Workplace Motivation

Lawler , E . E (1971 ) Pay and Organizational Effectiveness : A Psychological View . New York , NY : McGraw-Hill

Pay and Performance

Assuming that monetary rewards are going to be used to stimulate employee performance , evidence of compatible motivational theories is needed . Accordingly , the first part of this chapter is devoted to discussion of motivational theories and supporting research evidence The administration of rewards presents a number of problems , beginning with the form of pay--adding to base pay versus one-time bonuses , for example . Administration of rewards also means that there is a system of

evaluation and criteria of performance so we can know how and what to measure . Many other issues are involved in rewarding , complicated further by their administration in a governmental setting where various contextual conditions can change underlying assumptions about motivation , the administration of monetary rewards , and measurement and criteria . For a sense of these issues and contextual conditions we will recapitulate governmental experience in general with individual merit pay . In this context , the term morale will denote the degree to which a worker feels great regarding his or her job and its environment . Morale is differentiated from motivation , which signifies the readiness to perform . More substantial case studies , involving quasi-experiments using individual and other forms of merit pay , will be discussed in the next chapter

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REWARD SYSTEMS

Monetary rewards by organizations involve several psychological and practical questions . The more important ones are concerned with relationships among variables such as pay , pay instrumentation motivation , satisfaction , and performance . Economic theory emerging out of the U .S . industrial revolution assumed that satisfaction (happiness was the outcome of a positive association between pay and performance--more performance , more pay , more satisfaction . This was exemplified by the manufacturing organization piece-rate systems implemented in the 1920s and 1930s . Labor unions were quick to oppose this system as employers

began to break the explicit pay-and-performance contract by raising standards when too many employees achieved them

Performance and satisfaction were the first variables to run into trouble as correlates . J . D . Wofford defined satisfaction as an "overall attitude of well-being with regard to the job and its environment (p 502 ) and motivation as the tendency of workers to perform or expend effort . HYPERLINK "http /www .questia .com /reader /action /gotoDocId " 1 His conclusion was that a motivated employee is not necessarily a satisfied employee . Seven major theories have attempted to explain what conditions would produce a motivated and satisfied employee . According to John B Miner and Peter H . Dachler , three of the theories deal with the process of motivation and satisfaction (expectancy theory , goal-setting and intentional-behavior theories , and equity theory , and four with the content of motivation (need-hierarchy and self-actualization theory , the two-factor theory , job-enlargement theory , and theories of occupation-related motives . HYPERLINK "http /www .questia .com /reader /action /gotoDocId " 2 The expectancy theory , the two-factor theory , and the equity theory have perhaps the most to say about the relationship between pay and motivation and satisfaction

Motivational Theories

The expectancy theory HYPERLINK "http /www .questia .com /reader...