BUS209 Study Guide
Unit 2: Managing Individuals
2a. Discuss how work environment affects workplace behavior, such as an employee's attitudes and perceptions
- What is job satisfaction?
- From a management perspective, why are employee attitudes important?
- Have you ever participated in a survey intended to measure employee, customer, or student satisfaction? Why do you think the organization was interested in this information?
- How does the low unemployment rate impact workplace behavior?
Imagine your career. You get a job where you work 40 hours a week and continue to work for 25 years, after which you decide to retire. This job will represent 50,000 hours or 1,250 weeks of your life. In that work environment, things like the friendliness of the people you work with, how you get along with your supervisor, the physical aspects of the workplace, and many other factors will have a direct influence on how you feel about your work and how you perform the tasks assigned to you.
Attitudes are opinions, beliefs, and feelings about aspects of our environment. We care about our attitudes, as they can influence our relationships with others. In the workplace, we care about how attitudes can affect the relationships between and among employees, as seen by our customers, and/or their impact on job performance. One measure of the attitude of employees is the level of job satisfaction – how satisfied we are with our job may dictate how hard we work, whether we call in sick, or our behavior in the workplace.
Organizational commitment is one way to describe employees' emotional commitment toward the company for which they work. Higher levels of organizational commitment are associated with greater employee satisfaction. This chart lists some of the factors that contribute to satisfaction:
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2b. Assess your own personality characteristics and motivation through a series of surveys
- Why is it important to understand your personality?
- How can a series of personality surveys help you to better understand yourself?
- Why does an employer need to be concerned with workplace turnover?
- Why is it important for an employer to track employee absenteeism?
An individual's behavior toward a task or in their interactions with others can result in positive or negative workplace environments. There are a few behaviors employers need to consider regarding employees.
Turnover is the number of people who leave an organization and are replaced by new employees. High turnover can be costly for employees, and many employers have plans in place to ensure that employees have a higher level of job satisfaction. An employer can monitor turnover by regularly reviewing an employee's job performance – how effectively employees execute their assigned duties and responsibilities. Absenteeism occurs when an employee takes leave or doesn't come to work but is not sick or has no good reason to be absent.
Absenteeism and employee turnover have several negative impacts on a business. These include higher costs associated with lost work time, recruiting new employees, training, and overall employee morale.
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2c. Describe the effects of motivation on performance and motivational theories
- What does it mean to be self-motivated?
- Why does your perception differ from your co-workers?
- How would you explain Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in business?
- What might occur when two employees have perception differences?
Discussing perceptions may require us to step back for a minute and think about what this term means. We all have perceptions of people, places, and things. Perceptions are not right or wrong but represent how we feel about something or someone based on our experiences, real or imagined. We might perceive a situation as positive or negative, and perceptions can influence our behavior.
When considering employees' perceptions of their supervisor, job, or colleagues, we recognize that these perceptions may benefit the firm or work to its disadvantage. What could you do to positively influence a person's perception?
Perceptions – how we interpret and make sense of information from our environment – are developed from what we see and experience. However, what we see can be influenced by whether we truly understand what is happening or what is being said. Sometimes, we may form perceptions based on erroneous information.
We are all subject to emotions to a greater or lesser degree. Positive emotions (like happiness, joy, love, or excitement) can result in a more positive attitude, while negative emotions (like fear, hate, unhappiness, or jealousy) can have the opposite effect. Any efforts to improve employee satisfaction and increase job performance must recognize the influence that emotions can have. Negative emotions tend to affect more people and last longer than positive emotions. Why do you think this is true? Draw on your own experiences.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to step back and recognize that our emotional state, at any given time, can influence those around us. It is an ability to control our emotions in certain settings for the benefit of the department, team, or company. What can you do to ensure that you are aware of your emotions and will make sure not to allow them to negatively influence those around you?
Imagine the owner of a company who sees that the company's profitability is declining. This owner may feel angry, frustrated, or even afraid of what is happening. Recognizing the value of communication, this owner gets everyone together to discuss the state of the business and encourage the employees to try to improve the company's financial performance. The emotional state of this owner can either be a help or a hindrance.
