An employee you are managing has not been performing well lately. During a conversation, she
states " I don't know whats going on. I suppose I lack the confidence that ill go a good job, so I
am afraid to try." What aspect of expectancy theory best captures you employees's problem? -
Answers Expectancy Theory
Key Expectancy Theory Variables - Answers Expectancy: Will my effort lead to high performance?
(effort performance relationship)
Instrumentality: What work outcomes will be received as a result of the performance?
(performance reward relationship)
Valence: Do I find the outcomes desirable? (reward personal goal relationship)
Expectancy Theory Timeline - Answers Individual effort
Individual performance
Organizational reward
Personal goal
You manage a group of fundraising callers, tasing money to research cancer. To increase their
motivation, you connect them with a beneficiary of their efforts ( a cancer survivor). Which
aspect of job characteristics theory does your intervention impact the most? - Answers
Significance
Job Characteristic Model - Answers Designing jobs to max motivation.
Five core job dimensions are skill variety, task identify, task significance, autonomy, and
feedback.
Five Core Job Dimensions - Answers Skill variety: requirements for different task in the job
Task identify: completion of a whole piece of work
Task significance: the jobs impact on others
Autonomy: level of discretion in decision making
Feedback: amount of direct and clear info on performance
Job Design - Answers the way the elements in a job are organized impact motivation,
satisfaction and performance
Job??? - Answers The statement of what job holders do, why they do it and how they do it
,Which of the following forecasting methods relies on the experience and insight of people in the
organization to predict a firms future employees needs? - Answers Judgemental Forecasting
Judgemental Forecasting - Answers SMEs estimate company's future labor needs
A retail store forecasts a greater need for salespeople during thanksgiving. This is an example
of seasonal forecast. - Answers True
Seasonal Forecast - Answers Many business demands are seasonal and predictable
Why make jobs as motivating as possible? - Answers This places less pressure on many
specific areas of HRM: Performance Management and Retention
Primary job of manager
Motivation is the combined effects on behavior of three choices - Answers Direction: the choice
to expend effort
Intensity: the choice of the level of effort
to expend
Persistence: the choice to persist at that level
Job Characteristics Model Four primary outcomes - Answers High intrinsic work motivation
High quality work performance
High job satisfaction
Low absenteeism & turnover
Job characteristics Model Diagram - Answers Job characteristics:
Skill variety
Task identity
Task significance
Autonomy
Feedback
Psychological states:
Meaningfulness of work
, Responsibility for outcomes
Knowledge of results
Primary outcomes:
Intrinsic motivation
Job performance
Job satisfaction
Turnover and absenteeism
Job Enlargement (horizontal expansion) - Answers Redesign of a job to include additional
activities
(not just switching as in job rotation)
Job Rotation (cross-training) - Answers Periodic shifting of an employee from one task to
another
Reduces boredom, increases motivation
Increases training costs, losses in productivity
Job Enrichment (vertical expansion) - Answers Increases degree to which a worker handles the
planning, execution and evaluation of an activity
How does Google motivate their employees to work? - Answers Free lunch, shuttle to work
Goal Setting - Answers Internal representation of desired state
Performance-goal discrepancies
Goals vary along several dimensions - Answers Vary by difficulty (easy, moderate, or difficult
goal)
Vary by specificity("Do your best" vs. specific)
Vary by acceptance
Vary by source (What's best: self- or other-assigned?)
Vary by proximity (Short- vs. long-term goals)
Goals more likely to be accepted when - Answers Viewed as feasible