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International Management

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Chapter 12

Motivation across Cultures

Learning Objectives

Define motivation, and explain it as a psychological process

Examine the hierarchy-of-needs, two-factor, and achievement motivation theories, and assess their value to international human resource management

Discuss how an understanding of employee satisfaction can be useful in human resource management throughout the world

Learning Objectives (continued)

Examine the value of process theories in motivating employees worldwide

Understand the importance of job design, work centrality, and rewards in motivating employees in an international context

Motivating Employees in a Multicultural Context

Motivating and rewarding diverse workforces is a significant challenge to organizations

Employee preferences are correlated with culture

Managers must be aware that a reward in one culture may be viewed differently in another culture

Managers focus on extrinsic rewards and ignore intrinsic rewards

Figure 12.1 – Basic Motivation Process

Determinants of Motivation

Intrinsic

Individual experiences fulfillment through carrying out an activity and helping others

Extrinsic

External environment and result of the activity in the form of competition and compensation or incentive plans are of great importance

Universalist Assumption

Motivation process is universal

Culture influences the specific content and goals pursued

Specific needs and goals can be different between two cultures

Move toward free-market economies and emergence of new opportunities will change the ways in which individuals are motivated

Assumption of Content and Process

Content theories

Explain work motivation in terms of what arouses, energizes, or initiates employee behavior

Subject of most research in the field

Process theories

Explain work motivation by how employee behavior is initiated, redirected, and halted

More sophisticated and focused on individual behavior in specific setting

Hierarchy-of-Needs Theory

Known as Maslow’s theory

Five basic needs constitute a need hierarchy

Physiological: Basic physical needs for water, food, clothing, and shelter

Safety: Desires for security, stability, and absence of pain

Hierarchy-of-Needs Theory (continued)

Social: Desires to interact and affiliate with others and the need to feel wanted by others

Esteem: Needs for power and status

Self-actualization: Desire to reach one’s full potential

Assumptions Made by Maslow’s Theory

Lower-level needs must be satisfied before higher-level needs become motivators

Need that is satisfied no longer motivates

More ways to satisfy higher-level needs than to satisfy lower-level needs

International Findings on Maslow’s Theory

Haire group’s study indicated that all needs are important to respondents across cultures

Upper-level needs were of particular importance to international managers

Respondents reported that autonomy and self-actualization were the most important and least-satisfied needs

International Findings on Maslow’s Theory (continued)

Some researchers suggested modification of Maslow’s Western-oriented hierarchy

Nevis’s collectivist need hierarchy

Belonging (social)

Physiological

Safety

Self-actualization (in service of society)

Hofstede reported a link between job types and levels and the need hierarchy

Two-Factor Theory of Motivation

Formulated by Frederick Herzberg and his colleagues

Identifies two sets of factors that influence job satisfaction

Motivators: Job-content factors that ensure satisfaction

Achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the work itself

Two-Factor Theory of Motivation (continued)

Hygiene factors: Job-context variables that lead to dissatisfaction when they are not taken care of

Salary, interpersonal relations, technical supervision, working conditions, and company policies and administration

Criticisms

Classification of money as a hygiene factor and not as a motivator

Findings support a theory of job satisfaction and not a total theory of motivation

Two-Factor Theory of Motivation: International Findings

Research holds the overall theory to be true

Cross-cultural studies show that motivators tend to be of more importance to job satisfaction than are hygiene factors

Results indicate that job content is more important than job context

Motivation-hygiene theory must be applied on a country-by-country or a regional basis

Achievement Motivation Theory

Holds that individuals can have a need to get ahead, attain success, and reach objectives

States that need for achievement is learned

Relies solely on the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) to measure individual achievement

Does not explain the need for achievement in cultures in which individual accomplishment is neither valued nor rewarded

High Achievers

Like situations in which they take personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems

Tend to be moderate risk takers rather than high or low risk takers

Want concrete feedback on performance

Tend to be loners and not team players

Achievement Motivation Theory: International Findings

Theory must be modified to meet specific needs of local culture

Culture of many countries does not support high achievement

Anglo cultures and those rewarding entrepreneurial effort support achievement motivation, and their human resources should be managed accordingly

Select Process Theories

Equity theory

Goal-setting theory

Expectancy theory

Equity Theory

Focuses on how motivation is affected by people’s perception of how fairly they are being treated

Job performance is positive when people perceive they are treated equitably

Job performance is negative when people believe they are not treated fairly and are dissatisfied

Supported in the West but has mixed results internationally

Equity Theory: International Findings

In Israeli kibbutz production unit, everyone is treated the same but managers reported lower satisfaction levels than workers

Employees in Asia and the Middle East readily accept inequitable treatment in order to preserve group harmony

In Japan and Korea, men and women receive different pay for doing same work

Goal-Setting Theory

Focuses on how individuals set goals and respond to them and overall impact of this process on motivation

Specific areas given attention

Level of participation in goal setting

Goal difficulty

Goal specificity

Importance of objective

Timely feedback to progress toward goals

Goal-Setting Theory (continued)

Has been continually refined and developed

Research shows that employees perform well if they are assigned specific and challenging goals that they have had a hand in setting

Most studies have been conducted in the U.S.

Goal-Setting Theory: International Findings

In the U.S., employee participation in goal setting is motivational

U.K. and Norwegian workers prefer to have their union representatives work with management in determining work goals

Value of goal-setting theory may well be determined by culture

Expectancy Theory

Postulates that motivation is influenced by a person’s belief that:

Effort will lead to performance

Performance will lead to specific outcomes

Outcomes will be of value to the individual

Predicts that high performance followed by high rewards will lead to high satisfaction

Expectancy Theory: International Findings

Theory seems culture-bound

May have less value in societies where people believe that much of what happens is beyond their control

Able to explain worker motivation in cultures where there is a strong internal locus of control

Managers must be aware of limitations in their efforts to apply the theory to motivate human resources

Job Design

Job’s content, the methods that are used on the job, and the way the job relates to other jobs in the organization

Quality of work life (QWL) – Directly related to culture of the country

Challenge for MNCs – Adjusting job design to meet the needs of the host country’s culture

Sociotechnical Designs

Job designs that blend personnel and technology

Objective – Integrate new technology into the workplace so that workers accept and use it to increase overall productivity

Employee resistance is common as new technology requires people to learn new methods

Must be a result of job to be done and cultural values that support a particular approach

Work Centrality

Importance of work in an individual’s life relative to other areas of interest

Provides vital insights into how to motivate human resources in different cultures

Work Centrality (continued)

Levels

Highest – Japan

Moderately high – Israel

Average – U.S. and Belgium

Moderately low – Netherlands and Germany

Low – Britain

Value of Work

Culture, gender, industry, and organizational characteristics:

Influence the degree and type of work centrality within a country

Interact with national cultural characteristics

Growing interest exists in the impact of overwork on employees

Overwork or job burnout is now recognized as a real social problem

Job Satisfaction

Motivation approaches used in one culture may have limited value in another

Assumption – Satisfaction is highest at the upper levels of organizations

Job attitudes toward quality of work life is related to motivation

Work is important in every society, but the extent of importance varies

Reward Systems

Used to motivate personnel

Financial – Salary raises, bonuses, and stock options

Nonfinancial – Feedback and recognition

Differ from one country to another

Differences are a result of competitive environment or of government legislation

Financial Incentive Systems

Individual incentive-based pay systems

Workers are paid directly for their output

Organizational incentive-based pay systems

Employees earn individual bonuses based on how well the organization achieves certain goals

Incentives and Culture

Compensation is based on group membership or group effort in many cultures

Systems are designed to stress equality

Type of rewards that are used is not culture-bound

Cultures

Can affect the overall cost of an incentive system

Influence the effectiveness of various rewards

Be the Management Consultant

As an international management consultant, how do you view this partnership for Indosat Ooredoo with IBM?