Victor Vroom

Victor Vroom was born on 8 September 1932 in Montreal, Canada. He is a Professor of Psychology, and currently works in the Yale School of Management.

Professor Vroom is renowned for his work on the Expectancy Theory of Motivation, in which he examines why people chose to follow a particular course of action.

Vroom's Expectancy Theory deals with motivation and management. Vroom's theory assumes that behavior results from conscious choices among alternatives whose purpose it is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Together with Edward Lawler and Lyman Porter, Vroom suggested that the relationship between people's behavior at work and their goals was not as simple as was first imagined by other theorists. Vroom posited that an employee's performance is based on individual factors such as personality, skills, knowledge, experience and abilities.

The expectancy theory states that, in the workplace, individuals have a variety of goals and that they can be motivated if they believe that:


 * There is a positive correlation between efforts and performance,
 * Favorable performance will result in an outcome,
 * The outcome's value to the employee can be determined,
 * (The desire to satisfy the need is strong enough to make the effort worthwhile).

The actual equation is: F = E (I x V) Vroom's Expectancy Theory is based upon the following three beliefs:


 * 1) Valence (Valence refers to the emotional orientations people hold with respect to outcomes [rewards]. The depth of the want of an employee for extrinsic [money, praise, promotion, time-off, benefits] or intrinsic [satisfaction] rewards). Not all outcomes possess a positive valence; getting a promotion, coupled with a transfer to an undesirable location, may well result in a negative valence. Effective managers thus seek to discover what employees value.
 * 2) Expectancy (Employees have different expectations and levels of confidence about what they are capable of doing). Management must discover what resources, training, or supervision employees need. Expectancy is measured as a probability insofar as the employee asks, "What are chances that, given my knowledge, skills, and the resources available to me, I am able to complete the assigned task?"
 * 3) Instrumentality (The perception of employees -- expressed as a probability -- that there will actually be an outcome associated with completing the assigned task.). Management must ensure that promises of rewards are fulfilled and that employees are aware of that.

Vroom suggests that an employee's beliefs about expectancy, instrumentality, and valence interact psychologically to create a motivational force such that the employee acts in ways that bring pleasure and avoid pain. This force can be 'calculated' via the following formula: Motivation = Expectancy x (Valence x Instrumentality).

This formula can be used to indicate and predict such things as job satisfaction, one's occupational choice, the likelihood of staying in a job, and the effort one might expend at work.