Johns 10e Irm ch06

CHAPTER 6
MOTIVATION IN PRACTICE
CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 6, students should be able to:
LO6.1 Discuss how to tie pay to performance on production jobs and the difficulties of
wage incentive plans.
LO6.2 Explain how to tie pay to performance on white-collar jobs and the difficulties of
merit pay plans.
LO6.3 Explain the various approaches to use pay to motivate teamwork.
LO6.4 Compare and contrast the different approaches to job design including the
traditional approach, the Job Characteristics Model, job enrichment, work design,
and relational job design.
LO6.5 Understand the connection between goal setting and Management by Objectives.
LO6.6. Explain how flexible work arrangements respect employee diversity.
LO6.7 Describe the factors that organizations should consider when choosing
motivational practices.
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND TEACHING NOTES
In this chapter, four motivational techniques are discussed: money, job design,
Management by Objectives, and flexible work arrangements.
Money as a Motivator
The money that employees receive in exchange for organizational membership is a

package made up of pay and various other fringe benefits that have dollar values, such as
insurance plans, sick leave, and vacation time. Employees and managers, however,
seriously underestimate the importance of pay as a motivator.
In general, motivation theories suggest that money can be a motivator to the extent that it
satisfies a variety of needs, is highly valent, and it is clearly tied to performance.
Research on financial incentives is consistent with the predictions of need theory and
expectancy theory. Financial incentives and pay-for-performance plans have been found
to increase performance and lower turnover. Research also suggests that pay may well be
the most important and effective motivator of performance. In general, the ability to earn
money for outstanding performance is a competitive advantage for attracting, motivating,
and retaining employees
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc.

6-2 Johns/Saks, Organizational Behaviour, Tenth Edition
Linking Pay to Performance on Production Jobs

The prototype of all schemes to link pay to performance on production jobs is piece-rate.
In a piece-rate system, individual workers are paid a certain sum of money for each unit
of production completed. Various schemes that link pay to performance on production
jobs are called wage incentive plans. Compared with straight hourly pay, the introduction
of wage incentives usually leads to substantial increases in productivity. One of the best
examples of the successful use of a wage incentive plan is the Lincoln Electric Company.
However, not as many organizations use wage incentives as we might expect.
Potential Problems with Wage Incentives

Wage incentives have a number of problems when they are not managed with care.
Lowered Quality. They might increase productivity at the expense of quality.
Differential Opportunity. If workers have differential opportunities to produce at a high

level, wage incentives may be difficult to establish.
Reduced Cooperation. Wage incentives that reward individual productivity might

decrease cooperation among workers. Workers might hoard raw materials or refuse to
engage in peripheral tasks.
Incompatible Job Design. The way jobs are designed can make it very difficult to
implement wage incentives, such as on assembly lines. Wage incentive systems can be
designed to reward team productivity, however, as the size of the team increases, the
relationship between any individual’s productivity and his or her pay decreases.
Restriction of Productivity. A chief psychological impediment to the use of wage

incentives is the tendency for workers to restrict productivity. The artificial limitation of
work output that can occur under wage incentive plans is known as restriction of
productivity. Restriction of productivity occurs when workers come to an informal
agreement about what constitutes a fair day’s work and artificially limit productivity
accordingly. This may happen when workers feel that increased productivity due to the
incentive will lead to reductions in the work force or when employees fear that if they
produce at an especially high level, the rate of payment will be reduced to cut labour
costs. Restriction is less likely when a climate of trust and a history of good relations
exist between employees and management.
Linking Pay to Performance on White-Collar Jobs

Attempts to link pay to performance on white-collar jobs are often called merit pay plans.
Periodically (usually yearly), managers are required to evaluate the performance of
employees on some form of rating scale or by means of a written description of
performance. Using these evaluations, managers then recommend that some amount of
merit pay be awarded to individuals over and above their basic salaries. This pay is
usually incorporated into the subsequent year’s salary.
Most companies employ these plans and they are used with much greater frequency than
wage incentive plans. However, despite the fact that merit pay can stimulate effective

Chapter 6 Motivation in Practice 6-3
performance, many of these systems are ineffective. This is because many individuals
who work under such plans do not perceive a link between their job performance and
their pay. There is also evidence that pay is not related to performance under some merit
plans. In most organizations, seniority, the number of employees, and job level account
for more variation in pay than performance does.
Potential Problems with Merit Pay Plans

Merit pay plans can have a number of potential problems if employers do not manage
them carefully.
Low Discrimination. Managers might be unable or unwilling to discriminate between

good and poor performers because subjective evaluations of performance are difficult to
make and are often distorted by perceptual errors. If the performance evaluation system
does not assist the manager in giving feedback about his or her decisions to employees,
an equalization strategy may be employed to prevent conflicts with them or among the
employees. If there are true performance differences among employees, this strategy will
over-reward poor performers and under-reward better performers.
Small Increases. Merit increases are often too small to be effective motivators. To
overcome this visibility problem, some firms have replaced conventional merit pay with a
lump sum bonus that is paid out all at one time and not built into base pay. However,
when merit pay makes up a substantial portion of the compensation package,
management has to take extreme care to ensure that it ties the merit pay to performance
criteria that benefits the organization.
Pay Secrecy. Another threat to the effectiveness of merit pay plans is the extreme secrecy
that surrounds salaries in most organizations. This ensures that employees remain
ignorant about merit pay plans even when they are fairly administered, contingent on
performance, and generous because they have no way of comparing their own merit
treatment with that of others. Such secrecy can severely damage the motivational impact
of a well-designed merit plan. A pay secrecy policy forces employees to “invent” salaries
for other organizational members and this invention seems to reduce both satisfaction and
motivation. Managers have a tendency to overestimate the pay of their employees and
their peers and to underestimate the pay of their superiors. These tendencies will reduce
satisfaction with pay, damage perceptions of the linkage between performance and
rewards, and reduce the valence of promotion to a higher level of management. However,
it is worth noting that if performance evaluations systems are inadequate and poorly
implemented, a more open pay policy will simply expose the inadequacy of the merit
system and lead managers to evaluate performance in a manner that reduces conflict.
Using Pay to Motivate Teamwork

Pay can also be used to motivate cooperation and teamwork, despite some of the
dysfunctional aspects of wage incentives that promote a highly individual orientation.
Group-level incentive plans have been proposed to deal with problems of wage incentives
targeted at individuals. These plans include profit sharing, employee stock ownership
plans (ESOPs), gainsharing, and skill-based pay. Each of these plans has a somewhat

different motivational focus. Organizations have to choose pay plans that support their
strategic needs.
Profit Sharing. Profit sharing is one of the most commonly used group-oriented incentive
systems. In years in which the firm makes a profit, some of this is returned to employees
in the form of a cash bonus or a retirement supplement. However, it is unlikely that these
plans are highly motivational. Too many factors beyond the control of the workforce can
intervene in the determination of a company’s profit no matter how well people perform
their jobs. In a large firm it is also difficult to see the impact of one’s own actions on
profits. Profit sharing seems to work best in smaller firms that regularly turn a handsome
profit.
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
have also become a popular group-oriented incentive in recent years. These are incentive
plans that allow employees to own a set amount of a company’s shares and provide
employees with a stake in the company’s future earnings and success. Employees are
often allowed to purchase shares at a fixed price and in some cases the organization will
match employee contributions. Employee stock options are believed to increase
employees’ loyalty and motivation because they align employees’ goals and interests
with those of the organization and create a sense of legal and psychological ownership.
However, like profit sharing, these programs work best in small firms that regularly turn
a profit. In larger organizations, it is more difficult for employees to see the connection
between their efforts and company profits because many other factors can influence the
value of a company’s stock besides employee effort and performance. Furthermore,
ESOPs lose their motivational potential in a weak economy when a company’s share
price goes down.
Gainsharing. Gainsharing plans are group incentive plans based on productivity or

performance improvements over which the workforce has some control. They have the
advantage of being based on cost reductions, including costs for labour, materials, and
supplies. These are more under the control of employees, and when cost reductions occur,
the gain is shared between the company and employees according to a predetermined
formula. The Scanlon Plan is the best known gainsharing plan. The plan stresses
participatory management and joint problem solving between employees and managers as
well as using the pay system to reward employees for this cooperative behaviour. Thus,
pay is used to align company and employee goals. Productivity improvements following
the introduction of Scanlon-type plans support its motivational impact. Perception that
the plan is fair is critical.
Skill-Based Pay. Skill-based pay (also called pay for knowledge) is a system in which
people are paid according to the number of job skills they have acquired. Thus, it rewards
employees to learn a variety of skills and work tasks irrespective of the job they might be
doing at any one time. This encourages employee flexibility in task assignments and
gives employees a broader picture of the work process. It is especially useful in self-
managed teams. The more skills that are acquired the higher the person’s pay. The idea is
to motivate employees to learn a wide variety of work tasks. Skill based pay can provide

incentives for a more flexible work force and can have positive consequences, however,
training costs are high.
Job Design as a Motivator
The use of job design as a motivator represents an attempt to capitalize on intrinsic

motivation. Job design refers to the structure, content, and configuration of a person’s
work tasks and roles. The goal of job design is to identify the characteristics that make
some tasks more motivating than others and to capture these characteristics in the design
of jobs.
Traditional Views of Job Design

