Expectancy Theory

During my work term I was not very motivated to put in effort or go the extra mile for my assigned tasks. Using expectancy theory, the reason for my lack of motivation during my co-op term can be explained clearly and effectively.

Starting with expectancy, I did believe that if I exerted more effort, that I would be able to perform my job faster, however, the only reason I felt the need to so was to ensure I received a good evaluation. My assigned work was not important to the project nor was it making any significant impact to those around me. The absence of a supportive leadership also caused me to lose motivation. They had not given me the chance to work on more challenging tasks or take the time to think of any tasks I could do with my current skills. They also did not give me any training so that I could perform work that would be instrumental to the overall project. All of these reasons combined made the outcome of my effort feel obsolete and not important in the bigger picture. In terms of self-efficacy, I knew I had the skillset required for the tasks I was assigned, but, that is only due to the fact that the tasks themselves were very simple and in no ways challenging. The lack of difficulty during my work term caused me to lose motivation and it felt as though the outcomes would not be satisfying.

Measurement of how well I performed on my tasks was very vague, so I did not know how I was being evaluated, especially since my evaluator did not work with me. As mentioned before, due to my work being very insignificant in the bigger picture, I did not feel like the outcomes were instrumental to the success of the project. This was the reason why I did not perform as well as I believe I could