HCS 370 Week 2 Individual Behavior, Perception and Motivation Example

The Same Correction, Two Meanings: Perception, Attribution and Motivation Among Pharmacy Technicians, and What Keeps the Ones Who Stay

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

HCS/370: Organizational Behavior

Week 2 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The hospital, the pharmacy staff and the survey figures are composites written for a model paper; theories come from the sources listed.

In the composite hospital pharmacy department described in Week 1, a pharmacist returned a technician's IV preparation with a note: wrong diluent volume, redo. The pharmacist remembered the moment as routine checking. The technician, three months into the job, described it in her exit interview as the day she decided to leave. This paper examines individual behavior in the department through perception, attribution and motivation.

Perception

Perception is the process by which people select, organize and interpret information. The pharmacist saw a correction among dozens that day. The technician saw a public judgment of her competence, written in a note others could read. Each selected different features of the same event and interpreted them through different experiences.

Attribution

Attribution theory explains how people decide whether behavior was caused by internal factors, such as ability or effort, or external factors, such as the situation. The pharmacist attributed the error to carelessness. The technician attributed the note to the pharmacist's harsh personality. Neither considered the situation: an unfamiliar product, a label printed in small type and a rush of first doses at shift change.

Why This Matters for Managers

When people explain problems by character, they respond with blame. When they see the situation, they fix it. A manager who teaches staff to ask what about the situation made this likely changes both the response to errors and how corrections are felt.

Motivation: The Two-Factor View

Herzberg (1968) distinguished hygiene factors, such as pay, supervision, policies and working conditions, whose absence causes dissatisfaction, from motivators, such as achievement, recognition, responsibility and growth, which create satisfaction. Improving hygiene factors reduces unhappiness but does not by itself produce motivation.

Motivation: The Self-Determination View

Deci and Ryan (2000) argued that people thrive when three needs are met: autonomy, a sense of choice; competence, a sense of effectiveness; and relatedness, connection to others. Environments that support these needs produce more self-directed motivation and well-being.

What the Interviews Showed

The director interviewed eight technicians who had left and six who had stayed more than three years. Leavers mentioned pay less often than expected, three of eight. All eight described feeling they could never tell whether they were doing well, and six described night shifts alone. Long-tenured technicians described a mentor early on, certification that led to a pay step and a say in which area they worked.

Reading the Interviews Through Both Theories

Pay, a hygiene factor, mattered to some leavers but did not explain most departures. Recognition and growth, Herzberg's motivators, were present for those who stayed and absent for those who left. The self-determination view explained the pattern in more detail: stayers had competence feedback, some autonomy in assignments and relatedness through a mentor. The technicians who stayed had not been paid more; they had been taught, trusted and known, which is a cheaper and more durable form of retention.

Expectancy: Does Effort Lead Anywhere?

The interviews also showed a problem that expectancy theory describes: people put in effort when they believe effort leads to performance and performance leads to outcomes they value. Several leavers said that doing well changed nothing; there was no step up, no new responsibility and no recognition. When effort seems to lead nowhere, motivation fades, however committed a person was at the start.

The Role of the Supervisor

Technicians' direct supervisors shape most of these experiences. Two of the three shift supervisors were promoted for technical skill and had no leadership training. The director will give them training in feedback, coaching and recognizing good work, and will include retention of new technicians in their annual goals.

Stress and Emotion

Emotional responses matter too. A technician who is anxious about errors is more likely to make one. Lone night shifts heighten that anxiety, since there is no one to ask. Pharmacists carry their own strain; about half report burnout in pooled studies (Dee et al., 2023), and a tired checker is more likely to correct abruptly.

Values and Attitudes

Technicians who stayed often described the work as meaningful: they knew their preparations reached patients in the intensive care unit and the cancer center. Leavers rarely mentioned patients at all. The difference suggests that helping new technicians see where their work goes, for example through a unit visit during orientation, may strengthen the attitude that sustains people through hard shifts.

Individual Differences

Not every technician wants the same thing. Some value predictable schedules above growth; others want certification and advancement. Managers can ask rather than assume, and a short conversation at 30 and 90 days gives each new technician a chance to say what matters to them.

Recommendations

Feedback: pharmacists will give corrections privately, with the reason, and weekly positive feedback will be routine; notes will describe the problem, not the person. Competence: a 90-day training plan with checkpoints. Autonomy: technicians will choose rotation preferences each quarter. Relatedness: every new technician gets a mentor; night shifts will pair a new technician with an experienced one for the first three months. Growth: a three-step career ladder tied to certification and sterile compounding skills. Hygiene: a market review of pay, since fair pay prevents dissatisfaction even if it does not motivate.

Training Pharmacists

Pharmacists will receive a short session on giving corrections, including how perception and attribution shape the way a correction is received.

Measuring Results

First-year turnover, the quarterly support survey and the number of technicians earning certification will be tracked. The target is first-year turnover under 20% within two years.

Limits

A small number of interviews cannot represent everyone, and leavers may give reasons that are easier to say than the real ones. The survey will broaden the evidence.

Conclusion

A single correction, perceived and attributed differently, captured the department's problem. Perception and attribution explain why feedback felt like blame; the two-factor and self-determination theories explain why technicians left and why some stayed. Managers can change both through how they give feedback and how they build competence, autonomy and connection.

References

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01

Dee, J., Dhuhaibawi, N., & Hayden, J. C. (2023). A systematic review and pooled prevalence of burnout in pharmacists. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, 45(5), 1027-1036. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-022-01520-6

Herzberg, F. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, 46(1), 53-62.