The full text of a BUS 210 Module 4 motivation assignment that diagnoses low effort with expectancy theory, analyzes the associates' job with the job characteristics model, and recommends four targeted changes with measures of success. Searches like "bus 210 module 4 assignment", "bus210 module 4 motivation assignment" and "bus 210 module 4 example" land here.
The BUS 210 Module 4 example, in full
Why Nobody Recommends Grooming: Diagnosing a Motivation Problem With Expectancy Theory and the Job Characteristics Model
[Student Name]
Southern New Hampshire University
BUS 210: Managing and Leading in Business
Module Four Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.
Why Nobody Recommends Grooming: Diagnosing a Motivation Problem With Expectancy Theory and the Job Characteristics Model
The Problem
Three months ago, Maple and Mutt Pet Supply, a composite regional chain, asked sales associates at every store to recommend grooming services to customers buying food or supplies for dogs and cats. At Store 7, the district set a target of 25 grooming referrals a week, tracked through a code on the booking form. Referrals averaged 21 a week in the first month, 9 in the second and 4 in the third. The associates are not new or careless; most have been with the store more than a year, and customer survey scores for helpfulness remain high. The problem is specific: a task that associates did at first has quietly stopped. A manager's first instinct might be to remind them more often or add a warning to their reviews, but reminders treat the symptom. The better question is what changed in the associates' reasons to make the effort.
Diagnosis With Expectancy Theory
Expectancy theory proposes that motivation depends on three beliefs, and that it weakens if any one of them is weak (Vroom, 1964). Walking through each belief with the associates, through short conversations during their shifts, located the breaks.
Expectancy: will my effort lead to performance? Partly weak. Associates said that when they recommend grooming, customers often ask about openings, and they cannot answer because the grooming calendar is kept on a paper book at the back of the salon. Many customers leave without booking, so the effort often fails to produce a referral.
Instrumentality: will performance lead to a reward? Very weak. Referrals were counted for the district report but never shared with associates, and nothing followed from them. One associate said, "I don't even know if it counted."
Valence: do I value the reward? Unclear, because there was no reward to value. The associates said recognition from the manager and a small share of grooming revenue would matter to them. The chain from effort to reward was broken in two places, and the second break, performance that led nowhere, explains most of the decline.
Diagnosis With the Job Characteristics Model
Expectancy theory explains why effort stopped paying off. The job characteristics model explains why the job itself provides little internal motivation to recommend services. The model identifies five core characteristics: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback (Hackman & Oldham, 1976). The associates' job is weakest on two of them. Task identity is low, because an associate hands the customer off and never learns whether the dog was groomed or how it turned out. Feedback is almost absent, because referral counts go to the district rather than to the person who made them. Autonomy is moderate, and task significance could be high, since a well-groomed pet with checked ears and trimmed nails is healthier, but the associates rarely see that outcome. The model predicts that a job lacking identity and feedback produces little internal motivation, which matches what the store observed.
Recommendations
Four changes follow, each aimed at a specific break.
First, repair expectancy by making booking easy at the point of sale. Moving the grooming calendar to the chain's online scheduling system and giving associates access at the register would let them book an appointment on the spot, so that their effort produces a result.
Second, repair instrumentality by closing the loop. Each associate's referrals and bookings should be posted weekly in the break room and discussed briefly at the start of shifts, so that performance is visibly connected to recognition.
Third, give the reward value. The store could share 5 percent of first-visit grooming revenue from each associate's referrals, paid monthly, and the manager should thank associates individually for referrals that led to new regular clients. Money and recognition matter to different people, and offering both covers more of the team.
Fourth, strengthen task identity and feedback. Groomers could send a photo of a referred pet after its first groom to the associate who made the referral, with the owner's permission. That small step lets associates see the outcome of their work and adds meaning that no bonus provides.
Why a Quota or Warning Would Not Work
The district's first suggestion was to make the 25-referral target a formal quota and note shortfalls in performance reviews. The two theories explain why that would disappoint. A quota raises the cost of not referring, but it does nothing about the first break in the chain: associates still could not book an appointment at the register, so more of their effort would continue to end in customers walking away. Under expectancy theory, a demand to perform that people believe they cannot meet tends to lower motivation rather than raise it. A quota also leaves the job characteristics untouched. Associates would still hand customers off without learning what happened and would receive feedback only in the form of criticism when numbers fall short, which reduces the sense that the task is theirs.
A quota can also produce the wrong behavior. Associates facing a number might mention grooming to every customer regardless of interest, creating referrals that never book and annoying shoppers the store depends on. The measure would improve while the outcome, groomed pets and returning clients, would not. The recommendations below instead fix the conditions that made the task hard and unrewarding, which is slower to set up than a quota but addresses the causes the associates themselves described.
Measuring Success
The manager will track weekly referrals and the share that become booked appointments for eight weeks. If referrals return to at least 20 a week and at least half of them become bookings, the changes are working. If referrals rise but bookings do not, the problem has shifted to the grooming schedule, not the associates. A short pulse survey at week eight will ask associates whether they believe referrals are noticed and rewarded, which measures instrumentality directly. The manager should also watch for an unintended effect: a revenue-share incentive can lead associates to push grooming on customers who do not want it, so customer survey scores for helpfulness should be monitored alongside referral counts (Robbins & Coulter, 2021).
References
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2), 250-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(76)90016-7
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2021). Management (15th ed.). Pearson.
Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation. Wiley.
How this BUS 210 Module 4 example is structured
The assignment moves from symptom to diagnosis to remedy. It describes the problem with evidence, then applies expectancy theory link by link to locate the failure. The job characteristics model adds a second lens on the job itself. Recommendations follow, each matched to the specific link or characteristic it addresses, and the paper ends with how the manager will measure results.
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BUS 210 Module 4 questions, answered
What does BUS 210 Module 4 usually cover?
The fourth module of this kind of course often addresses motivation and teams: theories such as expectancy theory, the job characteristics model, goal setting and equity theory, and how managers apply them to improve engagement and performance. Assignments typically ask students to diagnose a motivation problem and recommend solutions.
What is expectancy theory?
Expectancy theory holds that people are motivated to act when they believe effort will lead to good performance (expectancy), that good performance will lead to a reward (instrumentality), and that they value that reward (valence). If any link is weak, motivation drops.
What are the five job characteristics?
The job characteristics model identifies skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Jobs rich in these characteristics tend to produce greater internal motivation, satisfaction and performance, because employees experience the work as meaningful, feel responsible for outcomes and know how they are doing.