The Process of Motivation

Individuals have a variety of changing, often conflicting, needs and expectations which they need to satisfy in a number of different ways, and individuals' particular situations have a direct bearing on motivation. The work of Porter and Lawler considers the relationship between motivation, satisfaction and performance as separate variables, in terms of the expectancy/valence theory (people being influenced by the expected result of their actions and the valence, anticipated satisfaction, deriving from this). Managers and supervisors need to give attention to the appropriateness of rewards in terms of individual performance, establish clear relationships between effort, performance and rewards, and clearly establish procedures for evaluating individual levels of performance.