Employee motivation in the workplace The job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees. But that's easier said than done! Motivation practice and theory are difficult subjects, touching on several disciplines. In spite of enormous research, basic as well as applied, the subject of motivation is not clearly understood and more often than not poorly practiced. To understand motivation one must understand human nature itself. And there lies the problem! Human nature can be very simple, yet very complex too. An understanding and appreciation of this is a prerequisite to effective employee motivation in the workplace and therefore effective management and leadership. Our articles on motivation theory and practice concentrate on various theories regarding human nature in general and motivation in particular. Included are articles on the practical aspects of motivation in the workplace and the research that has been undertaken in this field, notably by Douglas McGregor (theory y), Frederick Herzberg (two factor motivation hygiene theory,) Abraham Maslow (theory z, hierarchy of needs), Elton Mayo (Hawthorne Experiments) Chris Argyris Rensis Likert and David McClelland (achievement motivation.) Why study and apply employee motivation principles? Quite apart from the benefit and moral value of an altruistic approach to treating colleagues as human beings and respecting human dignity in all its forms, research and observations show that well motivated employees are more productive and creative. The inverse also holds true. The schematic below indicates the potential contribution the practical application of the principles this paper has on reducing work content in the organization.
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Employee Motivation in the workplace- theory and practice
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Employee motivation in the workplace
The job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the
manager should be able to motivate employees. But that's easier said than done! Motivation
practice and theory are difficult subjects, touching on several disciplines.
In spite of enormous research, basic as well as applied, the subject of motivation is not clearly
understood and more often than not poorly practiced. To understand motivation one must
understand human nature itself. And there lies the problem!
Human nature can be very simple, yet very complex too. An understanding and appreciation of
this is a prerequisite to effective employee motivation in the workplace and therefore effective
management and leadership.
Our articles on motivation theory and practice concentrate on various theories regarding
human nature in general and motivation in particular. Included are articles on the practical
aspects of motivation in the workplace and the research that has been undertaken in this field,
notably by Douglas McGregor (theory y), Frederick Herzberg (two factor motivation
hygiene theory,) Abraham Maslow (theory z, hierarchy of needs), Elton Mayo
(Hawthorne Experiments) Chris Argyris Rensis Likert and David McClelland
(achievement motivation.)
Why study and apply employee motivation principles?
Quite apart from the benefit and moral value of an altruistic approach to treating colleagues as
human beings and respecting human dignity in all its forms, research and observations show
that well motivated employees are more productive and creative. The inverse also holds true.
The schematic below indicates the potential contribution the practical application of the
principles this paper has on reducing work content in the organization.
Application of employee motivation theory to the workplace
| 1 | 2 |
Job satisfaction - is there a trend?
This is the title of a study carried out by the US Department of Labor among 1500 workers, who were asked to rate the job factors, from a list of 23, which they considered important starting from the most important factor. Their findings (Sanzotta (1977)) are:
White-collar workers Blue-collar workers
a. interesting work
b. opportunity to develop special
abilities
c. enough information
d. enough authority
e. enough help and equipment;
f. friendly and helpful coworkers
g. opportunity to see results of work
h. competent supervision
i. responsibilities clearly defined
j. good pay
a. good pay
b. enough help and equipment
c. job security
d. enough information
e. interesting work
f. friendly and helpful coworkers
g. responsibilities clearly defined
h. opportunity to see results of work
i. enough authority
j. competent supervision
It is interesting that out of the 23 job factors listed for the survey, yet with the exception of two
items (white-collar workers' choice (b) and blue-collar workers' choice (c)) groups selected the
same top ten factors, although with different rankings. It is significant that good pay was
considered as the most important factor by the blue-collar workers, but it ranked as the least
important for white-collar workers.
Motivating your salesforce
It is well known that individual behavior is intensely personal and unique, yet companies seek
to use the same policies to motivate everyone. This is mainly for convenience and ease
compared to catering for individual oddities (Lindstone (1978)). 'Tailoring' the policy to the
needs of each individual is difficult but is far more effective and can pay handsome dividends.
Fairness, decisiveness, giving praise and constructive criticism can be more effective than
money in the matter of motivation. Leadership is considered synonymous (Tack (1979)) with
motivation, and the best form of leadership is designated as SAL, situation adaptable
leadership. In this style of leadership, one is never surprised or shocked, leadership must begin
with the chief executive and it is more a matter of adaptation than of imparting knowledge.
Ultimately, it is the leadership quality which leads to the success of a company through
building and motivating its people.
'The one-minute manager'
A contemporary bestseller (Blanchard & Johnson (1983)) aimed at managers who seek to make
star performers of their subordinates. To start with, the manager sets a goal, e.g. one page
read in one minute, and it is seen to be achieved by 'one minute' of praising or reprimand as
the case may be. But to be effective, these must be given (a) promptly, (b) in specific terms,
and the behavior, rather than the person, should be praised or reprimanded.
The concept is basic and it makes sense, although the book seeks to 'dramatize' it. 'One
minute' praising is seen to be the motivating force. Everyone is considered a winner, though
some people are disguised as losers, and the manager is extolled not to be fooled by such
appearances.
'Lessons from America's Best-run Companies'
Another bestseller, In Search of Excellence (Peters & Waterman (1982)). Several criteria,
including analysis of annual reports and in-depth interviews, were used to pick 14 'model
excellent companies' out of an initial sample of 62 companies. As expected, most of the action
in high-performing companies revolved around its people, their success being ascribed to:
productivity through people;
extraordinary performance from ordinary employees;
treating people decently.
Personnel function and in particular leadership were considered the most critical components.
If the leaders in an organization can create and sustain an environment in which all employees
are motivated, the overall performance is bound to be good. The three essentials for creating
such an environment are:
fairness;
job security; and
involvement.
Of all the resources available, the human resource is clearly the most significant, but also the
most difficult to manage. Excellence can only be achieved through excellent performance of
every person, rather than by the high-pitched performance of a few individuals. And motivation
is, undoubtedly, the crux.
Conclusion
There is no simple answer to the question of how to motivate people. Can money motivate?
Yes, but money alone is not enough, though it does help. We have discussed some of the
pertinent theories bearing on human motivation and this is balanced by some of the practical
factors which can lead to excellence. Human resource remains the focal point and leadership
the critical component, and motivation has to be 'tailored' to each individual. The next section
deals with an important mode of motivation, namely financial aspects of rewarding employees.
Employee rewards
Introduction
The previous section dealt with motivation theory and practice. There is no doubt that
motivation is the crux for good performance, but there is no clear cut answer to the question of
how to motivate. The previous pages gave a glimpse of the answer through various theories
and practices.
Money is a factor in motivating people and this section concentrates on this. Employee reward
systems are discussed in general and later in specifics in terms of payment by results. Various
schemes for financial motivation are also described.
Money is important!
This is, perhaps, saying the obvious. But it still needs to be said, for a perusal of the previous
section may give the impression to the contrary, at least judging from Maslow's concept.
Refreshing as it is, if the theory was completely valid then, at least in affluent countries,
economic incentives should have lost all their force. This, we know is not correct.
According to Peter Drucker (1974) 'there is not one shred of evidence for the alleged turning
away from material rewards... Antimaterialism is a myth, no matter how much it is extolled.' In
fact, they are taken so much for granted that their denial may act as a de-motivator.
'Economic incentives are becoming rights rather than rewards.'
There is no doubt that we live in a money-motivated world. Any amount of human relations
cannot compensate for a lack of monetary reward. If the reward is right, good human
relations will give that extra zest to a team, motivating them to give of their best efforts.
Insufficient monetary reward cannot be compensated by good human relations.
Even dedicated footballers do not think of playing for England, they merely pay 'lip service' to
it.; the financial rewards of playing for their clubs far exceed those recieved from playing from
their country .Cricketers and rugby players no longer play for their own country but opt for the
'highest bidder'. Professional tennis players have refused to play at Wimbledon, the 'Mecca' of
lawn tennis, because the rewards were not attractive.
It is no different in the industrial world. Strikes for better salary and rewards do still occur. All
this despite the claim of psychologists that security is the prime need of a person, as indicated
in the previous section. Has the sense of values changed with time? But we are not concerned
here with the philosophical angle, but with hard facts of life in a commercial world.
Self-motivation can go only so far and it needs to be constantly reinforced by rewards. In
particular, merit must be measured and rewarded regularly, if it is to be encouraged and
sustained. The 'gold banana' in Foxboro has its origin in just an ordinary banana which one of
the pioneers could muster on the spur of the moment when he discovered extraordinary
performance by one of the employees (see next section.)
Employee rewards
Motivating executives
We discuss this subject separately, since there is an indication from various surveys (see
previous section) that the blue-collar and white-collar workers do not attach the same
importance to financial incentives. This is probably more due to differing value system of the
two, rather than the importance each attaches to the money per se.
Properly used, money can be a motivating factor, but little money may have no effect (Crystal
(1970)). To achieve motivation of executives, therefore:
reward should be meaningful; and
reward should vary with performance.
The concept is simple, but its implementation is not easy. However, the job is well worth
trying. To be effective, the reward should be 'tailored' to each individual, but only as part of
the total compensation concept. It is essential (Moore (1968)) to develop an overall program
within which each compensation package must be individualized.
There is also need for constant search of new ideas in this respect. The essentials of an
The aim of the plan was to reduce waste and increase efficiency with consequent increase of
productivity and profits. The savings and surplus resulting from implementation of the
suggestions of the group are shared. For equitable distribution, a committee has to administer
the plan and the company has to disclose (McBeath (1974)) a considerable amount of financial
data and be also prepared to share profits.
As a result the plan has not always been successful. In a survey (Gruneberg & Oborne (1982))
of 44 cases, 30 were reported to be successful. Thus success has been achieved in some
companies and in some situations. But the concept is sound. The plan gives the participants a
real sense of participation and self-esteem, and the group cohesion and motivation are
increased in anticipation of the reward. Other methods of payment by results include:
time saved;
piecework;
daily work measurement;
productivity index;
added value.
In each case, the savings or increased production are quantified in monetary terms and sought
to be shared amongst the concerned people. Earlier schemes were based on individual effort
which could be appropriately rewarded. However, modern technology and production methods
are quite often based on a team approach, hence new schemes for payment by results have to
be tried and implemented, if found effective. In this case individuals do not get rewarded as a
result of their own effort and it is the group performance which counts. This requires a change
of attitude of the workers, as also of the management.
Like the Scanlon plan, the management needs to be prepared to discuss openly with the
workers / unions the real change / improvement in the relevant indices and this requires
disclosure of otherwise confidential financial and production data. In the long run, such an
open attitude will benefit both.
Which scheme is best?
There is no such scheme! Each situation must be studied in depth and a suitable scheme
'tailored' for the specific situation. Also important is the history and culture of the organisation
concerned. Anything radically different and without active participation of all concerned is
bound to fail. It is advisable also not to introduce drastic changes suddenly. The system must
be properly formulated and after full and frank discussion with the concerned people tried out
on a 'mini' scale and refined in the light of the experience gained.
The main factors involved in selection of a suitable scheme are:
micro versus macro level;
problems of implementation; and
maintenance over a sustained period.
The micro versus macro aspect has been briefly touched on earlier in this chapter. Both have
their pros and cons and an ideal system may well be a combination of the two. It is good to
reward individual performance since it could act as an instant motivator. On the other hand
certain benefits result only from a group action and therefore must be shared among the
entire group or even across the entire company.
Implementation of any scheme is the most important phase and it should not be rushed
through. Sufficient time should be allowed for discussion and suggestions from the concerned
group. At this stage all problems that may arise during implementation stage cannot be
foreseen, but some of the obvious ones certainly can be anticipated.
Once implemented, both sides should be willing to modify the scheme in the light of the
experience gained. There should be no hesitation to refine the scheme until found completely
satisfactory. It will require full cooperation and complete honesty.
Conclusions
Money is certainly a motivator and a major one at that. Success of companies such as of
Microsoft, IBM and other such tech companies is certainly, at least to some extent, a result of
such motivation. There are, of course, other factors particularly job satisfaction as shown in the
previous section.
Rewarding employees financially does improve levels of employee motivation and thus
improves productivity, which ultimately shows up in the 'bottom line', and part of the increased
profits must be circulated back to the workforce responsible for it.
Some of the schemes for reward systems and payment by results have are briefly discussed.
The novel Glacier project and the Scanlon plan are briefly described. There is no such thing as
the 'best scheme'. It must be formulated and 'tailored' to each specific case.
Team Building: Managing the Norms of Informal Groups in the Workplace
This sub-article on the informal workgroups is available for use as a classroom / training
handout.
Click Managing Informal Group Norms to view the non-printable version.
Introduction
Jeff Lane was at his wits end. As a newly appointed production manager, he had tried virtually
everything to get his work group to come up to production standard. The equipment was
operating properly, and the group had the training and experience to meet expectations, yet it
was not performing well. What was wrong? And what could he do to correct the situation?
Managers and supervisors frequently face such a dilemma-standards that should be met but
aren't for what seems like no apparent reason. What Jeff Lane and other managers/
supervisors sometimes fail to realize is that within every organization there are often informal
group pressures that influence and regulate individual behavior.
Informal groups formulate an implicit code of ethics or an unspoken set of standards
establishing acceptable behavior In Jeff's department, the informal group may have
established a norm below that set by the organization, subtly exercising control over its
members regarding the amount of output.
Dynamics of informal groups
Informal groups almost always arise if opportunities exist.
Often, these groups serve a counter organizational function, attempting to counteract the
coercive tendencies in an organization. If management prescribes production norms that the
group considers unfair, for instance, the group's recourse is to adopt less demanding norms
and to use its ingenuity to discover ways in which it can sabotage management's imposed
standards.
Informal groups have a powerful influence on the effectiveness of an organization, and can
even subvert its formal goals. But the informal group's role is not limited to resistance. The
impact of the informal group upon the larger formal group depends on the norms that the
informal group sets. So the informal group can make the formal organization more effective,
too.
A norm is an implied agreement among the group's membership regarding how members in
the group should behave. From the perspective of the formal group, norms generally fall into
three categories-positive, negative, and neutral. In other words, norms either support,
obstruct, or have no effect on the aims of the larger organization.
For example, it the informal group in Jeff's shop set a norm supporting high output, that norm
would have been more potent than any attempt by Jeff to coerce compliance with the
standard. The reason is simple, yet profound. The norm is of the group members own making,
and is not one imposed upon them. There is a big motivational difference between being told
what to do and being anxious to do it.
If Jeff had been aware of group dynamics, he might have realized that informal groups can be
either his best friend or his worst enemy. He should have been sensitive to the informal groups
within his area and he should have cultivated their goodwill and cooperation and made use of
the informal group leadership.
That is, he should have wooed the leadership of the informal group and enlisted the support of
its membership to achieve the formal organization's aims. The final effect of his actions might
have been positive or negative, depending upon the agreement or lack of it between the
informal group and himself.
Harnessing the power of informal groups is no easy task. The requirements include:
an understanding of group dynamics and,
an ability to bring about changes in informal group norms that positively reinforce the
formal organization's goals.
As a starting point, managers and supervisors should at least be aware of the reasons behind informal group formation and the properties and characteristics of these groups.
Formation of informal work groups
Individuals are employed by an organization to perform specific functions. Although the whole
person joins an organization, attention is usually focused on the partial person, the part of the
individual doing the job. Because people have needs that extend beyond the work itself,
informal groups develop to fill certain emotional, social, and psychological needs.
The degree to which a group satisfies its members needs determines the limits within which
individual members of the group will allow their behavior to be controlled by the group.
Sense of belonging
Several major functions are served by informal groups. For example, the group serves as a
means of satisfying the affiliation needs of its members for friendship and support. People
need to belong, to be liked, to feel a part of something. Because the informal group can
withhold this attractive reward, it has a tool of its own to coerce compliance with its norms.
Identity and self esteem
Groups also provide a means of developing, enhancing, and confirming a person's sense of
identity and self-esteem. Although many organizations attempt to recognize these higher
needs, the nature of some jobs-their technology and environment-precludes this from
happening. The long assembly line or endless rows of desks reinforce a feeling of
depersonalization.
Stress reduction
Another function of groups is to serve as an agent for establishing and testing social reality.
For instance, several individuals may share the feeling that their supervisor is a slave driver or
that their working conditions are inadequate. By developing a consensus about these feelings,
group members are able to reduce the anxiety associated with their jobs.
All for one, one for all
Finally, the informal group serves as a defense mechanism against forces that group members
could not resist on their own. Joining forces in a small group makes the members feel stronger,
less anxious, and less insecure in the face of a perceived threat.
As long as needs exist that are not served by the formal organization, informal groups will form
to fill the gap. Since the group fills many important needs for its members, it influences
member behavior.
Leadership of informal work groups
Informal groups possess certain characteristics that, if understood, can be used to advantage.
While many of these characteristics are similar to those of formal organizations, others are
unique. One attribute of informal groups is rotational leadership.
The informal leader emerges as the individual possessing qualities that the other members
perceive as critical to the satisfaction of their specific needs at the moment; as the needs
change so does the leader. Only rarely does a single individual possess all of the leadership
characteristics needed to fill the various needs of the group.
Unlike the formally appointed leader who has a defined position from which to influence
others, the informal leader does not possess formal power. If the informal leader fails to meet
the group's expectations, he or she is deposed and replaced by another. The informal group's
judgment of its leaders tends to be quicker and more cold-blooded than that of most formal
groups.
Supervisory strategies
The supervisor can use several strategies to affect the leadership and harness the power of
informal groups. One quick and sure method of changing a group is to cause the leader to
change one or more of his or her characteristics. Another is to replace the leader with another
person.
One common ploy is to systematically rotate out of the group its leaders and its key members.
Considering the rotational nature of leadership, a leader may emerge who has aims similar to
the formal goals of the organization. There are problems with this approach, however. Besides
the practical difficulties of this, this strategy is blunted by the fact that group norms often
persist long after the leader has left the group.
A less Machiavellian approach is for the supervisor to be alert to leaders sympathetic to the
supervisor's objectives and to use them toward the betterment of the formal group's
effectiveness. Still another method is to attempt to 'co-opt' informal leaders by absorbing them
into the leadership or the decision-making structure of the formal group. Co-opting the
informal leader often serves as a means of averting threats to the stability of the formal
organization.
Remember, though, a leader may lose favor with the group because of this association with
management, and group members will most likely select another leader.
Informal Work Group Communication (The Grapevine)
Another characteristic of the informal group is its communications network. The informal group
has communications processes that are smoother and less cumbersome than those of the
formal organization.
Thus its procedures are easily changed to meet the communication needs of the group. In the
informal group, a person who possesses information vital to the group's functioning or well-
being is frequently afforded leadership status by its members. Also, the centrally located
person in the group is in the best position to facilitate the smooth flow of information among
group members.
Knowing about informal group communication the supervisor can provide a strategically
placed individual with information needed by the group. This not only enhances the stature of
this individual perhaps elevating him or her to a leadership position but also provides an
efficient means of distributing information. Providing relevant information to the group will also
help foster harmony between the supervisor and the informal group.
By winning the cooperation of informal group leaders the supervisor will most likely experience
fewer grievances and better relationships.
Informal group cohesiveness
A third characteristic of informal groups is group cohesiveness-the force that holds a group
together. Group cohesiveness varies widely based on numerous factors-including the size of
the group dependence of members upon the group achievement of goals status of the group
and management demands and pressures. For example group cohesiveness increases strongly
whenever the membership perceives a threat from the outside. This threat produces the high
anxiety that strong group cohesiveness can help reduce.
If the supervisor presses the group to conform to a new organizational norm that Is viewed as
a threat to the security needs of group members The group will become more unified in order
to withstand the perceived threat. Thus management can limit its own effectiveness by helping
to increase the group's cohesiveness. With the passing of the threat the group tends to lose its
cohesiveness.
Perhaps paradoxically the most dangerous time for group cohesion is when things are going
well. Supervisors can use the factors that affect group cohesiveness to increase their own
effectiveness.
Decision making process involvement
For instance a supervisor can involve the informal group members in the decision-making
process. Input from group members will not only reduce their feeling of alienation but also
improve communication between the supervisor and subordinates thereby reducing potential
conflict.
Where group participation in decision making is not practical the supervisor should carefully
explain the reasons to play down what might be seen as a threat to the group. In some cases
the supervisor may want to increase the groups cohesiveness deliberately devising situations
that put one group into competition with another. If this gambit is carefully controlled the
solidarity that results may bring a higher level of performance.
The danger of this strategy is that the supervisor may be unable to control the reaction of the
group. The ploy could backfire bringing competition and dissension within the group.
Informal group norms or values (unspoken rules)
The final characteristic of informal groups is the establishment of the groups norms (values).
As we discussed earlier, norms keep a group functioning as a system instead of a collection of
individuals.
Norms are of great importance to the informal group in controlling behavior and measuring the
performance of members. Because norm (values) violations threaten a group's existence,
departures from the norm usually carry severe sanctions. The members must either conform
or sever their group affiliation.
The latter action is unlikely, especially if the individual values group membership to satisfy
certain needs.
Two points are important to note about the norms of informal groups.
First, where both formal and informal norms exist, the informal norms transcend the
formal. At moments when norms conflict with organizational objectives, organizational
effectiveness suffers.
Second, members of an informal group may be unaware that the norms of the group
influence their behavior. Norms are particularly potent because without knowing it
members would not even think of acting otherwise-norms are that ingrained into their
behavior pattern.
Transforming informal work group/ team norms
A supervisor should attempt to encourage norms that positively affect the formal
organization's goals, and to alter those that are negative. If this is accomplished, the informal
group/ team will direct its energies toward desired goals.
How can a supervisor bring about a positive change in a group / team's norms?
Once a group / team has developed its norms, they are strictly enforced until changed. But
norms change frequently because the group / team must be responsive to changes in its
environment for self-protection. When a perceived change occurs in the environment that
affects the group / team, it tightens, eases, or changes it norms.
There are three stages to fostering group / team / team norms that are congenial to the
organization.
First Stage
The first stage involves determining what the group/ team/ norms are, and then getting group/
team members to recognize their existence and influence.
This can often be accomplished by observing the behavior patterns of the group / team,
interviewing group / team members, or asking the group/ team to identify its own norms. As
noted earlier, people frequently respect and follow norms unconsciously.
A suggested way is to use our Team Building - Informal Group Organizational Norms Employee
Survey (available for purchase by clicking here.) This instrument has ten predetermined
dimensions, these are (together with definitions,) as follows.
Organizational / Personal Pride. Satisfaction or pleasure taken in attaining personal
or organizational achievements.
Performance / Excellence. Manner or quality of functioning when striving to meet or
beat standards of performance. This includes setting personal standards when none are
set/ defined.
Teamwork / Communication. The perception that organizational goals and
objectives are communicated to and shared by members of the group. The organization
has effectively shared its' vision or sense of purpose so that all employees can articulate
and subscribe to.
Leadership / Supervision. The style of management / supervision in engaging
employees to deliver willingly their best efforts towards organizational goals.
Profitability / Cost Effectiveness. Awareness of employees of their roles and
actions to the organizations 'bottom line'.
Colleague / Associate Relations. Personal connections or dealings between or
among individuals and groups.
Customer / Client Relations. Personal and group attitude towards clients, both
internal (i.e. other departments in the case of service departments) and external
suppliers and customers.
Innovation / Creativity. To be aware of, appreciate the need for and strive for new
ways of performing a function, process, procedure or the organization's business model
in terms of the need flowing from constant changes in the external environment, the
need to be competitive and the need to retain customer loyalty and confidence.
Training / Development. The opportunities within the organization and the climate
set that promote personal growth and development.
Candor / Openness. The willingness to promote open, honest and direct dialog by all
employees at all levels on issues that affect individuals, groups and the organization as
a whole. This includes the sharing of information, respect for the diverse backgrounds
and experiences of members, the absence of 'competition over territory' and the
agreement of goals and levels of performance/ quality.
Helping define norms is useful because it assists the group / team in clarifying its thinking and
frees members from behavior patterns that they may not really wish to follow in the first place.
When group / team members actually become aware of negative norms, they commonly reject
them and seek alternative modes of behavior. And the supervisor can't begin to change
negative norms to positive ones until group / team members first become aware of their
existence.
Second Stage
Having identified the team's norms, the next stage is to measure the norms and establish a
norm profile. Using the Team Building - Informal Group Organizational Norms Employee Survey
instrument, each team member is posed a set of questions, related to the 10 dimensions. As
shown in the 'Group Norms Profile' graphic, the responses can be averaged and plotted in
order to obtain a norm profile for the group under review.
The difference between where the group / team is versus where the desired norms of the
group should be, denotes the normative "gap." These gaps provide the starting point for
determining where changes should occur.
Third Stage
The final stage is to bring about normative change. A systematic change process consists of
six steps:
Demonstrate the importance of norms in achieving organizational and group/ team
effectiveness.
Create positive norm goals through cooperative effort.
Establish normative change priorities.
Determine a plan of action to bring about change.
Implement and monitor the change strategy.
Review the effectiveness of the strategy periodically and modify where necessary.
This process emphasizes the creation of positive norms through cooperative effort that
benefits both the supervisor and the group/ team. Positive group/ team norms -increase the
effectiveness of the supervisor while providing an environment in which group/ team members
can satisfy their own needs.
The process also improves team communications and trust, reducing the anxiety sometimes
created by perceived threats from management.
If the informal group / team's norms are negative, they can negate the interests of an
organization many times the group / team's size. The process of change is a tool by which a
supervisor can deal with the informal group/ team stresses that exist within the organization
and that tend to de-motivate employees.
By fostering positive group norms, a supervisor can harness the power of informal groups and
release the energies of such groups to work together as a team to achieve desired goals.
The Self-fulfilling Prophecy or Pygmalion Effect
Introduction
In 1911 two researchers with the unlikely names of Stumpt and Pfungst began an investigation
of an even more unlikely horse named Clever Hans. The unlikely thing about Hans was that he
could add, subtract, multiply, divide, spell and solve problems involving musical harmony. Any
number of animals had been taught to perform such tricks before, but they all had to be cued
by their trainers.
The really clever thing about Clever Hans was that he could run through his repertoire even
when his owner a German mathematician named Von Osten, was not present. The horse would
answer questions for anyone. Von Osten swore he was mystified by the whole thing.
In 'Teachers and the Learning Process' (Prentice-Hall, 1971), Robert Strom describes what
Stumpt and Pfungst learned. "Among the first discoveries made was that if the horse could not
see the questioner, Hans was not clever at all. Similarly, if the questioner did not himself know
the answer to the question, Hans could not answer it either... A forward inclination of the head
of the questioner would start Hans tapping, Pfungst observed... as the experimenter
straightened up, Hans would stop tapping he found that even the raising of his eyebrows was
sufficient. Even the dilation of the questioner's nostrils was a cue for Hans to stop tapping."
In other words, unwittingly, people were giving the horse the correct answers by
communicating their expectations to him via physical signals. Hans was able to pick up on
those signals even subtle ones.
He was clever only when people expected him to be!
A management concept
As it is known and taught today in management and education circles, the notion of the self-
fulfilling prophecy was conceptualized by Robert Merton a professor of sociology at Columbia
University. In a 1957 work called 'Social Theory and Social Structure', Merton said the
phenomenon occurs when "a false definition of the situation evokes a new behavior which
makes the original false conception come true."
In other words, once an expectation is set, even if it isn't accurate, we tend to act in ways that
are consistent with that expectation. Surprisingly often, the result is that the expectation, as if
by magic, comes true.
An ancient myth
Magic certainly was involved in the ancient myth from which the idea of the self-fulfilling
prophecy takes its other common name. As Ovid told the story in the tenth book of
Metamorphoses, the sculptor Pygmalion, a prince of Cyprus, sought to create an ivory statue of
the ideal woman.
The result which he named Galatea, was so beautiful that Pygmalion fell desperately in love
with his own creation. He prayed to the goddess Venus to bring Galatea to life. Venus granted
his prayer and the couple lived happily ever after.
A modern update
That's where the name originated but a better illustration of the "Pygmalion Effect" is George
Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, in which Professor Henry Higgins insists that he can take a
Cockney flower girl and, with some vigorous training, pass her off as a duchess. He succeeds.
But a key point lies in a comment by the trainee, Eliza Doolittle, to Higgins' friend Pickering:
"You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the
proper way of speaking and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how
she behaves, but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins,
because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will, but I know I can be a lady to you
because you always treat me as a lady, and always will."
The bottom line?
Consciously or not we tip people off as to what our expectations are. We exhibit thousands of
cues, some as subtle as the tilting of heads, the raising of eye brows or the dilation of nostrils,
but most are much more obvious. And people pick up on those cues.
Key Principles
The concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy can be summarized in these key principles:
We form certain expectations of people or events
We communicate those expectations with various cues
People tend to respond to these cues by adjusting their behavior to match them
The result is that the original expectation becomes true
This creates a circle of self-fulfilling prophecies.
Does it work?
A convincing body of behavioral research says it does.
In 1971 Robert Rosenthal, a professor of social psychology at Harvard, described an
experiment in which he told a group of students that he had developed a strain of super-
intelligent rats that could run mazes quickly. He then passed out perfectly normal rats at
random, telling half of the students that they had the new "maze-bright" rats and the other
half that they got "maze-dull" rats.
The rats believed to be bright improved daily in running the maze they ran faster and more
accurately. The "dull" rats refused to budge from the starting point 29% of the time, while the
"bright" rats refused only 11% of the time.
This experiment illustrates the first of a number of corollaries to our four basic principles.
Corollary 1
Rosenthal concluded that some students unknowingly communicated high expectations to the
supposedly bright rats.
The other students communicated low expectations to the supposedly dull ones. But this study
went a step further.
According to Rosenthal, "Those who believed they were working with intelligent animals liked
them better and found them more pleasant.
Such students said they felt more relaxed with the animals, they treated them more gently and
were more enthusiastic about the experiment than the students who thought they had dull rats
to work with."
Corollary 2
Better performance resulting from high expectations leads us to like someone more
Lower performance resulting from low expectations leads us to like someone less
Rats not good enough for you?
In another classic experiment, Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson worked with elementary school
children from 18 classrooms. They randomly chose 20% of the children from each room and
told the teachers they were "intellectual bloomers."
They explained that these children could be expected to show remarkable gains during the
year. The experimental children showed average IQ gains of two points in verbal ability, seven
points in reasoning and four points in over all IQ. The "intellectual bloomers" really did bloom!
How can this possibly work?
In 'Pygmalion in the Classroom' (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968), Rosenthal replies: "To
summarize our speculations, we may say that by what she said, by how and when she said it,
by her actual facial expressions, postures and perhaps by her touch, the teacher may have
communicated to the children of the experimental group that she expected improved
intellectual performance.
Such communication together with possible changes in teaching techniques may have helped
the child learn by changing his self concept, his expectations of his own behavior, and his
motivation, as well as his cognitive style and skills."
There was no difference in the amount of time the teachers spent with the students. Evidently
there was a difference in the quality of the interactions. The teachers also found the
"bloomers" to be more appealing, more affectionate and better adjusted. Some students
gained in IQ even though they had not been designated as "bloomers," but they were not
regarded to be as appealing, affectionate or well-adjusted.
Apparently, the bloomers had done what was expected of them and the teachers were
comfortable with them. The other students who did well surprised the teachers; they did the
unexpected and the teachers were not as comfortable with them. It may be that they were
thought of as overstepping their bounds or labeled as troublemakers.
Corollary 3
We tend to be comfortable with people who meet our expectations, whether they're
high or low;
We tend not to be comfortable with people who don't meet our expectations, whether
they are high or low.
As for our expectations of what will happen or how someone will behave, we form them in a
thousand ways, many preconceived. We all are prejudiced in the literal sense of the word; we
'prejudge' either positively or negatively.
We like to think we know what's going to happen before it happens, and we don't like to be
proven wrong. We want to feel that we can control things.
The impulse has given rise to religion, which says we can influence the gods with prayer,
magic, which says we can manipulate events with secret powers; and science, which says we
can understand the logic behind events and use it to predict similar events.
Corollary 4
Forming expectations is natural and unavoidable
The simple truth is that almost all of us behave pretty much according to the way we're
treated.
If you keep telling a teenager, for example, that he's worthless, has no sense of right or wrong
and isn't going to amount to anything, he'll probably respond accordingly.
If you keep telling him (sincerely) that he's important to you that you have every confidence in
his judgment as to what?s right or wrong and that you're sure he's going to be successful in
whatever he decides to do, he'll also tend to respond accordingly.
You transmit those expectations to him and he'll begin to reflect the image you've created for
him.
Corollary 5
Once formed expectations about ourselves tend to be self-sustaining
Exactly how do we communicate the expectations responsible for the Pygmalion Effect? The
process works in very similar ways with people as it did with Clever Hans.
In 'Educational Sociology: a realistic approach (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980),
Thomas L. Good, Jere E. Brophy list a dozen ways in which teachers and managers may
behave differently toward students and workers.
Corollary 6
Good managers produce employees who perform well and feel good about themselves;
Bad managers produce employees who perform poorly and feel badly about