Job Design and Motivation

The Equity Theory touches on the effects these situations have on the employee’s motivational level. In society today employees are constantly comparing how they are

Rather, Equity, and the sense of fairness which commonly underpins motivation, is dependent on the comparison a person makes between his or her reward/investment ratio with the ratio enjoyed (or suffered) by others considered to be in a similar situation”(Balancing Employee Inputs and Outputs).

Adam’s Equity Theory is a model of motivation which basically states that employees will perform at a more productive rate if they feel that they are being treated fairly (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010). Equity is achieved when a worker perceives their reward for their amount of work to be equal to that of a relevant worker. Negative inequity is perceived by the employee when the relevant worker receives greater rewards for the same amount of work. Positive inequity is perceived by the employee when the relevant worker receives fewer rewards for the same amount of work (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010).

Barrick, M. R., Stewart, G. L., & Piotrowski, M. (2002). Personality and job performance: Test of the mediating effects of motivation among sales representatives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(1), 43-51.

Adams was a workplace and behavior psychologist who pushed the ideas of the Equity Theory onto employees. Equity Theory works to explain the importance of keeping equity between the contributions that an employee brings to a job and the benefits that the employee receives. According to www.MindTools.com, “Much like many of the more prevalent theories of motivation (such as Maslow 's Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg 's Two-Factor Theory), Adams ' Equity Theory acknowledges that subtle and variable factors affect an employee 's assessment and perception of their relationship with their work and their employer.” Adams’ findings also point out that employees will take into consideration how others are being rewarded in the workplace and then compare it to their own rewards. If things do not feel equal for an employee, motivation is very likely to dwindle for the employee in spite of the unfairness.

Job Design is one of the structural variables in organization management and a rich source of intrinsic rewards, which is the reward that comes from job content as opposed to job context. Intrinsic rewards from Job content motivates and produces behaviours that

Employees are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. In order for the reward system to be effective, it must encompass both sources of motivation. Studies have found that among employees surveyed, money was not the most important motivator, and in some instances managers have found money to have a de-motivating or negative effect on employees.  This research paper addresses the definition of rewards in the work environment context, the importance of rewarding employees for their job performance, motivators to employee performance such as extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, Herzberg’s two-factor theory in relation to rewarding employees, Hackman and Oldman model of job enrichment that

The equity theory conceived by J. Stacy Adams is based premise that "people gauge the fairness of their work outcomes relative to others, any perceived inequity is a motivating state of mind" (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, 2005, p.10, chpt.6). This theory when applied to a sales force would not be the best method to motivate this employee group as to what is deemed fair by a team leader could be perceived as unfair by the

Job design theory is an important concept in business management. The way a job is designed affects employee work performance. It is crucial that organizations create an environment where workers are motivated by jobs in which they feel challenged but at the same time, their work goes with the objectives of the company. Designing jobs properly will cause a positive impact on motivation, performance, and job satisfaction on those who perform them (Moorhead and Griffin, 1998). According to the hierarchical scheme of five basic needs of A. H. Maslow, people need to stay alive, to be safe, to be with others, to be respected and to do work that corresponds to our gifts and abilities (Bittel and Newstrom, 1990). Based

The job characteristics model is one of the most influential attempts to design jobs with increased motivational properties. Proposed by Hackman and Oldham, the model describes five core job dimensions leading to three critical psychological states, resulting in work-related outcomes.

Motivation is central to understanding behavior in organizations and a key managerial factor. Two aspects of motivation are structuring tasks to satisfy worker and organizational needs and providing the proper direction for worker actions (Stroh, Northcraft and Neale, 2002). There are a number of factors when it comes to the difference in worker performance. One of these factors is related to different levels of ability

The job characteristics model was projected in the 1970s by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham to present a comprehensive and precise description of the consequences of job design involving motivation, job satisfaction, performance, and other vital features of organizational behavior. The job characteristics model concentrates on the aspect that makes jobs intrinsically motivating. Hackman and Oldham rationalize that when employees are intrinsically motivated, good performance makes them feel good. This feeling motivates them to persist to execute at a high level, so good presentation becomes self-reinforcing.

There are different motivational theories that can be used to motivate the workforce, the theories can either be content theories or process theories.

Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology is devoted to the study of employee behavior in the workplace and understanding the issues facing organizations and employees in today’s complex and ever changing environment. Motivation refers to the set of forces that influence people to choose various behaviors among several alternatives available to them. An organization depends on the ability of management to provide a positive, fostering and motivating environment for its employees in order to increase profits, productivity and lower turnover rates of its employees. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and compare six academic journal articles and explore the behavior, job, and need based theories of motivation that can aid management in motivating and understanding their employees. Finding that delicate balance to can sometimes be elusive so effectively learning how to motivate by understanding, controlling and influencing factors to manipulate behavior and choices that are available to employees can produce the desired outcome.

One of the first authors that dealt with the sources of motivation was Frederick Taylor who focussed on the overall productivity of an organisation. He linked this productivity to the effort an employee puts into their work which in turn is dependent on monetary rewards (Taylor, 1911). This theory was established in the context of the industrial age and thus is outdated for today’s analysis but it still provides a basic assumption which is often referred to by other authors. The total neglecting of a worker’s intrinsic motivators is a starting point for discussion for authors that conducted research in that area after Taylor.