Organizational Leadership

When employees believe in themselves, it will not be hard to motivate them to perform their jobs more efficiently. When employees value their jobs, pay checks, and paid time off, they will do whatever is necessary to be the best they can be. However, the employer has a role to play in making sure the necessary tools and models are in place to help the employee achieve the desired expectations of their employers. The expectancy theory is the motivation theory based on the idea that work effort is directed toward behaviors that people believe will lead to desired outcomes. (McShane & Von Glinow, 2008, p. 143). One of the appealing characteristics of expectancy theory is that it provides clear guidelines for increasing employee motivation by altering the person’s E-to-P expectancies. (McShane & Von Glinow, 2008, p. 144). I believe the E-to-P component of the expectancy theory is where I will focus. The objective of this theory is to increase the belief that employees are capable of performing the job successfully. (McShane & Von Glinow, 2008, p. 145). This is the expectancy that deals with effort-to-performance, and since the employees already feel they can perform their jobs more efficiently and are satisfied with the reward they now receive, the next step is to help them achieve what they are already motivated to work toward. Some companies increase this can-do attitude by assuring employees that they have the necessary competencies, clear role perceptions, and necessary resources to reach the desired levels of performance. Matching employees to jobs based on their abilities and clearly communicating the tasks required for the job is an important part of the process. (McShane & Von Glinow, 2008, p. 144). If the E-to-P expectancy is learned then the first action that would help the employees is to provide employees that can be examples and whose performance has brought them higher rewards. People tend to model the example of others.