Motivation in Job Characteristics Modeling - Case Study Example

1- Use the core job characteristics of the JCM to explain the motivation of Disney employees with Iger as the CEO. The Model The job characteristics model describes the relationship between specific motivating characteristics of jobs, called core job characteristics, and an employee's job motivation. The model basically presents how the laying out of a job influences employee's motivation. This theory provides a meaningful framework for exploring the relationship between specific characteristics of a job, such as those Disney employees had to perform, and intrinsic motivation of those employees in performing those tasks. Core Characteristics Research on the job characteristics model has found relationships between what the employee perceives as specific core characteristics inherent in the job's design, namely skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback from the job itself, and an employee's intrinsic job motivation and satisfaction with the job itself. A job that possesses higher levels of these core characteristics is higher in motivating potential. This relationship between job characteristics and employee motivation is moderated by the employee's growth-need strength. The relation between the presence of high levels of the core job characteristics and motivation on the job is stronger for individuals who have strong growth needs. The job characteristics model provides a conceptual frame work for improving the amount of motivating potential inherent in the design of the job through increasing skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback from the task itself. Changing elements of the job's design to strengthen these core motivating characteristics is known as job enrichment (McKenna n.d, 199). Success Under Iger At Disney under Iger's leadership, the employees have been given a relatively relaxed hand to perform the tasks they are good at with the top management not getting into micro-management. This allows employees to make decision based on their own judgments and requires a more complex level of skills. Hence the skill variety of the employees has been increased under Iger. The increased level of delegation that the employees enjoy along with the autonomy to perform tasks as they see fit has been one of the prime reasons for the higher motivation levels at Disney under Iger. Employees feel that their contribution to the work they perform is greater now and they are able to take their job to completion and therefore can enjoy a certain sense of ownership about it. The greater level of skill variety, task significance and task identity has led the Disney employees to experience a greater level of meaningfulness in the work they perform, as is shown by the JCM requirements in the diagram in the appendix. This was in sharp contrast to Eisner's strategy of increasing his own influence and squashing the confidence of the employees to make own decisions and hence, decreasing their perception about the contribution they make to the work. This has led to higher internal work motivation and higher quality performance as employees have been able to concentrate on the creative aspect and do what they are good at. This has ensured that even if the top management is not creative, the steady influx of creativity from the employees and people good at their work has kept the star of Disney burgeoning. 2- How can equity theory explain the difference in motivation of employees working under Eisner, as compared to having Iger as CEO Discuss. The Theory Equity Theory attempts to explain relational satisfaction in terms of perceptions of fair or unfair distributions of resources within interpersonal relationships. It asserts that employees seek to maintain equity between the inputs that they bring to a job and the outcomes that they receive from it against the perceived inputs and outcomes of others. The belief is that people value fair treatment which causes them to be motivated to keep the fairness maintained within the relationships of their co-workers and the organization. The structure of equity in the workplace is based off of the ratio of inputs to outcomes. Inputs are the contributions made by the employee for the organization which includes the work done by the employees and the behavior brought by the employee as well as their skills and other useful experiences the employee may contribute for the good of the company (Cory 2006). Core Characteristics Inputs in this context include the employee's time, expertise, qualifications, experience, intangible personal qualities such as drive and ambition, and interpersonal skills. Outcomes include monetary compensation, perquisites, benefits, and flexible work arrangements. Employees who perceive inequity will seek to reduce it, either by distorting inputs and outcomes in their own minds, also called cognitive distortion, or directly altering inputs and outcomes, or leaving the organization. Thus, the theory has wide-reaching implications for employee morale, efficiency, productivity, and turnover (Cory 2006). Use Under Iger The motivation of the employees is reported to have gone up after Iger assumed the leadership of the company. This can be explained by the Equity theory primarily in terms of how the workers evaluated their outputs from the company through flexibility. The work arrangements became organized such that employees were able to take a free reign to experiment with their skills and do things in the manner they preferred. Under Eisner, employees were required to perform work under strict autocratic set up. There were strict Monday meetings, deadlines to be met and furthermore, strict competition had to be faced