by Raymond Lim

Created on: October 14, 2008

Over the past managers had been besieged with various different approaches and views to motivation. The theories associated with these approaches are well known such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Alderfer's ERG theory, Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory, etc.

Different theories present different aspects of looking at people but each of them assumes :-

i) Similarity in the requirements or makeup: For instance assumption that employees all want economic gains, or pleasant working condition, or all aspire to be self-actualizing, etc.

ii) That all situations are the same, and that managerial course of action for motivation such as participation, job enlargement, basic needs fulfillment, etc is applicable to all circumstances and

iii) "One Best Way" principles emerge from the above assumptions to motivate employees without regard to differing circumstances and environment.

It would be appropriate for managers to use Expectancy Theory as diagnostic tools in the motivation of their subordinates. This approach view people as having their own needs and mental perception of what the world is like to them. They used these perceptions in decisions making; behaving in those ways which their mental maps indicate will lead to outcomes that will satisfy their needs. Therefore motivation depends on the situation they are in, and how it fits their needs.

Since behavior is the outcome of dual forces in the person and in the environment, managers need to look at these factors; diagnose and utilize them in motivating their subordinates in achieving good performance. Managers need to :

n Find out the type of rewards that have valence for each of your individual employees. Managers need to determine what him or her value most. There are various means of finding out, such as:

i) Direct questioning of what kind of rewards they want, what kind of career goals they have in mind, or what's their expectations

ii) Data collection such as using questionnaire

iii) Observing employees reactions to different situations or rewards

The skillful manager emphasizes diagnosis of needs, not changing the individuals themselves

n Define Or Spell Out Their Own Expectations

Managers frequently talk about "good performances" without defining what is good performance or their expectations. An important step in motivating subordinates is for the managers to figure out what kind of performances are required and the performance indicators ( productivity, quality, etc)

Define these indicators in specific terms that

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