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The Motivators' Orientations Questionnaires: Description of Scales

The document describes two questionnaires - the Problems in Schools Questionnaire (PIS) and the Problems at Work Questionnaire (PAW) - that assess whether individuals in positions of authority tend to be oriented toward controlling or supporting the autonomy of those they motivate. The PIS assesses teachers' orientations toward motivating students, while the PAW assesses managers' orientations toward motivating employees. Both use vignettes followed by responses rated on a controlling-autonomy supportive scale. The document provides details on the development and validation of the two questionnaires.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
85 views10 pages

The Motivators' Orientations Questionnaires: Description of Scales

The document describes two questionnaires - the Problems in Schools Questionnaire (PIS) and the Problems at Work Questionnaire (PAW) - that assess whether individuals in positions of authority tend to be oriented toward controlling or supporting the autonomy of those they motivate. The PIS assesses teachers' orientations toward motivating students, while the PAW assesses managers' orientations toward motivating employees. Both use vignettes followed by responses rated on a controlling-autonomy supportive scale. The document provides details on the development and validation of the two questionnaires.

Uploaded by

Ashley Morgan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Motivators' Orientations Questionnaires

Description of Scales
The Problems in Schools Questionnaire and the Problems at Work Questionnaire were developed using the
same format and the same basic concept. Each assesses whether individuals in a position of authority, whose
job is, in part, to motivate others, tend to be oriented toward controlling the behavior of those others versus
supporting their autonomy. The Problems in Schools Questionnaire (PIS) assesses whether teachers tend to be
controlling versus autonomy supportive with their students. The Problems at Work Questionnaire (PAW)
assesses whether managers tend to be controlling versus autonomy supportive with their employees. The
measures are composed of eight vignettes, each of which is followed by four items. The four items following
each vignette represent four different behavioral options for dealing with the problem that is posed in the
vignette: one is Highly Autonomy Supportive (HA), one is Moderately Autonomy Supportive (MA), one is
Moderately Controlling (MC), and one is Highly Controlling (HC). Respondents rate the degree of
appropriateness of each of the four options (on a seven-point scale) for each of the eight situations. Thus, there
are a total of 32 ratings.

Note that the Motivators’ Orientations Questionnaires (PIS and PAW) were designed to be completed by the
teachers and the managers, respectively. In contrast, the SDT-based scales referred to as the Perceived
Autonomy Support (The Climate) Questionnaires were designed to be completed by the people being
motivated--that is, by the students about their teachers’ autonomy support versus control and by the
subordinates about their managers’ autonomy support versus control.

This scales are believed to measure a relatively stable orientation in adults toward their approach to motivating
others; in other words, it is believed to reflect an individual difference variable in the motivators. The responses
are in terms of behavioral options, but these are believed to reflect characteristics of the respondent.

Description of The Problems in Schools Questionnaire (PIS)

The PIS was designed for use in schools, with teachers completing the scale about their own orientation toward
motivating students, and the studies by Deci, Schwartz, Sheinman, and Ryan (1981) validated the scale for use
in that way. It has also been used with parents, who report on their approach to motivating their children.

The PIS, with its reliability and validity, is described in:


Deci, E. L., Schwartz, A. J., Sheinman, L., & Ryan, R. M. (1981). An instrument to assess adults'
orientations toward control versus autonomy with children: Reflections on intrinsic motivation and perceived
competence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 642-650.


Reeve, J., Bolt, E., & Cai, Y. (1999). Autonomy-supportive teachers: How they teach and motivate
students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 537-548.
Description of The Problems at Work Questionnaire (PAW)

The PAW was designed for managers and was validated in a study by Deci, Connell, and Ryan (1989). The
study indicated, for example, that managers who were oriented more toward supporting their subordinates
autonomy had subordinates who were more satisfied with their jobs and had a higher level of trust in the
organization.

The PAW, with its reliability and validity, is described in:


Deci, E. L., Connell, J. P., & Ryan, R. M. (1989). Self-determination in a work organization. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 74, 580-590.

The Problems in Schools Questionnaire (PIS)

On the following pages you will find a series of vignettes. Each one describes an incident and then lists four
ways of responding to the situation. Please read each vignette and then consider each responses in turn. Think
about each response option in terms of how appropriate you consider it to be as a means of dealing with the
problem described in the vignette. You may might the option to be Òperfect,Ó in other words, Òextremely
appropriateÓ in which case you would respond with the number 7,. You might consider the response highly
inappropriate, in which case would respond with the number 1. If you find the option reasonable you would
select some number between 1 and 7. So think about each option and rate it on the scale shown below. Please
rate each of the four options for each vignette. There are eight vignettes with four options for each.

There are no right or wrong ratings on these items. People’s styles differ, and we are simply interested in what
you consider appropriate given your own style.

Some of the stories ask what you would do as a teacher. Others ask you to respond as if you were giving advice
to another teacher or to a parent. Some ask you to respond as if you were the parent. If you are not a parent,
simply imagine what it would be like for you in that situation.

Please respond to each of the 32 items using the following scale.




1
2
3
4
5
6
7


very

moderately

very


inappropriate

appropriate

appropriate

A.
Jim is an average student who has been working at grade level. During the past two weeks he has
appeared listless and has not been participating during reading group. The work he does is accurate but he has
not been completing assignments. A phone conversation with his mother revealed no useful information. The
most appropriate thing for Jim’s teacher to do is:


1.
She should impress upon him the importance of finishing his assignments since he needs to learn
this material for his own good.


2.
Let him know that he doesn’t have to finish all of his work now and see if she can help him work
out the cause of the listlessness.


3.
Make him stay after school until that day’s assignments are done.


4.
Let him see how he compares with the other children in terms of his assignments and encourage
him to catch up with the others.

B.
At a parent conference last night, Mr. and Mrs. Greene were told that their daughter Sarah has made
more progress than expected since the time of the last conference. All agree that they hope she continues to
improve so that she does not have to repeat the grade (which the Greene’s have been kind of expecting since the
last report card). As a result of the conference, the Greenes decide to:


5.
Increase her allowance and promise her a ten-speed if she continues to improve.



6.
Tell her that she’s now doing as well as many of the other children in her class.



7.
Tell her about the report, letting her know that they’re aware of her increased independence in
school and at home.


8.
Continue to emphasize that she has to work hard to get better grades.

C.
Donny loses his temper a lot and has a way of agitating other children. He doesn’t respond well to what
you tell him to do and you’re concerned that he won’t learn the social skills he needs. The best thing for you to
do with him is:


9.
Emphasize how important it is for him to Òcontrol himselfÓ in order to succeed in school and in
other situations.


10.
Put him in a special class which has the structure and reward contingencies which he needs.


11.
Help him see how other children behave in these various situations and praise him for doing the
same.



12.
Realize that Donny is probably not getting the attention he needs and start being more responsive
to him.

D.
Your son is one of the better players on his junior soccer team which has been winning most of its
games. However, you are concerned because he just told you he failed his unit spelling test and will have to
retake it the day after tomorrow. You decide that the best thing to do is:


13.
Ask him to talk about how he plans to handle the situation.


14.
Tell him he probably ought to decide to forego tomorrow’s game so he can catch up in spelling.


15.
See if others are in the same predicament and suggest he do as much preparation as the others.



16.
Make him miss tomorrow’s game to study; soccer has been interfering too much with his school
work.

E.
The Rangers spelling group has been having trouble all year. How could Miss Wilson best help the
Rangers?


17.
Have regular spelling bees so that Rangers will be motivated to do as well as the other groups.



18.
Make them drill more and give them special privileges for improvements.



19.
Have each child keep a spelling chart and emphasize how important it is to have a good chart.



20.
Help the group devise ways of learning the words together (skits, games, and so on).

F.
In your class is a girl named Margy who has been the butt of jokes for years. She is quiet and usually
alone. In spite of the efforts of previous teachers, Margy has not been accepted by the other children. Your
wisdom would guide you to:


21.
Prod her into interactions and provide her with much praise for any social initiative.



22.
Talk to her and emphasize that she should make friends so she’ll be happier.



23.
Invite her to talk about her relations with the other kids, and encourage her to take small steps
when she’s ready.


24.
Encourage her to observe how other children relate and to join in with them.
G.
For the past few weeks things have been disappearing from the teacher’s desk and lunch money has been
taken from some of the children’s desks. Today, Marvin was seen by the teacher taking a silver dollar
paperweight from her desk. The teacher phoned Marvin’s mother and spoke to her about this incident.
Although the teacher suspects that Marvin has been responsible for the other thefts, she mentioned only the one
and assured the mother that she’ll keep a close eye on Marvin. The best thing for the mother to do is:


25.
Talk to him about the consequences of stealing and what it would mean in relation to the other
kids.



26.
Talk to him about it, expressing her confidence in him and attempting to understand why he did
it.



27.
Give him a good scolding; stealing is something which cannot be tolerated and he has to learn
that.



28.
Emphasize that it was wrong and have him apologize to the teacher and promise not to do it
again.

H.
Your child has been getting average grades, and you’d like to see her improve. A useful approach might
be to:


29.
Encourage her to talk about her report card and what it means for her.



30.
Go over the report card with her; point out where she stands in the class.



31.
Stress that she should do better; she’ll never get into college with grades like these.



32.
Offer her a dollar for every A and 50 cents for every B on future report cards.

Scoring Information. The procedure for scoring the questionnaire begins by averaging the eight ratings in
each of the four categories. The four categories are highly controlling (HC), moderately controlling (MC),
moderately autonomy supportive (MA), and highly autonomy supportive (HA). The four subscale scores
(composed of the average of the eight responses for that subscale) can be used separately, in multi-variate
analyses, or they can be combined into one overall reflection of the ÒAdult’s Orientation Toward Control
Versus Autonomy Support with Children.Ó The original procedure for combining the four subscales into one
total scale score, as described in Deci, Schwartz, Sheinman, and Ryan (1981) involved weighting the average
for the highly controlling responses with a -2 (minus two); weighting the moderately controlling average with -1
(minus one); weighting the average for the moderately autonomy supportive subscales with +1; and weighting
the average for highly autonomy supportive subscale with +2. The algebraic sum reflects the adults’
orientations toward control versus autonomy support, with a higher score reflecting a more autonomy
supportive orientation and a lower score or a more negative score reflecting a more controlling orientation.
However, more recent work (e.g., Reeve, Bolt, & Cai, in press) has indicated that the so-called moderately
autonomy supportive subscale actually acts more like a Slightly Controlling subscale. Accordingly, Reeve et al.
recommended weighting the MA subscale 0 (zero), rather than -1 (minus 1). The items making up the subscales
are as follows.

HC
3, 5, 10, 16, 18, 21, 27, 32

MC
1, 8, 9, 14, 19, 22, 28, 31

MA
4, 6, 11, 15, 17, 24, 25, 30

HA
2, 7, 12, 13, 20, 23, 26, 29

References


Deci, E. L., Schwartz, A. J., Sheinman, L., & Ryan, R. M. (1981). An instrument to assess adults'
orientations toward control versus autonomy with children: Reflections on intrinsic motivation and perceived
competence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 642-650.


Reeve, J., Bolt, E., & Cai, Y. (1999). Autonomy-supportive teachers: How they teach and motivate
students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 537-548.

The Problems at Work Questionnaire (PAW)

On the following pages you will find a series of vignettes. Each one describes an incident and then lists four
ways of responding to the situation. Please read each vignette and then consider each response in turn. Think
about each response option in terms of how appropriate you consider it to be as means of dealing with the
problem described in the vignette, and then rate it on the seven point scale. You may find the option to be
"perfect," in other words, "extremely appropriate" in which case you would rate the option a 7. You may
consider the response highly inappropriate in which case you might rate it a 1. If you find the option reasonable
you would select some number between 1 and 7 as its rating. So think about each option and rate it on the
accompanying scale. Please rate each of the four options for each vignette. There are eight vignettes with four
options for each, for a total of 32 items.

There are no right or wrong ratings on these items. People's styles differ, and we are simply interested in
what you consider appropriate given your own style.

In each case, the stories ask about what is the appropriate thing for the supervisor to do. Some portray
you as the supervisor and some ask what you think is appropriate for another supervisor to do. While some of
these situations may not be ones that would arise in your specific work, simply imagine what it would be like
for you in that situation, and respond accordingly. In rating each item, please use the following scale:




1
2
3
4
5
6
7


very

moderately
very


inappropriate
appropriate

appropriate

A.
Jim, an employee for several years, has generally done work on a par with others in his branch.
However, for the past couple of weeks he has appeared preoccupied and listless. The work he has done is good
but he has made fewer calls than usual. The most appropriate thing for Jim's supervisor to do is:

1.
Impress upon Jim that it is really important to keep up with his work for his own good.

2.
Talk to Jim and try to help him work out the cause of his listlessness.

3.
Warn him that if he continues to work at a slower rate, some negative action might be taken.

4.
Let him see how his productivity compares with that of his coworkers and encourage him to catch up.

B.
Nancy, one of your employees, has been going to night school working toward her degree. She has been
working hard at it, doing extremely well and is proud of her accomplishments. However, you are concerned,
because she is very hard to work with whenever the pressure at school is high. You decide the best thing to do
is:

5.
Ask her to talk out how she plans to handle the situation.

6.
Tell her that she ought to watch the balance between work and school and suggest she put more of her
energies into her job.

7.
Point out how other working "students" have handled the problem and see if that helps her handle the
situation better.

8.
Insist that she cut down on the studying or take fewer courses; you can't allow it to interfere with work.

C.
One of the work teams in another branch has been doing more poorly than the other groups all year. The
appropriate way for that manager to handle the situation would be to:

9.
Tell them that performance has to improve and offer them tangible incentives to improve.
10.
Let them know how the other teams are performing so they will be motivated to do as well.

11.
Have some discussions with the team as a whole and facilitate their devising some solutions for
improving output.

12.
Keep a record of each individual's productivity and emphasize that it is an important performance index.

D.
For some time Jack's down times have been at a steady, average level. You suspect however that he
could do better. A useful approach might be to:

13.
Encourage Jack to talk about his performance and whether there are ways to improve.

14.
Stress to Jack that he should do better, and that he won't get ahead if he continues at his current level.

15.
Go over your evaluation with him and point out his relative standing with others.

16.
Watch him more closely; praise him for increased output, and point out whenever he falls behind.

E.
Recent changes in the operation have resulted in a heavier work load for all the employees. Barbara, the
manager, had hoped the situation would be temporary, but today she learned that her branch would need to
continue to work with the reduced staff for an indefinite period. Barbara should:

17.
Point out that her employees will keep their own jobs only if they can remain productive at the current
rate; and then watch their output carefully.

18.
Explain the situation and see if they have suggestions about how they could meet the current demands.

19.
Tell all of her employees that they should keep trying because it is to their advantage to do so.

20.
Encourage her employees to keep up with the work load by pointing out that people are doing it
adequately in other branches.

F.
There is one assignment in your territory which is regarded by all as the worst. It involves a regular visit
to an unpleasant building to work on equipment that is typically abused. It has been given to the employee with
the least seniority. However, Dave, the man currently assigned to this job has been doing it for sometime, as no
one new has been hired. While he is generally very cooperative and satisfied in other respects, Dave seems to be
increasingly resentful about this job, in part because it's an object of jokes and chiding from his peers. Dave's
manager might:
21.
Let him know that the other people at his level also have to put up with unpleasant aspects of their jobs,
and give him a few examples of these.

22.
Be clear with him that it is his responsibility and be sure he continues to do it.

23.
Talk to him about the job, see if he can work through some of his feelings about it and the jokes that get
directed at him.

24.
Point out that the job is fairly assigned based upon seniority, and that such a system works for Dave's
own good as well as others'.

G.
Harry, who manages the parts department, seems to be creating something of a bottleneck. Important
parts are often "on order" and not in stock, and he often is slow in meeting short notice demands and
"emergency" situations. The best thing for his supervisor to do is:

25.
Emphasize how important it is for him to keep up with orders and emphasize that he should meet
ongoing demands.

26.
Let him know how other people in comparable positions are managing to keep up, so he can think about
it. This might help him figure out how to better keep up.

27.
Insist that the orders be done within a specified time limit, and check to be sure he is meeting the
deadlines.

28.
Find out from Harry what he thinks is wrong and see if you can help him figure out how to better
organize his operation .

H.
One of the customers has let you know that he is not very satisfied with the attitude of his service
representative. The thing for you to do might be:

29.
Raise the matter with your subordinate to see what has been going on for him in dealing with that
customer.

30.
Point out that customer satisfaction is important and that he should work on relating better to the
customer.

31.
Show him some ways that others relate to their customers so he can compare his own style to others.

32.
Tell him to see to it that the customer is more satisfied and let him know you will be checking up
on him.
Scoring Information. The procedure for scoring the questionnaire begins by averaging the eight ratings in
each of the four categories. The four categories are highly controlling (HC), moderately controlling (MC),
moderately autonomy supportive (MA), and highly autonomy supportive (HA). The four subscale scores
(composed of the average of the eight responses for that subscale) can be used in multi-variate analyses, or they
can be combined into one overall reflection of the ÒManager’s Orientation Toward Control Versus Autonomy
Support.Ó The procedure for combining the four subscales into one total scale score, as described in Deci,
Connell, and Ryan (1989) involves weighting the average for the highly controlling responses with a -2 (minus
two); weighting the moderately controlling average with -1 (minus one); weighting the average for the
moderately autonomous subscales with +1; and weighting the average for highly autonomous with +2. The
algebraic sum reflects the manager’s orientations toward control versus autonomy support, with a higher score
reflecting a more autonomy supportive orientation and a lower score or a more negative score reflecting a more
controlling orientation). The items that make up the subscales are as follows.

HC
3, 8, 9, 16, 17, 22, 27, 32

MC
1, 6, 12, 14, 19, 24, 25, 30

MA
4, 7, 10, 15, 20, 21, 26, 31

HA
2, 5, 11, 13, 18, 23, 28, 29

References


Deci, E. L., Connell, J. P., & Ryan, R. M. (1989). Self-determination in a work organization. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 74, 580-590.

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