from Viacom and other competitors which demanded a lot from the workers in terms of input. Under Iger, the motivation level went up suddenly because of the perception of the employees in terms of the output they were getting. In comparison to the conditions they worked in before, now the employees could enjoy a more open level of frankness with the upper management. The pressure of the Monday meetings went down. Employees were given a certain level of leeway to vent their creative ideas and apply them fully to completion. Their boss Iger even came and socialized with the people lower down and heard their ideas. No proposals were completely squashed and instead an encouraging attitude emerged in the company. Comparing this leeway to the conditions the employees worked in before, they would have felt considerably better treated compared to co-workers in the industry in other companies who they would have still judged to be treated according to the some level of autocratic setup. They would not be enjoying the same level of flexible work arrangements and job enrichment the Disney employees enjoyed which would have led to the perception of them receiving a higher level of output in comparison which would have fueled further increase in creative input. 3- To what extent is Iger's approach to employee motivation consistent with expectancy theory Discuss. The Theory Expectancy theory is about choice. It explains the processes that an individual undergoes to make choices. Expectancy theory predicts that employees in an organization will be motivated when they believe that putting in more effort will yield better job performance which would lead to organizational rewards, such as an increase in salary or benefits. These predicted organizational rewards are valued by the employee in question. It hypothesizes that in order for a person to be motivated effort, performance and motivation must be linked for which three variables of measurement valence, expectancy and instrumentality were proposed. Expectancy is the belief that increased effort will lead to increased performance while instrumentality is the belief that if you perform well that a valued outcome will be received. Valence is the importance that the individual places upon the expected outcome. The idea is that the individual changes his level of effort according to the value he places on the outcomes received from the process and on their perception of the strength of the links between effort and outcome (Crowther 2004, 42) Implementation Under Iger Iger's approach to employee motivation is very consistent with expectancy theory. Since Iger and his philosophy took hold at the top of Disney, employees have experienced a rise in their expectance variable. They have been provided more flexibility to perform their work and little or no constraints have been placed upon them. They have also received the necessary support to get the job done with a democratic system at the top and less pressure. Since the leadership had allowed the employees to do what they were good at under Iger, the employees may well have developed a certain level of trust in the leadership knowing that their work will be rewarded. There has also been a rise in the satisfaction in terms of employees being given a chance to experiment with their skills and churn out their own creative potential and perform tasks without much supervision which generates internal satisfaction and non-monetary satisfying rewards within the employee's psyche. This has resulted in a rise in the instrumentality variable in the workplace. The valence variable has also increased since working for one of the biggest companies in the industry; the employees would have been already highly satisfied by the monetary compensation aspect. Now, they can enjoy job satisfaction in terms of completing their own projects, giving vent to their creative side and being able to do the work they like in the manner they prefer. Thus, since the employees care about getting a raise or some promotion, we can assign a valence range of -2 to +2. Iger's leadership has created a certain level of trust in the employees which has been shown by the increased earnings, thus employees do strongly believe that their hard work results in a better performance. We can thus give expectancy a value of 2. The same trust in the leadership because of a level of democratic leadership makes employees believe that the organization will appreciate and reward its performance, especially in contrast to the Eisner years. Thus instrumentality can be assumed to be around 3. The motivation force range that we get therefore ranges from -12 to +12. The open and democratic philosophy of the Iger management clearly has greatly aided this higher level of motivation the employees enjoy. Crucially, Expectancy theory works on perceptions - so even if an employer thinks they have provided everything appropriate for motivation, and even if this works with most people in that organization it doesn't mean that someone won't perceive that it doesn't work for them. In this case, simply the perception that the employees are being able to reach a level of attaining the most use of their skills gives them a perception of greater satisfaction and hence greater motivation at the workplace. Works Cited Cory C. (2006). Equity Theory And Employee Motivation [online]. Ezine Articles. Available from: http://http://http://ezinearticles.com/Equity-Theory-And-Employee-Motivation&id=221994 [Accessed 27/12/08] Crowther D. (2004). Organisational Theory. London CIPD McKenna, E F. (n.d). Mckenna, Eugene F. Business Psychology and Organisational Behavior. 3rd ed. New York Psychology Press. Appendix Job Characteristics Model (McKenna n.d, 198) Read More