Vroom’s and Maslow’s Theories of Motivation

John Brett

Business 101

Sherry Massomi

10/20/17

Vroom’s and Maslow’s Theories of Motivation

The first motivation theory I believe would work best for my employees is Expectancy Theory of Motivation. Victor H. Vroom was able to came up with the idea of the Expectancy Theory during his studies of motivations behind decision making in 1964 (wiki). The Expectancy Theory implies that individuals are willing to work towards rewards that they believe they can achieve or obtain. “Expectancy Theory of motivation holding that people are motivated to work towards rewards that they want and that they believe they have a reasonable change of obtaining.” (business essentials) This theory has three levels; Expectancy, instrumentality, and valence.  Expectancy is when an individual believes they effort will result in achieving their goals. The particular person will choose they goals based of their skill or knowledge in the field of study, this is called self-efficacy. If the goals are set to high this can lead to low expectancy. The individuals need to have some degree of control over there outcomes to achieving their goals otherwise motivation will be low. Instrumentality is when the performance is met with an outcome or rewards. Rewards can include recognition, pay increase or even promotion. A good example of Instrumentality is commissions, how much extra bonus depends on the performance. If all rewards or outcomes are the same this will create low instrumentality. Valence is how the individual values the rewards or outcomes. This is normal based on their goals, needs, values and sources of motivation. The person must prefer getting to the rewards rather than not getting to the reward for the valence to be positive.

The second motivation theory I also believe would work best for my employees and combine with Expectancy Theory is the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Abraham Maslow wrote this theory in 1943 in his paper ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’. Maslow’s theory consists of five levels; Physiological needs, Security needs, Social needs, Esteem needs, and Self-Actualization needs. The physiological needs include air, food, water, sleep, warmth, and shelter. These are vital requirements for human survival, if these are not meant the body cannot function. The second level is security needs, sometimes referred to as safety needs, these include Financial security, safety against illness and accidents, personal security, and Health and well-being. If these security needs are not met can lead to poor job security. More common in youth as they have greater need to feel safe. After physiology and safety needs are accomplished the third level is social needs, this is having friendships, family, and intimacy around you. People need to be accepted in social groups, these include, co-workers, sports, clubs, and religious groups. Also, people need to feel like they belong in their groups. If the social needs are not met humans may feel loneliness, depression, and anxiety. The fourth level is Esteem, this is having respect and admiration. People need both self-esteem and esteem, the respect of yourself and others. If esteem is not met can cause low self-esteem which leads to the seeking for fame or glory, but this does not help build self-esteem. Maslow breaks this level into two categories, lower and higher esteem. Lower esteem is the need for respect from others with fame, recognition, prestige, attention, and status. Higher esteem is the need for self-respect. This relies on self-confidence and is established through past experiences. The last level of Maslow’s theory is Self-actualization needs. This is realising your full potential and being that. Maslow says for a person to succeed at this level they must master the previous needs of physiological, security, social, and esteem.

I chose these two theories’ because I feel they would mix well together in the work place. Motiving people to attend work can be the first challenge but then to motive them to work hard in the work place is even more difficult. I chose both of these theories because the Expectancy Theory focuses on outcome and Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs because it focuses on needs, two completely different and important aspects of motivation. The Expectancy Theory would encourage employees to work harder to earn rewards. Effort equals reward, meaning the more effort an employee is willing to put in the high the reward would be. This emphasizes on rewards. I would apply is by offering bonus to employees that achieve higher than their co-workers. Also, I would try change the reward otherwise the motivation will drop. I would have to analyse the employees I am leading apply rewards that would motive all employees to achieve more. For example, if budgets are tight instead of giving bonus money give promotions for extra work hours. When giving tasks assign a bonus if someone finish before a certain date. I think I would have to individualise for each employee with this motivation theory to make it more effective.

Applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs would be very helpful in the work place as it would be soughing out the bad and good employees. Applying physiological needs would be to interview the employees individually and if they do not have the necessary of food, clothing, water, and shelter they will not be a good fit because they are most likely not concerned about learning and being an asset for the business. In the work place providing clean water and simple snacks will help with basic physiological needs.  To apply the safety needs for an employee would be to make sure the work place is hazard free and provide learning/training seminars for the work place. To address social needs of employee I would have to keep a close eye on the friendships of the employees. The manager could have work parties to help the employees socialize with each other creating an enjoyable environment. Another thing to help with the social needs in the work place would be to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries of employees. The fourth level is esteem needs, to be able to adapt this in the work place I would have to make sure employees respected me as a manager and themselves by knowledge their achievements and by completing the three levels before esteem needs. The final level is self-actualization, this will be the most difficult to bring into the work place. To achieve this as a manager I would have to assist my employees in where I want them to go in their journey at my company.