College Experience: Vroom vs. Maslow

This assignment explores how Vroom's Expectancy Theory and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theories apply to a personal college experience. The student analyzes their first day of college, comparing the influence of these theories on their motivation and behavior. The analysis highlights both similarities and differences between the two theories as applied to the individual's specific situation.

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ASSIGNMENT TITLE: SUMMARY ON MOTIVATIONAL
PROSPECTS AND GUN RESTRICTION DISCUSSION IN USA

Table of contents
Task 1 The requirements of sustainable and effective reward and recognition programme...........3
Task 2 Restrictions on gun ownership in United States..................................................................5
Task 3 Comparing and contrasting two motivation theories alongside education life....................7
Reference List..................................................................................................................................9
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Task 1 The requirements of sustainable and effective reward and recognition
programme
Organizations cannot solve the problem of employee or business partner motivation by throwing
some non-monetary mechanism from above. Such mechanisms failed in the past and as a result
newer ones were introduced only to achieve the same fate. Instead of improvement, only
confusion and worsening of relationship between management and workers were seen. In this
book, the requirements of sustainable and effective reward and recognition programme will be
discussed. In the context of a corporate or non-profit organization, the principles of theories
should be applied to modern organizations so as to achieve expected human motivation. The
four elements of a performance improvement programme are: research, skills development,
communication and incentives. Different types of recognition and reward options need to be
known for specific employee or distributer participant profile. The cultural attitudes of people
around the world are pivotal to the success of the mechanisms. At the end of the review, the
operational achievements of the schemes are to be reviewed and, if possible, new ones need to be
created (Wery and Thomson, 2013, p.506). There may be an issue with rewards. Goals may
cause impediments due to narrow focus, decreased cooperation and so on. The bigger the
organization is, the worse the cumulative effect will be of not having a sound reward and
recognition programme. The return on investment (ROI) is hard to predict and the employed
schemes often do not succeed in achieving the goals. In a report, BI Inc supported by many other
studies claimed that gift card with monetary value are less effective than tangible items like
merchandise in promoting higher performance. Gift cards, as the report claims, also suggest the
winners to pay as much as 220 percent of the reward in case they redeem. Simply, this does not
remain a reward as the workers are paying for themselves.
Incentives versus recognition: The common thinking is that incentives are for salespeople and
recognition is for employees. Recognition is given to employees as giving them reward does not
seem feasible. Salespeople need it as they do not have any other security options. Incentives act
as funds for the future. But these are two sides of the same coin. Rewards promote loyalty and
incentives quick and tactical change. Incentive has short-term implications and incentives long-
term. Frankly, there should be no incentives without recognition and no recognition without
incentives.
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Implications of recognition: If an employee works exceedingly well and has cracked a good
deal with another organization, he/ she is certainly needs to be rewarded and may be given some
incentives. Managers need to know how to recognize employees for their effort. In one culture,
sound praise may look like frowning upon and in some other culture praise may discourage other
team members. So, there is no model for praising and it is contextual. It varies from rank to rank
and also in size.
The balanced scorecard: Balance system is based on key performance indicators. In theory it
recognizes both administrators and sales people. Involvement of internal advisors makes it
complicated. Programmes with a dozen measures in a large organization further worsen the
situation. The best way is to become non-combatants and withdraw the clause of their willing
participation.
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Task 2 Restrictions on gun ownership in United States
Introduction: The issue of gun control is a debatable topic in America. The American society is
largely divided on this issue. Many Americans view gun control as the most cherished feature
provided in their citizenship. Others view it as the least desirable of all. The National Rifle
Association feels that guns are safe when those are used by responsible citizen. The thesis
statement is to discuss both the positives and negatives of the gun control law and on the basis of
that.
Body: The supporters of the gun control law are of the opinion that it is one of the rights given to
them in the second amendment of the constitution. They are also of the opinion that responsible
gun ownership should be emphasized instead of restricting the right of gun ownership. They also
opine that the clause of self-defense is central to the gun control law and thus it should never be
restricted. They also emphasize on the pervasiveness of gun-owning celebrities and politicians.
Above all the central argument that they stick to is that the U.S. Constitution already guarantees
unfettered gun ownership rights (McGinty et al. 2013, p.500). In respect of the constitution they
argue that gun-ownership is overwhelmingly safe in terms of the practices of a majority of gun
