An experiential exercise for teaching theories of work motivation: using a game to teach equity and expectancy theories

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an experiential exercise for management and leadership educators to use in the course of their teaching duties. Design/methodology/approach – The approach of this classroom teaching method uses an experiential exercise to teach Adams’ equity theory and Vroom’s expectancy theory. Findings – This experiential exercise has proven useful in teaching two major theories of motivation and is often cited as one of the more memorable classes students experience. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is an original experiential exercise for teaching the equity and expectancy theories of motivation.

Keywords

• leadership
• work motivation
• equity theory
• expectancy theory
• experiential exercise