Prediciting Harry's Work Effort

                                            Predicting Harry’s Work Effort

1. Using McClelland's learned needs theory, characterize Harry's motivation to perform his work. How well do you expect him to do at his job?

Harry shows a need for affiliation, shown in his statements towards not wanting his buddies to make fun of him. He also infers that his performance is based on not working too hard to a point that his buddies make fun of him. He tries very hard to project a favorable image of himself towards his buddies without standing out. He also demonstrates a slight need for achievement, by placing a promotion as one of his satisfaction criteria. Typically, those who seek a need for achievement tend to place monetary compensation as being a weak motivator.  Harry places job security, a promotion and approval of his buddies as a higher motivator than getting a raise.

I expect Harry to do what is needed do his job, but not too much that would cause him to stand out amongst his peers. He expressed that he has never seen anyone fired that was doing their job. He has a very strong social connection to his peers, and tends to rely on them for morale and emotional support.

1. Now use expectancy theory to characterize Harry's motivation to perform his work and predict his future work effort.  Explore all components of the theory.

Harry’s perception that his effort will result in a particular level of performance is demonstrated when he says he can perform on a high level of performance that could result in him getting a promotion or raise. He is confident in his ability to perform at a specific level, according to the amount of effort he gives.

Harry’s perceived probability that a specific behavior or performance level will lead to a particular outcome. He does this by when he responds that if he has high performance he will result in a 50-50 chance of getting a raise or promotion. He also states that his high performance will also result in a 90 percent chance that his buddies will make fun of him.

Harry’s anticipated satisfaction or dissatisfaction that he feels toward an outcome is demonstrated in multiple ways. He presents a sense of dissatisfaction when he talks about his buddies making fun of him if he works hard. He also uses positive and negative valences to classify which motivators he would respond positively or negatively towards. His buddies making fun of him have the greatest negative effect on his motivation with a score of -.9. He expressed a promotion would be the most positive motivation with a score of .7, and a raise as the second most important at .5.

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