UF MAN3025: Exam 4 Terms (Spring 2026)

Personality

The stable psychological traits and behavioral attributes that give a person their identity. It is constituted by the combination of traits that come from the interaction between the person’s genes and their environment. Managers must understand these traits and attributes because they affect how people perceive and act within the organization. It also has a set of factors known as the Big Five, which are extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.

It also focuses on the relatively enduring patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize a person, alongside the psychological processes behind those characteristics.

Extroversion

One of the Big Five personality dimensions that refers to how outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive a person is. This dimension is related to leadership and higher levels of motivation, positivity, well-being, and interpersonal savviness, all of which lead to higher job performance. It is also linked to sales and management performance, social interactions, and persuasion.

Agreeableness

One of the Big Five personality dimensions that refers to how trusting, good-natured, cooperative, and soft-hearted a person is. Individuals who are higher in this dimension, conscientiousness, and emotional stability are less likely to engage in workplace deviance. It is effective in jobs requiring cooperation and helpfulness.

Conscientiousness

One of the Big Five personality dimensions that refers to how dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented, and persistent a person is. An individual who is higher in this dimension typically has more consistent relationships with important outcomes and is more likely to be a perfectionist. They will also be less likely to engage in workplace deviance.

Emotional Stability

One of the Big Five personality dimensions that refers to how relaxed, secure, and unworried a person is. Individuals who are higher in this dimension, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are less likely to engage in workplace deviance. It is also linked to an individual’s ability to handle stress.

Openness to Experience

One of the Big Five personality dimensions that refers to how intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broad-minded a person is. It is linked to higher creativity and adaptability to change.

Core Self-Evaluation (CSE)

A broad personality trait comprising four positive individual traits. These traits are self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control, and emotional stability. Managers must be aware of these traits as they are related to employees’ work attitudes, intrinsic motivation, creativity, ethical leadership, and performance.

Self-Efficacy

One of the four traits in the core self-evaluation that refers to the belief in one’s personal ability to successfully complete a specific task in a specific situation. Managers should assign jobs to build and enhance their employees’ perceptions of this trait. It has been expanded into a broader motivational trait known as generalized self-efficacy. It is also connected to academic performance, work performance, lower burnout, job satisfaction, and motivation.

Generalized Self-Efficacy

The belief in one’s general ability to perform across different situations. It is a career readiness competency that employees desire because a higher level is connected to job performance and satisfaction. However, a lower level can foster learned helplessness, which is the weakening lack of faith in one’s ability to control their environment.

Self-Esteem

One of the four traits in the core self-evaluation that refers to the extent to which people like or dislike themselves. Individuals with higher levels can handle failure better and typically become leaders because they see failure as a learning experience or challenge. However, when they are pressured, they typically become egotistical and boastful. On the other hand, individuals with lower levels focus on their weaknesses and disengage from tasks when confronted with failure. They are also more dependent on others and are less likely to take independent positions.

Locus of Control

One of the four traits in the core self-evaluation that refers to how much people believe they control their fate through their own efforts. Individuals with an internal fate orientation believe they control their destinies, exhibit less anxiety, have greater work motivation, and have stronger expectations. Anything that links productivity to incentives will also work better for these people. On the other hand, individuals with an external fate orientation believe that external forces control them.

Emotional Stability

One of the four traits in the core self-evaluation that refers to the extent to which people feel secure and unworried and how likely they are to experience negative emotions under pressure. While individuals with low levels are prone to anxiety and negative worldviews, individuals with high levels show better job performance.

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

The ability to monitor your and others’ feelings and to use this information to guide your thinking and actions. It also refers to the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions and use emotional knowledge to enhance thought. Research suggests that it is moderately associated with better relationships and well-being, higher levels of job satisfaction, better emotional control, higher levels of conscientiousness and self-efficacy, increased organizational citizenship behavior, and higher self-rated performance. Its four components are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Self-Awareness

One of the four EI components that refers to the ability to read your own emotions and gauge your moods accurately to understand how you are affecting others.

Self-Management

One of the four EI components that refers to the ability to control your emotions and act with honesty and integrity in reliable and adaptable ways. It is linked to resilience, personal adaptability, and self-control.

Social Awareness

One of the four EI components that refers to the ability to show others that you care and understand their emotions. It includes empathy and organizational intuition and is linked to cross-cultural competency and social intelligence.

Relationship Management

One of the four EI components that refers to the ability to communicate clearly and convincingly, disarm conflicts, and build strong personal bonds. It is linked to oral and written communication, teamwork and collaboration, networking, showing commitment, and service.

