Deck 6: The Nature of Work Motivation

Question 1

According to Maslow, self-actualization is the highest-level need.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A high level of motivation always results in a high level of performance.

Answer 2

False
Because motivation is only one of several factors that can affect performance, a high level of motivation does not always result in a high level of performance.

Question 3

Extrinsically motivated work behavior is performed to acquire material or social rewards, or to avoid punishment.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The key challenge facing managers in terms of motivation is how to encourage employees to contribute inputs to their jobs and to the organization.

Question 5

Employees with low motivation may perform at a high level if they have a great deal of ability.

Question 6

All motivated workers will seek to help an organization achieve its goals.

Question 7

Motivation is only one of several factors that can affect performance.

Question 8

Direction of behavior refers to how hard a person works to perform a chosen behavior.

Question 9

Intrinsically motivated work behavior is performed for its consequences.

Question 10

Maslow's hierarchy of needs proposes that all human beings have five universal needs: physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Question 11

The three key elements of work motivation are direction of behavior, level of effort, and goal achievement.

Question 12

When faced with obstacles, a person's level of persistence determines how hard he or she will keep trying to perform a chosen behavior successfully.

Question 13

Employees can be motivated in functional or dysfunctional ways.

Question 14

A need is a requirement for survival and well-being.

Question 15

Patty Signs dislikes serving as an unpaid volunteer at the local Red Cross, but does it to maintain her position as one of the social leaders in her community. Patty's volunteer work is the product of her intrinsic work motivation.

Question 16

An employee's work motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic, but not both.

Question 17

An employee's motivation to do a job is equivalent to his or her job performance.

Question 18

Work motivation can be defined as the psychological forces within a person that determine his or her behavior, effort level, and persistence.

Question 19

Work motivation explains why employees behave the way they do.

Question 20

Rather than being only one theory, need theory is actually a group of theories about work motivation.

Question 21

Clayton Alderfer's existence-relatedness-growth (ERG) theory is a need theory of work motivation.

Question 22

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, physiological needs involve security, stability, and a safe environment.

Question 23

According to ERG theory, once a lower-level need is satisfied, it is no longer a source of motivation.

Question 24

Expectancy is an employee's perception about the extent to which his or her effort will result in a certain level of job performance.

Question 25

Employees are going to be motivated to perform desired behaviors at a high level only if they think they can do so.

Question 26

If an outcome has negative valence, an employee prefers having the outcome to not having it.

Question 27

Valence refers to how desirable each of the available outcomes is to most workers.

Question 28

Maslow argued that once a need is satisfied, it is no longer a source of motivation.

Question 29

Maslow asserted that unsatisfied needs are the prime motivators of behavior.

Question 30

Managers need to make sure that employees who perform at a high level do in fact receive the outcomes that they desire - outcomes with high positive valence.

Question 31

Instrumentality is the perceived association between a certain level of job performance and the receipt of a specific outcome.

Question 32

Expectancy theory is concerned with how employees make choices among alternative behaviors and levels of effort.

Question 33

When employees think that good performance goes unrecognized, their motivation to perform at a high level tends to be low.

Question 34

In ERG theory, growth needs involve the realization of one's full potential as a human being.

Question 35

According to expectancy theory, employees are motivated to receive positive outcomes and avoid negative outcomes.

Question 36

Motivational problems may occur because highly valiant outcomes are unavailable to employees.

Question 37

Expectancy theory asserts that valence, instrumentality, and expectancy determine an employee's level of motivation.

Question 38

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, higher-level needs take precedence over lower-level needs.

Question 39

Instrumentality can be positive or negative and varies in size or magnitude.

Question 40

The three types of needs in Alderfer's theory are existence, relatedness, and growth.

Question 41

Which of the following is NOT a part of the definition for work motivation?

A) level of effort
B) direction of behavior
C) level of persistence
D) order of functionality

Question 42

In order for an employee to be motivated to perform desired behaviors and to perform them at a high level, expectancy, instrumentality, and valence must all be high.

Question 43

Equity theory proposes that the objective level of outcomes and inputs is important in determining work motivation.

Question 44

Leaving the organization is a common response to underpayment inequity.

Question 45

Workers who perceive overpayment inequity are more likely to modify their perceptions of inputs and outcomes than to increase their inputs to restore equity.

Question 46

The concept of informational justice involves employees' perceptions of how well managers explain their decisions and the procedures used to reach those decisions.

Question 47

Within equity theory, the term "outcomes" refers exclusively to pay, benefits, and vacation time.

Question 48

Procedural justice is concerned with the perceived fairness of the distribution of outcomes in an organization, such as pay or promotions.

Question 49

The outcome/input ratio is the relationship between what an employee gets from a job (outcomes), and what he or she contributes to the job (inputs).

Question 50

Equity exists when the outcome/input ratio of an individual is equal to the outcome/input ratio of the referent.

Question 51

An employee's perception of overall fairness in his or her organization is called organizational justice.

Question 52

According to Adams, a referent could be another employee, oneself at a different place or time, or one's expectations.

Question 53

Interpersonal justice is concerned with the perceived fairness of the interpersonal interactions between peers in the workplace.

Question 54

Perceptions of procedural justice are especially important when outcomes, such as pay or benefits, are relatively low.

Question 55

Organizations cannot boost employees' expectancies.

Question 56

Employees' reactions to procedures depend on how fair they perceive them to be, not how fair they may actually be.

Question 57

Underpayment inequity exists when an individual perceives that his or her outcome/input ratio is less than that of a referent.

Question 58

Which element of work motivation answers the question "how hard does a person work to perform a chosen behavior"?

A) level of effort
B) openness
C) level of persistence
D) direction of behavior

Question 59

Consider a customer service representative who contributes more inputs to his job than his referent, but who receives the same outcomes as his referent. This situation exemplifies overpayment inequity.

Question 60

Procedural justice theory asserts that employees will be more motivated if they think their performance will be accurately assessed.

Question 61

Which of the following is the correct order for the motivation equation?

A) inputs, performance, evaluation
B) performance, inputs, evaluation
C) outputs, inputs, performance
D) inputs, performance, outputs

Question 62

According to need theory, a manager first must ________ in order to determine what will motivate an employee the most.

A) determine the needs an employee is trying to satisfy on the job
B) determine appropriate rewards for performance
C) identify the employee's personality characteristics
D) specify nonperformance penalties

Question 63

________ is performed to acquire material or social rewards or to avoid punishment.

A) Self-preservation behavior
B) Extrinsically motivated work behavior
C) Need motivated work behavior
D) Selfless behavior

Question 64

________ work behavior is performed for its own sake.

A) Intrinsically motivated
B) Extrinsically motivated
C) Functionally motivated
D) Psychologically motivated

Question 65

Maslow asserted that ________ pertain to realizing one's full potential as a human being.

A) esteem needs
B) belongingness needs
C) self-actualization needs
D) physiological needs

Question 66

A social scientist studying motivation would MOST LIKELY explain that arriving at work late or ignoring organizational rules are the results of ________.

A) below average motivation
B) dysfunctional motivation
C) poor motivation
D) misdirected motivation

Question 67

A wealthy heiress decides to take a job as a social worker. She is receiving a lot of news coverage because of her decision, and while she doesn't like the media attention, she is happy that the news reporters are seeing her as the selfless person she wants to be. Her work behavior is BEST described as ________.

A) intrinsically motivated
B) extrinsically motivated
C) functional
D) dysfunctional

Question 68

The key challenge facing managers in terms of motivation is how to encourage employees to ________.

A) expect more outcomes from the job
B) shift from extrinsic to intrinsic work behavior
C) contribute inputs to their jobs and to the organization
D) shift from intrinsic to extrinsic work behavior

Question 69

Employees who have intrinsic work values will be motivated by ________.

A) challenging assignments
B) status in the workplace
C) social contacts
D) financial rewards

Question 70

________ is an evaluation of the results of a person's behavior.

A) Motivation
B) Performance
C) Level of effort
D) Level of persistence

Question 71

Mike Smith has led the company softball team to three straight league championships with his excellent pitching skills. Surprisingly, Mike dislikes softball, never practices, and is often bored while pitching in games. This incident illustrates that ________.

A) performance and motivation are not the same thing
B) expectancy can moderate the motivational level expended
C) valence must be high for a worker to perform the desired behavior
D) what is functional for one worker may be dysfunctional for another

Question 72

As sales account manager for J & R, Inc., Chris Nguyen can choose to call on customers, do her sales reports, or goof off on company time. The option she chooses BEST exhibits which element of work motivation?

A) level of effort
B) dedication to work
C) level of persistence
D) direction of behavior

Question 73

Which of the following does NOT pertain to performance in the motivation equation?

A) quality of work
B) quantity of work
C) level of customer service
D) feeling of accomplishment

Question 74

According to Maslow, ________ involve social interaction, friendship, affection, and love.

A) esteem needs
B) belongingness needs
C) self-actualization needs
D) physiological needs

Question 75

Workers who repeatedly try to successfully perform a chosen behavior, despite roadblocks and obstacles, are BEST described as displaying ________.

A) maximum levels of resistance
B) high levels of positive affectivity
C) low levels of openness to experience
D) high levels of persistence

Question 76

Which of the following is NOT an outcome in the motivation equation?

A) job security
B) feeling of accomplishment
C) level of customer service
D) vacation

Question 77

According to the hierarchy of needs, the most basic needs are ________.

A) safety and self-actualization
B) psychological and psychosocial
C) physiological and safety
D) analytical and pathological

Question 78

A manager surveyed his employees to find out what motivates them at work. Over three quarters of the employees responded that they are most concerned with providing for themselves and their families. The rest said they were motivated to fit in with society. To keep his employees motivated, the manager is MOST LIKELY to ________.

A) use extrinsic motivation as much as possible
B) use a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for all employees
C) file away the surveys because motivation does not determine performance
D) use intrinsic motivation as much as possible

Question 79

Laura has dreamed of playing in a symphony. She practices her instrument everyday and yet year after year, she cannot successfully play the difficult musical piece necessary to try out. This is an example of ________.

A) motivation not equaling performance
B) vicarious learning being of upmost importance
C) motivation being the main factor in performance
D) extrinsic motivation outweighing intrinsic motivation

Question 80

Need theory, expectancy theory, equity theory, and organizational justice theory are ________.

A) complementary perspectives
B) mutually exclusive perspectives
C) divergent perspectives
D) noncontiguous perspectives