The role of the supervisor/manager in terms of increasing worker motivation cannot be overestimated. According to Vecchio (1991), supervisors and managers can either enhance or impair workers' motivation.
Enhancement is said to be associated with increased job performance, goal attainment, job commitment levels, and job satisfaction levels; further, enhancement can lower rates of absenteeism and turnover. On the other hand, Vecchio (1991) reports that the debilitation of worker motivation can increase absenteeism and turnover, lower the quality of product output, job commitment and job satisfaction.
While there are many attributes, skills and other behaviors through which supervisors can increase worker motivation, Timm and Peterson (1994) report that one of the most important factors is feedback. However, what kind of feedback should supervisors provide to increase subordinates' motivational levels?
Should feedback be positive, negative, or a balanced mixture of both? The research review presented here examines for an answer to this question. The significance of the research lies in the fact that it can be used by organizations developing managerial programs designed to train supervisors to increase employee motivation through supervisory feedback.
The purpose of this study is to investigate for the kind or kinds of supervisory feedback maximally contributive to enhancing worker motivation.
The hypotheses formulated for testing through the literature search and review presented in this report can be stated as follows:
Hypothesis 1: Positive feedback will increase worker motivation.
Hypothesis 2: Negative feedback will decrease worker motivation.
Hypothesis 3: A mixture of negative and positive feedback will increase worker motivation.
Some of the earliest work on supervisory feedback and worker motivation was examined by Applebaum (1975) through a comprehensive literature review. Based on...