Chapter 9 Group Motivation Chapter 9 Group Motivation 9.1 Group Motivation and Collaboration Before we analyze motivation and collaboration in detail, let's first lay the groundwork by considering what we mean by the terms. Engleburg and WynnEngleberg, I.N., & Wynn, D. R. (2013). Working in groups (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson. wrote that motivation consists in giving a person “a cause, or reason, to act." Collaboration”, in turn, consists in joint expenditure of energy by two or more people in pursuit of a shared goal or aim, PLEASE NOTE: This book is currently in draft form; material is not final. Two Fundamental Questions LEARNING OBJECTIVES We can see that two fundamental questions need to be confronted by anyone who hopes to motivate a group to collaborate: 1. Identify two fundamental questions related to group motivation and collaboration. 2. Identify factors which affect the ability to exercise persuasion and influence toward motivating collaborative behavior in groups. 1. How can we induce any single individual to act in any particular way? 2. How can we induce many individuals to act together? Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow. Society can function only if people are motivated to collaborate in groups. Getting people to do that, however, can be extremely difficult. As Garrison Keillor would put it, it's a persistent question, and it's one which can tire people out if they persist in trying to answer it. One of Keillor's “Guy Noir” episodes illustrates this reality. David Hume “Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean." The episode describes a field trip by a middle school band class to Washington, D.C. Ostensibly, the purpose of the field trip is to have the students produce and perform music together while enjoying the experience of visiting the capital. Once the group reaches the National Mall however, its band director gives up on any attempt to herd his students from one destination to another-to collaborate. When Guy sweetly asks one of the girls in the band why she has shaved half her head and why a boy has tattoos on his ears, she calls him a freak and tells him to mind his own business. Soon the clarinet section moves off in six different directions and the percussion section disappears entirely. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets, but on the 12th floor of the Acme Building, one man is still trying to find the answers to life's persistent questions: Guy Noir, Private Eye.” Since 1974, Garrison KeillorKeillor, G. (2012, May 26). Guy Noir, private eye. Retrieved from http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/ programs/2012/05/26/scripts/noir.shtml has hosted a nationally-broadcast weekly radio program called “A Prairie Home Companion.” One regular feature of Keillor's show, about a bumbling detective from Minnesota, has always begun with the words we've just quoted. In the middle of all this, the band director is wearing earplugs to avoid having to listen to his students. “Earplugs; they're a blessing,” he claims, as a noisy motorcycle nearly flattens him. “I'm going to retire in two weeks to Wyoming,” he continues, where “the only horns are on the cattle and the only winds are in the trees.” 1. Giving a person a cause, or reason, to act. The fictitious detective may not know it, but among life's persistent questions are those dealing with motivation and collaboration. As the theologian H.E. Luccock wrote, “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” The same goes for any other group of people: no individual can carry the whole load or produce the whole group's required outcomes. As far as musical performance is concerned, the band director lets his students play three-minute concerts because he can't get them to concentrate any longer than that. (The idea of making things short by eliminating repetition is, Keillor writes, revolutionary in Washington). 2. Joint expenditure of energy by two or more people in pursuit of a shared goal or aim. 309 9.1 Group Motivation and Collaboration 310 Chapter 9 Group Motivation People in the real world generally show better manners and are able to focus more readily than the characters in this fictional account. Still, motivating real people to collaborate is no simple matter. Garrison Keillor wrote this about the actual Washington, D.C.: “It occurred to me that most of the people I saw in Washington were special needs people, and the Congress is designed for verbally aggressive listening-impaired people, and that months go by and nothing gets done, and in an election year, less than nothing, and maybe that's what the balance of powers means. Persuasion and Influence Hybels & WeaverHybels, S., & Weaver, R.L. (1998). Communicating effectively (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. indicated that getting people to act in a certain way requires persuasion and influence. How and where to best direct the persuasion and influence, however, will vary with time. It may be possible to motivate people to work together at certain times on certain tasks, but not at other times on other tasks. Why? Think back to those middle school students. Many factors will vary from time to time, including these: Individuals' and groups' level of receptiveness. Sometimes we're open to suggestions and proposals; sometimes we're not. Middle school students, for instance, might be more apt to collaborate right after a good lunch than first thing in the morning or in the late afternoon. The surrounding circumstances. We're more likely to focus our attention if we're not distracted by external noise or other sensory inputs. Putting middle school students in the middle of a bustling urban center is not likely to help them focus on a joint task. People's physical condition. Obviously, if a group task is physically demanding, those who possess strength or stamina will be better able to participate than those who don't. If the middle school students were hot or exhausted, they'd be less likely to cooperate in getting anything done together. The wise grandmother of one of the authors of this book always used to advise other parents, “If your kids aren't cooperating, feed them.” People's attitudes toward a particular task. Getting people to do what they already want to do is no big deal; someone has written that an easy way to be a leader is to “watch where people are headed and just get out in front of them.” Middle school students might not need a lot of persuasion to eat a few boxes of pizza together out on the grass by the Washington Monument. To get them to walk quietly together 9.1 Group Motivation and Collaboration 311 Chapter 9 Group Motivation Chapter 9 Group Motivation Theories of Motivation 9.2 Role of Motivation Thinkers in business, education, psychology, and many other fields have long wondered about and performed research into the causes of motivation. Their theories fall into two major categories: content theories and process theories. PLEASE NOTE: This book is currently in draft form; material is not final. Content theories of motivation focus on the factors which motivate behavior by rewarding or reinforcing it. Process theories attempt instead to determine how factors which motivate behavior interact with each other. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Content Theories of Motivation 1. Distinguish between content and process theories of motivation. 2. Identify five content theories of motivation and four process theories. 3. Identify three kinds of action which individuals or groups who are motivated may take. Several content theories of motivation were developed in the middle to late years of the 20th century. Probably the most well-known today is Maslow's need hierarchy, with its five levels, which we reviewed earlier in this book. 3. Theories of motivation which focus on factors which motivate behavior by rewarding or reinforcing it. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 4. Theories of motivation which analyze the interaction of factors which motivate behavior. Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. 5. Broadening of awareness through new and challenging experiences. Another content theory from this period is Clayton Alderfer's “ERG” theory. Alderfer, C.P. (1972). Existence, relatedness, and growth: Human needs in organizational settings. New York: Free Press. According to Alderfer, people's needs can be broken down into the categories of existence, relatedness, and growth. Like Maslow's hierarchy, Alderfer's model portrayed people's needs in a hierarchical fashion. It differed from Maslow's hierarchy, however, both in its nomenclature for the levels in the hierarchy and in its contention that development through the hierarchy takes place in a cycle between differentiation and integration'. Differentiation is a broadening of people's awareness through new and challenging experiences, whereas integration follows as an individual brings together diverse elements of his or her personality into a new and more unified form. When you decide to join a new club or organization, for instance, you first meet many people whose habits and behaviors may be new and perhaps disorienting to you. Later, however, you become more familiar with the way things work and feel consolidated and confident in your role within that group. - Helen Keller 6. Bringing together diverse elements of one's personality into a new and more unified form. The Latin term sine qua non literally means “without which, not” or “that without which, nothing.” In other words, if something is a sine qua non, it's absolutely necessary. Emerson's comment indicates that he considered enthusiasm to be the sine qua non of greatness. Our position in this book is that motivation is the sine qua non of effective group action. 7. Frederick Herzberg's content theory of motivation, which posits two kinds of rewards as part of motivation. As Hoy & MiskelHoy, W.K., & Miskel, C.G. (1982). Educational administration: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). New York: Random House. noted, motivation comprises “complex forces that start and maintain voluntary activity directed to achieve personal goals.” In short, being motivated means having energy and wanting to put it to work. 8. In Herzberg's two-factor theory, factors which contribute to satisfaction, but which when absent don't cause dissatisfaction. A third content theory is Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory'. Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. (1959). The motivation to work. New York: Wiley. Herzberg classed rewards as either “motivators” or “hygienes.” He held that motivators®—including achievement, recognition, responsibility, and the opportunity to advance within a group-are factors which contribute to satisfaction, but which when absent don't cause dissatisfaction. In other words, we appreciate them but can do without them. Hygienes’, on the other hand-such as money, status, and job security–don't create satisfaction when they're present, according to Herzberg, but do lead to dissatisfaction if they're absent. In a sense, Before we examine just what motivation accomplishes within an individual or in a group setting, we should first take a look at a number of views concerning where it comes from. 9. In Herzberg's two-factor theory, factors which don't create satisfaction when they're present, but which lead to dissatisfaction if they're absent. 313 9.2 Role of Motivation 314 Chapter 9 Group Motivation Chapter 9 Group Motivation Expectancy Theory thus, they're what people consider to be basic minimal needs and can go only as far as preventing dissatisfaction. Two more content theories of motivation have been identified by more contemporary authorities. Kenneth ThomasThomas, K.W. (2000). Intrinsic motivation at work: Building energy and commitment. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. drew a distinction between extrinsic rewards?'—those which come from the external environment-and intrinsic rewards", which come from within an individual or group. Expectancy theory was originated by Victor VroomVroom, V. (1964). Work and motivation. New York: Wiley. and has been broadened and popularized since then by other authorities. Vroom's theory is complex, but its central idea is straightforward: People are most likely to be motivated in a certain way if they believe 1) that they will receive a reward, 2) that the reward they expect to receive is something they value highly, and 3) that they can do what it takes to achieve the reward. Thomas believed that intrinsic rewards are more likely to motivate people and identified four kinds of intrinsic motivators. The first is a sense of meaningfulness"?, which is the idea that what a person or group is doing is worthwhile. The second is a sense of choice", which is the feeling that the person or group can make decisions about how to behave. The third is a sense of competence?4, which is the belief that the person or group is behaving capably. The fourth motivator is a sense of progress"), which is the feeling that the person or group is actually accomplishing something. Here's an example. If the members of a team of employees think