ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

CHAPTER 5: MOTIVATION – FROM CONCEPTS TO APPLICATIONS

I/ MOTIVATING BY JOB DESIGN: THE JOB CHARACTERISTIC MODEL.

1. The job characteristic model.
- Job characteristics model (JCM): A model that proposes that any job can be described in terms of five
core job dimensions: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.
- Skill variety: is the degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities so the worker can use a
number of different skills and talent.
- Task identity: is the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
- Task significance: is the degree to which a job affects the lives or work of other people.
- Autonomy: is the degree to which a job provides the worker freedom, independence, and discretion in
scheduling work and determining the procedures in carrying it out.
- Feedback: is the degree to which carrying out work activities generates direct and clear information about
your own performance.

2. Job redesign.
- Job enlargement: Broadening the scope of a job by expanding the number of different tasks to be perform.
- Job enrichment: Increasing the depth of a job by adding responsibility for planning, organizing,
controlling, or evaluating the job.
- Job rotation: Process of shifting a person from job (task) to job (another task).
3. Alternative work arrangement.
- Flextime (short for “flexible work time”): Employees must work a specific number of hours per week but
are free to vary their hours of work within certain limits. (Just explanation, not definition).
- Job sharing: An arrangement that allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40-hour-a-week job.
 - Telecommuting: Working from home at least two days a week on a computer that is linked to the
employer’s office.
II/ EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT.
- Employee involvement is a participative process that uses employees’ input to increase their commitment
to the organization’s success.
- Participative management: A process in which subordinates share a significant degree of decision-
making power with their immediate superiors.
+ Research have mixed findings about this participation – performance relationship: Organizations that
institute participative management do have higher stock returns, lower turnover rates, and higher estimated labor
productivity, although these effects are typically not large.
+ It is not a sure means for improving performance.
- Representative management: A system in which workers participate in organizational decision making
through a small group of representative employees.
+ The influence of representative participation on working employees seems to be minimal.
+ If one is interested in changing employee attitudes or in improving organizational performance,
representative participation would be a poor choice.
III/ USING REWARD TO MOTIVATE EMPLIYEES.
1. What to pay: establishing a pay structure.
- The process of initially setting pay levels entails (đòi hỏi) balancing:
+ Internal equity: the worth of the job to the organization (usually established through a technical
process called job evaluation)
+ External equity: the external competitiveness of an organization’s pays relative to pay elsewhere in its
industry (usually established through pay surveys).
2. How to pay: variable – pay program.
- A pay plan which bases a portion of an employee’s pay on some individual and/or organizational
measure of performance  Earnings therefore fluctuate up and down.
+ The fluctuation in variable pay is what makes these programs attractive to management. It turns part
of an organization’s fixed labor costs into a variable cost, thus reducing expenses when performance declines.
- Different types of variable – pay program:
+ The piece-rate pay plan is a means of compensating production workers with a fixed sum for each
unit of production completed. A pure piece-rate plan provides no base salary and pays the employee only for
what he or she produces.
+ A merit-based pay plan pays for individual performance based on performance appraisal ratings. A
main advantage is that people thought to be high performers can get bigger raises. If designed correctly, merit-
based plans let individuals perceive a strong relationship between their performance and their rewards.
+ A bonus is a pay plan that rewards employees for recent performance rather than historical
performance. An annual bonus is a significant component of total compensation for many jobs.
+ Skill-based pay (also called competency-based or knowledge-based pay) is an alternative to job-based
pay that bases pay levels on how many skills employees have or how many jobs they can do.  NOT APPEAR
IN POWERPOINT.
+ A profit-sharing plan distributes compensation based on some established formula designed around a
company’s profitability.
+ Gainsharing is a formula-based group incentive plan that uses improvements in group productivity
from one period to another to determine the total amount of money allocated.  NOT APPEAR IN
POWERPOINT.
+ An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is a company-established benefit plan in which
employees acquire stock, often at below-market prices, as part of their benefits.
 3. Flexible benefits: developing a benefits package.
- Flexible benefits is a benefits plan that allows each employee to put together a benefits package
individually tailored to his or her own needs and situation.
- The three most popular types of benefits plans are:
+ Modular plans are predesigned packages or modules of benefits, each of which meets the needs of a
specific group of employees. Example: A module designed for single employees with no dependents might
include only essential benefits. Another, designed for single parents, might have additional life insurance,
disability insurance, and expanded health coverage.
+ Core-plus plans consist of a core of essential benefits and a menu-like selection of others from which
employees can select.
+ Flexible spending plans allow employees to set aside pretax dollars up to the dollar amount offered in
the plan to pay for particular benefits, such as health care and dental premiums. Flexible spending accounts can
increase take-home pay because employees do not pay taxes on the dollars they spend from these accounts.
4. Intrinsic rewards: employee recognition program.
- Employee recognition plan is a plan to encourage specific employee behaviors by formally appreciating
specific employee contributions.
IV/ IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS.
- Recognize individual differences. Spend the time necessary to understand what is important to each
employee. Design jobs to align with individual needs and maximize their motivation potential.
- Use goals and feedback. You should give employees firm, specific goals, and they should get feedback on
how well they are faring in pursuit of those goals.
- Allow employees to participate in decisions that affect them. Employees can contribute to setting work
goals, choosing their own benefits packages, and solving productivity and quality problems.
- Link rewards to performance. Rewards should be contingent on performance, and employees must
perceive the link between the two.
- Check the system for equity. Employees should perceive that individual effort and outcomes explain
differences in pay and other rewards.