Introduction to Public Administration
MOTIVATION AND LEADERSHIP
After the lecture students should be able to examine:
- Remaining theories of motivation;
- Relation of motivation to leadership;
- Defining leader and leadership and
- Importance of leadership;
Expectancy Theory
Another important theory of motivation is expectancy
theory that helps us understand human behaviour and people in organization can be motivated.
According to expectancy theory , people choose how to
behave from among alternative courses of action, based on their
expectations of what there is to gain from each action.There are
four assumptions about behavior in organizations on which
the expectancy approach is based. These assumptions are:
1.Behavior is determined by a combination of factors in the individual and factors in the environment. Individual's
behaviour is not simple. It is complex as many factors are
affecting person.
2.Individuals make conscious decisions about their
behavior in the organization. Individuals know how they
have to behave in organization because they can judge their
actions and response.
3.Individuals have different needs, desires, and goals.
4.Individuals decide between alternative behaviors on the
basis of their expectations that a given behavior will lead to a
desired outcome. For example individuals know that if they
disobey or do not comply they will be fired from the job.
These assumptions become the basis for the expectancy
model, which has three major components:
1. Performance-0utcome expectancy: Individuals
expect certain consequences of their behavior. These
expectations, in turn, affect their decisions on how to behave.
For example, a student who is thinking about getting good
marks may expect praise if he gets good marks or an employee
who has achieved the desired results expects that he/she will
be rewarded.
2. Valence: The outcome of a particular behavior has
a specific valence, or power to motivate, which varies from
individual to individual. For example, to a manager who values
money and achievement, a transfer to a higher paying position
in another city may have high valence. Valence can be expressed
in mathematical term from the example given to
you.If transfer (T) has high value or valence and where transfer brings "money". The individual will give high value or
preference or valence to transfer.
3. Effort-performance expectancy: People's
expectations of how difficult it will be to perform successfully,
affect their decisions about behavior. If the task is difficult and
complex, employee will assess the effort involved in doing or completing the job. Accordingly he will put his effort
commensurate with reward. The employee will ask what
I will get in return in doing such a difficult job.
4.These three components of Expectancy Theory can be summarized in three questions. These questions are:
a. If I do this, what will be the outcome?
b. Is the outcome worth the effort to me?
c.What are my chances of achieving an outcome that will
be worthwhile for me?
Thus, according to expectancy theory, individuals are
motivated when they see a favourable combination of what
is important to them and what they expect as a reward for
their efforts, and they behave accordingly.
Reinforcement Theory
Reinforcement theory is associated with the psychologist B.F.Skinner and other contemporary.He has shown through the experiment that how the consequences of past behavior affect
future actions in a cyclical learning process. He conducted an experiment on a dog. What he did was that he brought food in
front of a dog. When the food came in front of dog his mouth
started to salivate. Every time the food came the mouth
salivated. Now, in his experiment he introduced another
element. The food was presented and as soon as food was
presented the dog was given electric shock. The sequence of event was:
Food → salivation→ shock.
This experiment was repeated number of times. After
sometime it was observed that the dog stopped salivating
whenever the food was presented. The results of the experiment
were that behaviour can be modified. This process may be expressed as follows:
Stimulus →Response → Consequences → Future Response.
(Food) (Salivation) (Electric Shock) (no salivation)
We see that behind the Reinforcement Theory is the
concept of punishment and reward. The application of this
theory is seen when animals are trained to perform certain
actions. You might have seen monkeys being asked to dance
by monkey-man and when monkey performs an act he is given something to eat. Reinforcement Theory is useful in understanding human behaviour as well. Human behaviour
can also be modified through reward and punishment.
If in organizations we want to encourage people to come
on time, then those who come on time have to be encouraged.
Now encouragement i