Key Motivation and Organizational Behavior Theories

Expectancy Theory (VIE)

People’s behavior results from conscious choices among alternatives, and these choices (behaviors) are systematically related to psychological processes (perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes). It emphasizes the need for organizations to relate rewards directly to performance, ensuring the rewards are deserved and wanted by recipients.

• Expectancy: Self-efficacy (their estimate of ability to complete the task) refers to the strength of a person’s belief about the degree to which a particular first-level outcome is the result of their actions (factors include confidence, budget, and materials).
• Instrumentality: The connection between job performance and the resulting outcomes. This connection determines the valence of the performance.
• Valence: The value a person expects to receive from the outcome; it contributes to the motivation to act—the affective orientation people hold with regard to the outcome.

Four Tenets of Goal Setting Theory

• Goals and intentions are responsible for human behavior.
• If goals determine effort, then higher goals result in higher performance.
• Specific goals result in higher levels of effort than vague goals.
• Incentives have no effect unless they lead to the setting and/or acceptance of hard, specific goals.

Management by Objectives: 4-Stage Process

• Managers negotiate with subordinates to determine organizational and personal objectives for a period of time.
• Subordinates prepare an action plan describing how they will achieve agreed goals.
• Performance review by the superior and subordinate of progress toward objectives set at the beginning of the period.
• Setting of new objectives by the superior and subordinate for the next time period.

Organizational Behavior Modification: 4 Steps

This occurs when managers systematically apply the tools of operant conditioning to an organizational setting, targeting behaviors that are specific, objective, and countable.

• Specify desired behavior.
• Measure frequency of desired performance.
• Provide frequent, positive consequences.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the ultimate job performance.

Self-Regulation Theory: 5 Stages

This is the process by which people monitor their own behaviors and adjust those behaviors in pursuit of personal goals, related to self-control and self-management.

• Goal selection
• Goal cognition
• Directional maintenance
• Directional change
• Goal termination

Social Cognitive Theory

This theory recognizes that people can have some control over their destinies while the environment sets limits on what is possible. It describes psychosocial functioning through "triadic reciprocal causation"—a theory of human agency.

• Cognitive Factors: Knowledge, expectations, attitudes
• Behavioral Factors: Skills, practice, self-efficacy
• Environmental Factors: Social norms, community access, influence on others