As a manager you must motivate your employees to work very hard. Which motivation theory would you use to guide your actions? Why?

          As for employees, managers can choose from several motivation theories to guide his or her actions as for motivating employees to work hard. These theories include needs theory, reinforcement theory, self-efficacy theory, justice theory, and goal-setting theory. As a manager I would use the goal-setting theory to guide my actions as for motivating my employees to work hard. The goal-setting theory is the one theory that I/O psychologist find most useful (Spector, 2012). Spector (2012), "the basic idea of this theory is that people’s behavior is motivated by their internal intentions, objectives, or goals—the terms are used here interchangeably" (p. 207). Goal-setting theory is tied to behavior because goals are tied to a certain behavior, which is relevant for performance (Spector, 2012). Goals are what individuals knowingly want to achieve or strive to attain. A prediction of this theory is that individuals will exert effort toward the accomplishment of his or her goals and one's job performance is a function of the goals set (Spector, 2012).  As for organizations, setting goals is a means used to maintain or increase employees' job performance.       

          As a manager now I would use the goal-setting theory to guide my actions. The reason why is because previously I have worked as a manager on four occasions at four different organizations and I did motivate my employees to work, although I did not have any knowledge of these theories. However, I did use a form of goal-setting theory to motivate my employee to work hard. I would motivate my employees to meet the goals of the organization, which would make them standout as effective members of our organization. This would lead to advancement and further praise from my managers. Goal-setting theory is a theory that benefits both employees and organization in effective and positives ways.     

Reference

Spector, P. E. (2012). Industrial and organizational psychology (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.