| This study is an evaluative case study using mixed methodology. The purpose of this study was to add to the body of knowledge regarding Victor Vroom's Expectancy Theory and its impact on employees' task performance and engagement. In seeking to answer the primary question: "Will the use of Victor Vroom's Expectancy Theory create a high valence in a corporate customer service team when it is applied in a pre-training module?" and to establish the existence of a relationship between expectancy and improved performance, this researcher uses a combination of two types of evaluative research methodology: evaluative case study and theory-based evaluation. Data was collected using surveys and one-on-one interviews from a research team selected by management in a large forest products company. Data collected in surveys and interviews aided in evaluating the worth of the application of expectancy theory used in a pre-training module. The researcher predicted that the use of expectancy theory, using expectancy, instrumentality, and valence, as part of a pre-training module would have a positive effect of increase employee engagement in their work and its outcome on the division in general. The results of this study were inconclusive for a number of reasons. Increasing engagement did indeed seem to aid in accomplishing the goal of management, which was to decrease the number of errors and decrease employee retraining. Still, this study is inconclusive, as the statistics do not uniquely support the fact that the results were impacted only by the inclusion of the pre-training module. The researcher determined that the application of the theory could be used in other training initiatives to create a positive impact on the training results. |
