Personnel Attitudes and Motivation

The literature published since the previous review of this topic. by Miner & Dachler (65) shows several trends. There has been a dramatic decrease in the popularity of equity theory, especially with respect to explaining job and task performance. Since the Pritchard et al monograph (76), the few studies concerned with equity have stressed its role in influencing pay satisfaction. Competent criticisms of equity theory's vagueness (106) and limited applicability may have contributed to its current lack of popularity. Need for achievement is also encountering increasing criticism (25), and the validity of Herzberg's theory remains in doubt (56). In the applied realm, job enrichment and Management by Objectives continue to attract the attention of practitioners. But participatory management is the most frequently recommended panacea for problems pertaining to employee motiva­ tion (61) despite equivocal evidence (18). In the theoretical realm, expectancy or V-I-E (valence-instrumentality-expec­ tancy) theory has clearly become the most popular approach to motivation among industrial researchers (e.g. 48). However, there are still those who consider factor analysis and/or huge correlation matrices involving measurements of dozens of variables to be the key to unlocking the secrets of motivational psychology. (For this writer's comments on the latter approach, see 52, 54, 56). Organiza­ tional climate has also become popular, but the problem lies in determining just what the concept means (36). Space limitations prevent further discussion of this concept here, but for a thorough review of the topic see (37a). Two other areas which continue to attract the attention of researchers are pay (97) and the relationship between job attitudes and behavior (73). This article will be a selective review and critique of major theoretical ap­ proaches and major research areas relevant to employec attitudes and motivation.