Training programs within companies are
very important, and can be very costly if not done correctly. Many training
programs implement one of four motivational theories stated in Muchinsky’s
text. These theories include expectancy theory, goal-setting theory,
self-regulation theory, and work design theory (Muchinsky, 2012). These four
theories each have their own advantages and disadvantages, which makes using
them depend on the situation and environment that the training is occurring.
None of these theories are better than the other but when used appropriately,
they can have a great positive impact on an organization’s training program.
Expectancy theory is a theory of
motivation based on the perceived relationship between how much effort a person
puts forth, and the performance that is based off of the effort (Muchinsky,
2012). In Applying expectancy theory to
residency training: Proposing opportunities to understand resident motivation
and enhance residency training, researchers attempt to connect expectancy
theory to medical residency. Many residents are putting
forth great amounts of effort during this time of their training, and their
efforts are reflected in the knowledge and skills they gain (Shweiki, 2015).
Current
medical programs for residents are lacking in motivation recently because the
program for residents has not changed much (Shweiki, 2015). Since there was a
lack of innovation within the programs, many researchers were curious as to
what made medical residents so determined to stay focused within this intense
training period. The training program for medical residents is extremely taxing
mentally and physically, so keeping motivation is key to finishing the program.
The
study showed that expectancy theory was extremely applicable to the residents
(Shweiki, 2015). Seeing that the residents were motivated by expectancy theory
can help innovate new program ideas to help residents keep their motivation
high, and help them learn more while in their program.
Goal-setting
theory is another motivational theory that can help to motivate individuals.
Goal-setting theory is when an individual sets a goal for themselves, and
exerts the necessary amount of effort to obtain the goal (Muchinsky, 2012).
There are many positives of using goal setting theory, as it can make tasks
that people are not keen on accomplishing more tolerable when there is a goal
they want to obtain in sight that requires these tasks to be done. There are a
few ways to implement goal-setting theory.
There
was a study done in 2013 where researchers wanted to know if a person’s passion
could influence the goals they set for themselves, and if it could have a
negative impact on their ability to obtain those goals. If a person felt their
knowledge was above average, they felt competent and would set higher goals for
themselves (Thorgren, 2013). If they felt as though they were not competent
enough with the materials needed to obtain the goal set, they would not make a
goal that challenged them, and choose to make a goal that would not be
intimidating and easier to obtain.
Their
research seems to point to the idea that not just the passion for a specific
subject can push a person to strive for higher goals, but the risk and fear of
failure will make a person feel less secure in their knowledge, causing them to
not strive as much as they possibly can. From this research, it seems that
goal-setting theory can have major drawbacks if the person setting the goal is
not comfortable with the confines they are setting it within, but can be
extremely beneficial if set within a parameter that the person feels very
comfortable with.
One
case of using goal-setting theory where it can be extremely helpful would be in
an academic setting. A study done in 2014 was done to examine the motivation
behind academic achievement. A new idea behind the motivation of academic
achievement is goal-setting theory (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014). Since this
research is of a newer idea, there has not been a lot of repeated studies done
on it, but the initial findings seemed very promising.
The study used college
students that were enrolled into an introductory course. There were two groups
of students within this experiment: those with assigned performance goals, and
those with assigned learning goals. The student’s internal achievement goals
were measured as well as their academic performance. The study found that more
academic success came from assigned learning goals as opposed to the assigned
achievement goals (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014). This study can help teachers assign their coursework in a
way that will encourage students to learn more, as well as be more enthusiastic
about learning.
Another frequently used
motivation technique is self-regulation theory. Self-regulation is more of an
umbrella term for many different theories that all branch from the same idea
(Muchinsky, 2012). The main idea behind this motivational theory is that the
person keeps themselves in line with a goal they would like to achieve, and
accurate feedback enhances the likelihood of the goal becoming achieved
(Muchinksy, 2012). Using self-regulation can be useful for people who are very
self-driven.
A recent study done is
2012 used self-regulation as a method of determining whether or not
environmental factors were present in either helping or undermining the upkeep
of a healthy lifestyle (Booker, 2012). The researcher’s believed that using
self-regulation, people would be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle
regardless of the external factors present.
The researchers had concluded
that self-regulation was a useful method for maintaining a healthy lifestyle,
but found their sample to be slightly skewed. The researchers had used groups
that were made up of a good amount of young adults. These young adults did not
fare well using the self-regulation method because the negative environmental
factors were too great to overcome (Booker, 2012). More research would need to
be done in this case to see if young adults have a more difficult time dealing
with the environment and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, or if the sample was
merely not diverse enough to get an accurate reading.
Another study was done in
recent years about how adults used a self-regulation method for motivation
while obtaining online degrees. Jaeger (2013) is interested in seeing what
motivates students in an online setting to push forward with obtaining their
degree. The researchers found that with obtaining an online degree, many
students used self-regulation as their method of motivation because they felt
they needed to further their education to better themselves (Jaeger, 2013).
Jaeger did find that the
study should be reproduced since it was one of the first research projects to
delve into the motivation behind obtaining an online degree. Many of the
students were well regulated enough to make the findings valid within their
case (Jaeger, 2013). Looking at both research articles, it seems that
self-regulation theory depends on the personality type of the person using it
as well as the environmental factors that are at play.
The last main method of
motivation is work design theory. Work design theory is based off the idea that
a job and the environment of the work place can have a big impact on the effort
exerted by an employee (Muchinsky, 2012). If the work environment is not
properly stimulating, it is likely that the employee will not be productive.
Finding the right environment type can depend on the type of job it is, as well
as the employee that is in the job position.
In Getting what the
occupation gives: Exploring multilevel links between work design and
occupational values, the researchers aimed to discover the link between
work motivation and work design (Dierdorff, 2013). These researchers decided to
describe the ways that occupations are linked to work design, and how work
design affects these occupations. They had a sample of 805 people from 230
different occupations and they found that many of these individual’s
achievements, performance, were related to work characteristics (Dierforff,
2013). They also found that many of these work characteristics were key to job
satisfaction.
The
last article up for discussion, Giving
time, time after time: Work design and sustained employee participation in
corporate volunteering, discusses giving employees something besides their
job to help make them feel fulfilled (Grant, 2012). This
article integrates work design theory as well as volunteer theories in order to
explain how employees who may feel their jobs are not fulfilling their needs
for tasks, knowledge, and social interactions may seek to fulfill them in
volunteer positions. People will repeatedly join volunteering positions to
continually fulfill their needs that are not being met at their current jobs.
When the employees feel fulfilled by the volunteer positions, they may seek
employment elsewhere. This article explains that current jobs need to ensure
that they are challenging enough to their employees, or that they offer some
sort of corporate volunteering to help fulfill employee’s needs.
Each
motivational theory has its strengths and weaknesses, which makes choosing one
theory to be the best overall near impossible. There is no theory that is
better than the rest as many are situational and can also be combined for
different effects. All in all, motivational theories that are being put into
place need to be carefully picked for the specific environment as well as the people
that need motivation. If the environment and people are not carefully analyzed
to find the best fit or combination of theories, then they will not be
effective. If chosen correctly, motivational theories within training programs
could help keep businesses cost effective and more employee friendly.
References
Booker,
L., & Mullan, B. (2012). Using the temporal self-regulation theory to
examine the
influence
of environmental cues on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. British Journal of
Health
Psychology Br J Health Psychol, 745-762.
Dierdorff,
E., & Morgeson, F. (2013). Getting What the Occupation Gives: Exploring
Multilevel
Links
Between Work Design and Occupational Values. Personnel Psychology,
687-721.
Dishon-Berkovits, M. (2014). A study of motivational influences
on academic
achievement. Social
Psychology of Education Soc Psychol Educ, 327-342.
Grant,
A. (2012). Giving Time, Time After Time: Work Design and Sustained Employee
Participation
in Corporate Volunteering. Academy of Management Review, 589-615.
Hsu,
D., Shinnar, R., & Powell, B. (2014). Expectancy theory and entrepreneurial
motivation: A
longitudinal
examination of the role of entrepreneurship education. Journal of Business
and
Entrepreneurship, 26(1), 121-140.
Jaeger,
M., & Adair, D. (2013). The influence of students’ interest, ability and
personal situation
on
students’ perception of a problem-based learning environment. European
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Engineering
Education, 84-96. Shweiki, E., Beekley,
A., Jenoff, J., Koenig, G., Kaulback, K., Lindenbaum, G. Martin, N.
(2015).
Applying Expectancy Theory to residency training: Proposing opportunities to
understand
resident motivation and enhance residency training. AMEP Advances in
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Education and Practice, 6, 339-346.
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psychology (10th ed.). Summerfield, NC: Hypergraphic Press.
Thorgren,
S. Wincent, J. (2013). Passion and challenging goals: Drawbacks of rushing into
goal-
setting
processes. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 43(11), 2318-2329.
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