The effects of scenario-based learning on motivation and performance: a case study of multiunit managers in a Fortune 500 retail organization
Date
2019
Authors
Elwell-Chalmers, Stacy, author
Chermack, Thomas J., advisor
Korte, Russ F., committee member
Folkestad, James E., committee member
Conroy, Samantha A., committee member
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of scenario-based learning on motivation and performance in the workplace. The primary focus was whether scenario-based learning can increase motivation by using a training process designed to add value to the concepts being taught, shifting motivation to part of the integrated self, and therefore creating more of a basis for "self-determined behavior" (Deci & Ryan, 2005, p. 15). The suggestion that scenario-based learning could promote self-determined behavior also supports the potential for improved performance (Deci & Ryan, 2005). The study findings were intended to help scholars, human resource employees, and organizational development professionals develop complex leadership skills in their employees more efficiently and effectively to get faster results. The successful practice of performance development in today's workplace requires the integration of a wide range of complex skills that extend beyond the explicit to tacit, such as change leadership, portfolio management, team building, and high-level problem solving. Although there is abundant psychological literature on performance development, surprisingly little of this research examines the possibility of leveraging scenario-based learning to move motivation from amotivation to more intrinsic motivation to improve employee performance in the work setting (Deci & Ryan, 2002). Rather, development research has been conducted and governed in the field of human resource development and organizational development (HRD/OD) and focused primarily on performance improvement and on-the-job training. Current organizational training programs cannot provide complex situational development (Lynham, 2002) to accelerate internal employee performance. Given the complexity of development in today's workplace, a development method that could build employee performance by improving motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2005, p. 15) to keep employees developing in their learning would be particularly valuable. The implied link between scenario-based learning and motivation must first be described, understood, and substantiated before it can be assumed to be of strategic utility to performance development. The researcher proposed the use of scenario-based learning as a mechanism for improving employee motivation in the workplace and implies that the more fully an employee internalizes motivation, the more it becomes part of the integrated self, and the more it is the basis for self-determined behavior" (Deci & Ryan, 2005, p. 15) and improved performance. Scenario-based learning was therefore positioned as a tool to empower and engage employees by providing an alternative path to new experiences, expertise, and performance. To investigate these assertions, the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS), which was designed to assess constructs of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in field settings, was used as a pre-and postintervention survey (Deci & Ryan, 2002). A series of semistructured interviews were also used to bring more of the subjective aspects of the case study to light. Finally, workplace scorecards were used to assess pre-and postintervention performance according to organizational metrics. The study drew data from 169 managers (61 in the intervention group and 108 in the control group) in a Fortune 500 organization.
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Subject
performance
self determination
scenario
motivation