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

A general personality assessment tool that measures an individual's personality using four categories. These categories are social interaction (i.e., extrovert or introvert), preference for gathering data (i.e., sensing or intuitive), preference for decision-making (i.e., feeling or thinking), and style of decision-making (i.e., perceptive or judgmental).

Organizational Behavior (OB)

The field dedicated to better understanding and managing people at work. It tries to help managers explain and predict workplace behavior to better lead and motivate employee performance. It matters because managers depend on human cooperation, must understand employee personalities, traits, and attitudes, and want to develop and reinforce positive attitudes. Its two broad areas of behavior are individual behavior and group behavior.

Values

The abstract ideals that guide an individual’s thinking and behavior across a variety of situations. Lifelong behavior patterns are dictated by ideals that are fairly set by the time people are in their early teens. However, significant life-altering events, such as having a child, undergoing a business failure, or surviving the death of a loved one, a war, or a serious health threat, can reshape these ideals. Managers who understand their employees’ ideals are better suited to assign them to meaningful projects and help them avoid conflicts between their work activities and personal values.

Attitude

A learned predisposition toward a given object. Since it influences employees’ behavior, managers must understand its three components, which are affective, cognitive, and behavioral. All three components are often manifested at any given time.

Affective Component

One of the three components of an attitude that consists of the feelings or emotions one has about a situation.

Cognitive Component

One of the three components of an attitude that consist of the beliefs and knowledge one has about a situation.

Behavioral Component (Intentional Component)

One of the three components of an attitude that consists of how one intends or expects to behave toward a situation.

Cognitive Dissonance

A term by Leon Festinger that describes the psychological discomfort a person experiences between their cognitive attitude and incompatible behavior. Since people are uncomfortable with inconsistency, Festinger theorized they will seek to reduce the “dissonance,” or tension, of the inconsistency. The way they deal with discomfort depends on three factors, which are importance, control, and rewards. It can also be reduced by changing attitudes or behaviors, belittling the importance of inconsistent behaviors, and weighing consonant elements over dissonant elements.

Behavior

A person’s actions and judgments that are influenced by their values and attitudes. Although values (global) and attitudes (specific) are generally in harmony, they are not always in harmony. For instance, a manager may put a positive value on helpful gestures (global) but have a negative attitude towards helping an unethical co-worker (specific).

Perception

The process of interpreting and understanding one’s environment. Its four steps involve selective attention, interpretation and evaluation, storing in memory, and retrieving from memory to make judgments and decisions. It also has five distortions, which are stereotypes, implicit bias, the halo effect, the recency effect, and causal attribution.

Stereotype

One of the five distortions in perception that refers to a generalization we make about a person because they belong to one or more specific identity groups. People may hold these generalizations about others because of their ethnicity, gender, race, religion, or age.

Explicit Bias

The attitudes or beliefs that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions consciously. Examples include overt, intentional statements of hate, racism, ableism, and sexism.

Implicit Bias

One of the five distortions in perception that refers to the attitudes or beliefs that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions unconsciously. Research suggests that we all likely hold some degree of this bias and that it is demonstrated in a variety of contexts, such as employment decisions, criminal justice decisions, and the use of technology.

Halo Effect

One of the five distortions in perception that refers to an impression of an individual based on a single trait. A single positive or negative trait can be generalized into an array of positive or negative traits.

Recency Effect

One of the five distortions in perception that refers to the tendency to remember recent information better than earlier information. This misperception is often evident among investors who are more likely to buy a stock if they have recently seen something about it in the news or if it has a high one-day return.

Causal Attribution

One of the five distortions in perception that refers to the activity of inferring causes for observed behavior. Since we constantly formulate cause-and-effect explanations for our own and others’ behavior, they tend to be self-serving and invalid. Managers must be aware of the fundamental attribution bias and the self-serving bias, since they can distort their interpretation of behaviors.

Fundamental Attribution Bias

A bias that can distort our interpretations of behavior that causes us to attribute others’ behaviors and outcomes to their personal characteristics rather than environmental influences.

Self-Serving Bias

A bias that can distort our interpretations of behavior that causes us to take more personal responsibility for our successes than our failures. Research shows that employees rely on this bias when performance results are public.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (Pygmalion Effect)

The phenomenon in which people’s expectations of themselves or others lead them to behave in ways that make those expectations come true. Since employees react to perceptions, managers must pay attention to how they perceive their jobs and management actions. Managerial expectations also heavily influence employee behavior and performance.

