EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

Homework 2 Assignment-Literature Review: Employee Motivation



LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

A literature review is an important part of a research paper, as it helps in making arguments in support of the research questions. This section will present arguments from different scholarly works to clarify the dynamics of factors that motivates employees. There are many methods and variations of motivational techniques that help the employee stay motivated. Two of the most common techniques professionals cite as the biggest contributors to success or failure are: monetary and non-monetary. Earlier mentioned, the research will mainly focus on how the availability of motivational factors such as “Gain Sharing” affects the attitude of the employees in an organization. In this connection, this chapter is to review where we are at with work design research. To begin, this study will provide a brief overview of classic work design theories and research, followed by studies that would help to understand various factors involved in motivating employees.

Theoretical Framework

Classic theory and studies

Derived from Taylorism and scientific management principles (Taylor 1911), jobs in the early 20th century were broken down into their most simplified elements to reduce training times, with managers closely controlling the work. Not surprisingly, the early work design theories that arose in response to these boring and alienating jobs mainly focused on work characteristics that lead to motivation and favorable job attitudes. Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman (1959) proposed that 'motivator' factors such as level of recognition lead to job satisfaction, while an absence of extrinsic 'hygiene' factors, such as salary, lead to job dissatisfaction. Although research has failed to support this model (e.g, Hulin and Smith, 1967), it inspired the practice of job enrichment, or the creation of challenging and responsible jobs to promote motivation and performance (Paul et al., 1969). The principle of job enrichment was further supported by the job characteristics model (JCM) by Hackman and Oldham (Hackman and Oldham, 1980), which proposed that five job characteristics (task variety, autonomy, feedback, significance and identity) promote individual motivation, job satisfaction, and performance through critical psychological states such as experienced meaningfulness.

The beneficial effects of jobs with these characteristics are expected to be greater for individuals high on growth need strength who have a preference for growth and learning at work. Some studies have demonstrated the proposed moderating role of growth need strength (e.g., Johns et al., 1992); others have not (Tiegs et al., 1992). Two early meta-analytic studies supported the core proposition of the JCM, showing the five job characteristics collectively relate to attitudinal outcomes such as job satisfaction and motivation, as well as, to a weaker extent, ratings of work effectiveness and absenteeism (Fried and Ferris, 1987; Loher et al., 1985). An expanded meta-analysis supported the importance of work characteristics affecting these outcomes, as well as other outcomes (organizational commitment, role perceptions, turnover intentions), and identified experienced meaning as the most important state mediating the relationship between job characteristics and outcomes (Humphrey et al., in press).

These meta-analytic studies collated findings across multiple studies, but many studies with cross-sectional designs were ...