Category Archives: Motivation

Employee Moods and Workplace Proactivity (IO Psychology)

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Topic: Employee Satisfaction, Motivation, Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JAN 2012)
Article: Fuel of the Self-Starter: How Mood Relates to Proactive Goal Regulation
Authors: U.K. Bindl, S.K. Parker, P. Totterdell, G. Hagger-Johnson
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

What could go wrong when you are in a really bad mood? For starters, maybe nobody will like you and you will have no friends. Now that’s bad. But it gets worse: According to research by Bindl, Parker, Totterdell, and Hagger-Johnson (2012), you also may miss
out on opportunities to be proactive at work. Now that’s really bad.

The authors explain that workplace proactivity occurs when employees solve current problems and anticipate future problems. This process involves four different elements, envisioning, planning, enacting, and reflecting. Envisioning involves considering a different future and identifying things that must change to get there. Planning involves considering different ways that the change might occur, and enacting refers to the behavior that brings about the change. Finally, reflecting is looking back to evaluate the success or failure of the change and trying to understand what happened.

So how does mood relate to the elements of workplace proactivity? The authors conducted two different experiments and found that good moods were associated with higher levels of all four elements of proactivity. But not all good moods are the same. The authors explain that moods can involve different levels of activation. This refers to the extent to which a person is motivated and ready to act. Specifically, it was the good moods that involved high activation that were related to proactivity.

But what if you really are stuck in a bad mood? Don’t worry, there is a small consolation prize. The authors found that bad moods were related to higher levels of the envisioning element of proactivity, provided that the bad mood involved a low level of activation. These people, say the authors, use their bad moods to focus on the need for improvement, which is the first step of the proactivity process.

Still, the implications of this study are clear. Good moods that are coupled with high levels of activation or motivation are good for the workplace. Not only do these moods lead to proactivity, but the authors note that proactivity has itself been directly related to work performance. This study is just another reason why it’s so important to keep your employees happy.

Bindl, U.K., Parker, S.K., Totterdell, P., & Hagger-Johnson, G. (2012). Fuel of the Self-Starter: How Mood Relates to Proactive Goal Regulation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1), (134-150).

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Increasing Training Transfer (I/O Psychology)

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Topic: Training, Learning, Motivation
Publication: Journal of Business and Psychology EC 2011)
Article: Influencing learning states to enhance trainee motivation and improve training transfer
Authors: Weissbein, D. A., Huang, J. L., Ford, J. K., & Schmidt, A. M.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin

How many times have you heard about or participated in a training program but the information or skills learned didn’t get retained or used after the training ended? This transfer of training problem is common and frustrating to those who develop or pay for training programs.

In this paper, Weissbein, Huang, Ford, and Schmidt (2011) conducted a study in which they gave undergraduates a pretraining intervention before the participants received interpersonal negotiation training. The pretraining intervention was designed to increase internal locus of control (the belief that outcomes are under one’s control through one’s own behaviors and actions). In this intervention, participants viewed a video in which actors suggested that it was possible to improve as a negotiator through effort and learning correct strategies. The participants were then told by the trainer that they shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions or make mistakes, and the trainer also reminded them that they should focus on effort and learning.

The authors found that the pretraining intervention was positively linked to motivation to learn, which in turn was positively related to transfer performance (through the increased prevalence of preparation activities). These results indicate that providing a pretraining intervention aimed at increasing trainees’ locus of control can increase training transfer.