Employee Engagement

One of the three work-related attitudes that managers must understand that refers to an individual’s involvement, satisfaction, and enthusiasm for their work. Employers, consultants, and academics are interested in this attitude because of its potential to increase individual, group, and organizational performance. Managers can increase this attitude by designing meaningful work, improving supervisor-employee relations, providing learning and development opportunities, and reducing stressors.

Studies also show that there is a positive relationship between this work-related attitude and job satisfaction, creativity, productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. They also suggest that it is negatively related to absenteeism and turnover.

Stressor

An environmental characteristic that causes stress. Research suggests that engagement is lower and burnout is higher when employees are confronted with an environmental characteristic that is out of their control.

Job Satisfaction

One of the three work-related attitudes that managers must understand that refers to the extent to which a person feels positive or negative about various aspects of their work. Although most people do not like everything about their jobs, their overall satisfaction depends on components like work, pay, promotions, co-workers, and supervision. Its key correlations are stronger motivation, performance, job involvement, organizational commitment, and life satisfaction, and less absenteeism, tardiness, turnover, and perceived stress.

Organizational Commitment

One of the three work-related attitudes that managers must understand that refers to the extent to which an employee identifies with an organization and is committed to its goals. It is important because research shows a significant positive relationship between this attitude and job satisfaction, performance, turnover, and organizational citizenship behavior.

Organization Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)

The employee behaviors that are not directly part of employees’ job descriptions that exceed their work-role requirements. Examples include conscientiousness, sportsmanship, civic virtue, courtesy, and altruism. Studies also demonstrate that there is a significant, moderately positive correlation between these behaviors and job satisfaction, productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Providing employees with autonomy in determining whether, when, and how to help others is a good way to encourage these behaviors. These behaviors, alongside counterproductive work behaviors, performance and productivity, and absenteeism and turnover, can be influenced by managers.

Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWBs)

The unseen behaviors that harm employees and the organization. Examples include absenteeism, tardiness, drug and alcohol abuse, and other disciplinary problems. However, examples also include more serious acts, such as accidents, sabotage, sexual harassment, violence, theft, and white-collar crime. Employees are less likely to engage in these behaviors if they have autonomy, are treated fairly, are not asked to do tasks that fall outside their roles, and do not have to supervise too many people. These behaviors, alongside organizational citizenship behaviors, performance and productivity, and absenteeism and turnover, can be influenced by managers.

Stress

The tension people feel when they are facing or enduring extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities and are uncertain about their ability to handle them effectively. It represents the feeling of tension and pressure and has seven job-related sources, which are demands created by individual differences, individual task demands, individual role demands, work-family conflicts, group demands, organizational demands, and demands created by remote and hybrid work schedules. It can also lead to problems such as conflicts and distractions at work, increased fatigue, cardiovascular disease, chronic back pain, anxiety, and insomnia. Moreover, its process includes demands, appraisal, coping, and outcomes.

Burnout

A state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that is expressed as listlessness, indifference, or frustration. The three dimensions that underlie this state are exhaustion, depersonalization (cynicism), and inefficacy (reduced personal accomplishment). It is commonly expressed through accidents, poor performance, and absenteeism. Moreover, factors that contribute to this state include “always-on” work cultures, advanced technology, demanding and unsupportive bosses, difficult clients, certain personality traits, and inefficient co-workers.

Type A Behavior Pattern

A personality trait characterized by a chronic, determined struggle to accomplish more in less time. It is associated with increased performance in professors, students, and life insurance brokers. However, it is also associated with greater cardiovascular activity, higher blood pressure, and heart disease. People with this trait are often competitive, deadline-ridden, and hurried.

Roles

The sets of behaviors that people expect of the occupants of a position. Stress may arise form role overload, role conflict, or role ambiguity.

Role Overload

A role stressor that occurs when others’ expectations exceed our ability to perform. Not having enough time in the day or week to accomplish everything on our plates can lead to stress.

Role Conflict

A role stressor that occurs when we feel torn between different sets of expectations coming from multiple important people in their life. Choosing between two things that are important to us can lead to stress.

Role Ambiguity

A role stressor that occurs when others’ expectations of us are unclear or unknown. Not knowing what we are supposed to do to be perceived as performing well can lead to stress.

Work-Family Conflict

A conflict that occurs when the demands or pressures from our work and family domains are mutually incompatible. It occurs when work responsibilities interfere with family life or when family demands interfere with work responsibilities. Organizations should reduce stressors, increase employee engagement, and implement wellness programs to help their employees balance their work and family demands.

