people work less hard in a group than they would
alone. It's often considered one of the main reasons that groups are less productive than the combined
performance of their members working independently.
In that case we checked the value alignment, future perspective, collaboration, and culture of the organization.
In any organization, the HR department evaluates the employee using two types of evaluation i.e., Result based
evaluation and Behavior based evaluation.
• Culture – This is lever for the drive to bond. The most effective way to fulfill the drive to bond to engender a
strong sense of camaraderie – is to create a culture that promotes teamwork, collaboration, openness, and
friendship.
Quality Circle- A quality circle is a group of employees who meet regularly to discuss and solve work-related
problems. Quality circles are also known as quality control circles or QCs. Discuss weekly with the cross
functional team to solve problems.
• Job Design- This is lever for the drive to comprehend. It is best addressed by designing jobs that are
meaningful, interesting, and challenging. What all components identified at the performance of job? Am I able to
identify myself with job?
Job Design should be in a way that it provides variety of tasks, significant tasks and autonomy over the job. If any
job is monotonous, then job design is not right.
Job Enrichment is more of delegating tasks and If manager is giving meaningful tasks to employees.
• Performance Management System – This is lever for drive to defend. Fair, trustworthy, and transparent
processes for performance management and resource allocation help to meet people’s drive to defend.
It starts with designing of job, Performing and evaluating the tasks and giving feedback to the individual as per
their task. It’s a year long process.
How manager/ boss is giving feedback is very important and data backed feedback is the best way to provide
feedback. In case of resistance to change from employee, organisation can start with freezing and proper
communication. Explaining why and how is very important during this period.
For manager, It is important to communicate properly and eliminate any kind of fear from the employees.
PAGE 1
4. HOW DID ORGANISATIONS LIKE RBS, NATWEST, AFLAC
PERFORMED AS PER THE MODEL?
5. WHAT ACTIONS DO YOU THINK MANAGER CAN TAKE TO
MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES? HOW DIFFERENT YOUR TAKE IS WITH
THE AUTHOR?
Above questions were discussed from the provided article and individual opinions. How RBS have established
levers and NatWest followed that after merger. How Aflac applied given levers in the article in their
organisation. Similarly, In previous workex of students, How manager maintained communication to motivate
and provided feedback on regular intervals. How self-evaluation is implemented in organisation to ensure right
reward system.
Direct Managers Matter Too

• Author explained the role of manager directly in the motivation.
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

Factors define how much not dissatisfied.
• Hygiene Factor – Work condition related to dissatisfaction caused by discomfort to pain.
o Maintenance Factor
o Contributes to employee’s feeling not dissatisfied.
o Contributes to absence of complaints.
• Motivation Factor – Work condition related to the satisfaction of the need for psychological growth.
o Job enrichment – Right opportunity, discussions etc.
o Leads to superior performance.
PAGE 2
Adam’s Theory of Inequity
Inequity - Individuals experience distress when they perceive the benefits, they receive in exchange for their
contributions to be unfair. The amount of distress a person feels is directly related to the amount of unfairness they
perceive.
An individual do comparison with various types of people. A) Self comparison B) Comparison from other organizations
employee C) Comparison with the person from same organization.
In case of equal inputs, Individual can be unhappy in positive inequity due to biasness he observed which currently in
favour of individual but later in future it can go against too.
PAGE 3

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EMPLOYEE

2. WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCE VARIABLES EXPLAINED BY

3. WHAT ARE THE DRIVERS OF MOTIVATION AND WHAT ARE THE

Direct Managers Matter Too

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

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