44.312 Security Management

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Theories of Motivation (continued)

Theory of Expectancy & Path/Goal Relationships:
Victor Vroom's "Expectancy Theory" argues that promise of an incentive or reward will motivate workers. Premise is that people believe they have the competence of skills needed to earn it. Key factors:

  • worker must value the incentive being offered.
  • must believe you have a legitimate opportunity to perform the tasks required to earn the incentive.
  • must have clear criteria to identify winner/s: criteria must be stated and communicated to staff, and they must believe the criteria will actually be used. Most employees must feel they have the skills needed, or they will simply be discouraged.


Interpersonal skills
None of these motivational theories will work if the managers lack interpersonal skills that help them relate to workers: staff will think they are insincere, unfriendly, etc.

Relevant skills include:

  • sincere interest in fellow employees: be willing and able to understand other person's needs, feeling and point of view
  • good listening skills
  • making people feel they are appreciated
  • be able to give critical feedback in a positive manner.

Doesn't mean that you have to be charming or humorous.

Motivation ideas:

be creative: one consultant did a role-playing exercise where workers were part of "jury" because of an incident in which their company was being sued for a wrongful-death situation: made the workers see workplace and how they might have contributed to the situation in a whole new light

stimulate motivation from within: "How can you create the working conditions in which motivation that comes from the heads and hearts of the workforce?'

Hard to motivate if pay and benefits aren't commensurate with workers' contributions.

Try "Management by Objectives," in which workers and management jointly determine job performance goals.

Use peer pressure to improve performance: give one worker responsibility for a specific issue that can be a problem in terms of costs, profits, etc., and let him or her come up with ways to influence other workers to perform better. Rotating these assignments will also give all workers exposure to the range of issues the company faces.

As a manager, put yourself out to recognize effort: call someone at home, during dinner, to praise them.

Should a company whose profits rise distribute those increases to the workers in the form of salary increases?

READING: pp. 225-235, "Performance Appraisal."

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