Because learning changes everything.

CHAPTER SIX
Applied Performance
Practices

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 Learning Objectives
1.   Discuss the meaning of money and identify several individual-,
team-, and organizational-level performance-based rewards. 
2.   Describe five ways to improve reward effectiveness. 
3.   List the advantages and disadvantages of job specialization. 
4.   Diagram the job characteristics model and describe three ways
to improve employee motivation through job design. 
5.   Define psychological empowerment and identify strategies that
support empowerment. 
6.   Describe the five elements of self-leadership and identify
specific personal and work environment influences on self-
leadership. 

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 Applied Performance Practices at Softcom
Softcom Ltd. in Lagos,
Nigeria, has a highly
motivated workforce,
driven by meaningful jobs,
rewards aligned with the
company’s purpose and
values, and an emphasis
on self-leadership.

© McGraw Hill Mavo/Shutterstock

 Meaning of Money at Work
A form of exchange. 
Relates to needs and self-concept, generates emotions (anxiety,
depression, anger, helplessness, happy, satisfied)
Interpreted as a tool or a drug.
Money ethic: money perceived as not evil, symbol of achievement,
something of value to be budgeted.
Meaning of money differs between men and women. Men attach more
importance, symbol of power. Women as exchange.
Meaning of money varies across cultures. Power distance respect more
for money. Egalitarian culture less display personal wealth.
Money motivates more than previously believed. Motivation affected by
how money distributed in organisation. Inlfuences self-concept.

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 Financial reward practices
1) Membership/Seniority Based Rewards
Fixed wages, seniority-based rewards (retirement
contribution, cash gift)
Advantages:
• May attract job applicants.
• Less financial insecurity.
• Less turnover with seniority.

Disadvantages:
• No performance motivation.
• Discourages poor performers from leaving.
• May act as golden handcuffs-generate continuance commitment
rather than affective commitment.

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 Financial reward practices
2) Job Status-Based Rewards
Measure job worth (value)through job evaluation - higher value to jobs
that require more skills and effort, responsibility and difficult working
condition.
Pay equity/comparable job worth
Apart from higher pay, valued jobs also receive more company perks-car,
bigger office etc
Advantages:
• Job evaluation: more pay fairness -distribute more pay to higher valued jobs
• Motivates competition for promotions.

Disadvantages:
• Encourages bureaucratic hierarchy.
• Reinforces status versus egalitarian culture.
• Employees exaggerate duties, hoard resources.

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 Skill-Based Pay at Wonderful Company
Production and technical employees at Los Angeles–
based conglomerate Wonderful Company are
motivated by a skill-based pay plan to continuously
gain more knowledge and skills.

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 Financial reward practices
3)Competency-Based Rewards
Competency-based pay and skill-based pay (more
specific).
Advantages:
• Motivates learning new skills.
• Multiskilled, flexible, adaptive employees.
• Higher product/service quality.

Disadvantages:
• Overdesigned (complex).
• Potentially subjective.
• Higher training costs.

© McGraw Hill
 Financial reward practices
4)Performance-based Rewards
Individual rewards:
• Bonuses, piece rates, commissions.

Team rewards:
• Mostly bonuses, also gain-sharing plans. (gain share is bonus from work-
unit cost-savings eg: cost-savings from better patient care in hospital:
bedsore, hospital infection)

Organizational rewards:
• Organizational bonuses, ESOPs, stock options, profit-sharing.

Evaluating organizational rewards:

• ESOPs and stock options create “ownership culture.”
• Profit sharing adjusts pay with firm's prosperity.
• Problem: organizational rewards have weak P-to-O link.

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 Improving Reward Effectiveness

Link rewards to performance.

Ensure rewards are relevant.
Team rewards for interdependent jobs.
Ensure rewards are valued.
Beware of unintended consequences.

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 Job Design
Effective job design: balancing potentially competing effects of
efficiency and motivation.
• Jobs with few tasks:
• High efficiency, low motivation eg production line, clerical staff
• Jobs with many tasks:
• Low efficiency, high motivation eg: manager, teaching

Work efficiency through job specialization.

• Division of labor:
• Work subdivided into separate jobs eg supermarket- cashier, inventory, fresh food,
stock shelves etc
• Short cycle time:
• The time required to complete the task. Eg: scan barcode

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 Job Specialization and
Scientific Management
Improves work efficiency.
• Less time changing activities.
• Jobs mastered more quickly.
• Better person-job matching.