they will receive praise from their boss if they produce a snappy PowerPoint presentation as part of a project they've been assigned, if they all care about receiving the boss's praise, and if they think they have the skills to create the presentation, then they're apt to work hard on the activity. Attribution Theory Attribution theory holds that people's behavior is motivated by how they interpret the behavior of others around them. For instance, we may think that what's causing others to act as they do is a combination of internal, personal factors. On the other hand, we may think that their behavior is a product of environmental variables. A final content theory of motivation was put forth by Steven ReissReiss, S. (2000). Who am I? The 16 basic desires that motivate our behavior and define our personality. New York: Tarcher/Putnam and http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/whoami.htm and developed as the outgrowth of a study involving more than 6,000 people. On the basis of statistical analysis of his results, Reiss contended that 16 basic desires motivate people's behavior: power, independence, curiosity, acceptance, order, saving, honor, idealism, social contact, family, status, vengeance, romance, eating, physical exercise, and tranquility. Interestingly, Reiss asserted that 14 of the 16 desires are similar to those found in animals and are likely to be genetically determined. He also suggested that people's motivations differ substantially from individual to individual and group to group because each person's ranking of the 16 desires is unique. 16. Victor Vroom's process theory of motivation, which contends that people are motivated to behave based on whether they believe a reward will ensue, whether the reward appeals to them, and whether they believe they can earn the reward. According to attribution theory, people might actually be motivated to convey more significant rewards for someone's failure than for success. Take the case of the team of employees working on the project. Let's say that their PowerPoint presentation has several errors in it. If the boss observes it and thinks, “Wow,they must've put a lot of time into this,” he or she might be motivated to congratulate the team on its hard work and offer some kindly advice for improving the presentation. On the other hand, if the presentation is letter-perfect but the boss thinks, “I'll bet the department head down the hall showed them exactly how to do that,” the boss may be motivated to offer only a routine acknowledgement that the assignment has been completed. Process Theories of Motivation 10. Rewards originating in the external environment. 11. Rewards which arise from within an individual or group. 12. The idea that what a person or group is doing is worthwhile. 13. The feeling that a person or group can make decisions about how to behave. 14. The belief that a person or group is behaving capably. 15. The feeling that a person or group is accomplishing something. Goal Theory Theorists who espouse process theories of motivation are more interested in what starts, sustains, and stops behavior than they are in the things that motivate the behavior in the first place. We'll consider four kinds of process theories in this section. 17. A process theory of motivation holding that that people are motivated according to what they believe underlies other people's actions and attitudes. 18. A process theory of motivation comprising seven steps whereby people act to identify and pursue goals. Goal theoryl®Locke, E.A. (1968). Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives. nal Behavior and Human Performance, 3, 157–189. contends that people are motivated to behave in certain ways, and to keep behaving in those ways, primarily because they intend to achieve particular goals. This sounds simple and reasonable enough, but goal theorists believe that reaching a goal actually includes seven 9.2 Role of Motivation 315 9.2 Role of Motivation 316 Chapter 9 Group Motivation steps. The first five steps bring behavior about, whereas the last two maintain and regulate it. Here's what a goal-setter has to do in these seven steps: first, survey and understand his or her environment; second, evaluate which elements of the environment are of value to him or her; third, make an emotional assessment of possible courses of action; fourth, decide what is apt to happen if he or she behaves in a particular way; fifth, decide how likely it is that the results he or she desires can actually be produced; sixth, decide exactly how to behave; and seventh, take action. The authors of this book appreciate the intellectual elegance of goal theory but wonder if they, you, or anyone any of us know has ever deliberately followed all these steps! Behaviorism Behaviorism" has probably received more attention and is better known throughout the public at large than any of the other three theories we've discussed. B.F. Skinner, Skinner, B.F. (1974). About behaviorism. New York: Knopf. the most prominent Western exponent of behaviorism in the last century, wrote that all human behavior is a lawful process determined and controlled in systematic and consistent ways. Furthermore, Skinner and his adherents contended that all behavior is a function of its consequences in the environment. What this means is that any action people take will depend completely on what happens afterward. If the action affects the environment in such a way that it afterward strengthens the behavior, the behavior will persist or reoccur. If what happens afterward does not strengthen the behavior, on the other hand, the behavior will eventually cease. Unlike other theorists of motivation, behaviorists do not describe what happens inside people when they act in certain ways. They don't deny that people have feelings and thoughts, but to the degree that they deal with such phenomena at all, they consider them to be effects rather than causes of behavior. Fruits of Motivation We've already established that motivation is a necessary condition to the functioning of any individual or group. If we have it, we possess the capacity to take action. 19. A process theory of motivation which states that people's actions depend solely on the consequences of those actions. So, what action might we take? Three possibilities stand out, each of them either for better or worse. First of all, we may comply with other people's wishes, rules, or expectations. We may be motivated, for instance, to obey traffic signals and “no trespassing” signs. 9.2 Role of Motivation 317
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