Expectancy Theory - Research Paper Example

? Expectancy Theory Expectancy Theory In an organizational setting, perhaps, the most difficult job is to change the attitudes of people from being selfish to being self interested. The most cumbersome effort is required to make a congruence of people from concentrating on striving for their own objectives to strive for the objectives of the company and achieve their own objectives in the process. This comprehensive phenomenon is elucidated in the more comprehensive phenomenon of Expectancy theory. The theory states that the performance of an individual is dependent upon the expectation that the persons attaches with the initiative that they are taking and the importance that objective has for them (Lawer, 1973). For example, if a sales agent values success in the form of promotion and commission on sales as the most important objectives and also considers that a particular sales training program will help him achieve this objective, his expectancy for the training program will be increased and the outcome valence will also be valued. Hence, the agent will perform through an extra effort in the training session and will therefore succeed in it. For the company, the case of this sales agent will be very beneficial as the improved performance of the sales agent will also boost up the sales figures of the company. The benefits that the company can gain from applying this theory are humongous as the company will not only succeed in the short run with the performance boost of the employee but will also keep on reaping benefits from his performance until he leaves the company (National Research Council, 1998). Thus, it is quite evident that there are phenomenal benefits for the company, as well as the employees, if Expectancy theory is applied to the job roles and trainings for the employees. In order to implement the theory practically, the human resources department of the company has to come up with certain measures that would ensure a systematic procedure for carrying out the process required. The human resources department of the company should first clearly identify the ultimate goals that the company wants to achieve in the long run. After clearly identifying the long term objectives of the company and of the relevant department, the concerned authorities will have to identify the goal performances that are needed from the employees to ensure their success. The department has to be specific about the performance requirements and the feasible activities because with the already burdensome job criteria’s, the employees are usually reluctant to take part in the new initiatives. To ensure the optimal motivational levels of the employees, the human resource people should sort all the possible training and performance tasks and come up with a few selected performance measures. Once the required tasks are selected, then the concerned people will have to launch an extensive awareness campaign for the employees (Human Performance Journal, 2002). The awareness campaign should appeal to the employees and show them how much, opting for the desired initiatives will benefit their individual positions. While, promoting the benefits the members should keep in mind how much the employee values certain things. They need to consider whether the certain employee aspires, position, pay raise, allowances, benefits and perks, involvement in projects, or success in initiatives. And depending on their preference, the concerned persons shall have to approach them and change their attitudes towards the initiative. Then the department has to set up platforms through which they can communicate the same objectives to the employees. These mentioned steps will help the employees in correlating their efforts to the benefits, and help them analyse the opportunity an optimistic manner. This initiative of the department will motivate the employees in opting for the initiative and benefiting themselves as well as the company in the long run (Noe, 1999). However, the scenario of implementation requires certain key measures that have to be taken into consideration. First, the goals should be manageable, which not only means, attainable but also means measureable, specific and quantifiable. For example, if the senior management sets up an objective of improving the organizational culture, it would not be a valid and manageable objective as there needs to be a specific aspect that the objective should target. In short, the objectives are missions, not visions and should not be therefore ambiguous. Another important thing to note in the process is that the expectations that have to be formed for the employees should be related to their core competencies and should be something that they truly value. If the employees are unable to identify the benefits in congruent to what they truly value, they would not be ready to change their attitudes or apply additional effort in the field. The most important factor to be taken into consideration in this regard is the factor of reward criteria’s. This means that the benefits that would be given to the employees should be distributed in a timely manner such that it impacts their expectations. The range at which this reward will be provided to them will also vary. Ideally, the employees should be rewarded at a time where their expectations are met and where they are further motivated to take part in the initiative. If the reward is delayed to quite an extent, the employees will cease to identify the reward in correlation to the effort that they have done. It is a good option to divide the reward into sub portions so that the employees build continuance commitment towards it, also if the reward is well distributed, the employees tend to grab on the smaller targets for the sake of the rewards (Wilson, 2004). The whole process of application of applying expectancy theory to performance improvement is dependent upon one basic assumption. The assumption states that there should be constant checks on the employee performance while the strategy is being implemented. This measure is important as it enables the top management to study the success of the initiative and its impact on employee development. It is also important that the transition period between the application program and the success factors be very short to encourage motivation in the employees. References Human Performance Journal (2002). Human performance. Vol. 15. No. 1-2. (2002). Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Lawer, E. (1973). Expectancy theory and job behavior. ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND HUMAN PERFORMANC, 9, 483 National Research Council (U.S.). (1998). Enhancing human performance: Background papers, issues of theory and methodology. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press. Noe, R. A. (1999). Employee training and development. Boston: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Wilson, H. (2004). Employee training and development. Deerfield, Ill: Administrative Research Associates. Read More