Scientific management.
• Frederick Winslow Taylor (photo).
• Promoted specialization, standardization.
• Promoted training, goal setting, rewards.

Job specialization problems.

• Low motivation.
• Absenteeism/turnover.
• Higher wages to offset tedium.
• Affects work quality-employees don’t
understand overall product or service.

© McGraw Hill Frederick Winslow Taylor (Public Domain)

 Job Design and Work Motivation

Task identity
eg designer and seamstress

Task significance eg: chef

Feedback eg: pilot can tell

how well they land airplane

Motivational
potential of job
itself Higher level intrinsic motivation
and job satisfaction, effectiveness
Access the text alternate for slide image.

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 Social and Information Processing
Job Characteristics
Social characteristics of the job.
• Task interdependence:
• Requires social interaction of coworkers –share information, expertise, materials
etc
• Feedback from others: (Chp 5 feedback s source of motivation)
• From coworkers, clients, etc.

Information processing demands.

• High task variability:
• Job has nonroutine work patterns.
• High task analyzability:
• Use known procedures/rules.

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3 main strategies to increase motivation potential of jobs

1) Frequent Job Rotation

Moving from one job to another, typically more than
once per day.
Benefits.
• Higher motivation potential.
• Better knowledge of quality issues.
• Lower health risks. (repetitive job eg heavy lifting bad for
health)
• Greater workforce flexibility – leads to multiskilling

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 2)Job Enlargement
Adding tasks to an existing job.
Example: video journalist.

Access the text alternate for slide image.

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 3)Job Enrichment
Giving employees more responsibility for scheduling,
coordinating, and planning work.

1. Natural grouping.
• Stitching highly interdependent tasks into one job.
• For example, video journalist, assembling entire product.

2. Establishing client relationships.

• Directly responsible for specific clients – no need for supervisor
as liason to deal with clients
• Communicate directly with those clients.
job enrichment gives employees more autonomy and this
leads to empowerment

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 Dimensions of Psychological Empowerment
ELEMENT DESCRIPTION
Self-determination. Employees believe they have freedom, independence,
and discretion over their work activities.
Meaning. Employees care about their work and believe that what
they do is important.
Competence. Employees are confident about their ability to perform
the work well and have a capacity to grow with new
challenges (self-efficacy).
Impact. Employees view themselves as active participants in
the organization — their decisions and actions
influence the company’s success.

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 Supporting Empowerment
Individual factors:
• Possess required competencies, can perform the work, can
handle decision making demands.

Job design factors:

• Autonomy (more self-determination), task identity, task
significance (more meaningful), job feedback (more self-
confidence)

Organizational factors:
• Resources, learning orientation, trust.

© McGraw Hill
 Practice Self-Leadership in Surgery:
Focusing on the Positive
Orthopedic surgeon Sarah
Coll practices self-
leadership by focusing on
positive rather than
negative self-talk and by
engaging in constructive
mental imagery.

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 Practice Self-Leadership in Surgery:
Cognitive and Behavioral Strategies
Cognitive and behavioral
strategies to achieve
personal goals and standards
through self-direction and
self-motivation.
Includes concepts practices
from goal setting, social
cognitive theory, and sports
psychology.

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 Practice Self-Leadership in Surgery: Goal
Setting and Thought Patterns
Personal Goal Setting:
• Set goals for your own work
effort.
• Apply effective goal setting
practices.
• Requires a high degree of self-
awareness.
Constructive Thought
Patterns.
• Self-talk increases self-
efficacy.
• Mental imagery.

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 Practice Self-Leadership in Surgery
Designing Natural Rewards:
• Finding ways to make the job
more motivating.
Self-Monitoring:
• Keeping track of one’s progress
toward a self-set goal.
• Using naturally-occurring
feedback.
• Designing feedback systems.
Self-reinforcement:
• “Taking” a reinforcer only after
completing a self-set goal.

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 Predictors of Self-Leadership
Individual factors:
• Higher levels of conscientiousness and extroversion.
• Positive self-evaluation (self-esteem, self-efficacy, internal
locus).

Organizational factors:
• Job autonomy.
• Participative and trustworthy leadership.
• Measurement-oriented culture.

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 End of Main Content

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© 2021 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom.
No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill.