Human Resources

Chapter 9

Motivating, Satisfying, and Leading Employees

Chapter Overview

Psychological contracts in the workplace are the set of expectations held by employees concerning what they will contribute to an organization and what the organization will in return provide to them. Psychological contracts have changed significantly in the last decade. Employers offer less security but more benefits, while employees offer less loyalty but are often willing to work longer hours and assume more responsibility.

Good human relations – positive interactions between employers and employees – lead to high levels of job satisfaction and morale. As a result, employees are more productive and more loyal, with a lower level of grievances, absenteeism, and turnover.

Theories of employee motivation have changed dramatically over the years. The most important models are summarized below:

• Classical Theory: People are motivated solely by money. This theory impacted business via scientific management, which focused on analyzing jobs and finding more efficient ways to perform tasks.

• Behavior Theory: People’s needs play a role in motivation. Employees perform better when they believe that management is paying attention to them. This theory was first demonstrated in the Hawthorne Studies.

• Human Resources Model: There are two kinds of managers – Theory X managers who believe that people are inherently uncooperative and must be constantly punished or rewarded, and Theory Y managers who believe that people are naturally responsible and self-motivated to be productive.

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Model: People have different needs which they attempt to satisfy in their work. Lower level needs must be satisfied before people seek to meet higher level needs.

• Two-Factor Theory: If basic hygiene needs are not met, workers will be dissatisfied. Only by increasing more complex motivation factors can companies increase employee performance.

• Expectancy...