The traditional view of job design stressed job simplification. Job simplification
contended that specialization was the key to efficient productivity. Frederick Taylor
introduced his principles of scientific management which advocated extreme division of
labour and specialization, and careful standardization and regulation of work activities
and rest pauses. Jobs designed according to the principles of scientific management do
not seem intrinsically motivating. The motivational strategies that were used consisted of
close supervision and the use of piece-rate pay. Such simplification, however, helped
workers who were mostly non-unionized and uneducated achieve a reasonable standard
of living.
Job Scope and Motivation

Traditional views of job design were attempts to construct low-scope jobs. Job scope can
be defined as the breadth and depth of a job. Breadth refers to the number of different
activities performed on a job, while depth refers to the degree of discretion or control a
worker has over how these tasks are performed. Jobs that have great breadth and depth
are called high-scope jobs.
High-scope jobs (both broad and deep) provide more intrinsic motivation than low-scope
jobs, according to need theories. Expectancy theory suggests that high-scope jobs can
provide intrinsic motivation if the outcomes derived from such jobs are attractive.
One way to increase the scope of a job is to assign employees stretch assignments that
offer employees challenging opportunities to broaden their skills by working on a variety
of tasks with new responsibilities. Another approach for increasing the scope of an
individual’s job is job rotation which involves rotating employees to different tasks and
jobs in an organization. In addition to providing employees with a variety of challenging
assignments, job rotation is also effective for developing new skills and expertise that can
prepare employees for future roles.
The Job Characteristics Model

The Job Characteristic Model proposes that there are several “core” job characteristics
which have psychological impact on workers. In turn, the psychological states induced by
the nature of a job lead to outcomes that are relevant to the worker and the organization.
Finally, several other factors (moderators) influence the extent to which these
relationships hold true.

Core Job Characteristics. There are five core job characteristics that have a strong
potential to affect worker motivation. Higher levels of these characteristics should lead to
more favourable outcomes.
1. Skill variety: The opportunity to do a variety of job activities using various skills and
talents. This involves the use of a number of different skills and talents of the person.
2. Autonomy: The freedom to schedule one’s own work activities and decide work
procedures. It involves the degree to which the job provides substantial freedom,
independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in
determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out.
3. Task significance: The impact that a job has on other people or the extent to which the
job has a substantial impact on the lives of other people, whether those people are in
the immediate organization or in the world at large.
4. Task identity: The extent to which a job involves doing a complete piece of work,
from beginning to end.
5. Feedback: Information about the effectiveness of one’s work performance or the
degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the job provides the
individual with direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her
performance.
A questionnaire called the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) is used to measure the core
characteristics of jobs. Job holders indicate the amount of the various core characteristics
contained in their jobs. The motivating potential score (MPS) measures the potential of a
job to stimulate intrinsic motivation and can be calculated by the following formula:
MPS = (Skill variety + Task identity + Task significance)/3 × Autonomy × Job feedback
Critical Psychological States. The Job Characteristics Model argues that work will be
intrinsically motivating when it is perceived as meaningful, when the worker feels
responsible for the outcomes of the work, and when the worker has knowledge about his
or her work progress. Skill variety, task identity, and task significance affect the
meaningfulness of the job; autonomy affects responsibility; and feedback affects
knowledge of results.
Outcomes. The presence of the critical psychological states leads to a number of

outcomes that are relevant to both the individual and the organization including high
intrinsic motivation, high “growth” satisfaction, high general job satisfaction, and high
quality productivity. Workers will report satisfaction with higher-order needs (growth
needs) and general satisfaction with the job itself. This should lead to reduced
absenteeism and turnover.
Moderators. Jobs that are high in motivating potential do not always lead to favourable
outcomes. Certain moderator or contingency variables intervene between job
characteristics and outcomes. One of these is the job-relevant knowledge and skill of the
worker which must be high if workers are to respond favourably to jobs that are high in
motivating potential. Growth need strength refers to the extent to which people desire to

achieve higher-order need satisfaction by performing their jobs. Generally, workers with
high growth needs will be most responsive to challenging work. Finally, workers who are
dissatisfied with the context factors surrounding the job (such as pay, supervision, and
company policy) will be less responsive to challenging work than workers who are
satisfied with context factors.
Research Evidence. Tests of the Job Characteristics Model have been very supportive of
the basic prediction of the model – workers tend to respond more favourably to jobs that
are high in motivating potential. All five core job characteristics have been found to be
positively related to the outcomes in the model as well as other outcomes. Some of the
core job characteristics (e.g., autonomy and feedback from the job) have also been found
to be related to behavioural and well-being outcomes. Experienced meaningfulness has
been found to be the most critical psychological state. Where the model seems to falter is
in its predictions about growth needs and context satisfaction. Evidence that these factors
influence reactions to job design is weak or contradictory.
Job Enrichment
Job enrichment is the design jobs to enhance intrinsic motivation, the quality of working
life, and job involvement. Job involvement refers to cognitive state of psychological
identification with one’s job and the importance of work to one’s total self-image.
Employees who have enriched jobs tend to have higher levels of job involvement. All of
the core job characteristics have been shown to be positively related to job involvement,
and job involvement is positively related to job satisfaction and organizational
commitment. Employees who are more involved in their job are less likely to quit.
In general, job enrichment involves increasing the motivating potential of jobs via the
arrangement of their core characteristics. Some of the techniques include the following:
Combining tasks. Assign tasks performed by different workers to a single individual.

This strategy should increase the variety of skills employed and might contribute to task
identity.
Establishing external client relationships. Put workers in touch with those outside the
organization who depend on their products or services. This strategy should involve the
use of new interpersonal skills, increase the identity and significance of the job, and
increase feedback about one’s performance.
Establishing internal client relationships. Put workers in touch with people who depend
on their products or services within the organization. This strategy should have the same
effect on the job characteristics as those for establishing external client relationships.
Reducing supervision or reliance on others. Increase autonomy and control over workers’
own work.

Forming work teams. Employees’ work together to produce a product or provide a

service that is too large or complex for one person to complete alone. This strategy
should lead to the development of a variety of skills and increase the identity of the job.
Making feedback more direct. Permit workers to be identified with their “own” product
or service. If a customer encounters problems, he or she contacts the assembler directly.
Potential Problems with Job Enrichment

Job enrichment can encounter a number of challenging problems.
Poor Diagnosis. Enrichment schemes may be implemented without careful diagnosis of

the needs of an organization and the particular jobs in question. An especially likely error
is increasing job breadth by giving employees more tasks to perform at the same level
while leaving the other crucial core characteristics unchanged—a practice known job
enlargement. Workers are given more boring, fragmented, routine tasks to do.
Lack of Desire or Skill. Some workers do not desire enriched jobs or they may lack the
skills and competence necessary to perform enriched jobs effectively. It might also be
difficult to train some workers in certain skills required by enriched jobs, such as social
skills.
Demand for Rewards. Workers who experience job enrichment may ask that greater
extrinsic rewards, such as pay, accompany their redesigned jobs.
Union Resistance. Unions have not always been supportive of job enrichment and instead
have focused more on easily quantified extrinsic motivators. However, faced with
increasing global competition, the need for flexibility, and the need for employee
initiative to foster quality, companies and unions have begun to dismantle restrictive
contract provisions regarding job design which has created more opportunities for
flexibility by combining tasks and using team approaches.
Supervisory Resistance. Enrichment schemes may fail because of their unanticipated

impact on other jobs or other parts of an organizational system and supervisor resistance.
A key problem concerns supervisors of workers whose jobs have been enriched. This can
“dis-enrich” the job of supervisor. Some organizations respond to this problem by doing
away with direct supervision of workers performing enriched jobs while others use the
supervisor as a trainer and developer of individuals in enriched jobs.
Work Design and Relational Job Design

In recent years, more comprehensive models of job design have been developed that go
beyond the core job characteristics and include other important aspects of job design.
Two such examples are work design and relational job design.
Frederick Morgeson and Stephen Humphrey developed a work design model that consists
of a wider variety of work design characteristics than the Job Characteristics Model.
Work design characteristics refer to the attributes of the task, job, and social and

organizational environment and consist of three categories: motivational characteristics,

social characteristics, and work context characteristics.
Motivational characteristics includes task characteristics, which are similar to the core
job characteristics of the Job Characteristics Model as well as knowledge characteristics
that refer to the kinds of knowledge, skill, and ability demands required to perform a job.
Task variety involves the degree to which a job requires employees to perform a wide
range of tasks on the job, while skill variety reflects the extent to which a job requires an
individual to use a variety of different skills to perform a job. Social characteristics have
to do with the interpersonal and social aspects of work and include social support,
interdependence, interaction outside of the organization, and feedback from others. Work
context characteristics refer to the context within which work is performed and consist of
ergonomics, physical demands, work conditions, and equipment use.
A scale called the Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ) is used to measure the work
design characteristics and is the most comprehensive measure of work design available.
Research has found that the work design characteristics are related to work attitudes and
behaviours and the social characteristics are even more strongly related to some outcomes
(i.e., turnover intentions, organizational commitment) than the motivational
characteristics. Work design characteristics have a large and significant effect on
employee attitudes and behaviours.
Adam Grant has developed a model to explain how jobs can be designed to motivate
employees to make a difference in other’s lives. Grant calls this approach to job design
the relational architecture of jobs which refers to the structural properties of work that
shape employees’ opportunities to connect and interact with other people. The idea is to
motivate employees to make a difference in other people’s lives. This is known as
prosocial motivation and it refers to the desire to expend effort to benefit other people.
Jobs can be designed so that employees can see the impact of their actions on others. Re-
designing and emphasizing the relational aspects of jobs and their social impact and value
has been found to improve employee motivation and performance. In effect, this is done
by designing jobs so that employees have contact with those who benefit from their work.
Management by Objectives
Management by Objectives (MBO) is an elaborate, systematic, ongoing program designed

to facilitate goal establishment, goal accomplishment, and employee development.
Objectives for the organization as a whole are developed by top management and
diffused down through the organization through the MBO process. The nature of the
interaction between managers and individual workers is a key part of the process. Most
manager-employee interactions share the following similarities:
1. The manager meets with individual employees to develop and agree on employee
objectives for the coming months.
2. Periodic meetings are held to monitor employee progress in achieving objectives.

3. An appraisal meeting is held to evaluate the extent to which the agreed upon
objectives have been achieved.
4. The MBO cycle is repeated.
Research Evidence. Although properly established and administered MBO programs can
have a positive effect on performance and the research evidence shows clear productivity
gains, there are a number of factors associated with the failure of MBO programs. Top
management commitment is necessary for MBO to succeed or else managers at lower
levels simply go through the motions of practicing MBO and the whole exercise just
creates paperwork. Sometimes there is an overemphasis on measurable objectives at the
expense of more qualitative objectives. Also, excessive short-term orientation can be a
problem. Finally, MBO can be subverted if a performance review becomes an exercise in
punishing employees for failing to achieve objectives.
Flexible Work Arrangements as Motivators for a Diverse Workforce
Although most Canadian workers work a forty-hour, five-day week, many organizations
have modified these traditional working schedules and offer employees flexible work
arrangements. Flexible work arrangements are work options that permit flexibility in
terms of “where” and/or “when” work is completed. The purpose of these arrangements
is to meet the diverse workforce needs and promote job satisfaction. Common forms of
alternative work arrangements include flex-time, the compressed workweek, job and
work sharing, and telecommuting.
Flex-Time
Flex-time is a work arrangement that permits flexibility in terms of when employees
work such that arrival and quitting times are flexible. It allows workers an element of
flexibility in choosing their working hours so long as they are present during certain core
hours. It is well suited to meeting the needs of a diverse workforce as employees tailor
arrival and departure times to their own transportation and child care situations. However,
when jobs are highly interdependent, flex-time becomes an unlikely strategy. Also, flex-
time may lead to problems in achieving adequate supervisory coverage. Thus, it is most
frequently implemented in office environments.
Research Evidence. Employees prefer flex-time to fixed hours. Work attitudes usually
become more positive. Slight productivity gains are often reported. A review of research
on flex-time concluded that it has a positive effect on productivity, job satisfaction,
satisfaction with work schedule, and lowers employee absenteeism.
Compressed Workweek
The compressed workweek is a work arrangement that permits flexibility in terms of
when work is performed such that employees work fewer than the normal five days a
week but still put in a normal number of hours per week. It compresses the hours worked
each week into fewer days, for example, the 4-40 system (four ten-hour days each week).
Technical roadblocks to the implementation of the 4-40 workweek include reduced

customer service and negative effects of fatigue which may accompany longer working
days.
Research Evidence. People seem to like the four-day system. Workers sometimes report
an increase in fatigue following the introduction of the compressed week. A review of
research on the compressed workweek concluded that it has a positive effect on job
satisfaction and satisfaction with work schedule but no effect on absenteeism or
productivity.
Job and Work Sharing

Job sharing is a work arrangement that reduces the number of hours worked such that
two part-time employees divide the work of a full-time job. Job sharing is particularly
attractive to people who want to spend more time with small children or elders than a
conventional five-day work routine allows. Work sharing involves reducing the number
of hours employees work to avoid layoffs when there is a reduction in normal business
activity. The Government of Canada has a work-sharing program that is designed to help
employers and workers avoid temporary layoffs. Work sharing not only cuts costs, saves
jobs, and avoids layoffs, but it allows organizations to retain highly skilled workers so
they can quickly rebound when the economy and business improves
Research Evidence. There is virtually no hard research on job and work sharing.
However, anecdotal reports suggest that the job sharers must make a concerted effort to
communicate well with each other as well as with superiors, co-workers, and clients.
Such communication is greatly facilitated by contemporary computer technology and
voice mail. Job sharing can result in coordination problems if communication is not
adequate.
Telecommuting
Telecommuting is a work arrangement that permits flexibility in terms of where one
performs their job such that employees are able to work at remote locations but stay in
touch with their offices through the use of information and communications technology,
such as a computer network, voice mail, and electronic messages. It provides workers
with greater flexibility in their work schedules. When telecommuting is an option,
companies can hire the best person for a job, regardless of where they live in the world or
what is known as distant staffing. An interesting trend is telework centres that provide
workers with the amenities of a home office in a location close to their home. Related to
this is the emergence of distributed work programs, which involve a combination of
remote work arrangements that allow employees to work at their business office, a
satellite office, and a home office.
Research Evidence. A recent review of research on telecommuting found that
telecommuting has small but positive effects on perceived autonomy and lower work–
family conflict as well as a positive effect on job satisfaction and job performance and
results in lower stress and turnover intentions. A greater frequency of telecommuting
(more than 2.5 days a week) was associated with a greater reduction in work–family
conflict and stress. The positive effects of telecommuting are mostly due to an increase in
perceived autonomy.

Negative aspects of telecommuting can result from damage to informal communication

such as decreased visibility when promotions are considered, problems in handling rush
projects, and workload spillover for non-telecommuters. Frequent telecommuting has a
negative effect on relationships with co-workers. Other potential problems include
distractions in the home environment, feelings of isolation, and overwork. Many
companies are hesitant to implement telecommuting programs because of concerns about
trust and control and worries that employees will not be as productive.
Motivational Practices in Perspective
When it comes to choosing motivational practices, the concept of fit is key. Motivational
practices must fit into and be part of an organization’s culture and system of management
practices. The most effective approach will depend on a combination of factors including
employee needs, the nature of the job, characteristics of the organization, and the
outcome that an organization wants to achieve. Ultimately, motivational systems that
make use of a variety of motivators—such as performance-based pay and job enrichment
—used in conjunction with one another are likely to be most effective.

AN INTEGRATIVE EXAM QUESTION
Here is a class-tested essay exam question that requires students to integrate the
knowledge acquired from Chapters 5 and 6 of the text. You may wish to modify the
questions asked in order to reflect the particular emphasis of your own course.
How is this for a fantasy? A state government desires to increase the performance of its
non-elected civil servants. The ultimate goal is to enhance the government’s service to
the public while maintaining a cost-effective system. The current motivational system is
restricted to the use of pay and promotion. Pay is determined by job level, which is in
turn determined by educational background and seniority. Promotion is almost entirely
dependent on seniority and usually occurs within, rather than between, departments or
functions. At most levels, jobs are designed to be rather simple, routine, and repetitive,
stemming from decisions made many years ago to provide government employment for
individuals with rather marginal skills and education. Turnover is high at the entry level
of most units, especially for technical and professional jobs. At upper levels, turnover is
almost nonexistent. Absence is high throughout the system, and the government provides
twelve annual paid “sick days” with “no questions asked.”
Change is possible for several reasons. A new state government has just been elected by a
sweeping majority. It campaigned on a platform of “businesslike government,” a good
move in a time of rising taxes and high interest rates. In addition, several prestigious
newspapers have recently published investigative reports exposing the poor productivity
of civil servants. Furthermore, a large number of civil servants hired just after World War
II will be retiring in the next three years.
1. Use one of the need theories of motivation (Maslow’s Hierarchy, Alderfer’s ERG, or
McClelland’s need theory) to characterize the state government’s current
motivational system. What kinds of individuals would be attracted to work in the
current system?
2. Use expectancy theory to analyze the state government’s current motivational system.
Consider motives to “produce” and motives to “participate.” Use the concepts of
outcomes, valences, expectancies, and instrumentalities in your answer.
3. Given your answers to questions 1 and 2, what changes would you propose so that the
government can achieve its ultimate goal? Consider the pay system, job design, and
various rules and policies.
4. Given your answer to question 3, what special demands do your proposed changes
make on supervisory personnel, especially with regard to their roles as motivators and
developers of employees?
5. Will your new and improved civil service system require a revised hiring strategy?
What changes in hiring will have to take place?

