Motivating the Employee From Job Design to Neuroscience


By Thomas Schoenfelder, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Caliper Corporation


When do employees exhibit the determina- tion needed to achieve higher levels of perfor- mance? What makes employees who set chal- lenging goals differ from those who are content with average performance? When


will individuals exert extra effort to achieve chal- lenging objectives?


The Magazine 8 3.2017


Motivation in pre-industrial agrarian society was a simple matter. On the farm, you either worked hard or went hungry. The industrial age changed that. The concept of “the employee” derived its contempo- rary meaning during this era. For the first time in history, large groups congregated and cooperated to voluntarily produce things as employees.


Satisfaction versus Motivation It is important to distinguish between work moti- vation and other related concepts such as job satis- faction, organizational commitment, and employee engagement. Early in the study of motivation, there was a strong focus on job satisfaction. In practice, managers and researchers would ask employees how satisfied they were in their job. It was assumed those who reported general satisfaction would be motivated to work hard and be strong performers. It was later found that one could be satisfied in a role but not necessarily motivated to be a top performer. Conversely, one might be miserable but nevertheless perform at a satisfactory level.


Herzberg’s “Two-Factor Theory” says issues driving the reporting of satisfaction level are different from


those motivating one to perform. Factors that keep one satisfied include pay, working conditions, super- visor relationship, company policies, benefits, etc. These external factors, if at an acceptable level, can prevent one from being dissatisfied but do little to drive true motivation. The second factors, the motiva- tors, are characteristics of the work itself and include sense of achievement, autonomy and responsibility, recognition, opportunity for growth, achievement, etc. So work-related social rewards, the opportunity to master skills, and perceived meaningfulness of the work increase intrinsic motivation and therefore drive stronger performance.


Therefore, managers, researchers, and practitioners adjusted jobs and the work environment to maximize the availability of these intrinsic motivators. Through job enlargement (the expansion of jobs to include a larger variety of tasks performed and skills employed) and job enrichment (the expansion of jobs to include tasks at higher levels of skill and responsibility), organiza- tions could provide employees with enhancements to their work lives, like:


• Skill variety. The job requires multiple activities.


• Task identify. Job incumbents can clearly identify and complete a work piece that has a visible/mean- ingful outcome.


• Task significance. The job results in outcomes that have meaningful impact.


• Autonomy. Job incumbents are afforded indepen- dence and discretion in setting schedules, selecting techniques and procedures, making decisions, etc., thereby giving them greater responsibility for outcomes


• Feedback. Job incumbents have increased knowl- edge of the results of work.


SOLUTIONS


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