Every company strives to make and sell the kind of goods and services
customers want to buy. A crucial determinant of a company's
ability to achieve this goal is its managers' ability to motivate its human resources.
The opening case described how managers at Dick’s Restaurants tried to create a
work setting that encouraged employees to work hard, perform at a high level, and
stay with the company. In this chapter, we examine how managers can motivate people
and groups in order to do this.
First, we examine the nature of work motivation and describe five theories that
together explain what motivates people. Second, we move up from the individual
level to the group and team level. We identify several different types of groups and
teams and discuss the factors that can increase or decrease their members' motivation.
We then turn to the issue of why conflict occurs between people and groups in the
work setting and discuss how conflict can reduce efficiency and effectiveness. Finally,
we examine how managers can use bargaining and negotiation to help resolve conflict
and increase a company's performance. By the end of this chapter, you will
understand the many issues managers face as they try to motivate employees, individually
or in groups, to work hard and perform in ways that allow a company to pursue
its business model successfully.
