Expectancy theory approaches to faculty motivation

✍ Scribed by Richard T. Mowday

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 637 KB
• Volume: 1982
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0271-0633
• DOI: 10.1002/tl.37219821008

✦ Synopsis

We assume most employees will choose to engage in work behaviors that are rewarding. In this regard, art faGulty members any dtflment?

Expectancy T h e o v Approaches to Faculty Motivation Richrd T. Mowday

In a delightful article entitled "On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B," Steve Kerr (1975) discussed the problems that arise when organizations establish reward systems that discourage rather than encourage desired behaviors on the part of employees. Kerr had little dificulty identifying dysfunctional reward practices in a variety of organizational settings. It should not surprise anyone familiar with higher education to learn that faculty reward systems in the university were among the examples Kerr highlighted.

The problem that is most often thought to be caused by reward practices in the university concerns the balance between faculty teaching and research activities. This balance has been the subject of increasing debate, both on the campus and among those concerned with larger issues of accountability in higher education (see Mayhew, 1970). While a full discussion of the role of faculty in the university is beyond the scope of this chapter, the nature of the problem can be simply stated. Many groups (often including, not incidentally, trustees, students, and parents, who must finance education through tuition and taxes) believe that the primary job of the faculty should be to teach students. This is generally true at the majority of state-supported institutions and may even be the case at some major private research universities, particularly as tuition increases the cost of education. But, even though faculty consider teaching to be an important activity, rewards in many universities are more highly influenced by scholarship and research productivity.