Workplace Diversity and Motivation Quiz

Workplace Diversity

• Deep-level Diversity refers to differences in values, personality, and work preferences that become increasingly important in determining similarity as people get to know each other better.
• Cultural intelligence (CQ) is the ability to understand someone's unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures in the same way as would people from that person's culture.
• Cultural code-switching is the ability to modify behavior in specific situations to accommodate varying cultural norms.

Motivation

• Motivation accounts for an individual's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort towards reaching a goal.
• McGregor's Theory X assumes people dislike work and avoid it, while Theory Y suggests people are intrinsically motivated and exercise self-direction and self-control.
• Intrinsic motivators stem from a person's internal desire to do something due to interest, enjoyment, and satisfaction.

Needs Theories

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Individuals are motivated by a hierarchy of needs, starting with basic physiological needs and progressing towards self-actualization.
• Alderfer's ERG Theory: Individuals are motivated by three categories of needs: Existence, Relatedness, and Growth.
• Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory: Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are influenced by different factors. Hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction, but do not motivate, while motivators lead to satisfaction.
• McClelland's Theory of Needs: Individuals are motivated by three needs: Achievement, Affiliation, and Power.

Relationship of Various Needs Theories

• Some theories overlap and complement each other.
• For example, Maslow's need for esteem may align with McClelland's need for achievement.
• Alderfer's theory provides a more simplified approach compared to Maslow's model with its three overarching categories.

Summary of Motivation Theories

• Expectancy Theory: Effort will lead to good performance, which will result in organizational rewards that meet personal goals.
• Goal-Setting Theory: Setting specific, challenging, and achievable goals can increase motivation and performance.
• Reinforcement Theory: Behavior is a function of its consequences. Behaviorism argues that behavior follows stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner.
• Equity Theory: Individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others, and respond to eliminate any perceived inequity.
• Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Offering extrinsic rewards for intrinsically rewarding work can decrease overall motivation.

Reinforcement Theory

• Schedules of Reinforcement:
  • Continuous reinforcement reinforces desired behavior each time it is demonstrated.
  • Intermittent reinforcement reinforces desired behavior often enough to make it worth repeating, but not every time.
• Fixed vs. Variable: Reinforcements can be fixed, meaning they occur at predictable intervals, or variable, meaning they occur at unpredictable intervals.

Social Cognitive Theory

• Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory: Individuals learn by observing the behavior of others and through self-regulation processes.
• Self-efficacy: Belief in one's capabilities to perform a specific task.
• Four Ways to Increase Self-Efficacy:
  • Enactive mastery: Gaining relevant experience with the task.
  • Vicarious modeling: Observing someone else successfully completing the task.
  • Verbal persuasion: Being convinced by others that you have the skills for success.
  • Arousal: Energizing yourself to perform better.

Job Design

• Job Design: Organizing job elements to influence employee effort.
• Job Characteristics Model:
  • Skill Variety: The degree to which the job requires a variety of different activities.
  • Task Identity: The degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
  • Task Significance: The degree to which the job has an impact on the lives or work of others.
  • Autonomy: The degree to which the job provides freedom, independence, and discretion in scheduling work and determining procedures.
  • Feedback: The degree to which carrying out work activities provides direct and clear information about performance.

Motivating by Job Redesign

• Job Rotation: Moving employees from one task to another.
• Job Enrichment: Increasing the responsibility and autonomy of a job.
• Job Enlargement: Adding more tasks to a job at the same level of responsibility.

Rewarding Individuals with Variable-Pay Programs

• Variable-pay programs are based on individual or organizational performance measures.
• Individual-based incentives:
  • Piece-rate pay: Employees are paid a fixed sum for each unit of production completed.
  • Merit-based pay: Rewards are based on performance appraisal ratings.
  • Bonuses: Significant compensation component for certain jobs.
• Organizational-based incentives:
  • Profit-sharing plan: Compensation is distributed based on company profitability.
  • Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP): Employees acquire company stock as part of benefits.

Flexible Benefits

• Flexible benefits allow employees to tailor benefits packages to their individual needs.
• Aligns with expectancy theory by linking organizational rewards to personal goals.

Motivating for Whom?

• Job engagement refers to an employee's investment of physical, cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance.
• Managers should recognize individual differences in needs and align goals, involvement, and rewards accordingly.
• Provide specific, challenging goals and feedback.
• Involve employees in decisions that affect them.
• Ensure that rewards are linked to desired performance.
• Check for equity in the rewards system.

Test your understanding of deep-level diversity, cultural intelligence, and motivation theories such as McGregor's Theory X and Y. Additionally, delve into Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and explore different intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. This quiz will help you grasp essential concepts related to workplace dynamics and motivation.