How to Increase Production Using the Expectancy Theory

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How to increase production using the Expectancy Theory Joseph Gaughan The company has instituted a new production process. We don’t know if the new process was a collaborative process done with management and the production staff, but we will assume it was not. If it were, I think we would see more buy in from the employees. To motivate the employees, there are the three parts of the expectancy theory. As we see with Team A, they have no motivation to make any of the production goals. With expectancy probability, the theory states that if they work harder, they will produce more. From what we know, that is not the case. Some have mastered the new process, but have not increased their productivity. They are just not working any harder to produce more. Some are not even trying, even though they are normally top producers. The instrumental probability says that if I produce more, I will get paid more. Perception among the staff is that is not the case. Even those that have in the past exceeded goals have not seen the reward to be worth the extra effort. Lastly, the valence says if I want to get ahead, get promoted, then I will have to put forth extra effort and exceed goals. This also is an area that the employees don’t see any value. They do not see that the rewards are worth the extra effort. Through informal communications with Supervisor B, Team A seems unmotivated. They have figured out it makes more sense to work slower, as management has not shown any downside to this. From what we are told, there is no penalty for poor production. In fact, Team A has figured out that if they work slow enough, that the company will actually compensate them with overtime to meet the product goals that should be met during normal working hours. They have also found that overtime is more beneficial than bonuses. You might think that this is a negative
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