Buffers

Administrative changes a manager can make to reduce stressors and improve employee well-being. Managers can use these changes to help their employees by building resilience, rolling out employee assistance programs, recommending a holistic wellness approach, creating a supportive environment, making jobs interesting, and making career counseling available. Moreover, some innovative responses to stress management include quiet rooms, wellness programs, training programs, manager interventions, and work/life balance initiatives.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

A host of programs aimed at helping employees cope with stress, burnout, substance abuse, physical and mental health-related problems, family and marital issues, and any general problem that negatively influences job performance. These programs are important when it comes to employee mental health.

Holistic Wellness Program

A program that focuses on self-responsibility, nutritional awareness, relaxation techniques, physical fitness, and environmental awareness. It goes beyond stress reduction by encouraging employees to balance physical, mental, and social well-being by accepting personal responsibility for developing and adhering to a health promotion program.

Motivation

The psychological processes that arouse and direct goal-directed behavior. Since we cannot see it or know it in another person, it must be inferred from one’s behavior. Managers must understand these processes to guide their employees in accomplishing their organization’s objectives. It is also the result of multiple personal and contextual factors. Moreover, its four principal perspectives are content theory, process theory, job design theory, and reinforcement theory.

Personal Factors

The motivation factors that include personality, ability, core self-evaluations, emotions, attitudes, needs, values, and work attitudes.

Contextual Factors

The motivation factors that include organizational culture, cross-cultural values, physical environment, rewards and reinforcement, group norms, communication technology, leader behavior, organizational design and climate, job design, and HR practices.

Extrinsic Reward

A reward type that refers to the payoff, such as money, recognition, or encouragement, a person receives from others for performing a particular task. Motivation related to this reward is driven by receiving a valued reward from another person or entity.

Intrinsic Reward

A reward type that refers to the satisfaction, such as a feeling of accomplishment, a person receives from performing a particular task. Motivation related to this reward is internal.

Content Theory

One of the four major perspectives on motivation that focuses on needs as motivators.

Process Theory

One of the four major perspectives on motivation that focuses on the thoughts and perceptions that motivate behavior.

Job Design Theory

One of the four major perspectives on motivation that focuses on designing jobs that lead to employee satisfaction and performance.

Reinforcement Theory

One of the four major perspectives on motivation that focuses on the idea that motivation is a function of behavioral consequences and not unmet needs.

Content Perspectives (Need-Based Perspectives)

The theories that emphasize the needs that motivate people. They are related to needs, which are the physiological or psychological deficiencies that arouse behavior. They also include four theories, which are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, McClelland’s acquired needs theory, Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, and Herzberg’s two-factor theory.

Needs

The physiological or psychological deficiencies that arouse behavior. Since they are influenced by environmental factors, they can be strong or weak and vary over time and from place to place.

Hierarchy of Needs Theory

One of the five content perspectives theories that proposes that people are motivated by five levels of needs. These levels, from top to bottom, are physiological needs (the most basic human physical needs), safety needs, love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs (the highest-level need). Abraham Maslow put forth this theory.

Physiological Need

One of the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory that refers to the need for food, clothing, shelter, comfort, and self-preservation. It is the most basic human physical need and the foundation for the hierarchy of needs. A workplace example is salary. Moreover, this need, along with the safety need, creates the “basic needs” category.

Safety Need

One of the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory that refers to the need for physical safety, emotional security, job security, and health. Some workplace examples are health insurance, work safety rules, and pension plans. Moreover, this need, along with the physiological need, creates the “basic needs” category.

Love Need (Belonging Need)

One of the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory that refers to the need for friendship, affection, and acceptance. Some workplace examples are office parties, company softball teams, and management retreats. Moreover, this need, along with the esteem need, creates the “psychological needs” category.

Esteem Need

One of the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory that refers to the need for self-respect, status, reputation, recognition, and self-confidence. Some workplace examples are bonuses, promotions, and awards. Moreover, this need, along with the love need, creates the “psychological needs” category.

Self-Actualization Need

One of the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory that refers to the need for self-fulfillment by increasing competition and using abilities to the fullest. It is the highest need and rests at the top of the hierarchy of needs. Some workplace examples are sabbatical leave to further personal growth, mentorship opportunities, and continued education. Moreover, this need creates the “self-fulfillment needs” category.

