Employee Motivation Based on Two Theories - Coursework Example

Employee Motivation A Comparison and Contrast of Vroom’s Expectancy Theory and Adam’s Equity Theory Submitted By: ***** Number: ****** Name: ****** Subject: ******** Subject Code: ******* Course: ****************** University of ******** Introduction: Motivation of employees plays a very important role in any business and is one of the most important aspects of management. The management require understanding the needs of every employee and require designing methods of motivating the employees based on each employee individually. Thus it is essential for managers to understand the needs of employees to ensure better performance within the organization (Buchanan, Huczynski, 2004), (Locke, 1975). Motivation is generally explored on the basis of three main aspects; a) Goals, b) Decisions, and c) Influence. Goals refer to the main motives for an individual’s behaviour. The various motives can vary from individual to individuals at different times. Goals can vary from need for wealth, status and power. This can be understood better based on the content theories (George, 1968). Decisions refer to why people tend to work harder and what really motivates them. This is understood better based on the process theories that have been developed by various authors over the years. Process of Motivation (CGDA, 2008) Lastly the Influence factor refers to the various external and social factors that affect and motivate employees to work better and perform and contribute to the company (Chhoka, et.al., 2001). There are a number of different theories that have been developed to address the factors that influence the motivation of employees these will be discussed under the various enrichment theories. The process of motivation can also be clearly understood based on the following diagram which allows a better understanding of motivation. Model of Motivation (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004) As mentioned earlier the three motives of motivation can be classified and understood based on the three categories of content, process and enrichment theories. In the further sections a few of the theories that have been developed will be discussed. These are a few of the well received theories and have proved to be effective in most organizations (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Equity Theory: This theory falls under the process theories category. This theory is based on the perceptions of fair treatment. This theory was developed by John Stacy Adams in 1962, argued that individuals are motivated to act differently in situations where it is felt as unfair or inequitable. In short the theory aims at understanding the satisfaction based on social comparisons. Adams has argued about the various differences in the behavior in both cases where employees are over rewarded as well as under rewarded (Fitz - enz, 2000). He argued, that it is a natural human behavior that employees tend to reciprocate to over reward well and treat it as good luck and take no action, however when under rewarded the behavior changes. Based on this Adam has proposed a way calculate the inequality (Adams, 1963). He suggested that a comparison of one employee’s rewards and contributions are made with that of other employees. It can be illustrated by: Individual’s outcomes = Relational partner’s outcome ------------------------------ -------------------------------------- Individual inputs Relational partner’s inputs It is up to the managers to be able to solve the issues that might arise. The theory contains four different proposals: a) Individuals aim at increasing and maximizing the outcomes. b) The rewards for group efforts can be increased by equally distributing the rewards to all members within the team. Incorporating the equality system within teams will allow every employee to work towards improving the efforts of all employees, by rewarding the employees who treat others equitably than inequitably, and punish employees who do not do so (Adams, 1963). c) Individuals working in teams where inequitably exists, the feeling of distress is formed. According to the equity theory people who earn too much or too little also feel distressed and unsatisfied with their jobs. This is due to the reason that individuals who receive more will feel guilt whereas people who earn less feel shame. Also people who receive less generally feel anger and humiliated (Adams, 1965). d) It is also seen that people who feel that they are in an inequitable relationship will lead to lower the productivity of the employee and increase the distress among the individuals. The theory does have a few drawbacks as well. Equity theory does not take account of the wider social and organizational context. It does not take into account that different individuals compare for equity with a lot of different individuals. Some within their own organization while other with different organizations, sectors or even countries. Different people have different rationales and basis for comparisons and cannot always be for every person. The theory also does not take into account the capitalist economies. It is to be noted that the theory has significant implications on management. It is essential that management understand the possible effects of inequalities on employee performance and can create a lot of tension in any organization (Adams, 1965, 1963). This is one of the most useful theories for motivating people. It is seen that there is a clear relationship between the employee performance and employee motivation. Hence managers can use this as one of the most useful tool to help motivate the employees. Also in addition to the time, the workers also contribute other things like the experience, qualifications, ambitions etc. Money proves to be the biggest and is the most motivating outcome of the employees (Adams, 1965). This however is not the only factor which motivates the employees, and is not the most important in a number of cases. Other factors which also help to be motivating factors are the power and status. According to this theory, it is clearly understood that employees who are confident of receiving rewards equal to their contributions. If employees who work harder and perform better are given a reward equal to that of the peers, the employee will feel the unfair treatment. However if the employee does get the right rewards then the employees will feel that their efforts are being recognized and thereby they will perform better. Hence managers need to understand that not all the employees can be treated as identical as each person contributes in different ways to the company, and each of these should be recognized and dully rewarded. It has been studied and proved that employees, who are paid higher, generally perform better and the outcome is normally of higher quality, than the employees that are under rewarded are generally less motivates employees (Beer, et.al., 1985). Expectancy Theory This is a process theory and it refers to a process by which outcomes become desirable. This theory was first developed by an American psychologist Edward C. Tolman in 1930. This was developed as a challenge to the various views that were developed by his contemporaries for employee behaviour. Tolman argues that the behaviour of individual is based on the expectations of the behaviour leading to the achievement