Employee Motivation & Expectancy Theory

In today’s digital world, employment has become much easier to find. Gone are the days of buying newspapers, looking over countless job ads, mailing in resumes, and waiting days for a response. Anyone can access employment sites such as monster.com, indeed.com, or snagajob.com and find their dream job. The specificity of job search engines have made it easy to find a particular job in a particular field, click the submit resume button to apply for it, and move on. Tens or even hundreds of jobs can be applied for in no time at all. All of this makes it very easy for a disgruntled employee to easily obtain employment elsewhere. Companies must work much harder to attract and retain competent employees.

Once hired, in order to retain competent employees, management can use many tools. One of the tools at their disposal is Expectancy Theory, first suggested by Yale University Professor Victor H. Vroom. As explained by Brian Redmond and Shaun Miller (2013), the theory suggests that an individual's perceived view of an outcome will determine the level of motivation. Some employees are motivated by money, while others prefer recognition for a job well done, a corner office, or the parking space closest to the building. Each person is different. Therefore, no one size fits all solution will work.

There are three key components to Expectancy Theory, expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Expectancy can be described as the belief a person has that the more effort they put into a task, the more favorable the outcome will be. For instance, if a carpenter makes sure all the angles in the addition he is building are 90 degree angles, the addition will be perfectly square; thereby making it easier for the sheetrock to be hung, new hardwood to ...

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... numbers also reinforces management’s position that the bonus is based on production numbers and nothing else. The expectancy concept of Expectancy Theory is demonstrated by the higher effort employees put into achieving production numbers. The concept is also reinforced by the training program. Employees who are properly trained have the tools to perform their job in a more confident manner. By utilizing the three concepts of Expectancy Theory, management has created a positive and profitable working environment for everyone involved.

References

Expectancy Theory. (2013, September 21). In PSYCH 484: Work Attitudes and Job Motivation. Retrieved January 2, 2014 from https://wikispaces.psu.edu/display/PSYCH484/4.+Expectancy+Theory