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EXPECTANCY THEORY proposes that an individual will act in a certain way based on the expectation that what they do will lead to, or will be linked to, a particular outcome. The motivation ‘value’ is also linked to how that person views the attractiveness of that outcome. The theory focuses on three relationships:

The first of these is the… Effort = Performance linkage (How hard will I have to work?)

Looking at this proposition, if employees do not perceive themselves as competent (having the skills and knowledge they need) they may believe that no matter how much effort they exert they will not receive recognition as a top performer. Often this undesirable situation is reinforced by a performance appraisal system that takes into account such factors as loyalty, initiative, courage, third party perceptions on a person’s ability to be promoted and even the employees general presentation.

IF YOU NEED TO INSPIRE FOR TOP PERFORMANCE YOU NEED TO STRONGLY LINK EFFORT TO REWARDS

EXPECTANCY THEORY also offers (as I said previously) a number of insights into why many people are not motivated in their jobs. The “expectation” is based on an individual’s belief the their actions will be followed by a given outcome and particularly on the attractiveness of that outcome. The second linkage that the theory focus’s on is the:

Performance = Reward linkage (What is the reward?)

Many employees see the performance reward linkage as being very weak. This particularly occurs when the organization completes a performance appraisal then does something stupid like give an ACROSS THE BOARD, 5% SALARY INCREASE TO EVERYONE. Performance management (inspiration) is a process and needs to be a whole year ongoing effort that includes, vision sharing, personal development discussions, training, counselling and action planning as well as the annual performance appraisal.

TOO HARD… MAYBE GO AND FIND THAT BIG STICK… OR PERHAPS SOME CARROTS

THE LAST EXPECTANCY LINK!

THE THEORY offers one more linkage insight into why many people are not motivated in their job. The last of the three links or relationships is:

The Reward = Attractiveness relationship (How attractive is the reward?)

In this last relationship the individual’s personal judgments and personal goals come strongly into play. If you offer a promotion to someone who is looking for more intellectually challenging technical problems/opportunities the reward offered will be ineffective. More money may not be attractive to someone who craves more personal time to be with his or her family.

The key message this theory offers for effective leader/managers is that it demonstrates the need for leaders to have a sound understanding of an INDIVIDUALS goals and aspirations and their perceived linkage between effort and performance, performance and rewards and finally rewards and individual goal satisfaction.

THE OLD ‘LETS HAVE AND EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH AND HAND OUT SOME RECOGNITION’ JUST DOES NOT WORK.

No reward for effort link where you work now? Motivated to leave, need a resume click the link for the resume template.