Establishing key issues/areas raised by the question Defining fundamental terms Describing contextual information e.g. background to topic and its significance and/or interesting statistical data Identifying, explaining in detail and cross-comparing relevant concepts, models and theoretical approaches Applying concepts to contemporary issues within business settings Applying models/theories to workplace/organisation/industry examples and/or evaluating the practical application of models/theories Drawing parallels between theory and practice Evaluating relative merits and drawbacks of opposing academic viewpoints with a view to building independent opinions Formulating balanced, persuasive independent arguments based on academic evidence and judgement Stating a clear, overall answer to the question. Rollinson: (quoting Vroom) “task performance does not rely solely on motivation”. This refers to Vroom’s suggestion that whether or not people in the workplace perform well does not depend solely on motivation, as there are other factors involved. it was recommended that you look at two content theories and two process theories, whilst also providing a summary for each theory in terms of “what that theory says”. • recommends that your introduction is focused on explaining what you are going to do in the rest of the work, whereas the body should be a general discussion of what motivation is (including definitions) and the motivation theories which lead to show the difference between content and process theories, while exploring the extent to which motivation theories are able to improve task performance. Finally, your conclusion should look back at what you have done, whilst possibly providing recommendations. • Assessing the context. When you need to provide an assessment of factors that may include industry, it may be in your interest to pay industry-specific considerations. • You need to provide definitions, examples and theories surrounding motivation from a range of sources. • Analyse at least two observable practices which have been adopted by organisations which have been designed to enhance task performance. This can be in the form of examples. You’re being prompted to look for and use examples which you can find through research or draw upon from personal experience (although be careful when it comes to personal experience, as the subjective nature of your experiences might provide a less concrete foundation when supporting your argument. See more on this below.) • Critique how the given theories may work in practice. You should consider a practice in different workplaces, as it may be that the theory works better in relation to different environments. • You should explore the advantage and disadvantages you have presented. • It is important to use appropriate references for the facts given. • Vroom has stated that task performance by employees does not rely solely on motivation in terms of his acknowledging that there are other factors involved. The question makes mention of “critical evaluation”, which means you will have to provide a critique of something. You will also have to bear in mind that an evaluation will be required of you, where you will discuss the value that has been placed on something. In this sense, you will ask yourself how much value something has. In the same vein, the evaluation question can be paraphrased as “evaluate the use in motivation theories”, which means you will need to speak of whether the motivation theories that you’ve learned have been effective in improving task performance among employees or not. With this assignment, it will be up to you to decide how effective the motivation theories have been in improving task performance. Each motivation theory has some benefits, but also some limitations, so your critique will be connected to the limitations that these theories have, being representative of criticism while you’re developing arguments from your reading. • The essence of the assignment is that you’ll choose motivation theories and evaluate them in terms of the task improvements and disadvantages in relation to the limitations involved. You will then go on to repeat the process with some of your other “favourite” motivation theories. • Somewhere in your assignment, you should speak of something else outside of motivation theories that can lead to improvements in task performance. As such, you’ll have to include a paragraph somewhere to talk about other approaches outside of motivation theory. We reviewed the particular considerations to examine in accordance with the assignment brief for Part One, some of which you may find applicable and some not: • In this assignment, you need to assess the context that will include factors such as industry. Whether or not the industry poses an issue depends on what you’ve read in relation to the theory. • In terms of the age of a particular organisation, there is some reading available that suggests that the older an organisation gets, the more some theories may apply. If an organisation is new, people can come in with energy and gusto, for example. If you have evidence of this, use it in your analysis. • Organisation size might be another factor. Organisational theory tells us that organisations that are huge have more difficulty motivating staff in comparison to organisations that are noticeably smaller. Again, this will be informed by your reading, where you will take note of how certain factors impact various motivation theories in terms of their ability to impact task performance. • Definitions, examples, and theories surrounding motivation from a range of sources is also being asked of you. • Analyse two observable practices that have been adopted by organisations that have been designed to enhance task performance. This will relate to practical examples, perhaps procured from your own workplace or through conducting internet research. These observable practices refer to the “preamble” in the assignment brief, which cites other ways of achieving task performance outside of motivation. If you don’t have a workplace situation to refer to, you can always draw from your reading. Note: by “observable practices”, you’re referring to something you can see and observe. • Critique how these given theories may work, something you would have inadvertently done through your evaluation. • It is important to use appropriate references for the facts given. • You will have multiple content theories and multiple process theories. Bernie suggests you discuss two theories of content and two theories of process, given the limited word count. Naturally, this will depend on how easy the theories come to you when you read them. • One skill you will need to learn is how to get as much out of your limited wordcount as possible. Particular consideration may be given to: Assessing the context, which may include factors such as: Industry, Organisational age, Organisational size, Et. al. Definitions, examples and theories surrounding motivation from a range of sources. Analyse at least two observable practices which have been adopted by organisations which has been designed to enhance ‘task performance’. Critique how the given theories may work, in practice. You should consider the practice in different workplaces, industries and reasons for change. Furthermore, you should explore the advantages and disadvantages of the theories presented in obtaining enhanced organisational effectiveness.
