INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION
PSYCH 12NN | notes by R.S., CHRA
a computer programmer might believe he is a person whom
MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES nobody likes (low chronic self esteem) but feel that he can
program a computer better than anyone else (high
Industrial psychologists generally define work motivation as situational self-esteem).
the internal force that drives a worker to action as well as the
external factors that encourage that action (Locke & Latham, On the basis of consistency theory, we should be able to
2002). improve performance by increasing an employee's
self-esteem, and the results of a meta-analysis of 43 studies
Ability and Skill determine whether a worker can do the job, indicate that interventions designed to increase self-esteem
but motivation determines whether the worker will do it or self-efficacy can greatly increase performance (McNatt,
properly. Campbell, & Hirschfeld, 2005).
Is an Employee Predisposed to being Motivated? Organizations can theoretically do this in three ways:
self-esteem workshops, experience with success, and
Psychologists have postulated that some employees are more supervisor behavior.
predisposed to being motivated than others. That is, some
employees come to most jobs with a tendency to be motivated, Self-esteem Workshops
whereas others come with the tendency to be unmotivated. To increase self-esteem, employees can attend workshops in
which they are given insights into their strengths.
SELF-ESTEEM
- Is the extent to which a person views him or herself For example, in a self-esteem training program called The
as a valuable and worthy individual. In the 1970s, Enchanted self (Holstein, 1997), employees try to
Korman (1970, 1976) theorized that employees high increase their self-esteem by learning how to think positively,
in self-esteem are more motivated and will perform discovering their positive qualities that may
better than employees low in self-esteem. have gone unnoticed, and share their positive qualities with
others.
According to Korman’s Consistency Theory, there is a
positive correlation between self-esteem and performance.
That is, employees who feel good about themselves are Experience with Success
motivated to perform better at work than employees who do With the experience-with-success approach , an employee is
not feel that they are valuable and worthy people. given a task so easy that he will almost certainly succeed.
The theory becomes somewhat complicated in that there This method is based loosely on the principle of the
are three types of self-esteem self-fulfilling prophecy which states that an individual will
perform as well or as poorly as he expects to perform. In
1. Chronic self-esteem other words, if an employee believes he will always fail, the
● The positive or negative way in which a person views only way to break the vicious cycle is to ensure that he
himself or herself as a whole. performs well on a task. This relationship between
Self-expectations and performance is called the Galatea
2. Situational Self-esteem effect.
● The positive or negative way in which a person views
him or herself in a particular situation
Supervisor Behavior
3. Socially influenced self-esteem Another approach to increasing employee self-esteem is to
● The positive or negative way in which a person views train supervisors to communicate a feeling of confidence in an
him or herself based on the expectations of others. employee.
The idea here is that if an employee feels that a manager has
For example: An employee might be low in chronic confidence in him, his self-esteem will increase, as well his
self-esteem but very high in situational self-esteem. That is, performance.
PSYCH 12NN | notes by R.S., CHRA
a computer programmer might believe he is a person whom
MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES nobody likes (low chronic self esteem) but feel that he can
program a computer better than anyone else (high
Industrial psychologists generally define work motivation as situational self-esteem).
the internal force that drives a worker to action as well as the
external factors that encourage that action (Locke & Latham, On the basis of consistency theory, we should be able to
2002). improve performance by increasing an employee's
self-esteem, and the results of a meta-analysis of 43 studies
Ability and Skill determine whether a worker can do the job, indicate that interventions designed to increase self-esteem
but motivation determines whether the worker will do it or self-efficacy can greatly increase performance (McNatt,
properly. Campbell, & Hirschfeld, 2005).
Is an Employee Predisposed to being Motivated? Organizations can theoretically do this in three ways:
self-esteem workshops, experience with success, and
Psychologists have postulated that some employees are more supervisor behavior.
predisposed to being motivated than others. That is, some
employees come to most jobs with a tendency to be motivated, Self-esteem Workshops
whereas others come with the tendency to be unmotivated. To increase self-esteem, employees can attend workshops in
which they are given insights into their strengths.
SELF-ESTEEM
- Is the extent to which a person views him or herself For example, in a self-esteem training program called The
as a valuable and worthy individual. In the 1970s, Enchanted self (Holstein, 1997), employees try to
Korman (1970, 1976) theorized that employees high increase their self-esteem by learning how to think positively,
in self-esteem are more motivated and will perform discovering their positive qualities that may
better than employees low in self-esteem. have gone unnoticed, and share their positive qualities with
others.
According to Korman’s Consistency Theory, there is a
positive correlation between self-esteem and performance.
That is, employees who feel good about themselves are Experience with Success
motivated to perform better at work than employees who do With the experience-with-success approach , an employee is
not feel that they are valuable and worthy people. given a task so easy that he will almost certainly succeed.
The theory becomes somewhat complicated in that there This method is based loosely on the principle of the
are three types of self-esteem self-fulfilling prophecy which states that an individual will
perform as well or as poorly as he expects to perform. In
1. Chronic self-esteem other words, if an employee believes he will always fail, the
● The positive or negative way in which a person views only way to break the vicious cycle is to ensure that he
himself or herself as a whole. performs well on a task. This relationship between
Self-expectations and performance is called the Galatea
2. Situational Self-esteem effect.
● The positive or negative way in which a person views
him or herself in a particular situation
Supervisor Behavior
3. Socially influenced self-esteem Another approach to increasing employee self-esteem is to
● The positive or negative way in which a person views train supervisors to communicate a feeling of confidence in an
him or herself based on the expectations of others. employee.
The idea here is that if an employee feels that a manager has
For example: An employee might be low in chronic confidence in him, his self-esteem will increase, as well his
self-esteem but very high in situational self-esteem. That is, performance.
