Motivation and Recognition Theory

Recognition is seen as an “acknowledgement, approval and genuine appreciation” of employee performance. It can be formal or informal, as well as public or private. A key motivation for employers and supervisors to engage in recognition practices is the fact that if used correctly, employee performance will improve. In combination with performance feedback, recognition can have a greater impact on employee performance than monetary incentives alone. An explanation of how recognition practices positively influences employee performance can be broken down into three factors: outcome utility, informative content, and regulatory mechanisms.

The first factor, outcome utility, deals with the employees’ perceptions about recognition. The employee sees recognition as an event that “precedes and can lead to desired employee outcomes such as a promotion, a raise or an assignment to a prestigious, desired project”. The key for outcome utility, however, is that the recognition must come from a person that can create these “desired employee outcomes”. Otherwise, there is no incentive for the employee to change his or her behavior. However, if recognition is given by a supervisor, then employees will work to improve their performance in order to earn the recognition, which is seen as the first step toward their “desired employee outcomes”.

The second factor is the informative content of the recognition. This factor deals with the specifics of recognition. In other words, what is actually said can have a dramatic impact on the effectiveness of the recognition practice. Short, general phrases, such as “good job,” have no real value or effect on the employee’s performance. An explanation of how the employee’s work benefited a specific party within the company, however, is much more effective. It “conveys acknowledgement and genuine appreciation, but also information for reinforcing behavior that can lead to improved performance”.

The third factor shows how recognition is a regulatory mechanism. This factor shows how employees use forethought to turn recognition into “an incentive motivator”. In other words, employees use recognition as a guide for determining how to direct their actions:

“Based on the recognition received and, thus, the perceived prediction of desired consequences to come, people will self-regulate their future behaviors by forethought… Thus, people first anticipate certain outcomes based on recognition received, and then through forethought, they initiate and guide their actions in an anticipatory fashion”.

It is the forethought of the employee that creates the link between the actual act of recognition and the decision to change behavior in a manner that improves performance.

When engaging in recognition practices, there are two factors that can affect how effective these practices are for improving employee performance. The first factor is task complexity. As the difficulty of the task increases, so does the importance of recognizing the successful completion of the task. The second factor is self-efficacy. This factor deals with a person’s belief in his or her ability to complete the task or assignment that has been given to him or her. When given an assignment, “an employee’s efficacy determines whether the necessary behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended and sustained, and how much persistence and resilience there will be when there are obstacles or even failure”. This relates to recognition because it helps create a higher level of self-efficacy within employees. Employees with higher levels of self-efficacy typically are better at their jobs.

Luthans, Fred & Stajkovic, Alexander D. The impact of recognition on employee performance: Theory, research, and practice.

http://www.sba.muohio.edu/management/MWAcademy/2000/38a.pdf

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Basic, physiological needs muse be fulfilled before higher needs are even attempted. Maslow believes that the more basic needs should be filled first, moving up the pyramid and eventually fulfilling a need for self-actualization.

Physiological Needs
These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person's search for satisfaction.

Safety Needs
When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs for security can become active. Adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.

Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness
When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.

Needs for Esteem
When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.

Needs for Self-Actualization
When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and do that which the person was "born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write." These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless about. It is not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for self-actualization.

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm