Exploring Process Theories of Motivation: A Case Study

This case study discusses motivations that are the forces within individuals that account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person’s efforts used at work. According to Schermerhorn, Osborne, Uhl-Bien, and Hunt (2012), the research of Motivational Theories is divided into two types of theories, content and process theories. Content theories focus on physiological and psychological deficiencies while process theories of motivation focus on how cognitive processes as thoughts and decisions with the minds of people influence their behavior. In this case study we will focus on the process theories. We begin with a woman named Mary Jones, while she was in the last year of college, she was interviewing for jobs. Mary graduated in the

The Expectancy Theory of Motivation states that motivation is a result of a rational calculation; people do what they want. Expectancy is the probability that work effort will be followed by performance accomplishment, instrumentality is the probability that performance will lead to various work outcomes, and valence is the value to the individual of various work outcomes. When any of these categories are diminished, then overall motivation will decrease. In this case, Mary may not feel self-confident that she has the skills and education to complete the job given by her manager. Although she was given a ten percent increase in pay, her salary was still lower than the average co-worker. Therefore, she is still lacking a difference in pay between herself and Sue after the raise. Therefore, since she is low, motivation will be significantly also lower. The Expectancy Theory Predication explains Vroom process which employees undergo when making personal choices. The theory suggests that motivation is the result of a rational calculation people will so what they want to do. Individuals may have different sets of goals, they can be motivated if they believe that there is a positive link between efforts and performance, favorable performance will result in a desirable reward, the reward will satisfy an important need or/and the desire to