Organisational Behaviour: Expectancy Theory and Reinforcement Theory

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
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1ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
As opined by Taylor (2018), the concept of organisational behaviour can be defined
as the study of the behaviour of the human beings or the employees within the setting of an
organisation or a business firm. Atkins et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that the entity of
organisational behaviour can also refer to the interaction between the organisations and the
human beings within the mould of the concerned organisation. In this regard, it needs to be
said that the interaction between the human beings and the organisation within the framework
of an organisation can happen at three levels, namely, micro-level, meso-level and macro-
level (Mansouri, Singh & Khan, 2018). As a matter of fact, Chen, Ellis and Suresh (2016)
have noted that the individuals behave differently within the framework of a business firm
and in their real life and thus the primary purpose of the concept of organisational behaviour
is to develop or gain a better understanding of the organisational life. More importantly, the
construct of organisational behaviour had gained a substantial amount of prominence within
the spectrum of the modern business world and this becomes apparent from the numerous
theories related to the same that had been propounded over the years (Deery & Jago, 2015).
Some of the most important theories of organisational behaviour are expectancy theory,
reinforcement theory, goal-setting theory, equity theory and others (Malik, Butt & Choi,
2015). For example, the major precept of the reinforcement theory is that the reinforcements
or consequents are the major determinants of the behaviour of the employees (Walker &
Jackson, 2017). On the other hand, the expectancy theory states that the behaviour of the
employees or the workers is largely regulated by their expectations towards the firms or the
organisations (Burrell & Morgan, 2017). The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse the
expectancy theory of organisational behaviour and the reinforcement theory of organisational
theory.
Bester, Stander and Van Zyl (2015) have articulated the viewpoint that the different
employees who are a part of a business firm have certain expectations from the concerned

2ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
firm on the basis of the nature or the kind of work that they perform within the firm and also
on the basis of the effort that they put in for the same. As opined by Ruck, Welch and Menara
(2017), the one of the most important precepts of the expectancy theory of organisational
behaviour is the fact that the individual behaviour of the workers within a business firm is
greatly modulated by the expectations that the employees from the concerned firm as well as
the attractiveness of the outcomes of the expectations. On the other hand, Chumg, Seaton,
Cooke and Ding (2016) have noted that the employees or the workers within the spectrum of
a business firm are likely to act or behave in a particular manner because of the fact that they
are motivated to opt for a certain behaviour over others on the score of the rewards or
benefits that the selected behaviour offers to the concerned individuals or workers. More
importantly, it is seen that the behaviour or the action that had been selected by the workers
or the employees greatly depends on the outcomes of the concerned action or the expectations
that the employees have from the same (Taylor, 2018). The resultant effect of this is that the
expectation theory of organisational behaviour mainly focuses on the mental abilities or the
cognitive abilities of the individuals and also the manner in which it affects the choices or the
actions undertaken by the concerned individuals. Furthermore, this theory of organisational
behaviour is often considered to be one of the most important contemporary motivation
theories which is being used by the different business firms and it was first propounded by
Victor Vroom of the Yale School of Management (Deery & Jago, 2015). As a matter of fact,
explaining the theory Vroom stated that “This theory emphasizes the needs for organizations
to relate rewards directly to performance and to ensure that the rewards provided are those
rewards deserved and wanted by the recipients” (Balmer & Burghausen, 2015).
Downes, Kristof-Brown, Judge and Darnold (2017) are of the viewpoint that the
three important entities of the expectancy theory are expectancy, instrumentality and valence
on which the behaviour of the employees within a business firm greatly depends. In this