Expectation theories assume that the individual decides to act in a certain way because there is a motive that lets him/her choose a particular behavior over other behaviors; this motive is because of the expected result from that behavior itself (Oliver, 1974). In this paper, I will discuss Vroom and LockLocke's sectancy theory and their application to Bechtel Corporation.
VrooVroom'sectancy theory:
According to Lloyd & Mertens (2018), Vroom argues that the motivation to complete a job is directly proportional to what the individual expects from completing this work and its consequences. Vroom stressed the importance of linking the rewards system to performance appraisal to ensure that only the worthy employee receives the reward.
According to (Vroom, 1970), individuals can be motivated if they believe:
- If effort and good performance are linked.
- If good performance is linked to a reward that the employee desires.
- If the reward satisfies the employee, he/she will feel that his/her effort is worthwhile and will continue.
- Overall performance and their ability to deliver quality services on time.
- Ability to achieve collaborative work and meet project expectations and goals.
- Security, safety, and environmental performance standards.
- All employees are immediately promoted upon approval to go to Saudi Arabia.
- There were no restrictions on overtime work according to Saudi law at the time.
- On Sunday, a day and a half will be counted, even though it is a typical five-day working day in Saudi Arabia (Thursday and Friday are holidays in Saudi Arabia).
- Salary allowances: (furnished housing - private transportation - free food - free medical service - free schools in the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Aramco - Aramco clubs are free for employees).
LockLocke'sectancy theory:
According to Locke (2004), the intention to reach a goal is a strong motivational element. Because of the challenge required to achieve this goal, this challenge acts as a driving force for the individual to perform the necessary tasks.
Defining clear goals increases the level of their implementation in contrast to not specifying them when applying this to employees (Locke, 2004). Locke has found several ways to link the goals of the organization with employee motivation rewards; to achieve these goals, these methods are as follows:
Method 1: Linking higher goals to rewards: The reward winner is the employee who can reach a specific completion percentage or finish a particular job.
Method 2: Linking goals to several levels: Instead of tying rewards to the end goal, this goal can be divided into stages and rewarded by stage completion.
Method 3: Linear System of Equivalents: By dividing the work in percentages, the employee whose achievement rate exceeds a certain percentage is entitled to a specific reward.
Method 4: Pay for performance: According to the evaluation record, the employee's difficulties and the possibility of overcoming them to reach the specified goals.
Application to Bechtel Corporation:
As Bechtel is a construction project management company, it deals with two classifications of employees, employees who directly work for the company and employees of subcontractors. Bechtel adopts two systems for evaluating performance and awarding rewards accordingly:
First: Subcontractors:
According to (Bechtel, 2016), In 2015, Bechtel established a system for evaluating subcontractors based on:
Second: Company employees:
According to (Smith, 1991), In 1983, a project of the Industrial City in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, was assigned to Bechtel; this project required a critical and short timeline for implementation, so the company hired a project management team consisting of 1,300 employees, mainly from the United Kingdom and the USA. Since the project is taking place in a barren desert where no one is present, the company has approved the following to motivate the employees and ensure the achievement of the timetable goals:
1. the emplemployee'sroval to go to work in Saudi Arabia:
2. Timetable and Achieving its Objectives:
Based on the schedule's progress, an incentive package for engineers was developed; these incentives enabled the company to achieve its goals on time (Smith, 1991).
Conclusion
Although Locke & VrooVroom'sectancy theory is among the best theories that have analyzed motivation in humans in general and employees in particular, they have criticisms that they do not refer to the dynamics of the motivation process if expectations change during the progress process according to production information (Lawler III & Suttle, 1973).
References
Bechtel. (2016). Bechtel Recognizes Companies for Superior Performance
https://www.bechtel.com/newsroom/releases/2016/04/recognizes-companies-superior-performance/
Lawler III, E. E., & Suttle, J. L. (1973). Expectancy theory and job behavior. Organizational behavior and human performance, 9(3), 482-503.
Lloyd, R., & Mertens, D. (2018). Expecting more out of expectancy theory: History urges inclusion of the social context. International Management Review, 14(1), 28-43.
Locke, E. A. (2004). Linking goals to monetary incentives. Academy of Management Perspectives, 18(4), 130-133.
Oliver, R. (August 1974). Expectancy Theory Predictions of Salesmen's Performance. Journal of Marketing Research 11, 243-253.
Smith, J. C. (1991). Mega-project construction management--the Corps of Engineers and Bechtel Group in Saudi Arabia (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Vroom, V. H., & Deci, E. L. Penguin (1983, first published 1970). Management and Motivation [This book contains selected readings on "motivation"].