MGTA02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Abraham Maslow, Absenteeism, Elton Mayo
Chapter 12 – Notes
Getting People to try Hard – Motivation
Why Motivation Is Important
Motivation: The internal process that gives an individual the energy and desire to act or behave in a
particular way
Business is made up of a combination of the four factors of production
40% of Americans believe they are working for bad bosses
Managers need to vigilant in how they interact with colleagues and co-workers and how they are
perceived
Classical Theory of Motivation
Classical Theory of Motivation: Workers are motivated only by money
Basic premise to this theory is that everyone needs money to simply survive
Positive behaviour or compliance could be reinforced by offering more money.
People will work harder and be more productive if offered more pay
Money is a reward for past performance, and incentive to work harder
19th century: Children as young as four were employed as climbing boys, chimney sweeps who
climbed naked into chimney stacks to scrub it clean
This doesn’t apply anymore because there are situations where people would just never go back to
a place to work no matter how much more they were paid.
Taylor’s Theory of Scientific Management
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Earliest theorist in motivation and productivity
Book: Principles of Scientific Management
Classical theory of motivation
How to use workers’ motivation to make money to get them to produce more
A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work
By calculating the time needed for various elements of a task, can develop the best way to complete
the task
In the past there, was no standardization or no incentive – but if you give workers a small number of
simple, repetitive tasks, which they would perform over and over again, can remove any inefficient
use of time
Four Principles of Taylor (TAYLORISM):
Replace working by the ‘rule of thumb’ – or simple habit, and common sense, and instead
develop standard methods which are the most efficient for doing each job
Select workers to match a specific job and train them to work at maximum efficiency
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Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that they
are using the most efficient methods
Divide the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time
planning and training, and workers concentrate on performing tasks
Scientific Management/Taylorism: Managing the business by applying principles of efficiency
derived from time and motion studies
Henry Ford:
Taylor observed Ford’s workers to determine the most efficient and time-saving methods
for increasing their productivity
Scientific management was applied
Larger parts of the car remained stationary while parts were brought as needed
Workers remain stationary as body of the car is pulled by a rope past workstations; each
worker performs a specific task before the car is moved to the next station
Improved and streamline the process
Critiques of Taylorism
Alienation: An individual’s loss of the ability to control his or her own life, to make decisions or take
responsibility for his or her own actions
Introduced by Karl Marx
Boredom leads to alienation
Scientific management is based on the idea that there is only one way to do something
Problem is that people are given a limited number of tasks to perform, management is treating
them as though they are machines
Tasks that lack complexity lead to alienation
Taylors ideas means that there is no stimulation and motivation in the workplace
Bored, unmotivated workers are more prone to illness and absenteeism
Hawthorne Studies
Hawthorne studies: As series of research studies designed to examine the relationship between the
work environment and worker productivity
Conducted by Elton Mayo between 1924 and 1932
Western Electric Company
Manufactured telephones
Hawthorne Works employed 12 000 workers
Western Electric provided a site to cooperation a series of tests that were intended to
determine the relationship between light levels and worker productivity
Vary levels of illumination
If light increases, productivity increases -hypothesis
In another room, light levels were decreased in the expectation that productivity would also
decrease
Found: no correlation between lighting levels and output
Productivity continued to increase when the lights were dimmed
Women were given some differential treatment, more rest periods, etc. Productivity rose by 30%
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Motivation: the internal process that gives an individual the energy and desire to act or behave in a particular way. Business is made up of a combination of the four factors of production. 40% of americans believe they are working for bad bosses. Managers need to vigilant in how they interact with colleagues and co-workers and how they are perceived. Classical theory of motivation: workers are motivated only by money. Basic premise to this theory is that everyone needs money to simply survive. Positive behaviour or compliance could be reinforced by offering more money. People will work harder and be more productive if offered more pay. Money is a reward for past performance, and incentive to work harder. 19th century: children as young as four were employed as climbing boys, chimney sweeps who climbed naked into chimney stacks to scrub it clean.
