Inputs involve all that you bring to the job – your education, the hours you work, level of effort, and general performance level. The output portion of the equation is generally measured in terms of the salary and fringe benefits that you receive. In some cases this could be prestige, approval, and status.

Any inequities in the relationship will be corrected as soon as they are detected. The only variable that you can manipulate is your input. So if you believe that the relationship is not in balance and that the ratio of your inputs to outputs is greater than the ratio of the comparisons, you will work to bring the relationship back into equity by reducing your inputs – increasing your absenteeism or performing at lower levels.

You can correct inequities in a number of ways. You can make the correction by changing the perception of the inputs or outputs. You may somehow rationalize your perception of the inequity. You may choose to change the comparison person or standard. Or, you may remove yourself from the situation (such as quitting your job).

Developed by Victor Vroom in the 1960s, Expectancy Theory proceeds from the assumption that behavior is based upon the expectation that this behavior will lead to a specific reward and that reward is valued.

According to expectancy theory, you must decide how hard you have to work to get an upcoming promotion. Then you must decide if you can work at that level (to get that promotion). The third link is deciding how much you value that reward (the promotion).

All three pieces of this equation determine your motivational level. You think of expectancy as the following equation:

where M = Motivation; E = Expectancy; V = Valence; I = Instrumentality.

Expectancy is your view of whether your efforts will lead to the required level of performance to enable you to get the reward. Valence is how valued the reward is. Instrumentality is your view of the link between the performance level and the reward. That is, whether you believe that if you do deliver the required performance, you will get the valued reward. Because this is a multiplicative relationship, if anyone of these links is zero, motivation will be zero.

You must be clear about telling your employees what is expected of them. It is critical that you tie rewards to specific performance. You must also offer rewards that your employees will value. Critical in this process is the employee’s perception of his or her performance. Employees will become demotivated when their performance does not produce the valued outcome.

You must be especially careful about building trust. Your employees must know that if they perform at the required level, you will follow through with the desired reward. Your credibility becomes a key component in this theory.

Source: www.accel-team.com

1. performance n – зд. показатели (результаты) деятельности; исполнение

perform v – действовать, выполнять, достигать

2. driver n – зд. движущая сила, двигатель

drive v – двигать

3. job n – работа, дело, труд, задание, рабочее место

4. opportunity n – возможность

5. downsizing n – уменьшение в размерах (повышение эффективности компании за счет уменьшения числа сотрудников и продажи непрофильных предприятий)

6. employee n – сотрудник, занятый

employer n – работодатель

employment n – занятость

unemployment n – безработица

unemployed n – безработный

employ v – нанимать

7. workforce n – рабочая сила

8. command-and-controlmethods – командно-административные методы

9. environment n – окружающая среда (природная или деловая), обстановка