SAMPLE ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Imagine two insurance companies that have merit pay plans for salaried, white-
collar employees. In one organization, the plan truly rewards good performers, while
in the other it does not. Both companies decide to make salaries completely public.
What will be the consequences of such a change for each company? (Be specific,
using concepts such as expectancy, instrumentality, job satisfaction, and turnover.)
In the company that truly rewards good performers a public salary system might well
increase performance and satisfaction. The instrumentality connection between pay and
performance will be strengthened, and good performers will be satisfied, feel equity, and
be motivated to remain with the company. Poor performers will either experience
dissatisfaction and quit or observe good performers to learn how to increase their own
performance (increased expectancy). In the other company, assume that salaries are
established randomly. Making this system public will provoke underpayment inequity for
good performers. They may lower inputs or seek work elsewhere. Poor performers will
have few clues about the way to perform better since the salary system provides
inaccurate feedback about what is considered good performance.
2. Imagine an office setting in which a change to a four-day week, flex-time, or

telecommuting would appear to be equally feasible to introduce. What would be the
pros and cons of each system? How would factors such as the nature of the business,
the age of the work force, and the average commuting distance affect the choice of
systems?
Pros of the four-day week: Lower commuting costs; employees have time for personal
business on a regular business day; employees have a long weekend every week.
Cons of the four-day week: Customers and clients may be disadvantaged; longer
workdays may fatigue older employees.
Pros of flex-time: Employees can fit personal business in at the beginning or end of a
regular business day; carpools and commuting may be easier; rush hours can be avoided;
flexible hours connote a prestigious job.
Cons of flex-time: System is open to abuse; coverage of key functions may be damaged;
meetings may be difficult to arrange.
Pros of telecommuting: Can lower turnover and the costs associated with it; less office
space and equipment needed; can attract employees who see it as a desirable benefit;
employees avoid grinding commutes in urban areas and this could lead to lower stress.
Cons of telecommuting: It can have a negative effect on informal communication;
problems handling rush projects; workload spillover for non-telecommuters; distractions
in the home environment; feelings of isolation and overwork.
Some businesses which interface directly with the public (banks or stores) would lose a
competitive edge under the short week. Others, such as the head office of a
manufacturing firm, might operate quite easily on a four-day system. Flex-time and
telecommuting are problematic if the office requires much teamwork or if it interfaces

directly with the public. Other things equal, work forces with long commutes should
appreciate the shorter work week and telecommuting more than flex-time.
3. Refer to the work design characteristics in Exhibit 6.7. What work design
characteristics are most important for you and why? If you were to redesign the job
you currently hold or a job you have previously held, what work design
characteristics would you change? How would you change them?
When answering this question, students should first understand that there is more to work
design than the core job characteristics of the job characteristics model. Thus, it might a
good idea to have students first describe the different work design characteristics. Work
design characteristics refer to the attributes of the task, job, and social and organizational
environment and consist of three categories: motivational characteristics, social
characteristics, and work context characteristics. Motivational characteristics include task
characteristics, which are similar to the core job characteristics of the Job Characteristics
Model as well as knowledge characteristics that refer to the kinds of knowledge, skill,
and ability demands required to perform a job. Social characteristics have to do with the
interpersonal and social aspects of work and include social support, interdependence,
interaction outside of the organization, and feedback from others. Work context
characteristics refer to the context within which work is performed and consist of
ergonomics, physical demands, work conditions, and equipment use. Students should
then explain what work design characteristics are most important to them and why. You
might then probe their answers by asking them to refer to a job they once had that was
low or high on the work design characteristics and how this might have affected their
motivation and performance. Students should then explain how they would change a
current or past job with respect to the different work design characteristics. It might be
interesting to wrap up the discussion by noting the work design characteristics that most
of the class considers important. Perhaps you can rank them from most important to least
important and also consider the importance of them for students’ decision to accept a job
offer as well as their motivation and performance on-the-job.
4. Incentive compensation plans are believed to have a number of advantages for

organizations. However, they can also have negative consequences for employees
and organizations. Discuss how the design of compensation programs can lead to
inappropriate and unethical behaviours. How should incentive compensation
programs be designed to encourage positive behaviours and discourage negative
ones?
Students might get the impression that incentive compensation is always good for
motivation so this question is meant to show them that incentive compensation can result
in inappropriate and unethical behaviours. As described in the Ethical Focus feature (see
page 208), compensation systems are believed to be one of the reasons why many
companies in the United States engaged in risky and unethical behaviour that helped
trigger the financial crisis and a global recession. It is believed that financial incentives
contributed to an increase in accounting fraud and risky and unethical behaviours. The
key issue here is how the incentive compensation system is structured. As described in
the Ethical Focus, target-based incentive systems require an employee to achieve a
certain level of performance to obtain a bonus. This means that employees who fall short

of the target might be tempted to take short cuts and engage in risky, unethical, and
dishonest behaviour to reach the target and receive the bonus. The research described in
the Ethical Focus found that participants in the target-based bonus condition lied about
the number of correct words they created. Thus, the point here is that incentive
compensation systems that link pay to numerical targets can result in inappropriate and
unethical behaviour. Therefore, incentive compensation systems must be carefully
designed to encourage appropriate behaviours and discourage inappropriate and unethical
behaviours. They should motivate employees to engage in the behaviours that are
congruent with an organization’s goals and objectives.
5. What is the relational architecture of jobs, and why is this important for job design?
Discuss your current or most recent job in terms of its relational architecture. How
can the relational architecture of your job be improved and what effect would this
have on your motivation?
The relational architecture of jobs refers to the structural properties of work that shape
employees’ opportunities to connect and interact with other people. The basic idea is to
design jobs so that employees can see the impact of their actions on others. This involves
emphasizing the relational aspects of jobs and their social impact and value. This is
important for job design because it can improve employees’ prosocial motivation which
refers to the desire to expend effort to benefit other people, and because it has been found
to improve employee motivation and performance. Students should describe a current or
previous job and the extent to which it allowed them to connect and interact with other
people. Then ask them how their job could be redesigned to improve its relational
architecture and if this would have any effect on their motivation. If students have some
difficulty understanding how their job can be redesigned, remind them it involves
designing jobs so that employees have contact with those who benefit from their work.
You might remind them of the examples in the text in which call centre employees who
raise funds for a university had a brief exposure to a scholarship recipient who benefited
from their work.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. Describe some jobs for which you think it would be difficult to link pay to
performance. What is there about these jobs that provokes this difficulty?
Several factors might make it difficult to link pay to individual performance.
a. Performance is difficult to observe or measure objectively (for example, police
patrol officers or social workers).
b. Performance can be measured objectively but not accurately (for example,
machine operators who have machines that differ in capacity or salespersons in
radically different sales territories).
c. The technology prevents individual differences in performance (for example,
assembly line workers).
d. Teamwork makes it difficult to isolate the performance contribution of a single
individual (for example, a task force designing a new product).

In some of these cases (c and d in particular) it may be possible to link pay to group
performance.
2. You are, of course, familiar with the annual lists of the world’s 10 worst-dressed
people or 10 worst movies. Here’s a new one: A job enrichment consultant has
developed a list of the 10 worst jobs, which includes highway toll collector, roofer,
bank guard, garbage collector, and elevator operator. Use the five core job
characteristics to describe each of these jobs. Could you enrich any of these jobs?
How? Which should be completely automated? Can you add some jobs to the list?
It is safe to say that each job is very low on most of the core characteristics. Bank guards
may experience some task significance and elevator operators may receive a crude degree
of task feedback and identity, but otherwise the situation is bleak. Each job cited has been
partially or completely automated already: Toll collection is automatic with exact change;
bank guards have been replaced by cameras; and user-operated elevators are
commonplace. Other poor jobs include assembly line workers, traffic surveyors, night
security guards, and photocopy machine operators. These jobs have low job breadth and
depth and are therefore low scope jobs.
3. What are the essential distinctions between gainsharing, profit sharing, and
employee stock ownership plans? How effective is each pay plan, and what are the
advantages and disadvantages?
Profit sharing is the return of some company profit to the employees in the form of a cash
bonus or a retirement supplement. Employee stock ownership allows employees to
purchase shares at a fixed price and in some cases the organization will match employee
contributions. Gainsharing is a group pay incentive plan based on productivity or
performance improvements over which the workforce has some control. Profit sharing
and employee stock ownership programs can be effective for aligning the goals of
employees and the organization as employees and the organization will benefit when the
organization does well. However, when the organization does not make a profit or when
the economy and factors that are not under the control of employees cause the share price
to drop, the motivational potential is rather limited. This is especially the case in large
companies where it is difficult for employees to see a link between their efforts and
organizational performance. Gainsharing is less dependent on other factors and so
employees have more control over their ability to do something that will result in a
positive consequence. Thus, the link between what employees do and the consequence is
clearer and more controllable with gainsharing. Of course, to be effective there must be
ways for employees to improve productivity and performance. Overall, gainsharing is
more likely to be consistently effective given that employees have control over their
performance and the link between their performance and the consequences they receive is
more evident. Employees have more control over their own performance than the
company’s profit and share price.
4. Some observers have argued that the jobs of the prime minister of Canada and the
president of the United States are “too big” for one person to perform adequately.
This probably means that the jobs are perceived as having too much scope or being

