Why We Made This:
Motivating employees and managing organizational change are central challenges in industrial-organizational psychology; yet, the theories behind them can be dense, dry, and confusing for many individuals. From Vroom’s expectancy theory to Herzberg’s two-factor model, and from work adjustment theory to social dynamics like groupthink and social loafing, students often struggle to organize and apply this wide-ranging content—especially on high-stakes exams like the EPPP. We created this PDF to break down those barriers. This PDF presents primary motivation and change theories in a clear, engaging, and visual format, featuring real-world examples, relatable analogies, and memory devices to help learners move beyond memorization and toward a deeper understanding.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the difference between job enlargement and job enrichment and how each affects worker satisfaction and burnout.
Explain Vroom’s expectancy theory and its three components: expectancy, valence, and instrumentality.
Describe Herzberg’s two-factor theory, distinguishing between hygiene factors and motivators.
Identify what contributes to both high and low job satisfaction and job motivation in workplace settings.
Apply Dawis and Lofquist’s theory of work adjustment, focusing on satisfaction and satisfactoriness in job alignment.
Define and compare the four types of group tasks: additive, disjunctive, conjunctive, and compensatory.
Recognize psychological phenomena in group settings, including group polarization, groupthink, social loafing, and their contributing factors.
Differentiate between social facilitation and social inhibition, and understand when the presence of others helps or hinders performance.
