Reflective journal on leadership

Reflective Journal Entry Insert Departments 6th December Reflective Journal on LeadershipIntroduction
From time immemorial, human beings have been faced by a lot of challenges in their lives. People deal with these challenges in divergent ways. Some give up on their endeavors when challenges present themselves while others persevere and continue with their endeavors despite constant challenges. Peoples reaction to different situations can be explicated using a number of theories such as self-efficacy theory and Vrooms expectancy theory. This journal entry focuses on Vrooms expectancy theory and how it relates to my professional life.
Description of Vrooms Framework
Vrooms expectancy theory was coined in by an individual referred to as Victor H Vroom. In elucidating Vrooms expectancy theory, Pattanayak (2005: 183) posits that ” Under conditions of free choice, an individual is motivated towards that activity which he is most capable of understanding and which he believes has the highest probability of leading him to his most preferred goal”. Vroom in his theory supposed that human beings are inspired to achieve a particular purpose by anticipated standards or principles, coupled with the inference that the action geared towards the achievement of the purpose will result to the preferred principles (Pattanayak, 2005: 183). Vrooms theory has a number of components, namely valence, instrumentality, and expectancy. According to Pattanayak (2005: 183), valence denotes peoples partiality towards specific end results, and instrumentality denotes peoples acuity with regard to whether a guaranteed reward will essentially be awarded to them. Expectancy, on the other hand, represents the divergent anticipations among people in regards to their abilities. Vroom, as asserted by Pattanayak (2005: 183), is of the opinion that inspiration towards achievement of a specific purpose is dependent on valence, instrumentality, and expectancy.
Linking Vrooms Expectancy Theory with my Personal Experience
In reference to Vrooms expectancy theory, my productivity and performance in my workplace is directly related to my skills, experience, and abilities. An example of one of my skills include effective listening skills. Listening helps me effectively understand or comprehend my responsibilities in my workplace and as a result, I always achieve good results. There are also financial incentives given in my workplace. It is worth noting that these incentives act as motivators. Hard economic times in the contemporary world necessitates people to work harder in order to achieve better results, and as a consequence get better rewards. Additionally, my activities or actions are also motivated by the end results. For instance, recycling used bottles and ensuring good waste disposal translates to a cleaner environment. In so doing, I am able to live in a cleaner environment characteristic of clean air. In relation to expectancy, I am aware that the more effort I put into adopting proper waste disposal habits, the cleaner the environment will be. In terms of instrumentality, less expenses will be incurred in cleaning the environment as a result of my bottle recycling habits. To relate proper waste disposal to valence as a component of Vrooms theory, environmental pollution is a global challenge and hence it is imperative to adopt better waste disposal practices in an effort to mitigate the problem.
In conclusion, Vrooms expectancy theory denotes the fact that human beings are motivated or inspired to act in a particular manner by a reward or the outcome. Being certain that a reward will be given for better performance will definitely push people towards better results. People have different skills and abilities and thus, their reaction to different circumstances is also different. Focusing on individual skills and aligning them with assigned responsibilities will help an individual achieve better results.
Reference
Pattanayak, B. (2005) Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Prentice Hall.