too enriched. Use the Job Characteristics Model to explore the accuracy of this
observation.
The core job characteristics included in the Job Characteristics Model are skill variety,
task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. In recognizing the limitations of
human skills and knowledge, the model does allow for the fact that a job could be too
enriched. It is safe to conclude that the president and prime minister’s jobs are very
enriched or high in scope. They are very significant in their impact on others. In addition,
they involve a tremendous amount of variety, including setting policy, heading a political
party, and making public appearances. Similar arguments can be made for autonomy,
identity, and feedback, although autonomy may be limited by the public nature of the job,
and feedback from various sources may be contradictory. Whether the jobs are too
enriched depends greatly on the leader’s ability to delegate certain tasks to others. The
prime minister often delegates public appearances to subordinate ministers and the
president uses the vice-president for the same function.
5. Why do you think employees and managers seriously underestimate the importance
of pay as a motivator? What are the implications of this for organizations’ use of pay
to motivate employees? What are the consequences?
In an article by Rynes, Gerhart, and Minette (2004, Human Resource Management,
43(4), 381-394), they discuss how when asked directly about the importance of pay,
people place it around fifth in lists of potential motivators. However, studies of people’s
actual behaviours in response to motivational initiatives shows that pay is the most
effective motivator. Why the discrepancy? One reason for this is socially desirable
responding or the tendency for people to respond in socially appropriate ways. In terms
of pay, people are likely to underestimate its importance either because they midjudge
how they might respond to say an offer of a higher paying job or due to social norms that
view money as a less noble source of motivation than things like challenging work or
work that makes a contribution to society. Thus, some might feel that to be motivated by
money is “crass” or undignified. Research has also found that managers do not believe
that pay is as important to employee behaviours as employees say it is even though
employees underreport pay’s importance to their actual behaviours. One reason for this
noted by Rynes et al. (2004) is the information about pay that is reported to HR
professionals in the most widely read practitioner journals. A review of articles in these
journals on motivation shows that they rely on survey evidence rather than actual
behavioural evidence and as already indicated, when you ask people about the
importance of pay they underestimate it. As a result, practitioner journals convey the
belief that pay is not a very important motivator. It is a mistake to conclude based on
general surveys that monetary rewards are not highly important and motivational.
If employees say that pay is less important to them than it really is and managers and HR
professionals underestimate its importance, then organizations might fail to implement
motivational programs using pay to motivate employees. Employees might begin to
question their pay and if they deem it to be lower than what they desire, it might have a
negative effect on their motivation, performance, and tenure in the organization. Of
course, it also means that organizations are failing to motivate employees to the greatest
extent possible which means that performance and retention might suffer. Thus,

underestimating the importance of pay might result in less than effective motivational
interventions. It might also lead organizations to question the effectiveness of programs
that use pay to motivate employees causing them to perhaps incorrectly abandon them.
6. How is the concept of workforce diversity related to the motivational techniques

discussed in the chapter?
A motivational technique such as offering flex-time to your employees meets the needs
of a diverse workforce by allowing them to tailor their arrival and departure times to meet
their childcare situation. More generally, where possible, job designs and pay plans need
to be tied to the needs of individual employees.
7. Although an increasing number of organizations are offering their employees the

opportunity to telecommute, many employees who have tried it don’t like it and prefer
to be in the workplace. Why do you think some employees do not want to telecommute
and some have even returned to the workplace after trying it? What can
organizations do to ensure that employees’ telecommuting experiences are
successful?
Employees have become turned off of telecommuting for a number of reasons such as
distractions in the home environment, feelings of isolation, and overwork. One area of
particular concern is being left out of the loop and decreased visibility which can hurt
employees’ chances of being promoted or assigned to interesting projects. Many workers
worry about missing advancement opportunities while others miss the company and ties
with co-workers and proximity to friends. Others feel they are missing out on mentoring
opportunities and a sense of community. As a result, they feel disconnected from the
workplace and their co-workers. Therefore, organizations need to ensure that employees
who telecommute are kept up to date and in the loop and that they are not passed over for
important assignments and promotions. As indicated in the text, some organizations now
offer distributed work programs that allow employees to work at the company office, a
satellite office, and a home office. This might be the best way for employees to reap the
benefits of telecommuting without suffering some of the negative consequences of being
away from the office and co-workers. For those who do work at home most of the time,
some organizations now offer on-line mentoring programs and other ways to
communicate and socialize on-line and some have virtual teams which are described in
Chapter 7.
EXTRA DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why would workers consciously restrict their productivity under piece-rate?

2. What are some of the reasons that merit pay plans are often ineffective and what can
be done to make them more effective?
3. What are some of the reasons that wage incentive plans are often ineffective and what
can be done to make them more effective?
4. Contrast the traditional view of job design with the more recent approach.
5. How do the moderating variables influence outcomes in the Job Characteristics
Model?

6. What are some of the problems with job enrichment and how can they be managed?
7. What is Management by Objectives (MBO)? What problems may develop with its
implementation?
8. Define flex-time and telecommuting. How does each affect the quality of working
life?
9. Distinguish between the various pay plans used to motivate teamwork. What are the
advantages and disadvantages of them?
10. What factors should an organization consider when deciding on a strategy to motivate
employees?
11. What is the difference between job design and work design? Compare and contrast
the different work design characteristics.
12. What is the meaning of the relational architecture of jobs and how does it contribute
to what is known about job design?
SAMPLE ANSWERS TO INTEGRATIVE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Merit pay plans often require managers to conduct performance evaluations of their
employees to determine the amount of merit pay to be awarded. Discuss some of the
perceptual problems and biases described in Chapter 3 that could create problems
for a merit pay plan. What can be done to improve performance evaluations and the
success of merit pay plans?
Merit pay plans are often ineffective because individuals who work under such plans do
not perceive a link between their job performance and their pay. There is also evidence
that pay is not related to performance under some merit plans. The underlying reason of
these problems stems from the use of subjective performance evaluations. Managers are
confronted with a number of perceptual roadblocks. They might not be in a position to
observe instances of effective and ineffective performance. This is especially likely when
employees’ job activities cannot be monitored directly. As a result, the target or
employee performance is frequently ambiguous and as noted in Chapter 3, the perceptual
system resolves ambiguities in an efficient but often inaccurate manner. Even when
performance is observable, employees often alter their behaviour so that they look good
when their manager is around. Some of the perceptual errors that might be made when
making subjective performance evaluations include primacy or recency effects, reliance
on central traits, implicit personality theories, and stereotyping. Rater errors such as
leniency, harshness, central tendency, halo effect, and similar-to-me effect can also pose
a problem. Solutions to these problems that are likely to improve the effectiveness of
merit pay plans would involve improvements in the performance appraisal process.
Managers must be able to gather behavioural examples of effective and ineffective
performance, and they should use a standard behaviourally anchored rating scale to make
evaluations. Frame-of-reference training which is described in Chapter 3 can also help
improve the accuracy of performance evaluations.

2. Using each of the motivation theories described in Chapter 5, explain how job
design, job enrichment, work design, and relational job design can be motivational.
According to each theory, when is job design, job enrichment, work design, and
relational job design most likely to be effective for motivating workers?
The theories of work motivation can help students understand how job design, job
enrichment, work design, and relational job design can be motivational. For example,
Maslow’s and Alderfer’s need theory indicate that all four approaches can fulfill higher-
order needs such as self-esteem in Maslow’s hierarchy and growth needs in ERG theory.
Thus, the job design approaches will be effective in motivating individuals who wish to
fulfill higher-order needs and are motivated by intrinsic motivators. McClelland’s need
theory suggests that some job design approaches will result in jobs that are motivational
to individuals with a high need for achievement. Relational job design might be
motivational for persons with a high need for affiliation. In terms of expectancy theory,
all of the job design approaches can result in second-level outcomes such as a sense of
accomplishment and feelings of achievement.
To the extent that these outcomes are highly valent for individuals, job design will be
motivational. Equity theory can be understood to the extent that job design provides
valuable outcomes (i.e., the nature of work) for individuals. For example, if individuals
who have high inputs such as work effort are rewarded with more challenging and
enriched jobs, then this can be motivational to the extent that individuals perceive it as a
desirable outcome. Finally, job design can be motivational to the extent that it facilitates
the goal setting process. This is likely to be the case in terms of more challenging goals
and feedback.
ADDITIONAL INTEGRATIVE DISCUSSION QUESTION
1. In Chapter 2, employee recognition programs were discussed as an organizational

learning practice. Using the material presented in this chapter, describe the potential
for employee recognition programs to be used as a motivational practice. What
aspects of recognition programs might be especially important for a motivational
program?
Employee recognition programs are formal organizational programs that publicly
recognize and reward employees for specific behaviours. In Chapter 2, employee
recognition programs were presented as an organizational learning practice. When
employees are recognized for their behaviour and performance, the recognition serves as
a form of reinforcement so that the behaviours are learned and repeated. In a similar
manner, employee recognition programs can also be used as a strategy to motivate
employees to perform at a certain level or reach a performance goal. To use employee
recognition programs as a motivational strategy, it is important to adhere to the
requirements of employee recognition programs and motivational strategies for linking
pay to performance. That is, a formal employee recognition program must specify (a)
how a person will be recognized, (b) the type of behaviour or performance being
encouraged, (c) the manner of the public acknowledgement, and (d) a token or icon of the
event for the recipient. Keep in mind that a key part of an employee recognition program

is public acknowledgement. To be an effective motivational strategy, there must also be a

performance evaluation system in place, and managers must be able to discriminate
between good performers and poor performers. In addition, there must be a clear and
strong link between performance and recognition. An employee recognition program can
be used in combination with goal setting or a Management by Objectives program as well
as pay-for-performance systems. However, unlike a pay-for-performance system, it is
critical that the employee recognition program include some form of public
acknowledgement.
SAMPLE ANSWER TO ON-THE-JOB CHALLENGE QUESTION: YOUR NEW