of the expected outcomes. The theory predicts that employees in an organization will be motivated when the belief of putting in more efforts would yield better performance, which would in turn lead to receiving rewards like increase in salary and benefits and rewards are always valued by every individual and is a motivating factor for every employee. In 1964, an American psychologist Victor Harold Vroom, developed the first expectancy theory and based it on three main concepts. These concepts were valence, instrumentality and expectancy, thus the name valence – instrumentality – expectancy theory. Valence: This refers to what individuals perceive for a particular outcome. It refers to the preferences and perceived values of individuals. These include the emotional orientation which individuals have towards the outcomes. The value the employee places on money, promotion, benefits and satisfaction. It is essential the management is able to recognize this and appreciate the employees accordingly. Instrumentality: this refers to the probability that good performance will lead to rewards irrespective of the promises made by the management. It is essential that the management recognizes the employee efforts and rewards them accordingly. Also if the management does make promises to the employees for rewards, it is essential that those are fulfilled. Expectancy: This again is the probability that efforts will lead to good performance. It is essential to understand that all employees have different expectations and levels of confidence about the individual capability. It is essential that the management can recognize the needs for the employees to enhance their capabilities and improve their individual capabilities (Quick MBA, 2008). The theory is based on the expectancy equation: F = V * I * E Where, F is the Force of motivation. This can be got as a result of the product of the Valence, Instrumentality and Expectancy. This is very essential as even if one of the three aspects is zero it would result in the force to equal to zero. Vroom has defined each of the three and created a relationship between the three. He explains that each of three elements has a clear importance and clearly choosing one element over the other has been clearly defined as: Effort – performance expectancy – E > P expectancy: this refers to the idea that efforts will lead to requires performance levels. Performance – outcome expectancy – P > O expectancy: this refers to the probability that successful performance will lead to certain desired outcomes. Expectancy Theory: Victor Vroom (Fitz-enz, 2000) Vroom explains that to achieve a positive force it is essential that all the three factors are positive. He argued that working hard effects the work performance, social life, fatigue levels, current pay and future promotions (Fitz-enz, 2000). . Thus the full expectancy theory was then defined as: F =  (V * I * E) Managers in the practical world can use this theory to help improve the employee motivation and thereby improve the performance of the employees in the organisations. To do this, managers can take a few simple steps which might help get the desired results from the employees. Firstly, managers need to determine what they expect from each of the employees. This will allow the managers to have a clear picture of what is required from each employee which will also allow for better employee appraisal (Weightman, 2004). Managers also require keeping in mind the need for performance based on the goals of the organisation. This is very important and should be taken care of to ensure that the desired levels of performance are got to meet organisational goals. Also it is essential that managers take care to ensure that the levels of performance that is expected from the employees is possible and does not involve over working the employees. Care also has to be taken to be able to link the desired outcomes and the desired performance. Also managers require analysing the situation when there is a conflict of expectations (University of Pheonix, 2001). This is very essential as a manager requires being able to manage situations of conflicting expectations and be able to stabilize the situation. Also managers require making sure that the rewards that are given to the employees is large enough and keeps up to the promised reward. Finally the last but equally important point is that the overall system is fair, impartial to all the employees of the company. Conclusion: As discussed above, the Equity and Expectancy theories are very useful tools for the organizational managers and these theories help managers to design the reward systems for the company (Podmoroff, 2005), (Sekaran, 2000). Determination of the rewards and the performance and the relationship that links the two is vey important to be known by the managers, before choosing any one of the theories for the organizational performance systems. It is also important to understand that if the organizations do not have a set policy for the compensation, and the employees are not provided with an explanation for their rewards, then the use of any of the two theories in the organization would be useless and it would prove to be completely a waste of time for the organization. Also as a suggestion it would be better if the Equity theory is not utilized in companies that deal with multinational workforce, as this type of reward system would only cause confusions and chaos in the company. However the Equity theory can be used in combination with other theories. Bibliography Adams, S.J., 1963, Toward an understanding of inequity, Journal of abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol 67, no.4, pp422-36 Adams, S.J., 1965, Inequality in Social Exchange, in L. Berkowitz (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Academic Press, New York, pp 267 - 99 Beer, M., Lawrence, P.R., Quinn Mills, D., and Walton, R.E., 1985, ‘Human Resource Management: A General Manager’s Perspective’, Free Press, Glencoe, IL Buchanan D. and Huczynski A., 2004, ‘Organizational behavior’, 5th edn, Prentice Hall, Essex CGDA, 2008, Process of Motivation, Accessed on 2 December 2008, Retrieved from http://cgda.nic.in/rt/rtcblr/website/Training%20Material/H%20R%20D/Image11.gif Chhokar, J.S., Zhuplev, A., Fok, L.Y., & Hartman, S.J., 2001, ‘The Impact of Culture on Equity Sensitivity Perceptions and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: A Five- Country Study’ International Journal of Value - Based Management, 14(1), 79-98. Fitz-enz, Jac, 2000, The ROI of Human Capital: Measuring the Economic Value of Employee Performance 1st edition, AMACOM George, C., 1968, ‘The History of Management thought’, Prentice – Hall, UK Locke, Edwin A., 1975, ‘Personnel Attitudes and Motivation’, Annual Review of Psychology, 1975, Vol. 26, p388 Podmoroff, D.B.A., 2005, 365 Ways to Motivate and Reward Your Employees Every Day: With Little or No Money, 30 September 2005, Atlantic Publishing Company Sekaran, U., 2000, ‘Research Methods for Business, A Skill-Building Approach’, 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York University of Phoenix, (ed.), 2001, ‘Organizational Behavior’, University of Phoenix Custom Edition, Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing Weightman, J., 2004 ‘Managing People’, 2nd edition, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’, 2004, CIPD Publishing, London Read More