Let1

January 29, 2013

Expectancy Theroy of Motivation

The expectancy theory of motivation has three main components that will be discussed. This theory has been accepted as the one of the ideologies of how individuals make decisions. The theory I will be discussing was proposed by Victor Vroom, a business school professor at the Yale School of Management in 1964. ("Expectancy Theory of Motivation," n.d., p. 1) The first part of the theory is the Effort-Performance Relationship, also known as expectancy, and then we will discuss the 2nd, Performance-reward Relationship, referred often as Instrumentality, followed by the 3rd relationship Rewards-Personal goals, often referred to as Valence. Each one of these has different aspects that will be discussed.

Effort-performance relationship may be simply stated as the harder you work the more you will get done, the more you get done the bigger your reward. Many people feel that this is the case with their jobs, they see it as a means to an end, if they are able to accomplish as much or more than is expected of them then they will be rewarded for doing so. This may not always work out the way we would hope, some people may judge the people that are working with them and determine themselves that one person is not working as hard for the same reward, and hence they will lower the effort to match the least productive person. For this method to be effective it would be wise to have individuals set goals that are tied to rewards. Having rewards that are tied to an individual’s goals will possibly stop the comparison between themselves and their coworkers.

Performance-reward relationships may be simply stated as, the ability to do the job well will lead to gratification. Performance that is satisfactory or high may lead to higher gratification, were as the opposite, low performance or non-performance will lead to low gratification. The reward must be something that is known and agreed upon, something that is attainable yet...