SALARY
What do you think of the new base salary at Gravity Payments? Do you think it will have
a positive effect on employee motivation and performance? Should other companies
consider paying their employees a base salary of $70 000? What are the pros and cons of
this revolutionary approach to pay? Will it catch on?
This is an issue that is sure to get students’ attention. After all, who wouldn’t want to
have an employer who offers to pay everybody a base salary of $70,000 a year?
However, the fundamental question is whether this will improve employee motivation
and job performance. For starters, it should be noted that the company CEO got the idea
from a study that found that emotional well-being increases with income to about
$70,000. As described in the case incident, the CEO stated that if companies want to have
happy and motivated employees they should pay them enough to thrive not survive.
Indeed, we know from Chapter 4 that adequate compensation is a key contributor to job
satisfaction. Thus, he might be correct that the higher income will result in higher job
satisfaction among the organization’s 120 employees and it might also improve their
emotional well-being. But will it also increase their motivation and performance? That is,
will an employee whose salary doubles from $35,000 to $70,000 be more motivated and
have higher job performance? Probably not. If anything, they will be less likely to quit
because they are unlikely to find another job that will pay them so well. However, using
the material in this chapter it should be clear that increasing salary is not the same at
linking pay to performance. If the CEO wants to increase motivation, he is better off
creating an incentive system that links pay to performance rather than just paying people
more for coming to work and being a member of the organization. What’s more,
according to equity theory the new policy might create problems of inequity to the extent
that employees who have higher inputs (e.g., education, experience, knowledge, skills,
etc.) than their co-workers are now being paid the same. In other words, employees with
different inputs will be receiving the same or similar outcomes which means that some
employees are going to perceive inequity. As a result, the most talented and best
performers might become less satisfied and less motivated and more likely to quit. Thus,
while it sounds like an honest and generous gesture, it is probably not going to improve
motivation and performance and might result in the best performers leaving. It is not
likely that this policy will catch on or that other companies will be willing to pay all their
employees $70,000 a year regardless to job, role, and performance.

TEACHING NOTES FOR THE TASK CHARACTERISTICS SCALE

EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE
The Task Characteristics Scale exercise in Chapter 6 (pages 232-233) of the text is from
the Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ): Morgeson, F.P., & Humphrey, S.E. (2006). The
work design questionnaire (WDQ): Developing and validating a comprehensive measure
for assessing job design and the nature of work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91,
1321–1339. A study of a sample of 540 individuals who had at least 10 years of full-time
work experience resulted in the following mean scores for each task characteristic (scores
range from 1 to 5; note that there are three different scales for autonomy: work
scheduling autonomy, decision-making autonomy, and work methods autonomy):
Work scheduling autonomy: 3.93
Decision-making autonomy: 4.12
Work methods autonomy: 3.99
Task variety: 4.13
Task significance: 3.95
Task identity: 3.61
Feedback from the job: 3.91
Scores for each task characteristic can range from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating a
great amount of the task characteristic. Scores on each task can be calculated as follows:
Work scheduling autonomy: Add items 1, 2, and 3 and divide by 3.
Decision-making autonomy: Add items 4, 5, and 6 and divide by 3.
Work methods autonomy: Add items 7, 8, and 9 and divide by 3.
Overall autonomy: Add items 1 to 9 and divide by 9.
Task variety: Add items 10, 11, 12, and 13 and divide by 4.
Task significance: Add items 14, 15, 16, and 17 and divide by 4.
Task identity: Add items 18, 19, 20, and 21 and divide by 4.
Feedback from job: Add items 22, 23, and 24 and divide by 3.
Note that you can have students complete the scale in one of two ways: As it is appears in
the exercise in which case they answer each question about a current or previous job. If
you have students answer about a current or previous job then the discussion can focus on
the job in question and their motivation, attitudes, and behaviour. Alternatively, you can
have students answer each question in terms of their task preferences in which case they
replace the beginning of each statement (The job allows me to) with: “I would like a job
that allows me to….” If you do this then the focus of class discussion is the kind of job a
student desires in terms of the various task characteristics. A third possibility is to have
students take the scale both ways and then subtract their task characteristics score for
their job from their task characteristics preference score to obtain a difference score. If
you do this then the discussion can focus on the difference scores for each task
characteristic (and for all task characteristics combined) and how this difference
influences their motivation, attitudes, and behaviours and how they would redesign their
job.

To facilitate class discussion and student understanding of the task characteristics, have
students form a small group with several other members of the class and consider the
following questions:
1. Each group member should present his or her score on each task characteristic.
What task characteristics do group members score high and low on? Is there any
consistency among group members in terms of the highest and lowest task
characteristics? Students should rank their scores and identify those that are highest and
lowest for themselves as well as within their group. It might be interesting to collect these
scores from each group and try to find a trend in the class. What task characteristics tend
to be rated the highest and lowest? This can be done for both the task characteristics of
their job as well as their task characteristics preferences (e.g., what task characteristics do
students prefer the most and the least?).
2. Each group member should describe his or her job and provide specific examples
of what contributes to their task characteristics scores. What is it about the job that
contributes to a high or low score on each task characteristic? What kinds of jobs are high
or low on the task characteristics? If students answered the questions in terms of task
characteristics preferences, they should discuss their ideal job based on their task
characteristics scores and they should be specific in terms of how they would like their
job to be designed. It might be interesting to have students describe their jobs in terms of
the task characteristics and/or describe their ideal job with respect to each task
characteristic.
3. After discussing the task characteristic scores and/or preferences, students should
consider the implications of their scores for their motivation, attitudes, and behaviour.
Students should consider their motivation, job attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction,
organizational commitment) and behaviours (e.g., job performance, absenteeism) in
terms of their task characteristics scores. To what extent do the task characteristics
contribute to their motivation, job attitudes and behaviours? If they answered the
questions in terms of task characteristics preferences, they should describe how the task
characteristics might influence their motivation, job attitudes, and behaviours. What task
characteristics do they think would be most important for them and why?
4. Students should now think about and describe how they would redesign their
current or a previous job. What task characteristics would they focus on and try to change
and why? What exactly would they do to redesign their job? Students should be specific
in terms of how they would like their job to change. Next, have students describe the
effect that these changes might have on their motivation, attitudes, and behaviours. If
students answered the question in terms of task characteristics preferences, they should
discuss how knowledge of their task characteristics preference scores can assist them in
their job search. For example, what questions will they ask interviewers? How will
knowledge of their preference scores affect their job choice? How will knowledge of
their task characteristics preferences assist them in the future?
Students should learn how the scale can be used to diagnose a job in terms of the task
characteristics and the implications of the task characteristics for work motivation, job
attitudes, and behaviours as well as for work redesign. They should also appreciate the
value of knowing their preferences for each of the task characteristics and how this

knowledge can help them to choose jobs and perhaps try to change jobs that are weak in
task characteristics that are important for them. One final way to conduct this exercise
especially for students who have little work experience is to answer the questions for the
job of a student. In other words, answer each question as: “My job as a student allows me
to…..” Students might be surprised to learn that being a student ranks pretty high on
some of the task characteristics. After calculating their scores, students should discuss
what it is about the work of a student that contributes to high and low task characteristic
scores.
For the purposes of further class discussion, you might have students answer the
following questions:
1. Define task characteristics and each of the task characteristics dimensions.

2. Discuss the difference between task characteristics and the other work design
characteristics (i.e., knowledge characteristics, social characteristics, and contextual
characteristics).
3. According to the Job Characteristics Model, what is the relationship between each
task characteristic and the critical psychological states?
4. What is your score on each of the task characteristic? What task characteristics are
most important to you in a job and which ones are least important?
5. Describe a job you have held that was high and one that was low on the task
characteristics. How did you respond to each job in terms of your motivation, job
attitudes, and behaviours?
TEACHING NOTES FOR THE JUNIOR ACCOUNTANT CASE INCIDENT
1. Describe the job characteristics and critical psychological states of Sabrita’s job.
According to the Job Characteristics Model, how motivated is Sabrita? What does
the Job Characteristics Model predict about the way her job is designed and its affect
on her job attitudes and behaviours?
Sabrita’s job has been designed as a low-scope job. It is low on all of the core job
characteristics. For example, she does the same task every day so there is little skill
variety. She only does part of an audit and does not see the final completed job so she has
low task identity. She has no contact with clients and does not know the impact of her
work on others which results in low task significance. Her supervisor tells her exactly
what work to do and how to do it so she has no autonomy. And because she never speaks
to clients and her supervisor never discusses the final audit or her work with her, she
receives no feedback. According to the Job Characteristics Model, Sabrita is not likely to
experience any of the critical psychological states of meaningfulness, responsibility, or
knowledge of results. Thus, the motivating potential of Sabrita’s job is quite low and she
is obviously not very motivated. Not surprisingly, she has low internal work motivation,
growth satisfaction, and job satisfaction, and she is thinking about quitting. In such cases,
there is a good chance that Sabrita will quit her job.
2. Evaluate Sabrita’s job on each of the work design characteristics described in

Exhibit 6.7. What work design characteristics are particularly low? Based on your

evaluation, what factors do you think are contributing to Sabrita’s attitudes and
intention to quit?
As indicated for question one, Sabrita’s job is very low on all of the task characteristics in
Exhibit 6.7. However, because she does complete the audit work on her own, her job is
potentially high on the knowledge characteristics. While we can’t be sure of the nature of
the files she is asked to do, we can assume that given this kind of work and the education
required to do it, it probably would rate high on the knowledge characteristics such as
information processing, skill variety, and specialization, and perhaps to a lesser extent job
complexity and problem solving. Thus, it is worth noting that even though her job is very
low on the task characteristics, it is high on the knowledge characteristics. As for the
social characteristics, her job ranks very low as she has no social support, no interaction
outside the organization, and no feedback from others. Although the completion of her
work is required for completion of the audit (interdependence), she really has no
knowledge of the extent of this as she does not work with or interact with her co-workers
who are also working on a file which her supervisor completes. With respect to the
contextual characteristics, it would rank low on physical demands and equipment use. It
probably rates better on ergonomics and work conditions although we have no
information about these. Thus, overall the factors that are primarily contributing to
Sabrita’s negative attitudes and intention to quit are the task characteristics and the social
characteristics.
3. How would you redesign Sabrita’s job to increase her motivation? Be sure to
describe changes you would make to the work design characteristics as well as job
enrichment schemes that you would use to redesign her job.
It would not be very hard to redesign Sabrita’s job to increase the motivating potential.
For example, she could be given more variety and tasks in her work to improve skill
variety. Perhaps she can be given smaller audits to work on so she can do most if not all
of it on her own to increase task identity. Or, alternatively, she could work on a team that
completes an entire audit which would increase skill variety and task identity. She could
be allowed to meet with clients and discuss the audit with them. This would improve skill
variety, task significance, and feedback. She could also be given some freedom in how
she schedules her work and plans her day to increase autonomy. Finally, her supervisor
should discuss the audit with her in terms of how good of a job she has done, how her
work fits into the whole audit, and the impact her work has on the audit team and clients.
In terms of job enrichment schemes, these kinds of changes would also be examples of
combining tasks, establishing external client relationships, reducing supervision, forming
work teams, and making feedback more direct. The redesign of her job should also focus
on improving the social characteristics, especially social support, interaction outside the
organization, and feedback from others. Some of the changes noted above would help to
also improve the social characteristics (e.g., working in a group would increase
interdependence, could provide social support and feedback from others; meeting with
clients would increase interaction outside the organization and provide feedback from
others; meeting with her supervisor to discuss her work could provide social support and
feedback from others).

It would probably be a good idea for Sabrita’s supervisor to meet with her to provide
feedback on how she is doing and give her a chance to express her concerns about the
job. Together they should work out a plan for future assignments that would better meet
her expectations and needs. It should be clear form the previous questions that her work
needs to be enriched to provide her with more challenge and opportunities for growth and
development. Sabrita’s supervisor needs to find out what he can do to improve Sabrita’s
attitudes and prevent her from quitting. This will very likely involve more enriching job
assignments and opportunities for learning as well providing her with social support.
More specifically, she needs to be given more variety, autonomy, and frequent feedback.
She should be able to meet with clients and her supervisor should review the final
audit/report with her. Overall, this is a job that needs to be redesigned to increase the task
characteristics and social characteristics.
TEACHING NOTES FOR DR. JACK PERRY, DDS CASE STUDY
1. Do you think Dr. Perry has a motivation problem in his office? If so, what is the
evidence and nature of the problem, and why do you think it exists?
Based on the information provided to Dr. Perry from his new receptionist, morale and
motivation are low. According to the new receptionist, staff members do not seem to
be working as hard as they could to increase billings and they do not seem motivated
to grow the business, fill cancellations, follow up on collections or cross-sell
procedures. Dr. Perry thought about what he had been told and concluded that morale
is probably low. He also thought about what he might do to motivate his staff to help
grow the business. And while he has no direct evidence that there is a motivation
problem and in fact his practice is growing at 15 percent annually, some of his
colleagues warned him that the bigger his business grew, the less happy the staff
would feel because they would begin to see themselves as slave labour making little
money relative to him. As for the reasons for the motivation problem, it is probably
because the staff have no incentive for doing more than they have to or for making
the business grow. The only one who benefits from more business is Dr. Perry. There
is nothing to motivate his staff to help grow the business.
2. Compare and contrast the two pay plans. How are they similar and how are they
different? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each plan?
Dr. Perry recalls a presentation he attended at a dental conference on staff motivation
and profit sharing. The presentation showed that there are significant links between
the introduction of a profit sharing program and decreased staff turnover, higher
morale, and increased productivity. The consultant described two ways to structure a
profit sharing program. The first approach involves hiring hygienists as separate
contractors rather than paying by the hour which is more common. Instead, they
would earn a percentage of their collections such as 40 percent which is what the
consultant suggested. According to the consultant, an office that introduced such a
system would see hygienists’ billings increase by seven percent to 13 percent in the
first year. This approach has the advantage of making hygienists more responsible for

their contribution to the practice and would likely motivate them to increase their
billings. However, as noted in the case, Dr. Perry wondered about the effect this
would have on the hygienists’ compensation if collections did not increase and what
would happen if they were not better off. And although the consultant said it was
important to start with the hygienists because of their effect on practice billings, once
implemented it is important to also consider the assistants and receptionists. Thus,
another disadvantage with this approach is that it does not provide incentives for the
assistants and receptionist who are responsible for many important tasks such as
helping the dentist during treatments, fill cancellations, follow up on collections,
cross-sell procedures, booking and billing patients. As a result, the morale and
motivation of the assistants and receptionists is not likely to change and might even
worsen if they see the hygienists making more money while their pay stays the same.
This could result in new problems in the office such as communication and
coordination problems among the staff.
The second pay plan involves making everyone equally responsible for developing
the practice through profit sharing. The dentist would first establish the percentage of
total collections accounted for by the staff and then guarantee the staff would receive
that percentage of collections. Thus, hourly wages and hours worked remained the
same but as collections grew, the staff would share in the bonus as their productivity
increased. The reward could be distributed in a number of ways such as on the basis
of seniority, by position, or by the percentage of hours worked by each staff member.
The consultant indicated that this plan would increase productivity by an extra 10
percent to 15 percent the first year. Dr. Perry wondered if this plan would provide
enough additional payout to motivate the staff to grow the practice. He was concerned
that this option did not reward the great performers differently from the mediocre
ones. It would also give him less influence in changing specific behaviours than
would the first option. On the positive side, this plan includes all of the staff which
means that they all stand to benefit. As a result, this plan might improve staff
communication and coordination as they work together to grow the business. It also
means that all tasks that need to be performed by each staff member are more likely
to improve because all staff will benefit from more customers not just the hygienists
which is the case with the first plan.
In sum, with the first pay plan only the hygienists pay will change while the assistants
and receptionists will continue to receive the same hourly pay. With the second plan,
the hourly pay will remain the same for all staff and they all stand to benefit by
sharing profits based on total collections. Thus, the first plan only has the potential to
motivate the hygienists while the second plan has the potential to motivate all of the
staff which means that it might be more likely to help grow the business and maintain
high morale and a positive work environment among all of the staff.

3. What effect do you think each pay plan will have on Dr. Perry’s employees? Be
specific with respect to each group of employee (i.e., receptionists, hygienists, and
assistants). What effect do you think each pay plan will have on office productivity?
As indicated in the previous question, the first plan will only benefit the hygienists
but even this is questionable. The plan will pay hygienists 40 percent of the gross
collections from hygiene services. As shown in Exhibit 1, the gross collections of
hygiene services in 2005 was $303,900 which means that the hygienists would be
paid $121,500 or $60,780 each compared to their current pay of about $52,000. This
means that the plan will immediately benefit the hygienists with a pay increase of
about $8780 without doing anything different and Dr. Perry will be out $17,560.
Thus, without any growth in the business or change in hygiene services provided the
hygienists earn more money and Dr. Perry actually loses some of his income from the
business. What this means is that it might have no effect at all on the hygienists
motivation because they don’t have to do anything different to be paid more and it
will have no effect on the assistants and receptionists because even if the business
does grow they will not see any change in their pay. In addition, there might not be
any change in office productivity even though the hygienists are being paid more and
Dr. Perry is now making $17,560 less per year. However, if the consultant is correct
and the hygienists increase their collections by 10 percent then the total revenue from
hygiene services will increase by $30,390 to $334,290 and each hygienist would earn
$66.858. Dr. Perry would receive 60 percent of the $30,390 increase or $18,234. This
of course just covers the extra $17,560 he is already paying the two hygienists which
means that with a 10 percent increase in hygiene collections he just breaks even.
However, it is questionable if a 10 percent increase in productivity will result given
that the hygienists receive a pay increase for doing the same amount of work under
the proposed plan. What’s more, for Dr. Perry to benefit there would have to be an
increase in collections above 10 percent. Thus, it is questionable if the hygienists
would actually be motivated to work harder and increase their collections. And since
the assistants and receptionists are not paid any differently there is nothing to suggest
that their motivation will change. Thus, with this plan there might not be any
improvement in office productivity. Another possible downside of this plan is that it
might lower the morale and motivation of the assistants and receptionists because
they are not receiving an increase in their pay and the hygienists might become more
aggressive with the other staff to fill cancellations, re-book patients, and collect
overdue accounts all of which will benefit the hygienists but not the assistants and
receptionist. Finally, it is also possible that the hygienists might resist this pay plan
and prefer the security of an hourly pay plan which means it might backfire and even
result in some turnover. As well, the other staff might feel that the hygienists are
receiving special treatment and perceive the situation as unfair both in terms of
distributive and procedural fairness.
The second plan is more of a team-based pay plan that is more likely to motivate all
of the staff. Given that the office staff all have important roles to play to grow the
business, this approach might be more likely to motivate all of the staff to increase
office productivity. This plan provides a bonus to all of the staff but only when there
is growth in the business which means there is an incentive to motivate the staff to

