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Chapter 6 Designing a Motivating Work Environment

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

  1. Describe the history of job design approaches.
  2. Understand how to increase the motivating potential of a job.
  3. Understand why goals should be SMART.
  4. Set SMART goals.
  5. Give performance feedback effectively.
  6. Describe individual-, team-, and organization-based incentives that can be used to motivate the workforce.

What are the tools companies can use to ensure a motivated workforce? Nucor seems to have found two very useful tools to motivate its workforce: a job design incorporating empowerment, and a reward system that aligns company performance with employee rewards. In this chapter, we will cover the basic tools organizations can use to motivate workers. The tools that will be described are based on motivation principles such as expectancy theory, reinforcement theory, and need-based theories. Specifically, we cover motivating employees through job design, goal setting, performance feedback, and reward systems.