Weissbein, D. A., Huang, J. L., Ford, J. K., & Schmidt, A. M. (2011). Influencing learning states to enhance trainee motivation and improve training transfer. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26, 423-435. doi: 10.1007/s10869-010-9198-x

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

Human Resource Management: Motivating Your Workers to Create Value

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Topic: Human Resource Management, Motivation
Publication: Academy of Management Review
Article: Heterogeneous Motives and the Collective Creation of Value
Authors: Bridoux, F., Coeurderoy, R., and Durand, R.
Reviewer: Neil Morelli

In a world where resources are becoming scarcer, firms should be looking to boost any kind of competitive advantage they can. Bridoux, Coeurderoy, and Durand (2011) suggest that one such competitive advantage is having its individual members work cooperatively to create “collective value” (i.e., effectively using firm resources). In their theoretical summary, the authors pose that a firm can encourage collective value creation and outperform the competition by ensuring its mix of individual employees’ motives and its motivational system are aligned. This alignment must take place at both the between-individual and the within-individual level.

Bridoux et al. first describes how individuals differ between their personal motivational dispositions: they are generally either self-regarding or reciprocator (a “me” attitude versus a “we” attitude). These mixed motivational types across individuals react differently to a firm’s motivational system. Of the three “ideal” motivational systems, individual monetary incentives (assumes all individuals are self-regarding), benevolent cooperation (assumes all individuals benevolently create value), and disciplined cooperation (assumes a mixture of motives exists), disciplined cooperation (involves rewards and punishments imposed by reciprocators when sanctions from an authority are absent) was recommended as the most effective when a firm is made up of both motivational types and involves work that is rarely observed by a direct authority.

While understanding that this motivational system may be the most effective at accommodating motivational between-individual differences, the authors stressed that firms aligning their motivational systems to account for within individual differences is also important. The within-individual motivational difference was described as the tension between the motivation to make sure the firm is successful (i.e., creating collective value) versus the motivation to make sure “I” am successful. The authors suggested that relieving this tension by adopting motivational systems that fill economic and relational needs. For example, the authors mentioned motivating employees by giving stock options. In a sense, this creates a congruency between the mixed motives of wanting to serve the firm while also serving oneself by creating an attitude that says, “When the firm succeeds I succeed.”

Managers who pay attention to these conflicting motivations are poised to make sure their employees are working cooperatively with one another and with their firm to maximize their collective value to the company.

Bridoux, F., Coeurderoy, R., & Durand, R. (2011). Heterogeneous motives and the collective creation of value. Academy of Management Review, 36(4), 711-730.

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

Responding to Mistreatment of Others

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Topic: Motivation, Human Resource Management, Ethics
Publication: Academy of Management Review
Article: A Model of Third Parties’ Morally Motivated Responses to Mistreatment in Organizations
Authors: O’Reilly, J. & Aquino, K.
Reviewer: Rachel Marsh

Have you ever noticed a college student being mistreated by someone else in the organization, be it peer, subordinate or superior? What actions did you take because of what you witnessed? According to O’Reilly and Aquino you have several choices. You could rally against the perpetrator, going to their superior to explain what happened. You also have the option of punishing the offender on your own, vigilante style. There is also the possibility that you could comfort the victim or you could just ignore the situation. The authors propose that your actions are determined by your moral identity, the perception of power, and your belief in your organization’s justice system.

A moral identity is how you view yourself morally. Do you think you are a moral person? If you do think you are a moral person, is that one of your core values, something that you perceive as an important aspect of you. If so, you will be more likely to take action against the perpetrator than if you don’t think of yourself as a moral person. The more important you consider morality as a core aspect of yourself, the more likely you are to take action. Power is also an important aspect in taking action against coworker mistreatment.

Position power and resource power both play a role in your decision. Position power is part of the traditional hierarchy of your organization. Do you have any power over the perpetrator? Resource power is not determined by the hierarchy of the organization but is more defined by your social network, political skill, or even time. If you have neither position nor resource power, you are likely not to take action, but if you have either you likely will take action.

So what part of mistreatment in the workplace and employees’ response can an organization control? Their organizational justice system. If employees perceive the justice system is fair and “punishes” people who have purposefully done wrong things while not punishing employees who report mistreatment, then an employee will report mistreatment. However, if an employee does not believe in the organizational justice system, they will act on their own to address the mistreatment, ignore it, or go outside the organization to alleviate the problem. All three of those scenarios reflect badly on an organization, giving the appearance they cannot handle their own problem, and in today’s business world perception is important.

