Case 8-B: Doldrums in the Dental Office e was happy to achieve her Associate Degree in Dental Hygiene with an emphasis in children’s prophylaxis. had At the very least, she had a job that made her family happy Ca and got them off her back about a career. Her mom and dad constantly pointed out that even during hard times she children would still need to have their teeth cleaned and job parents would work to ensure the health of their children ha so her job was recession proof. Additionally, her family felt tha that a job in the medical profession gave her more status she and others would see her as someone important. After working with the placement service of the uni- he versity, Caroline found a job at a large family dental prac- C tice in the valley. She wanted to appear as professional as C possible so she joined all of the local, state, and national ro dental hygienist organizations she could find, even though C she had no real intention of participating or assuming a ba th leadership role in any of the organizations. After a two-week orientation period at the dental bi practice, Caroline was assigned to her own room and began to receive new clients. Her work focused on chil- in dren and she worked hard to build their confidence in her and overcome their fear of going to the dentist. Carolinei thought it was strange that she and the other hygienists did in most of the work on the patients, with the dentists doing c a cursory once over at the end of the cleaning session, yet a the dentists were paid much more of the per-patient fees. a
Expert Answer
It is to be noted that the questions asked below in the case study does not pertain to the case study. There is no character called ‘Sean’ in the attached case study nor the background is that of cafeteria. Hence, the case study has been solved here below in the light of the ‘Motivation theory’ that can be best applied to the above case.
Caroline was upset with the fact that the dentists were paid far more than the dental hygiene experts in spite of various attachments Caroline had contribute to, in various dental hygiene related Organizations. She further learnt that although the per hour payment was less for the part-time workers; the latter were more motivated than the full-time employee like herself.
Accordingly, using various motivation theories, the Expectancy theory best applies in the case. Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory explains that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
From the above diagram, it could be inferred that there exists an
- Effort–Performance Relationship
– The probability that exerting a given amount of effort will lead to performance.
Ø Performance–Reward Relationship
– The belief that performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome.
Ø Rewards–Personal Goals Relationship
– The degree to which organizational rewards satisfy an individual’s goals or needs and the attractiveness of potential rewards for the individual.
Hence, in the given case, Caroline expected that since she did the most of the work in the dentistry activity as a dental hygienist as compared to the dentists themselves who would undertake only the superficial and brief work; she should have had been paid higher owing to the amount of effort she is putting in for her hygiene performance. And as against the performance, Caroline believed that she should have been compensated in terms of rewards accordingly. This also concluded that Caroline, although passionate about her profession and her association with various organizations made her more desirable as a hygienist in the clinic, Caroline felt weird that her personal goals were not really aligned to that of the Organizational one in terms of the reward factor in the scene.