What you’ll learn to do: Describe various theories of motivation

We talked a little bit about what motivation is and what it looks like within an organization. To do that, we used Victor Vroom’s expectancy framework, a model that attempts to dissect and explain employee performance by distilling it down to its most basic level.

The expectancy framework is just one of many models that have been developed over the years. Since the industrial age, scientists have been examining what motivates people to perform in employment situations. None of them have it all wrong, but none of them have it all right. They’ll continue to try, we’re sure, because a lot is at stake for organizations, and situations change every day.

In this unit, we’re going to take a look back at how we got to where we are now, and how we can apply that today, domestically and abroad.