Human resources

Table of Contents

1. Topic pack - introduction
2. 2.1 Human Resource Planning - Notes
3. 2.1 Human resource planning - questions
4. 2.2 Organisational structure - notes
5. 2.2 Organisational structure - questions
6. 2.3 Communication - notes
7. 2.3 Communication - questions
8. 2.4 Leadership and management - notes
9. 2.4 Leadership and management - questions
10. 2.5 Motivation - notes
    1. Motivation
    2. Motivational theories
    3. Content theories
    4. Mayo and McClelland
    5. Process theories of motivation
    6. Exam advice - motivation
    7. Motivation in practice
    8. Motivation in Practice: Financial motivation
    9. Motivation in practice: Non-financial motivation
    10. Team theory
    11. Additional forms of non-financial motivation
11. 2.5 Motivation - questions
12. 2.5 Motivation - simulations and activities
13. 2.6 Organisational and corporate cultures - notes (HL only)
14. 2.6 Organisational and corporate cultures - questions
15. 2.7 Employer and employee relations - notes (HL only)
16. 2.7 Employer and employee relations - questions
17. 2.8 Crisis management and contingency planning - notes
18. 2.8 Crisis management and contingency planning - questions
19. Printable version

Process theories of motivation

We can also have process theories, which are concerned with the thought processes that influence our behaviour. Two such theories can be identified:

• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory

Expectancy theory: Victor Vroom

Expectancy theory is a theory first developed by Victor Vroom in 1964 and later developed by Porter and Lawlor in 1968. This theory states that workers will only act when they have a reasonable expectation that their work will lead to the desired outcome. They need to believe that they possess the necessary ability and skill to achieve the given goal.

Expectancy theory predicts that employees in an organisation will be motivated when they believe that:

• putting in more effort will yield better job performance
• better job performance will lead to organisational rewards, such as an increase in salary or benefits
• these predicted organisational rewards are valued by the employee in question

Vroom suggested that the relationship between people's behaviour at work and their goals was not as simple as was first imagined by other scientists. Vroom realised that an employee's performance is based on individual factors such as personality, skills, knowledge, experience and abilities.

In order to enhance performance managers should use reward systems that tie rewards very closely to performance.

Equity theory: John Stacey Adams

John Stacey Adams, workplace and behavioural psychologist, put forward his Equity Theory on job motivation in 1963. There are similarities with previous theories of Maslow and Herzberg in that the theory acknowledges that subtle and variable factors affect each individual's assessment and perception of their relationship with their work, and their employer.

In this particular model, there is emphasis on 'what is fair and reasonable'. As individuals, we seek a fair balance between what we put into our job and what we get out of it. Adams calls these inputs and outputs. Individuals form perceptions of what constitutes a fair balance or trade of inputs and outputs by comparing their own situation with colleagues, friends and partners in establishing benchmarks and their own responses to them.

Adams used the term 'referent' others to describe the reference points or people with whom we compare our own situation, which is the pivotal part of the theory. Equity theory thus helps explain why pay and conditions alone do not determine motivation. Equity does not depend on our input-to-output ratio alone, but also on comparison between an individual's ratio and the ratio of others.

In practice, this helps to explain why people are so strongly affected by the situations (and views and gossip) of colleagues, friends, partners etc., in establishing their own personal sense of fairness or equity in their work situations.

If employees feel are that inputs are fairly and adequately rewarded by outputs (the fairness benchmark being subjectively perceived from market norms and other comparables references) then they are happy in our work and motivated to continue inputting at the same level.

If they feel that our inputs out-weigh the outputs then they become demotivated in relation to their job and employer and may feel a strong sense of injustice. People respond to this feeling in different ways: generally the extent of demotivation is proportional to the perceived disparity between inputs and expected outputs. Some people reduce effort and application and become inwardly disgruntled, or outwardly difficult, recalcitrant or even disruptive. Other people seek to improve the outputs by making claims or demands for more reward, or seeking an alternative job.