O’Reilly, J., & Aquino, K. (2011). A model of third parties’ morally motivated responses to mistreatment in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 36(3), 526-543.

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

Put a Frame on It! Goal Framing to Improve Performance

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Topic: Motivation, Organizational Performance, Human Resources
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Managing joint production motivation: The role of goal framing and governance mechanisms.
Authors: S. Lindenberg, N. J. Foss
Reviewer: Rachel Marsh

Organizations often have many goals. The organization has a goal, the department has goals and each individual has their own goals. But how often to those goals align? Lindenberg and Foss argue that to get the most out of your employees you need to align all these goals, and set up governance mechanisms that support the alignment of goals. They suggest you can do this by utilizing goal framing theory.

There are three main elements of goal-framing theory, the normative, hedonic and gain. When framing goals through the normative view, one thinks of the ‘we’ first, and what is better for the group (this person is focused on benefitting the organization). The hedonic goal applies when a person is trying to improve their current situation. The focus is on the ‘now’ (in the workplace this person wants to have fun avoid difficult tasks). The gain goal is when someone tries to improve the resources they have (in the workplace this person is looking to increase their status or income).

By understanding that people have these three types of goals and utilizing that understanding to the company’s advantage, an organization can improve the performance of its employees. Organizations need to ensure that the normative goal is the supraorbital goal, or the goal in the forefront of their employees’ minds.

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Stop Burnout, Increase Engagement & Improve Safety…by Providing Supportive Environment?

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Topic: Health and Safety, Motivation, Human Resources
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JAN 2011)
Article: Safety at Work: A Meta-analytic Investigation of the Link Between Job Demands, Job Resources, Burnout, Engagement, and Safety Outcomes
Authors: Jennifer D. Nahrgang, Frederick P. Morgeson, David A. Hofmann
Reviewed by: Mary Alice Crowe-Taylor

These days, the workplace is generally quite demanding! This study used a meta-analysis approach, with 203 independent samples, to assess how detrimental job demands are, and how helpful job resources are, in terms of burnout, engagement and safety outcomes. These researchers wanted to know how well the job demand-resources theory (JD-R) by Bakker & Demerouti (2007) explains these relationships.

According to this analysis, pretty well actually! The model that best fit the data supported the JD-R’s theoretical links between job demands-health impairment-burnout-negative safety outcomes. Burnout was harmful to safe work practices! It also supported the theory’s links between job resources-motivation-engagement-positive safety outcomes. Engaged employees are motivated to work safely.

Job demands included variables like job complexity, role overload, cognitively challenging work, physical demands, and risks and hazards. Draining to employees both physically and psychologically, these result in burnout, health impairments, and a greater number of unsafe outcomes, as this study showed. Only the variable “physical demands” was not related to burnout or engagement.

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As with Fine Wines, Motivation Matures with Age

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Topic: Motivation, Strategic HR
Publication: Journal of Organizational Behavior (JAN 2011)
Article: Age and work-related motives: Results of a meta-analysis
Authors: D.T. Kooij, A.H. De Lange, P.G. Jansen, R. Kanfer, J.S. Dikkers
Reviewer: Neil Morelli

You’ve most likely read the following headline, “The US workforce is aging.” Whether organizations like it or not this change is coming and with it comes the possibility of skilled labor shortages and “brain drain”. To prevent this, companies have often turned to offering financial or other economic incentives to persuade employees to stay on.Does this work? What job qualities motivate a maturing employee?

The current research on motives suggests that as we age, our priorities change in regards to our need to develop ourselves professionally (growth), be emotionally connected to others (social), and maintain our personal resources (security). Our focus on intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards can also fluctuate. Kooij and colleagues (2011) recently analyzed the cumulative findings from 86 studies that explored the relationship between age and the motivation umbrella of needs, values, and motives. In general, older employees were found to be less motivated by growth opportunities (e.g., training and learning; depended on job type), work-related security, and extrinsic motivators.

A closer look at the individual work-related motives showed that older employees are MORE motivated by jobs that allow for accomplishment, interesting work, autonomy, helping others, and job security (intrinsic security). They also revealed that older employees are LESS motivated by jobs that focus on development/challenge, advancement/promotion, working with people, recognition, and compensation/benefits.

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Beware of “Where I used to work, we ….” — It may be a sign of poor fit, low motivation.

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Topic: Staffing, Selection, Recruiting, Motivation
Publication: Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (83)
Article: Disengagement in Work-Role Transitions
Authors: C. Niessen, C. Binnewies, J. Rank
Reviewed By: Lauren A. Wood

Employees are no longer linked to an organization for life, and as a result, there has been an increase in job change in recent years. Researchers studying employees’ adjustment to a job change have suggested that in order to succeed, the new employee must detach or disengage from the previous job and organization.  This is especially critical when the employee is psychologically attached to their previous work place and/or work role as is typically the case when the employee has worked in their previous role for a long period of time.   

Results from the current study reveal that the more the new employee’s psychologically attachment to their old work-role remains after taking the new job, the less motivated they are to pursue learning in the new position and the less they feel they fit with the new company.  However, when an employee actively disengages from their previous job-role, the employee experiences greater perceptions of fit and is more motivated to engage in learning activities on the job.

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Thinking about age in employee engAGEment…

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Topic: Job Attitudes, Diversity, Motivation
Publication: Journal of Organizational Behavior (JAN 2011)
Article:Predicting employee engagement in an age-diverse workforce.
Authors: J. B. James, S. McKechnie, & J. Swanberg
Reviewed by: Charleen Maher

A large portion of today’s working population consists of the Baby Boomer population. Although these individuals are becoming eligible for retirement, many remain employed for various reasons. As a result, research has picked up on the importance of examining job attitudes of older workers.

The present article examined differences in employee engagement among five age groups: emerging adults (age 24 and older), settling-in adults (25-39), prime-working years (40-54), approaching retirement (55-65), and retirement eligible (66 and older). Overall, the retirement eligible group reported the highest average engagement while the emerging adults reported the lowest average engagement.

The authors also examined job quality factors as predictors of engagement among each of the age groups. Supervisor support and recognition, schedule satisfaction (having flexibility and autonomy in one’s work schedule), and job clarity were significant predictors of employee engagement for all age groups. Specifically, supervisor support and recognition had the largest effect on employee engagement for the two older groups, approaching retirement and retirement-eligible.

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Motivating GenY: Generational Differences in Work Values

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Topic: Motivation
Publication: Journal of Management (SEP 2010)
Article: Generational differences in work values: Leisure and extrinsic values increasing, social and intrinsic values decreasing
Authors: J. M. Twenge, S. M. Campbell, B. J. Hoffman, and C. E. Lance
Reviewed By: Lauren Wood

The U.S. workforce is primarily comprised of 3 generations of workers – Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964), GenX (1965-1981), and GenY (1982-1999). Although empirical research examining differences in generational work values is scarce, understanding differences between these 3 groups is important for organizations attempting to recruit and manage the youngest generation in the workforce – GenY.

The current study assessed generational differences in work values (leisure, social interactions, intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards, and altruism) which motivate employees to perform on the job. The results reveal that organizations may need to implement different strategies in order to successfully motivate GenY employees. For example, compared to Baby Boomers and GenX, GenY workers are more likely to value leisure activities (time off, work-life balance, flextime) and less likely to value social interactions (work friendships, team work). When examining workplace rewards, GenY seem to be are more motivated by extrinsic rewards (tangible rewards) than by intrinsic rewards (intangible rewards).

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