The Theory Of Motivation As Defined By Vroom ( 1964 )

Employee motivation is, or at least must be, one of the key issues for directors, managers and personnel managers. The leader must be able to find the sensitive strings of his subordinates, which can be motivated by influencing them to achieve high performance. The correct use of motivation encourages staff to make more efficient use of their knowledge, skills, and talents. In today's turbulent, often chaotic environment, commercial success depends on the employee's talent and effort. Despite the many existing theories and practices, some of the motivation of leaders today remains a mystical term. This is partly due to the fact that people are motivated by different things and techniques.

Motivation is derived from an internal force that provides an individual the opportunity to achieve their needs or goals. People are motivated by a variety of things and often have different motivating factors. Employers should be mindful of individual motivating factors when attempting to motivate staff to increase performance. While some people may be motivated by money, many are motivated by things like: recognition, promotion, and increased responsibility. Once an employer has identified motivating factors they are able to analyze a variety of motivational theories to design and implement a program that will motivate employees to go above and beyond what is expected of them.

Inkson and Kolb discuss the issue of expectancy theory, which is how an employee values the outcome of putting in a lot of effort in order to achieve a goal. ?Motivation declines when there is uncertainty of the lineages between performance and effort? (Inkson and Kolb, 1999, p.327) Outcomes can include bonuses and or praise (extrinsic rewards) and feelings of accomplishment (intrinsic rewards).

According to researcher Lindner (1998), motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces to aid in the survival of organizations. Not only is it important to meet the needs of the consumer, it is equally important that to make sure that associates are taken care of and remain motivated. For this reason, Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly and Konopaske (2012) “states much of management’s time is spent addressing the motivation of their employees” (p. 125). According to the Encyclopedia of Small Business (2007), employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity employees bring to their jobs; the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals (Lindner, 1988). Despite its obvious importance, employee motivation can be an elusive quest for managers due to the multiplicity of incentives that can influence employees to do their best work. The reality is that every employee has different ways to become motivated and the knowledge of how to motivate them is key to organizational success. It is imperative that employers get to know the personal needs and wants of their employees in order to establish tactics in which to motivate each of them. Once achieved, “managers are in a better position to encourage and reward employees to behave in effective ways” (Gibson et al, 2012, p.

The expectancy theory was developed by Victor H. Vroom in 1964 as a systematic explanation of individual motivation within the workplace. This theory put forth three key components: expectancy, performance, and valence. From the base component of the theory, which is expectancy, behavior is built by an individual’s value of the reward or valence. Vroom’s theory of expectancy is used by manager to understand how individual employees are motivated and how they will respond to rewards closely tied to the tasks given. Expectancy is proposed to be an individual’s understanding of how their effort leads to a given performance level. Vroom put forth in his theory that individuals believe the more effort put into a task or objective, the better

Lee, L.-E. (2008, July 4). Havard Business Review. Retrieved July 23, 2015, from Havard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2008/07/employee-motivation-a-powerful-new-model

Savaria’s motivation can be supported through the Vroom Expectancy Motivation Theory. This theory links the performance of an individual effort to his motivation with the purpose of increasing satisfaction and minimizing dissatisfaction. According to Vroom, the performance of an employee is based on individual factors; personality, skills, knowledge, experience and abilities. The Vroom theory accounts to three variables; Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valance.

Over the last several years, the issue of employee motivation inside the workplace has been increasingly brought to the forefront. The reason why is because, globalization has been having an effect on the ability of firms to compete (which is placing more pressure on them). To deal with these challenges, most organizations are relying on their employees. The results are that those employers who are able to use this resource will be able to make adjustments quickly. This is when the firm will be able to maintain their dominance in the marketplace.

Motivation in the workplace is one of the major concerns that managers face when trying to encourage their employees to work harder and do what is expected of them on a day-to-day basis. According to Organizational Behavior by John R. Schermerhorn, James G. Hunt and Richard N. Osborn the definition of motivation is "the individual forces that account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person's effort expended at work." They go on to say that "motivation is a key concern in firms across the globe." Through the years there have been several theories as to what motivates employees to do their best at work. In order to better understand these theories we will apply them to a fictitious organization that has the following

The Theory of Expectancy is based on perceptions. This means that even if an employer provides all that is required for motivation and it works with the majority in the organization, some employees will still feel

This essay’s aim is to analyse and establish an understanding of various motivation theories and their possible application within organisations. Along with implementing, the information related to motivation, this essay would demonstrate the importance of motivation and it is necessary for organisations to motivate their employees effectively

There are several theories based on motivation provide support for the relationship between motivation and performance. These theories include: Expectancy Theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene Theory, McClelland’s Needs for Achievement, Affiliation and Power, Equity Theory and Goal-Setting Theory. Expectancy theory suggests that motivation is high when employees believe that high levels of effort lead to high performance and high performance leads to attaining desired outcomes. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs says that five basic needs must be met by people in the order from bottom to top with each higher level upward leading to motivated behavior. Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene Theory focuses of two factors attributed to the workplace: 1) meeting basic expectations 2) leading to increased performance. McClelland’s Needs for Achievement, Affiliation, and Power identifies three needs for a person 1) achievement 2) affiliation 3) power; of which all three pertain to a person’s desire to perform well, have positive interpersonal relationships, and the desire to influence others. The Equity Theory is one’s perception of fairness

Behavior based motivation such as Equity Theory, Expectancy Theory and Reinforcement Theories are built on the premise that employee behavior is directly linked to the consequences of their actions.

The Porter-Lawler Expectancy Theory of Work Motivation is the complete opposite of what Maslow, Hertzberg and Alderfer propose in terms of satisfaction leading to improved performance, instead this content theory proposes that motivation does not lead to performance and all three aspects of motivation, satisfaction and performance are separate aspects. Figure 2 depicts the Porter-Lawler Motivation Model and highlights that performance is

Reinharth, L., & Wahba, M. A. (1975). Expectancy Theory as a Predictor of Work Motivation, Effort Expenditure, and Job Performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 18(3), 520-537.