Think about times that you have felt motivated to take on some task. Perhaps you were motivated to start on a research paper early or to volunteer for a project at work. In those times when we are motivated, our performance improves, and we feel better about what we have achieved. Motivated employees experience higher levels of job satisfaction and produce better outcomes for the company. Motivation, ability, and the work environment are contributing factors to performance.
Think of a time when you felt motivated to do a specific task. What motivated you to take this task on? Now, think about when you were not motivated but still had to get something done. Describe any differences between when you were motivated and when you were not. Sometimes, it will be necessary for you to motivate someone else. Can you think about a time when you could motivate a friend or an employee? What did you do?
There are times when an employee needs to find the motivation to take on an assignment or complete a task. An employer must also be aware that employee motivation results in improved outcomes and must design ways to motivate them. One way employers help employees work on their motivational skills is through SMART goals – goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Several theories attempt to better understand what motivates people and how to create a work environment that fosters motivation. Acquired-Needs Theory states that people are motivated by achievement, power, and affiliation; these may differ among employees depending on their perception and life experiences. Goal Setting Theory occurs when employees set clear and precise goals to help them move forward and increase performance. A Need-Based Theory occurs when people are driven to fulfill their own needs; for example, they may take a job to pay their bills and may not consider the details of the job. Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory includes job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction, which can affect an employee's motivation (or lack of motivation) in the workplace. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a popular theory about individual motivation, and it states that higher-level needs (like self-esteem, self-actualization, or love) cannot be met until the lower needs have been fulfilled (like food, safety, or shelter).
Once we understand the importance of motivation in improving employee performance or our performance, we need to start thinking about ways to motivate people. An old saying says you can motivate others by using either a stick or a carrot. The stick might threaten you: complete this job, or you will be fired! A carrot could be a bonus for getting this job done on time.
Diversity provides real benefits to an organization by introducing different points of views, life experiences, skill sets, and personalities that can improve the company's overall performance. However, this same diversity means that different individuals may be motivated by different incentives. One employee may be motivated by time off, while another employee may be motivated by a cash bonus. This presents a challenge for the organization.
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2d. Explain the various components of job design
- What is job design, and how does it relate to job enrichment?
- How can a business use job specialization? bus
- Why are performance appraisals important for employees and employers?
- What is an example of employee feedback?
Next, we will discuss increasing motivation by specifically considering the design of each job and the work environment. This requires an evaluation of a job that goes beyond just describing what must be done and also considers the different ways that it could be done.
The job characteristic model to provide a high Motivating Potential Score is:
(MPS) = skill variety + task identity + task significance / 3 + autonomy + feedback.
Employees receive feedback regarding their job performance, which may include constructive or positive feedback. Autonomy occurs when employees are free to make their own decisions in the workplace.
There are many other ways to design jobs to improve motivation, including job sharing, job rotations, making tasks more meaningful, providing frequent feedback, and telecommuting, to name a few. Job rotations may include employees who can perform different roles at the organization. Identify one technique that appeals to you, and see if you can research a company that is using this technique. Job enrichment is another aspect of job design and occurs when organizations consider how to make the employee's job more satisfying and fulfilling. Job specialization occurs when employees develop specific skills to do the job. Job enlargement occurs when an employee is assigned additional responsibilities during the job design process.
Companies often use performance appraisals to evaluate an employee's performance during the year. They may be the basis for promotions and/or salary increases. Consider a performance review that you have had, or interview a friend or family member who has had a review. What was the experience like? Was it accurate and fair? Was the person motivated to improve their efforts?
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Unit 2 Vocabulary
This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.
- absenteeism
- Acquired-Needs Theory
- attitude
- autonomy
- emotional intelligence
- feedback
- Goal Setting Theory
- Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory
- job enlargement
- job enrichment
- job performance
- job rotation
- job specialization
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Need-Based Theory
- organizational commitment
- perception
- performance appraisal
- SMART goals
- turnover