PSY 302 Week 2 DQ 1 Motivation Theory

An individual may be extrinsically or intrinsically motivated. Theories differ in their descriptions of motivation, as do the factors that facilitate and inhibit motivation in various work settings. Which motivation theory would you use to describe the challenges with alternative work arrangements (e.g., flex-time, compressed work week, and telecommuting) as discussed in the text? Do you believe the practice of providing alternative work arrangements will continue? Why or why not?

Your initial post should be a minimum of 250-300 words. You must use at least one scholarly, peer-reviewed source that was published within the last five years and is cited according to APA guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. 

We can define motivation as something that pushes a person towards achieving a goal by dint of persistence, direction and intensity of effort. When we are thinking in context of a workplace, the goals are those of the organization. Among the intrinsic motivations are competency, achievement and responsibility. These are different extrinsic motivations like promotion, lucrative pay, favourable work environment and pleasing relationship among employees, supervisors or employers. It has been found that stimulating either the intrinsic or the extrinsic can cause the other get affected. Robbins (2003, p. 164) argues that, according to cognitive evaluation theory of motivation, in case of extrinsic rewards like monetary benefit for better performance can lessen the level of intrinsic rewards that come through the employees’ doing what they like. So this explains that rewarding an employee with a better pay for his or her performance can make him or her less attentive to his or her responsibilities or competencies. In such cases they usually lose concentration in the tasks.

If we think of alternative arrangement of work, we see that intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivations do not get swayed and in some situations they get increased. Gajendran and Harrison (2007) found that telework employees find more satisfaction in their job compared to that of the non-teleworking employees. The former group also exhibit better performance. Motivation theories are not always in contrast with one another. In the text we are studying we can see that these theories mainly act in a complementary manner. Youssef & Noon (2012, p. 198) state according to expectancy theory an employee may feel motivated if he or she perceives that to reach the goal a close relationship between his or her efforts and performance, then between performance and prizes, and finally between the prizes and his or her satisfaction are in act.

Baily & Kurland (2002) state that different work-life plans, for example, the telework or flexi time plans, can help the employees release stress that is stored during the process of resolving the conflict between their responsibilities and work. United States, 2012 report mentions the 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) arguing that employees who make use the alternative arrangement of work feel that they know beforehand what is expected of them and how they would be held responsible for the outcomes. It has been found that telework employees feel much empowerment in the workplace with greater job satisfaction and that is why they feel like staying in the job for more time. Moreover, teleworking can help in other ways like controlling the pollution and traffic. This is my personal belief that this type of work programs can lead to more job openings. This can help both the employer and employees. I also think that in the coming future these alternative work arrangements will increase in volume as these are getting successful with the help of innovative use of information technology. We can also help the environment.

Baily, D. & Kurland, N. (2002). A review of telework research: Findings, new directions and lessons for the study of modern work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(4), 383-400. doi: 10.1002/job.144

Gajendran, R. & Harrison, D., (2007). The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1524-1541. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/new/press/releases/2007/11/telecommunting.aspx

Robbins, S. (2003). Organization Behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

United States Office of Personnel Management (2012). 2012 Telework Report. Retrieved from http://wwwltelework.gov/Reports_and_Studies/Annual_Reports/2012teleworkreport.pdf

Youssef, C. and Noon, A. (2012). Industrial/Organizational Psychology. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc