1. Chapter 13 Working With Others Science 295 Dr. Cahill

2. Getting along with others Distances between persons ◦ Different cultures have different expectations for social interactions ◦ How people maintain personal space around them sends an important psychological and social message

3. Getting along with others Personal space ◦ Most people have a “personal bubble” in which they feel comfortable interacting with others Most people interact within the “social distance” 3-4m Intimate distance involves body contact Friend distance 1-1.5 m Unacquainted persons and business transactions take place around 2 m “Public distance” is beyond 4 m All distances do vary with different customs and cultures

4. Getting along with others Distances in personal relationships ◦ When an outsider invades your personal space, it’s natural to feel discomfort ◦ However, if friends stay too far away we can feel disappointment and alienation ◦ Likewise, in a work setting, teams perform best in close proximity, whereas competition is more intense between individuals who do not have personal relationships

5. Getting along with others Owning an area ◦ Territoriality – an inclination to occupy and control a defined physical space  Those who invade the space may be met with defensive behavior or the owner may choose to abandon the space  The “owner” personalizes their space ◦ Crowding occurs when too many people are within one given space  Perception depends on the individual’s characteristics, one’s coping capabilities and the physical/social settings  Reactions can include aggression or withdrawl

6. Getting along with others Teamwork ◦ Teams – 2 or more individuals who pursue a common goal by performing their tasks in interdependent, complementary manners ◦ Behavioral aspects  Members must communicate effectively  Must be flexible and able to adapt to different work styles and their role in the team  Not all individuals enjoy teamwork  Certain cultures emphasize teamwork while others encourage individual work

7. Motivation and behavior Happy employees ◦ Organizational behavior – field of study that helps us understand and deal with the interpersonal and managerial challenges in the workplace ◦ Companies recognize that happy, satisfied employees are more productive than those who are unhappy and fearing for their jobs

8. Motivation and behavior Why “Happy employees?” ◦ More productive ◦ Provide better customer service ◦ Take fewer sick days (stress) ◦ Reduces employee turnover costs  Leaving employees create a huge cost to the company for recruiting and training, and new hires are initially far less productive

9. Motivation and behavior Psychosocial work factors ◦ Job demands – physical work, variations in workload, pressure, mental demands ◦ Job content – challenging, interesting, monotonous ◦ Job control – control over the work pace, environment, tasks and organization ◦ Social interaction – colleagues, supervisors, clients and customers ◦ Job future – fear of losing job ◦ Organizational and management issues – employee participation and management style

10. Motivation and behavior Division of labor ◦ Individual motivation as well as shared responsibilities between management and workers is important Quality of work life ◦ With a the development of a more educated workforce, employees became more aware of work conditions and sought improvements ◦ personal recognition and improvements in working conditions became a priority ◦ Theories on worker productivity, well being and motivation were soon developed

11. Motivation and behavior Motivation and performance ◦ Motivation incites, directs and maintains behavior towards goals ◦ Performance is the result of motivation and ability  Determined by situational elements at work which can either enhance or hinder performance (Ex. climate, up to date equipment) ◦ Therefore, motivation and performance are related, a motivated person who desires to do well at work is willing to expend the effort to do so

12. Motivation and behavior Maslow’s needs hierarchy (figure 13.1) ◦ Motivation is a function of meeting personal needs

13. Motivation and behavior Maslow’s needs hierarchy ◦ According to Maslow, behavior is motivated by the urge to satisfy needs of increasingly higher orders ◦ Underlying this idea are 3 major needs necessary to the human population in general:  Existence – food, compensation  Relatedness – interactions with friends, family and colleagues  Personal growth – desire for personal development, advancement and recognition

14. Motivation and behavior Job satisfaction ◦ Greatly influences motivation and performance ◦ Large individual differences in perception of what makes a job satisfying

15. Motivation and behavior Herzberg’s 2 factors theory ◦ Based on the idea that positive content factors of a job explain satisfaction whereas negative context factors lead to dissatisfaction ◦ 5 content factors that act as motivators: 1.Achievement 2.Recognition 3.The work itself 4.Responsibility 5.Advancement

16. Motivation and behavior Herzberg’s 2 factors theory ◦ 6 context factors that promote dissatisfaction when negative and satisfaction when positive 1.Company policies and administration 2.Compensation 3.Supervision and management 4.Interpersonal relationships 5.Physical conditions at work 6.Job security ◦ Overall, a job should have positive context factors to prevent dissatisfaction and positive content factors to promote motivation

17. Task demands, job rewards Work conditions that motivate ◦ It has been shown that over short periods, of time that negative factors (fear, greed, etc.) can increase task performance ◦ To achieve long term task performance, employees need to be valued and thrive within a high quality work environment

18. Task demands, job rewards Job enlargement and enrichment ◦ Earlier work environments focused on task specialization (Tayloristic principles) ◦ Now job design focuses on: 1.Job enlargement – assigning an individual a larger variety of tasks and activities 2. job enrichment – expanding work skills and increasing responsibilities to higher professional levels ◦ Overall job design can affect our attitudes and job performance

19. Task demands, job rewards The Hawthorne effect ◦ An experiment was performed at the Hawthorne Works in Chicago to observe how work conditions affected employee productivity  Lighting conditions were improved gradually within a manufacturing plant  Each rise in illumination improved employee performance  The illumination was then lowered, but performance still increased indicating that just listening to employee requests was enough to improve their performance

20. Task demands, job rewards The Hawthorne effect ◦ Term that describes a work situation in which an introduced change triggers an increase in productivity but not because of the change itself, but because the participating workers felt they received appropriate attention which encouraged motivation

21. Task demands, job rewards Goal setting and rewards ◦ Rewards must be meaningful to the employee ◦ Everyone is unique, there is no universal rewards system ◦ The theory of goal setting:  Goals motivate us  Direct our behavior  help us decide how much effort we need to put into our work  The more specific the goal, the more focused the effort

22. Task demands, job rewards Motivation and work behavior ◦ There is no clear cut answer to what motivates people ◦ Motivation is both intrinsic and extrinsic ◦ Most likely, we consider our own needs and wants and either subconsciously or consciously determine our goals ◦ Other people influence and shape our motivation since we are mostly social creatures ◦ How hard we work depends on what depends on what we get in return

23. Task demands, job rewards Motivation and work behavior ◦ What motivates people can change  Previously pay and stability were top priority  Currently, employees are rewarded in many ways besides money  On site child care, flexible hours, vacation time  Friendly co-workers and nurturing corporate atmosphere are also important to today’s workers

24. Summary Optimal working conditions are an important part of a person’s total quality of life Motivation, productivity and well-being are linked; performance is a product of motivation and ability