Motivation: A set of energetic forces that determine the direction, intensity, and persistence of an employee’s work effort
Engagement: A widely used term in contemporary workplaces that has different meanings depending on context; most often refers to motivation, but it can refer to affective commitment Motivation determines the…
DIRECTION of effort: What are you going to do right now?
INTENSITY of effort: How hard are you going to work on it?
PERSISTENCE of effort: How long are you going to work on it?
Why some employees are more motivated than others
Expectancy theory: People are motivated to act if they believe their actions will result in their desired goals. A theory that describes the cognitive process employees go through to make choices among different voluntary responses. Expectancy theory argues that employee behaviour is directed toward pleasure and away from pain or, more generally, toward certain outcomes and away from others. The theory suggests that our choices depend on three specific beliefs that are based in our past learning and experience expectancy, instrumentality, and valence.
Expectancy: The belief that exerting a high level of effort will result in successful performance on some task. If I exert a lot of effort, will I perform well?
Self-efficacy: The belief that a person has the capabilities needed to perform the behaviours required on some task
Instrumentality: The belief that successful performance will result in come outcome or outcomes. If I perform well, will I receive certain outcomes?
Valence: The anticipated value of the outcome(s) associate with successful performance.
Will the outcomes be satisfying? Valence is linked to needs. In general, the more an outcome satisfies a need, the more positively valenced that outcome is.
Needs: Groupings or clusters of outcomes viewed as having critical psychological or psychological consequences. Commonly studied needs in OB:
Need Label