Victor Vroom’s Idea Many theories of motivation before Victor Vroom’s stated that if the peoples needs were satisfied, they would be more motivated to do other things. This was often used in context to offices. If the management kept the employees happy then the employees would respond with increased productivity. However, Victor Vroom found that it was not this simple. Vroom realized that an employee’s performance was based on individual factors such as personality, ability, knowledge, skills and experiences. With this in mind he came up with a new theory for motivation, The Expectancy Theory.

Expectancy Theory Expectancy Theory is based on the idea that keeping an employee happy will not motivate them. Satisfying needs (what Herzberg would call hygiene factors), will only keep the employee happy for a short period of time. Expectancy theory deals with what Herzberg would call motivators, the factors that cause job satisfaction. To motivate an employee, the person must anticipate that completing the task will lead to the achievement of their goals. The task may not necessarily be the goal itself, but can be a way of attaining the goal.

EffortPerformanceOutcome ExpectancyInstrumentality Valence How Expectancy Theory Works This chart gives a visual idea of how Expectancy Theory works. Click on each of the words or arrows in colour to find out what they mean. (Make sure you hit the return arrow at the bottom right corner of each page to return to this slide when you have finished reading each explanation. When you are done with this slide click anywhere to continue)

Putting It All Together According to Expectancy Theory, for a person to be motivated, all three pieces must be present. For example I am motivated to recycle paper. Valence: I believe it is important to conserve our resources. Expectancy: I believe if I put more effort into recycling I will recycle more. Instrumentality: I believe that the less paper I use the more resources will be saved. However, let’s say for example I did not have the facilities available to me to recycle paper. then I would not longer have the Expectancy. No matter how hard I tried to recycle, there are no facilities for me to recycle through, therefore I would not be motivated.

Putting It All Together Con’t Lastly, it is important to remember that Expectancy Theory works on perceptions. Even if you believe you have provided someone with everything they need to be motivated, they may not perceive it that way. This theory takes into account that people may have different perceptions and expectations because of past experiences. When using this theory in practice you have to take into account the persons experiences and how it might affect their perceptions.

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Expectancy The belief that the person can do the task. This is affected by the person having the knowledge, proper resources, skills, and support to complete the task. “If I work harder at this it will get better.”

Instrumentality The belief that the person will receive what they want, (like the reward for their actions). This is affected by things like having a clear understanding of the relationship between performance and outcome and trust in the people that have the power to provide the outcome (reward). “If I do a good job there is something in it for me.”

Valence The importance that the person puts on the outcome. For example, if you were a family person you would be better motivated by extra time off than a pay raise. This is different for each and every person and it is important to understand what it is that people value.