Page 266 - Introduction to Business

240 PART 2 Managing Business Behavior

coupled with individual responsibility for the outcomes of the decisions, quick pro-
motion, and concern for employees only as an important factor of production.
Type Z firm An ideal U.S. firm that Ouchi’s Theory Z was that a hybrid firm, Type Z, that married the best practices
combines the best practices of U.S. of Type A and Type J firms would be the best for the United States. These firms would
and Japanese management systems
and would advocate lifetime advocate lifetime employment, a more specialized career path (after initial job rota-
employment, a more specialized career tion), collective decision making with collective responsibilities for the outcomes,
path, collective decision making with and gradual pay increases along with great concern for the welfare of all employees.
corresponding responsibilities for its A key characteristic of a Type Z firm would be a close binding of management and
outcomes, and gradual pay increases
along with great concern for the employees in the form of participative management. Any employee could suggest
welfare of all employees changes that could lead to job improvement and cost savings. A closer working rela-
tionship between management and labor would foster greater trust and job satis-
faction along with corresponding productivity increases and profitability.
A few firms, for example, Honda Motor Company, have been able to blend Type
A and Type J systems of management to develop Type Z firms in the United States.
If you visit Honda’s Saitama facilities in Tokyo, where many promising managers
from Honda’s U.S. facilities, especially those in Marysville, Ohio, are trained, you
really get the feel for a Type Z firm in action. Honda nurtures teamwork between
employees as well as with management—always soliciting and incorporating
employee suggestions into the production process. After undergoing significant job
rotation initially, employees are allowed to specialize. Job rotation and retraining
enables Honda to minimize layoffs, and this leads to job security for its employees.
What Honda has been doing in the United States is to blend the best elements of
the Japanese management system with those of the U.S. system. Honda’s success in
the United States can at least partially be attributed to the practice of Theory Z.

reality How motivated would you be in your job if Theory Z were imple-
CH ECK mented in your company?

Contemporary Motivation Theories

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5
Summarize contemporary motivation theories and describe the richness
of each of the three major theories.
In this section, we explore three contemporary theories—expectancy theory, equity
theory, and reinforcement theory—to better understand employee motivation.

Expectancy Theory

expectancy theory The theory that an One of the most researched theories of motivation is expectancy theory, which
individual will be motivated to work hard states that an individual will be motivated to work hard to achieve a coveted reward
to achieve a coveted reward, provided
provided the prospects of receiving that reward are reasonable. That’s one of the
the prospect of receiving that reward is
reasonable, or the individual will not major reasons why people who think they can achieve their goals work hard while
bother at all others who believe that the reward may not be attainable don’t. Expectancy theory
can be explained in terms of three important relationships as shown in Exhibit 7.6.

EXHIBIT 7.6
Expectancy Theory Model
Employee expectations play a role in motivating behavior.

Employee Employee Corporate Employee
effort performance rewards goals

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