Motivation remains a subject
that is extensively researched and the middle of the twentieth century witnessed
the advent of some of the most important and influential theories on the
subject of motivation being proposed, covering both general and employee. Victor
Vroom, along with other eminent academics such as Abraham Maslow and Frederick
Herzberg, became famous for his extensive work in to the topic of motivation (Ndirtagu, 2013).
A business school professor at
the Yale School of Management, Victor Vroom is an American scholar who is best
known for his most celebrated work – Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. Vroom (1964) makes
a straightforward definition of the theory as a model that is concerned with how
employees choose from different behaviours and levels of effort. Furthermore, he
goes on to state and that personality, skills, knowledge, experience, and
abilities are the individual factors that determine an employee’s performance and
that while some employees give emphasis for intrinsic rewards, other do so for extrinsic
awards.
Ugah (2008) refers to the
theory and explains that Vroom declares that employees are motivated to choose
between various behaviours and that behaviour to work harder will happen only if
they believe their efforts will be rewarded. He further states that Choice,
Expectancy, and Preference are the variables in the expectancy theory and goes
to explain that the freedom to select one from many behaviours is Choice while Expectancy
is the belief that certain behaviours will give desired results. Preference are
the values an employee will assign to the different results.
Suciu et al., (2013) explains Vroom’s
Expectancy Theory takes an effort to establish that motivated behavior is goal
oriented and that individuals will always prefer actions that will result in
the highest subjective rewards for themselves. They further state that on this
basis, behaviour could be utilized for predicted and specific objectives.
George & Jones (2012) argues
that the expectancy theory has two ends. On one end it proposes that, irrespective
of the results that are obtainable, employees will not be motivated to put in
any effort to contribute to the organization unless they believe it will result
in reaching a given level of performance. In other words, the motivation to
perform at a specific level will be absent if employees end up thinking that,
even with maximum effort, they are not able to reach the said level. On the
other end, they explain, the theory stresses that employees will be motivated
to perform at a given level only if performing at that level will give them the
desired results – such as a salary, job security, a feeling of achievement to name
a few. They go on to establish that, according to the theory, employees will be
motivated to take effort and contribute to the job only if both the above-mentioned
ends are in their favour.
In addition they explain, as per the theory, if managers want to motivate employees to perform at a certain level, they must first ensure the employees themselves believe they can achieve the said level of performance. Thereafter, managers must ensure the employees believe they will receive, and actually do receive, the desired rewards once they achieve the mentioned level. Given its efficacy and profound practicality, expectancy theory is one of the most sought-after theories of workplace motivation. By shedding light on how employees decide on their choices, the theory gives managers valuable insights on motivating employees to make greater contributions via organizationally beneficial behaviors.
References
· George, J. M. & Jones, G. R., (2012). Understanding and managing organizational behavior, 6th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. pp.163-4.
Great Post Nelushan and adding furthermore, The expectancy theory of Victor Vroom belongs to the category of process theories since, as Klitzner and Anderson (1977) state, motivation is seen as a multiplication of three factors. This theory integrates many of the elements of the needs, equity and reinforcement theories (Gordon et al., 1990, p. 450). ‘Expectancy theory holds that people are motivated to behave in ways that produce desired combinations of expected outcomes’ (Kreitner and Kinicki, 1998, p. 227).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Malshani. Lloyd & Mertens (2018) explains that the bias of "the choice they perceive will lead to the best personal outcome" of the expectancy theory is composed of three premises which Vroom’s uses to construct his theory – expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. According to Vroom, the motivational force that drives behavior is a product of these three variables.
DeleteHi Nel, well explained blog post on Vroom’s Expectancy theory. Adding to your content, according to Vroom’s Expectation theory, motivation develops out of three factors. These are valence attributed by an individual to the award, instrumentality, and expectancy (Steward & Brown, 2008).
ReplyDeleteThe expectation theory argues that certain types of needs or awards exist without being categorized and suggests that these needs and awards may be different for each individual (Vroom, 1964; Gibson et al., 2012). Accordingly, the value each individual attributes by to each award will be different. An individual’s expectation will be to win a certain tangible or intangible award that is valued as a result of the high performance with the recognition that it is possible to achieve the job (Steward & Brown, 2008).
Thanks very much for your comment Nilu and agree with you. Furthermore Lloyd & Mertens (2018) states that expectancy theory is based primarily on the postulation that individuals have choices, and they make decisions based on which choice they perceive will lead to the best personal outcome.
DeleteGood post, it allows management to meet the company's goals. Without a motivated workplace, companies could be placed in a very risky position. Motivated employees can lead to increased productivity and allow an organisation to achieve higher levels of output (Hanaysha & Majid, 2018).
ReplyDelete