Early Theories of Motivation Scientific management is based on the belief that employees are motivated by economic incentives and that there is “one best way” to perform any job. The four basic principles of scientific management developed by Taylor are…
This chapter has focused on understanding what motivates people and how employee motivation and satisfaction affect productivity and organizational performance. Organizations can improve performance by investing in people. In reviewing the ways companies are currently choosing to invest in their…
The material presented thus far in this chapter demonstrates the wide variety of theorists and research studies that have contributed to our current understanding of employee motivation. Now we turn our attention to more practical matters, to ways that these…
The early management scholars laid a foundation that enabled managers to better understand their workers and how best to motivate them. Since then, new theories have given us an even better understanding of worker motivation. Four of these theories are…
Another important contribution to our understanding of individual motivation came from Frederick Herzberg’s studies, which addressed the question, “What do people really want from their work experience?” In the late 1950s, Herzberg surveyed numerous employees to find out what particular work…
Douglas McGregor, one of Maslow’s students, influenced the study of motivation with his formulation of two contrasting sets of assumptions about human nature—Theory X and Theory Y. The Theory X management style is based on a pessimistic view of human nature and assumes the following: This…
Another well-known theorist from the behavioral era of management history, psychologist Abraham Maslow, proposed a theory of motivation based on universal human needs. Maslow believed that each individual has a hierarchy of needs, consisting of physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs, as…
The classical era of management was followed by the human relations era, which began in the 1930s and focused primarily on how human behavior and relations affect organizational performance. The new era was ushered in by the Hawthorne studies, which changed the…
Motivation is the set of forces that prompt a person to release energy in a certain direction. As such, motivation is essentially a need- and want-satisfying process. A need is best defined as the gap between what is and what is required. Similarly, a want is…
Exhibit 9.1 (Credit: Jeff Turner /flickr / Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)) Learning Outcomes After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer these questions: Exploring Business Careers Chuck Kaplan, Ciena Corporation Chuck Kaplan loves music and playing in a…