owners. The supporters also claim that gun ownership is a part of the right to self defense. They
also claim the support of the celebrities and say that experts and celebrities at all levels of
contemporary society support the freedom to own guns and make that freedom part of their
public lives. They are also of the fear that once the right to gun ownership is taken, the people
will no longer be safe enough on the streets and in markets. Some of them also do not want to
depend too much on the government and armed forces for their defense (Dube et al. 2013,
p.400).
People who are against gun-control argue that the right to gun-control is very much abused by
the anarchist and the non-conformist. They are also of the opinion that the reasons behind the
mass shootings in the recent years have been the gun-control law and thus it has to be restricted
as soon as possible. Irresponsible gun-ownership is another argument given by the people who
do not support it. They also focus on the lack of training and the lack of different new types of
guns which the people are not aware of properly. Many psychologists argue that psychopaths and
terrorists can do an irrevocable damage to the society under the protection of this law.
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Conclusion: In the conclusion, it can be said that even if the right to gun-control is not taken
away, at least it should be limited and checked effectively. There should a strict prohibition on
the availability of guns. Guns should be available only in licensed stores and those stores are also
to be protected well so that no incident of thieving happens. In case a gun is not found to the
user, it should be reported to the local police immediately.
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Task 3 Comparing and contrasting two motivation theories alongside
education life
Introduction: Motivation at workplace is essential and it adds to the performance of the
employees. Employees need to feel needed and appreciated. For our purpose two theories have
been selected: Vroom’s motivation theory and Maslow’s motivation theory. Vroom’s theory is
based two models: the valence model and the force model. Maslow opines that people are
motivated by certain needs which are species-wise (Wery and Thomson, 2013, p.501). A
comparison of the two theories will be made and by doing so all the contrasts will be shown
between the two theories. The problem statement of the study is to evaluate the theories with the
personal experience.
Main Body: The first day in college is always a tough thing to deal with as the teachers and
friends are new and unknown and there works a certain amount of fear in the mind about the
unknown. The first class matters a lot. In my case it was hard and long. The lectures seemed
vague and the subject too heavy for the years to come. But eventually, it slackened and got
removed as friends motivated me and helped me.
Vroom’s Expectancy theory explains motivation in four main concepts: force, valence,
expectancy and instrumentality. Here force means the compulsion of an individual to perform in
a particular way. Valence means the preference for a particular reward. Expectancy means the
perceived likelihood that the behavior will result in the intended outcome and instrumentality
means the perception that the expected outcome will lead to the resultant reward. The first
similarity that I find here is the expectancy part as described by Vroom. Behavior and
management of the situation were always prioritized so that a better result could be done. There
was also a compulsion to perform well in the examinations from the parents, and this may be
called as a force. One of the differences is that there was no choice for a particular reward that is
valence (Brown and Capozza, 2016, p.124).
Maslow opines that people are motivated the basic needs which are species-wide. Employees are
driven by basic needs, growth needs and self actualization need. The basic needs are food,
shelter, sleep, and so on. After these, man desires to be healthy and normal physically. In
business context, it refers to job security. Then came the need for belonging and love which are
necessary for growth. People needed to socialize and develop trustful relationships. Other factors
like self-respect, confidence, competence, mastery, appreciation and independence are also
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important. One of the similarities is that the respect part was always desirable at college as this
gave me real confidence. Another thing is socialization as this also makes one feel like one of the
whole. One of the dissimilarities is that I was never drive by the basic needs in those days as it
was not a part of concern for me.
Conclusion: In the conclusion, it can be said that no theory is perfect until it is implemented with
some amendment as per the situation. Having dealt with the theories, it can be said that the need
to be healthy both physically and mentally were always neglected by me and those could have
been improved. The socialization factor as opined by Maslow has always been helpful to me in
my future courses.
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Reference List
Brown, R. and Capozza, D. eds., 2016. Social identities: Motivational, emotional, cultural
influences. Psychology Press.
Dube, A., Dube, O. and García-Ponce, O., 2013. Cross-border spillover: US gun laws and
violence in Mexico. American Political Science Review, 107(03), pp.397-417.
McGinty, E.E., Webster, D.W. and Barry, C.L., 2013. Effects of news media messages about
mass shootings on attitudes toward persons with serious mental illness and public support for
gun control policies. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(5), pp.494-501.
Wery, J. and Thomson, M.M., 2013. Motivational strategies to enhance effective learning in
teaching struggling students. Support for Learning, 28(3), pp.103-108.
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