You manage a team of four employees at a retail store. Each employee is motivated by different things. Melissa is motivated by money; Kosuke is motivated by time off; Edita is motivated by interesting work; and Andreas is motivated by challenging goals. You've been tasked by your corporate office to increase monthly sales by 20% this month, which is attainable but ambitious. You decide to encourage the team by offering to bring in donuts and coffee if they increase sales by 20%. According to expectancy theory, what is the likely response?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The expectancy theory suggests that motivation is high when employees believe that high levels of effort lead to high performance and high performance leads to the attainment of desired outcomes. In this scenario, the reward (donuts and coffee) does not align with the individual motivations of the employees (money, time off, interesting work, challenging goals), hence it is unlikely to motivate them.

You Manage a Team of Four Employees at a Retail