Acquired Needs Theory

One of the five content perspectives theories that proposes that achievement, affiliation, and power are major motives in determining people’s behavior in the workplace. Managers are encouraged to recognize these three needs in themselves and others to create responsive work environments. David McClelland put forth this theory.

Need for Achievement

One of the three needs in McClelland’s acquired needs theory that refers to the desire to excel, do something better or more efficiently, solve problems, or achieve excellence in challenging tasks. People motivated by this need prefer working on challenging tasks or projects, working in situations where good performance relies on effort and ability, being rewarded for their efforts, and receiving a fair and balanced amount of positive and negative feedback to improve their performance.

Need for Affiliation

One of the three needs in McClelland’s acquired needs theory that refers to the desire for friendly and warm relations with other people. People motivated by this need may not be the most efficient managers because they will have to occasionally make decisions that will cause people to resent them. They also tend to prefer work that leads to personal relationships and social approval.

Need for Power

One of the three needs in McClelland’s acquired needs theory that refers to the desire to be responsible for other people or influence or control their behavior. People motivated by this need prefer being in control of people and events, being recognized for their responsibilities, and doing work that allows them to control or influence people.

Self-Determination Theory

One of the five content perspectives theories that proposes that people are driven to grow and attain fulfillment when their behavior and well-being are influenced by three universal needs, which are competence, autonomy, and relatedness. It further suggests that psychological growth can only be achieved when these three innate needs are satisfied. It was put forth by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan from the University of Rochester.

Competence

One of the three innate needs of the self-determination theory that suggests that people need to feel qualified, knowledgeable, and capable of completing a goal or task and learning different skills. Managers can help employees meet this need by providing tangible resources, time, contracts, mentoring, and coaching that ensure that their employees have the knowledge and information they need to perform their jobs. In short, this need wants people to feel a sense of mastery.

Autonomy

One of the three innate needs of the self-determination theory that suggests that people need to feel that they have the freedom and discretion to determine what they want to do and how they want to do it. Managers can help employees meet this need by developing trust, delegating meaningful tasks to them, and encouraging them to use their best judgment. In short, this need wants people to feel independent and influential on their environment.

Relatedness

One of the three innate needs of the self-determination theory that suggests that people need to feel a sense of belonging or attachment to others. Managers can help employees meet this need by using camaraderie to foster it. In short, this need wants people to feel connected with other people.

Two-Factor Theory

One of the five content perspectives theories that proposes that work satisfaction and dissatisfaction arise from motivating factors and hygiene factors, respectively. It was put forth by Frederick Herzberg.

Hygiene Factors

The factors of the two-factor theory that are associated with job dissatisfaction, such as salary, working conditions, interpersonal relationships, and company policy. All these factors affect the job context in which people work. Managers must eliminate dissatisfaction by ensuring that factors like working conditions, pay levels, and company policies are reasonable.

Motivating Factors

The factors of the two-factor theory that are associated with job satisfaction, such as achievement, recognition, responsibility, and advancement. All these factors affect the job content or rewards for work performance. Managers must create motivation by providing desired opportunities for achievement, recognition, responsibility, and personal growth.

Process Perspectives

The theories that are concerned with the thought processes by which people decide how to act. They try to understand why employees have different needs, what behaviors they select to satisfy them, and how they decide if their choices are successful. The three theories are the equity theory (justice theory), expectancy theory, and goal-setting theory.

Equity Theory

One of the three process perspectives theories that explains how people strive for fairness and justice in social exchanges or give-and-take relationships. It is based on the idea that employees are motivated to see fairness in the rewards they expect for task performance and are motivated to resolve feelings of injustice. It was developed by J. Stacey Adams and is based on cognitive dissonance. Its three elements are outcomes, inputs, and comparisons.

Moreover, the perceived ratio of contribution to return determines perceived equity.

Outcomes (Outputs)

One of the three elements of the equity theory that refers to the rewards people receive from an organization. These rewards include pay, benefits, praise and recognition, bonuses, promotions, and status perquisites.

Inputs

One of the three elements of the equity theory that refers to the contributions people bring to their organization. These contributions include time, effort, training, experience, education, intelligence, creativity, seniority, status, and social capital.

Comparisons

One of the three elements of the equity theory that suggests that people weigh the ratio of their own outcomes to inputs against the ratio of someone else’s outcomes to inputs. When employees compare the ratio of their outcomes and inputs with those of others, they follow the comparison with a judgment about fairness.

If they perceive equity, they are satisfied with the ratio and do not change their behavior. They are also more likely to support organizational change, more likely to cooperate in group settings, and less likely to turn to arbitration, unions, or courts to remedy real or imagined wrongs.

