The needs-goal theory of motivation, diagrammed in Figure 14.1, is the most fundamental of the motivation theories discussed in this chapter. As the figure indicates, motivation begins with an individual feeling a need. This need is then transformed into behavior directed at supporting, or allowing, the performance of goal behavior to reduce the felt need. Theoretically, goal-supportive behavior and goal behavior continue until the felt need has been significantly reduced.

When an individual feels hunger, for example, this need is typically first transformed into behavior directed at supporting the performance of the goal behavior of eating. This supportive behavior could include such activities as buying, cooking, and serving food. The goal-supportive behaviors and the goal behavior itself—eating—generally continue until the individual’s hunger substantially subsides. When the individual experiences hunger again, however, the entire cycle is repeated.

Washington Nationals pitcher Ron Villone provides an example of the needs-goal theory of motivation. When Villone was with the New York Yankees, he heard an interesting statistic: If his team made the playoffs that year, they would be the only team to have reached the postseason both that year and the preceding year. Instead of relishing the glory, Villone immediately started thinking about the playoff team he would face, the strengths and weaknesses of its hitters, and how he might pitch to each one’s weakness. Villone was thus demonstrating a strong need to perform well as a pitcher. Because of this need, he started performing goal-supportive activities that included planning how to pitch to each hitter. Once in a game situation, Villone’s goal behavior—that is, how players would hit his pitches—would be the feedback that determined whether he satisfied his felt need.

Goal setting can play a prominent role in influencing motivation. For more than 30 years, researchers have provided evidence suggesting that compared to individuals who don’t set goals, individuals who set goals have an easier time focusing on activities relevant to those goals and avoiding distractions that prevent them from reaching those goals.

A team of researchers examined the role of goal setting while studying the performance of undergraduate students struggling with their grades. This is an important context to study, as almost 25 percent of students who start undergraduate programs never graduate. The researchers recruited 85 students who were struggling with their grades. Over the course of a semester, half of those students went through a goal-setting program, which helped them identify personal goals and derive strategies for reaching those goals. The other students were placed in a control group and did not participate in this goal-setting program (these students were instead asked to complete a number of tasks that were unrelated to goal setting).

After approximately 16 weeks, the researchers examined the performance of the students in both groups. Do you think that there was a difference between the two groups of students? Why or why not?6

In reality, the motivation process is more complex than presumed by the needs-goal theory. The Vroom expectancy theory of motivation encompasses some of these complexities.8 Like the needs-goal theory, the Vroom expectancy theory is based on the premise that felt needs cause human behavior. However, the Vroom theory also addresses the issue of motivation strength—an individual’s degree of desire to perform a behavior. As this desire increases or decreases, motivation strength fluctuates correspondingly.

Motivation and Perceptions

Vroom’s expectancy theory is shown in equation form in Figure 14.2. According to this equation, motivation strength is determined by the perceived value of the result of performing a behavior and the perceived probability that the behavior performed will cause the result to materialize. As both of these factors increase, so does motivation strength, or the desire to perform the behavior. People tend to perform behaviors that maximize their personal rewards over the long term.

To see how Vroom’s theory applies to human behavior, suppose a college student has been offered a summer job painting three houses at the rate of $200 per house. Assuming the student needs money, her motivation strength, or desire, to paint the houses will be determined by two major factors: her perception of the value of $600 and her perception of the probability that she can actually paint the houses satisfactorily and receive the $600. As the student’s perceived value of the $600 reward and perceived probability that she can paint the houses increase, the student’s motivation strength to paint the houses will also increase.

Equity theory, the work of J. Stacy Adams, looks at an individual’s perceived fairness of an employment situation and finds that perceived inequities can lead to changes in behavior. Adams found that when individuals believe they have been treated unfairly in comparison with their coworkers, they will react in one of the following ways to try to right the inequity:9

1. Some will change their work outputs to better match the rewards they are receiving. If they believe they are being paid too little, they will decrease their work outputs; if they believe they are being paid more than their coworkers, they will increase their work outputs to match their rewards.

2. Some will try to change the compensation they receive for their work by asking for a raise or by taking legal action.

3. If attempts to change the actual inequality are unsuccessful, some will try to change their own perceptions of the inequality. They may do this by distorting the status of their jobs or by rationalizing away the inequity.

4. Some will leave the situation rather than try to change it. People who feel they are being treated unfairly on the job may decide to quit that job rather than endure the inequity.

Perceptions of inequities can arise in any number of management situations—among them, work assignments, promotions, ratings reports, and office assignments—but they occur most often in the area of pay. However, all of these issues are emotionally charged because they all pertain to people’s feelings of self-worth. What is a minor inequity in the mind of a manager can loom as extremely important in the mind of an employee. Therefore, effective managers strive to deal with equity issues because the steps workers are prone to take to balance the scales are often far from beneficial to the organization.

For example, after American Airlines employees and union workers took pay cuts and made other concessions worth more than $1.6 million, they learned that American had awarded bonuses totaling $21 million to company executives. Representatives of the Transport Workers Union soon presented American Airlines Chief Executive Gerard J. Arpey with a petition bearing 17,000 signatures protesting the company’s executive compensation practices. The perceived inequity between the concessions made by nonmanagers and the bonuses awarded to managers is the kind of issue that can lead to business disruptions like work slowdowns and strikes.10

Porter and Lawler developed a motivation theory that provides a more complete description of the motivation process than do either the needs-goal theory or the Vroom expectancy theory.11 Still, the Porter–Lawler theory of motivation (see Figure 14.3) is consistent with those two theories in that it accepts the premises that felt needs cause human behavior and that the effort expended to accomplish a task is determined by the perceived value of the rewards that will result from finishing the task and the probability that those rewards will materialize.

In addition, the Porter–Lawler motivation theory stresses three other characteristics of the motivation process:

1. The perceived value of a reward is determined by both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards that result in need satisfaction when a task is accomplished. An intrinsic reward comes directly from performing the task, whereas an extrinsic reward is extraneous to the task.12 For example, when a manager counsels a subordinate about a personal problem, the manager may get an intrinsic reward in the form of personal satisfaction at helping another individual. In addition to this intrinsic reward, however, the manager receives an extrinsic reward in the form of the overall salary the manager is paid.13

2. The extent to which an individual effectively accomplishes a task is determined primarily by two variables: the individual’s perception of what is required to perform the task and the individual’s ability to perform the task. Effectiveness at accomplishing a task increases as the perception of what is required to perform the task becomes more accurate and the ability to perform the task increases.

3. The perceived fairness of rewards influences the amount of satisfaction produced by those rewards. The more equitable an individual perceives the rewards to be, the greater the satisfaction the individual will experience as a result of receiving the rewards.