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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Motivating individuals and teams

A sales manager tells her team that each person who exceeds the quarterly target will receive a bonus. Aisha, a team member, believes that however hard she works, the territory she has been given makes the target unreachable, so she has stopped trying to reach it. Which element of Vroom's expectancy theory best explains her lack of motivation?

The best explanation is low expectancy. Aisha believes that, whatever effort she puts in, her territory prevents her reaching the target, so the link between effort and performance is weak. She is not doubting the bonus will be paid or that she wants it, so instrumentality and valence are not the issue.

  1. AExpectancy: she does not believe that effort will lead to the required performanceCorrect
  2. BValence: she places no value on the bonus offered as the reward
  3. CInstrumentality: she does not believe that good performance will be rewarded by the organisation

Explanation

Vroom's theory says motivation = expectancy x instrumentality x valence. Aisha believes her effort cannot produce the target performance because of her territory, which is a weak expectancy (effort-performance link). Instrumentality would be the issue only if she thought that hitting the target would not lead to the bonus, and valence only if she did not want the bonus; neither is stated.

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