2) Discuss how a school principle can use expectancy theory to motivate school
personnel
Introduction
Expectancy theory emphasizes the needs for organizations to relate rewards directly to
performance and to ensure that the rewards provided are those rewards deserved and wanted by
the recipients.
Victor H. Vroom (1999) defines motivation as a process governing choices among alternative
forms of voluntary activities, a process controlled by the individual. The individual makes
choices based on estimates of how well the expected results of a given behavior are going to
match up with or eventually lead to the desired results. Motivation is a product of the
individual’s expectancy that a certain effort will lead to the intended performance, the
instrumentality of this performance to achieving a certain result, and the desirability of this result
for the individual, known as valence. The valence refers the value the individual personally
places on the rewards.
How a principle can use expectancy theory to motivate his personnel
Expectancy theory is about the mental processes regarding choice, or choosing. It explains the
processes that an individual undergoes to make choices Victor Vroom (1999).according to this
theory a principle can emphasizes the needs for organizations to relate rewards directly to
performance and to ensure that the rewards provided are those rewards deserved and wanted by
the recipients. Vroom (1999) proposes that a person will decide to behave or act irreverently in a
certain way because they are motivated to select a specific behavior over other behaviors due to
what they expect the result of that selected behavior will be. In essence, the motivation of the
behavior selection is determined by the desirability of the outcome. However, at the core of the
theory is the cognitive process of how an individual processes the different motivational
elements. This is done before making the ultimate choice. Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory is
one such management theory focused on motivation. According to Hold ford and Lovelace-
Elmore (2001), Vroom asserts, “Intensity of work effort depends on the perception that an
individual’s effort will result in a desired outcome”.
It’s suggested that for the personnel to be motivated, effort, performance and motivation must be
linked (Droar, 2006). Three factors direct the intensity of effort put forth by an individual,
according to Vroom; expectancy, instrumentality, and preferences (Hold ford and Lovelace-
Elmore, (2001).Vroom(1999) suggests that In order to enhance the performance outcome,
principals should use systems that tie rewards very closely to performance. Principals also need
to ensure that the rewards provided to personnel as deserved and wanted by the recipients. In
order to improve the effort-performance tie, principals should engage in training of his personnel
to improve their capabilities and improve their belief that added effort will in fact lead to better
performance. Emphasizes self interest in the alignment of rewards with personnel's wants and
emphasizes the connections among expected behaviors, rewards and organizational goals.
According to Vroom (1999) Instrumentality is the faith that if you perform well, then a valid
outcome will be there. Instrumentality is affected by factors such as believe in the people who
decide who receives what outcome, the simplicity of the process deciding who gets what
outcome, and clarity of relationship between performance and outcomes. Thus, the school
principal should put in mind that: Effort-performance relationship: What is the likelihood that the
individual’s effort be recognized in his performance appraisal and rewarded accordingly.
Performance-reward relationship: It talks about the extent to which the employee believes that
getting a good performance appraisal leads to organizational rewards. Rewards-personal goals
relationship: It is all about the attractiveness or appeal of the potential reward to the individual.
Vroom (1999) was of view that employees consciously decide whether to perform or not at the
job. This decision solely depended on the employee’s motivation level which in turn depends on
three factors of expectancy, valence and instrumentality.
Vroom (1999) suggests that reasons to why school principals are encouraged to use the
expectancy theory to motivate his personnel are that; it is based on self-interest individual who
want to achieve maximum satisfaction and who wants to minimize dissatisfaction. This theory
stresses upon the expectations and perception; what is real and actual is immaterial. It
emphasizes on rewards or pay-offs. It focuses on psychological extravagance where final
objective of individual is to attain maximum pleasure and least pain. However besides using this
theory the school principle might encounter some shortcomings which include the following:
The expectancy theory seems to be idealistic because quite a few individuals perceive high
degree correlation between performance and rewards. The application of this theory is limited as
reward is not directly correlated with performance in many organizations. It is related to other
parameters also such as position, effort, responsibility, education,
References.
Vroom (1999) the expectancy theory of motivation1999 career development press (ISBN 0-394-
74320-2).
1) Wikipedia `career development’
2) Droar (2006), Personnel and Human Resource Management – Text and cases; (2000) –
Himalaya Publishing House ISBN 81-7493-777-3.