perform those activities that can grow the business. In addition, Dr. Perry will only
have to provide the bonus when office profits increase which means that there is not
additional costs to him unless the business grows and brings in more earnings. The
downside is that all of the staff will benefit from profits regardless of whether they
deserve it which means that Dr. Perry will have to determine how he will divide up
the profits in a fair and equitable way. It could be based on current pay or number of
hours worked. Alternatively, Dr. Perry could do a formal performance appraisal for
each staff member and use that as the basis for deciding how much of the profit each
staff member will receive. If the business continues to grow at 15 percent annually,
there will be $34,186 available to use for the bonus assuming that Dr. Perry would
divide 30 percent of the increase to his staff and he would keep 70 percent. The
consultant estimated an increase of 10 to 15 percent of business in the first year with
this plan. Given that the expenses should remain fixed along with current salaries, the
practice could earn an additional $75,970 to $113,955 of which the staff would
receive 30 percent and Dr. Perry 70 percent. With this plan, there is no risk to the
employees or Dr. Perry as the employees continue to receive their hourly pay and Dr.
Perry only pays the bonus when the practice grows in which case he also benefits
from the increased revenue. The only downside to this plan is if there is no growth in
which the case the staff will not receive a bonus even though they might feel they
worked harder and deserve it. This plan is more likely to motivate all of the staff to
work harder to grow the practice given that they will all benefit with a share of the
increased profits. Thus, this plan is likely to improve the motivation of all staff and to
increase office productivity. Dr. Perry, however, will have to figure how often to give
the bonus in order to maintain high levels of motivation and office productivity. As a
team based plan, it also has the benefit of increasing office communication and
coordination and is more likely to also improve office morale and create a positive
work environment.
4. What pay plan do you think Dr. Perry should implement and why? Explain how the
plan should be implemented.
It should be clear form the answer to the previous question that the second plan is the
better one because it ties increased business to an increase in pay in terms of a bonus
to all of the office staff. As indicated above, the first plan can only improve the
motivation of the hygienists and even that is not a guarantee given that they don’t
have to do anything different to receive an increase in pay. The key issue then is how
Dr. Perry should implement the plan. First, he has to decide how he will divide up the
profits into a bonus for each staff member. He has to ensure that this is done fairly
and that it takes into consideration the hours worked by each employee (those who
work more hours should receive a higher bonus) as well as their performance (better
performers should receive a higher bonus). If he only uses hours as the basis for the
bonus it is possible that some of the staff will benefit without having actually put in
the additional effort to grow the business. Thus, he might also want to use some form
of performance-based system which means that he will have to come up with a
system to review the performance of each employee. The second issue has to do with
when he will provide the bonus. This has to take into consideration the time it takes to
grow the business and to therefore have a big enough bonus to distribute and at the

same to maintain the motivation of the staff. As noted in the text, a threat to the
effectiveness of merit pay plans is when the increases are too small to be effective
motivators. On the other hand, a lump sum bonus paid out all at one time can be large
enough to be motivational. However, because it is only once a year it is possible that
employee motivation might wane over time as employees do not see any result due to
their hard work and increased effort. Thus, Dr. Perry will have to find the right
balance between the size of the bonus and the frequency of it. It might turn out that 2
or three times a year is ideal to the extent that the bonus is big enough to have a
motivational effect and frequent enough to maintain staff motivation to grow the
business.
5. What will Dr. Perry have to do to make his new pay plan effective for motivating his
employees and improving office productivity. What factors might derail his pay plan?
He has to make sure that the bonus is based on growth and that each employee knows
what their role is and what they should be doing to help grow the business. Thus,
employees must be aware of the behaviours they must perform to grow the business.
He also has to make sure that there is a meaningful bonus to share with his staff. If
the business does not grow and there is no bonus then it could be de-motivating for
the staff. This is also why he has to determine the best time to give the bonus. He also
has to make sure that the procedures for distributing the bonus are fair so that those
employees who work more hours and are better performers receive a higher bonus. If
the business does not grow for too long a period of time and there is no bonus then
the plan might fail and result in a drop in morale and employee motivation. The plan
might also fail if employees perceive the distribution of the profits as unfair to the
extent that low performers get as much of the bonus as high performers. Employees
should be able to see the impact of their actions on office productivity given the small
size of the practice and number of employees. Dr. Perry just has to make sure that the
bonus is distributed fairly among the staff.
6. What other pay schemes should Dr. Perry consider besides the two alternatives
described in the case? What do you recommend and why?
Ideally a pay plan should clearly link employee performance to pay. Thus, any pay
plan that provides employees with an incentive for their performance might be worth
considering. For example, Dr. Perry could conduct performance reviews of each
employee in which he evaluates their performance on specific behaviours that they
are required to perform and then on the basis of the annual evaluation he can increase
their pay and/or provide a bonus. This is likely to motivate the staff to do things that
should help the business grow and improve office productivity. However, it will be
highly dependent on how well Dr. Perry conducts the performance evaluations
(perceived fairness) and then links the performance of each staff member to pay. The
key is making sure that performance is linked to pay and that performance is fairly
evaluated. If he fails to evaluate performance fairly and employee pay is not
perceived as being linked to performance than his plan will fail. In general, the profit-
sharing plan discussed in the previous two questions is probably the best way to go
because it focuses on the desired outcome which is office growth and productivity,

and all staff members share in the profits and have an important role to play in office
growth and productivity. In addition, Dr. Perry also benefits from this plan and there
is no additional cost to him or the practice. As it turns out, this is the plan that he
actually implemented and he noticed an immediate improvement in cancellations
being filled and in collections on past-due accounts. To maintain staff motivation, he
paid the bonus monthly based on the performance of the previous month. As a result,
the practice increased above normal average growth of five percent in the first month
and 10 percent in the second month and the staff members were happy with the plan.
However, some months experienced a drop in growth due to bad weather that resulted
in many cancellations and because of staff complaints about not getting the bonus in
those months Dr. Perry thought that perhaps it might make more sense to pay the
bonus quarterly. However, he continued to pay the bonus monthly and reminded his
staff not to expect it every month or to rely on it.

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CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading Chapter 6, students should be able to:

CHAPTER OUTLINE AND TEACHING NOTES

The money that employees receive in exchange for organizational membership is a

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Linking Pay to Performance on Production Jobs

Potential Problems with Wage Incentives

Lowered Quality. They might increase productivity at the expense of quality.

Differential Opportunity. If workers have differential opportunities to produce at a high

Reduced Cooperation. Wage incentives that reward individual productivity might

Restriction of Productivity. A chief psychological impediment to the use of wage

Linking Pay to Performance on White-Collar Jobs

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Potential Problems with Merit Pay Plans

Low Discrimination. Managers might be unable or unwilling to discriminate between

Using Pay to Motivate Teamwork

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Gainsharing. Gainsharing plans are group incentive plans based on productivity or

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Job Design as a Motivator

The use of job design as a motivator represents an attempt to capitalize on intrinsic

Traditional Views of Job Design

Job Scope and Motivation

The Job Characteristics Model

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Outcomes. The presence of the critical psychological states leads to a number of

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Combining tasks. Assign tasks performed by different workers to a single individual.

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Forming work teams. Employees’ work together to produce a product or provide a

Potential Problems with Job Enrichment

Poor Diagnosis. Enrichment schemes may be implemented without careful diagnosis of

Supervisory Resistance. Enrichment schemes may fail because of their unanticipated

Work Design and Relational Job Design

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organizational environment and consist of three categories: motivational characteristics,

Management by Objectives (MBO) is an elaborate, systematic, ongoing program designed

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Flexible Work Arrangements as Motivators for a Diverse Workforce

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Job and Work Sharing

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Negative aspects of telecommuting can result from damage to informal communication

Motivational Practices in Perspective

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AN INTEGRATIVE EXAM QUESTION

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SAMPLE ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

2. Imagine an office setting in which a change to a four-day week, flex-time, or

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4. Incentive compensation plans are believed to have a number of advantages for

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ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

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6. How is the concept of workforce diversity related to the motivational techniques

7. Although an increasing number of organizations are offering their employees the

EXTRA DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why would workers consciously restrict their productivity under piece-rate?

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SAMPLE ANSWERS TO INTEGRATIVE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS