The Expectancy Theory of Motivation
Mr. Jeffrey Kiger
Western Governor’s University LET 1 Task 1
Abstract
The Expectancy Theory of Motivation was developed by Victor Vroom in 1964. The theory is not without its critics however, most of the evidence is supportive. The Expectancy Theory helps to explain the motivations of employees in both a positive and negative ways. A lot of people in the workforce feel this way about their jobs or careers. Although they have probably never thought much about why they feel this way or asked themselves “what can I do to overcome these feelings?”
The Expectancy Theory of Motivation
There are 3 relationships that are associated with the expectancy theory of motivation. The first relationship is effort-performance, which is the perception by employees that a certain amount of effort will lead to an acceptable performance standard. The second relationship that this theory explains is that individuals believe the desirable outcomes are the result of performing at a certain level. The final relationship that is related to the expectancy theory of motivation concerns the correlation between rewards and personal goals. This part explains to what degree a company’s rewards satisfy an individual’s personal needs or goals. The relationship also stresses the importance of those possible rewards for the employees.
The employees seem to have a number of issues that they need to overcome in order for them to be successful with the new production process. It seems like Supervisor A is having trouble communicating and motivating with his team. All 3 of the Expectancy Theory relationships seem to be prevalent in this situation. Some of the team members don’t think that they can physically do the job. A portion of the employees feel that the new production system is too demanding for their abilities. The company needs to re-examine the processes, break them down to more basic steps, and then spend a little time retraining the production teams. The employees will then see that they can meet the production goals. Some of the other employees don’t want to do the job, they can meet the production goals but they have decided that it isn’t important enough to do so. They have determined that the effort isn’t worth it because other employees get paid the same amount even though they don’t reach the same production goals. They haven’t understood the actual relationship of performance to reward. They are putting the focus on the other employees and forgetting about themselves. The company needs to address this conflict in order to have successful production teams. The last group of employees do not think that the rewards for achieving the company’s production goals will mean much to them at the end of the week. They are obviously concerned about their personal goals of making as much money as possible each week. They are getting the reward for their effort toward the company’s production goals however, it’s not enough. These employees really have to make a decision concerning the reward versus their personal goals.
In my opinion, the company needs to do 4 things to fix the issues at hand. First of all, the company needs to understand why the production goals are not reached and find solutions so that the employee can be successful. Secondly, they need to do a better job of communicating the production goals and standards. The third item that needs to change is the accountability of the employee to the production goals. Last of all, the company could even change the production levels that must be met to receive a bonus. The possibility of reaching the goals and receiving the reward/bonus will help the employee see the achievement of the performance reward relationship.
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