On the other hand, if they perceive inequity, they feel resentful and act to change it. They could also change their work effort, change outcomes, change perceptions, or leave the job.

Organizational Justice

An area that expands on the equity theory and is concerned with the extent to which people perceive they are treated fairly at work. Its three components are distributive, procedural, and interactional. Managers can use this area and the equity theory to enhance their effectiveness, better understand employee concerns, and become better co-workers.

Distributive Justice

One of the three components of organizational justice that is defined as the perceived fairness of the outcomes being distributed or allocated among employees. Employees perceive this form of justice when they believe that their organization has given them a fair share of rewards and resources.

Procedural Justice

One of the three components of organizational justice that is defined as the perceived fairness of the processes and procedures used to make allocation decisions. Employees perceive this form of justice when they have a chance to voice their opinions about workplace procedures, and when those procedures are applied accurately and consistently.

Interactional Justice

One of the three components of organizational justice that is related to how organizational representatives treat employees in the process of implementing procedures and making decisions. This form of justice is about whether people believe they are being treated fairly when decisions are implemented.

Voice

The employees’ expression of work-related concerns, ideas, and constructive suggestions to managers. In general, employees’ perceptions of procedural justice are enhanced when they can contribute to the decision-making process.

Justice Climate

The shared sense of fairness felt by the entire workgroup. Research suggests that employees in organizations with a strong sense of fairness exhibit increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment, more helpful behaviors, and enhanced job performance.

Expectancy Theory

One of the three process perspectives theories that suggests that people are motivated by how much they want something and how likely they are to get it. Their effort is based on a two-stage sequence of expectations, which moves from effort to performance (E to P) to performance to outcomes (P to O). The three elements of this theory that affect the relationships between effort, performance, and outcomes are expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. It was also proposed by Victor Vroom.

Managers can successfully implement this theory by describing the role of rewards, providing a link between job objectives and performance level, and giving the right rewards for the right performance.

Expectancy (Effort-to-Performance Expectancy)

One of the three elements of the expectancy theory that refers to the belief that a particular level of effort will lead to a particular level of performance. A person who believes they can perform at their desired level on a task will believe their efforts matter in producing results. On the other hand, a person who does not believe they can perform at their desired level on a task will not see a link between their efforts and their ability to perform the task. Ultimately, this element rests between effort and performance in the expectancy theory model.

Instrumentality (Performance-to-Outcome Expectancy)

One of the three elements of the expectancy theory that refers to the expectation that successful performance of a task will lead to a desired outcome. Since it can be difficult for managers to see a direct link between their work and their firm’s performance, this element may be low because it is not shown in the firm’s broad data. This uncertainty is one of the reasons boards of directors justify giving executives generous compensation packages. Ultimately, this element rests between performance and outcomes in the expectancy theory model.

Valence

One of the three elements of the expectancy theory that refers to the value or importance a worker assigns to a possible outcome or reward. Managers must consider how valuable the rewards they offer are perceived to be for specific employees.

Goal-Setting Theory

One of the three process perspectives theories that suggests that employees can be motivated by goals that are specific and challenging but achievable. According to Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, it is natural for people to set and strive for goals; however, the goal-setting process is only useful if people understand, accept, and are committed to the goals. The four motivational mechanisms of this theory are related to how goals direct attention, regulate effort, increase persistence, and foster the use of strategies and action plans.

Stretch Goal

A goal that goes beyond what it expects to achieve. Companies committed to break-out growth sometimes adopt this goal, and some of their reasons for developing it are to force people out of their comfort zones to achieve more, build employees’ confidence when they succeed, insulate the company against future setbacks, and accept the challenge of higher performance standards. However, some managers believe that this goal, if not used with care, can demotivate employees, encourage unethical behavior, and lead companies to take unnecessary risks.

Goal

An objective that a person is trying to accomplish through their efforts. It should be specific, have certain conditions that are necessary for the goal-setting process to work, and be linked to action plans to create higher motivation and performance. In other words, it should be specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and have target dates.

Job Design

The division of an organization’s work among its employees and the application of motivational theories to jobs to increase satisfaction and performance. While the traditional approach involves fitting people to jobs, the modern approach involves fitting jobs to people. Moreover, this process uses contingency factors, which refer to the degree to which a person wants personal and psychological development. It works when employees have the necessary knowledge and skill, desire for personal growth, and context satisfactions (i.e., the right physical working conditions, pay, and supervision).