Managers can improve the valence, instrumentality, and expectancy employees place in their job situations by (1) matching rewards to needs, (2) natching rewards to performance, and (3) matching job to employees.
The strength of expectancy theory lies in the fact that it accomodates three theories of individual behavior (needs, reinforcement, and perception) and that it can be operationalized. We have seen a set of motivational principles from expectancy theory and now I'll try to explain how these principles can be applied in organizational settings.
Matching Rewards to Employee Needs
By matching rewards to needs, management can increase not only the valence of rewards but also the level of employee satisfaction. How can management match rewards to needs? There are a few things that managers can do:
1. Figure out what employees want. Managers can ask their employees what kinds of rewards they prefer. This information can be used to select appropriate rewards. People want different things from their jobs, and matching rewards to these needs increases the valence of the rewards.
2. Find people who value rewards. The match between rewards and needs can be achieved by finding people who may value what the organisation may offer. Some organizations are limited in their ability to offer a variety rewards. In this case the organization needs to attact people who can be motivated by what it can offer. For example, if the only things a company can offer is money, it should hire people who are striving for economic need saticfaction.
Matching Rewards to Performance
By relating organizational rewards to job performance, management can increase the chances of attaining both individual and organizational goals. This strategy favorably affects the performance-reward instrumentality. There are several things that managers can do in this effort.
1. Use performance-contingent reward systems. Some reward systems lack motivational value because they are not tied to performance. Annual bonuses and fringe benefits are often not tied to performance; they are usually given to employees instead for maintaining organizational membership. Incentive pay and merit systems are examples of relating rewards to performance.
2. Maintain equity in reward systems. Matching rewards to performance also means that the amount of reward should be commensurate with task complexity, labour availability, prewailing wage level, and amount of responsibility. When there are no objective performance criteria, managers need to be cautious in evaluating the performance of their employees.
3. Communicate performance-reward contingencies. It does not matter whether or not rewards are actually tied to performance. Unless the performance-reward contingencies are clearly communicated to employees and perceived by employees as such, the reward systems cannot have a strong impact on employee motivation. Performance feedback, followed by reinforcement, is essential in maintaining a high level of performance.
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Matching Jobs to Employees
Mathing the technical, physical, and psychological requirements of the job to the employee's qualifications enchances the effort-performance expectancy. If the job is either too simple or too complex, the employee may not feel that his or her effort has been effectively utilized in the task performance. The matching process involves the following actions.
1. Design the job to suit employee needs. People want different levels of job challenge. Some employees may prefer complex and challenging jobs; other may prefer simple tasks. Task complexity needs to be differentiated to reflect the technical and psychological qualifications of employees.
2. Match employees to jobs. The match between jobs and people can also be achieved by hiring people who will fit the jobs. When it is economically and technically impractical to redesighn jobs, it makes more sence to fit employees to jobs than the other way around.
3. Improve employee job skills. Another way of fitting people to jobs is by training. When employees are underqualificated to perform their jobs, training can help them find a better fit. Training also enchances effort-performance expectancy.
4. Set challenging but attainable goals. Set performance goals that are challenging but attainable. If the task goals are ether too high or too low, employees are not likely to feel that their efforts are related to task performance. When the task goals are challenging but attainable, they are more likely to perceive the relationship between effort and task accomplishment.
This diccussion demonstrates how motivational principles can be applied in managing organozational reward and work systems.
CONCLUSION
My work presents a model of motivation, describes a set of motivational principles. Here also shown in short the expectancy theory, which explains how motivational decisions are made.
People make motivational decisions based on how they perceive the relationship between their needs and organizational rewards (valence), their performance and rewards (instrymentality), and their efforts and task performance (expectancy). Generally, work motivation increases when they perceive these relationships favorably.
A set of motivational principles can be derived from the expectancy theory. The valence, instrumentality, and expectancy of performing a task can be improved by adopting the following three principles:
1.Match rewards to employee needs (valence).
2.Match rewards to performance (instrumentality).
3.Match jobs to employees (expectancy).
Список литературы
1.Lawler, Motivation in Work Organizations.
2.Vroom, Vork and Motivation.