Fallacy Summary and Applicaion Paper

Motivation Theories

The long-term success of the many organizations rests squarely on the motivation and behavior of the individuals who are part of them. Whenever a manager is asked "What seems to be the problem?" the manager usually responds with "There seems to be a motivational problem among the employees. I have tried several things, but nothing seems to work." Such is the case with Star Power, an organization that manufactures solar cells for use as battery chargers, to power lights, to power electrical test vehicles, portable power for laptops, cell phones, cameras, etc. We will look at the three main groups of employees; salespeople, production workers, and administrative staff and discuss which motivation theories would be most effective to motivate these employees.

There are 129 production workers at Solar Power. The organization has been running three eight hour shifts Monday - Friday for the last three years. About 3/4 of the employees have been with the company for the last 12 years of its existence. Things have been looking good for the organization. With the world looking for a more "green friendly" environment, demand for their solar cells has been on the increase. People are starting to see the advantage of solar power. You can charge batteries with solar power and not use electricity. There are fewer batteries to worry about disposing of resulting in less space in the landfills. You never have a dead battery as long as you have the sun. The production workers have just been told that due to the increased demand for their solar cells, they will have to start working seven days per week. Management does not have a timetable for how long the sevens day per week will continue. Worker motivation may decline.

Motivation refers to the individual forces that account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person's effort expended at work. Direction refers to an individual's choice when presented with a number of possible alternatives (e.g., whether to exert effort toward product quality or toward product quantity). Level refers to the amount of effort a person puts forth (e.g., a lot or a little). Persistence refers to the length of time a person sticks with a given action (e.g., to try to achieve product quality or give up when it is found difficult to attain). (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005, p. 166)

The theories of motivation can be divided into three broad categories; content theories, process theories, and reinforcement theories. Content theories focus on individual needs, the psychological or physiological deficiencies that we feel a need to reduce or eliminate. Process theories focus on thought processes that go on within the worker's mind that influence their behavior. Reinforcement theories focus on what is observable rather than what is inside the employee's head. Each of these theories helps us understand motivation, but none offers a complete explanation. It is best to mix and match the motivational approach for a given situation. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005)

In the case of our production workers, the most effective motivation theory is Victor Vroom's expectancy theory. This theory suggests that motivation is a result of a rational calculation. A worker is motivated to the degree that he or she believes that (1) effort will yield acceptable performance, (2) performance will be rewarded, and (3) the value of the rewards is highly positive. The interactions of these three beliefs influence motivation. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005)

There are key terms that are defined in terms of probabilities. Expectancy is the probability that the work effort will be followed by a given level of achieved task performance. The probabilities are defined from a 0 to a +1. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005)

When the expectancy is 0 the worker feels it impossible to achieve the expected performance level and if +1, the worker is 100% sure that the performance can be achieved. Instrumentality is the probability, 0 to +1, assigned by the individual that a given level of achieved task performance will lead to various work outcomes. Valence is the value, -1 (very undesirable outcome) to +1 (highly desirable outcome), attached by the worker to various outcomes. Vroom suggests that there is an equation, motivation (M), expectancy (E), instrumentality (I), and valence (V) relating these: M=(E)x(I)x(V). When the value of any of the factors approaches 0, the motivational appeal of the given work path is sharply reduced. Conversely, for the given reward to have a high and positive motivational impact as a work outcome, each factor must be high and positive. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, 2005)

The production workers, even though they will be working seven days per week for a period of time, have been with the company a long time. Supervisors have insured that each of the factors, expectancy, instrumentality, and valence has remained positive whereby producing a positive motivational impact amongst the workers.

Administrative staff members work on quality input and output. Administrative staff members focus on the following:

* Teamwork ability

* Excellent customer service skills

* Competence in current job, along with the desire and initiative to continue learning

* Good communication skills

* A professional work style

* High quality work

* Sound judgment

* Can be trusted

* Consistently looks for better ways of doing things

After comparing the different theories, Equity Theory would be most effective to motivate administrative staff members because of the following theory:

John Stacey Adams, workplace and behavioral psychologist, put forward his Equity Theory on job motivation in 1963. There are similarities with Charles Handy's extension and interpretation of previous simpler theories of Maslow, Herzberg and other pioneers of workplace psychology, in that the theory acknowledges that subtle and variable factors affect each individual's assessment and perception of their relationship with their work, and thereby their employer. Awareness and cognizance feature more strongly than in earlier models, as does the influence of colleagues and friends, etc, in forming cognizance, and in this particular model, 'a sense of what is fair and reasonable'. (Businessball.com)

Everyone seeks a fair balance between what they put into their job and what they get out of it. Adams calls these inputs and outputs. We develop