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Hewitt Quarterly
Asia Pacific
is made possible through the combined skills and experience
of Hewitt consultants from across the Asia-Pacific region.
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For further information please
contact:
Hewitt Associates
2601-05 Shell Tower
Times Square
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2877-8600
Fax: (852) 2877-2701
editor-hqap@hewitt.com
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Motivational practice and theory in the
workplace has become a hot topic in recent
years and for good reason; the relationship
between motivation, job satisfaction, job
performance, and financial returns is
undeniable. As researchers continue to unravel
the "what and why" of motivational drivers,
management is busy measuring and pursuing
ways to increase performance levels in their
people. But what does this mean for employees?
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Human nature is a complex matter and consequently discovering the secret to motivating people is no simple matter. And when
it comes to human resource practices and leadership, there are countless theories that attempt to explain employee
satisfaction, commitment, and engagement, and their relationships to productivity, quality, and financial return. While
consultants espouse the value of the latest performance-oriented trends, economists attempt to measure the value of human
capital, search firms seek leaders who know how to get the best out of people, and trade union officials argue for protection
against inappropriate motivational systems. Boasting titles such as Peak Performance: Aligning the Hearts and Minds of
your Employees and Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results Through Ordinary People, personal
motivational coaching programs and guides are also growing increasingly popular.
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Interestingly, although a great deal has been written about the happy productive worker ideology, research results and
evidence supporting this concept have been mixed. This is where the interests of researchers and managers converge. On one
hand researchers are intrigued by the what and why of motivational drivers in the workplace and are primarily interested in
finding out how different levers can be used to change behavior and to what effect. On the other, there are managers who,
simply put, just want to know how to get employees to do what they want.
While a mutually beneficial happy medium seems the obvious solution, motivational practice and theory in the workplace are
complex subjects and at this stage a holy-grail formula doesn't exist. Quite the contrary, in the quest to add to the
reciprocal benefit of an organization's owners, managers, customers and employees new variables and complexities continue to
emerge.
David Brown, head of Talent and Organization Consulting in Hewitt Australia and New Zealand, explains, "All stakeholders have
an interest because of the potential gains for each. The owner wants to increase profits, the customer wants a better product
or service, and the manager wants to achieve a goal-focused workforce. One of the major links in this chain of satisfaction
is the employee, who above all else is seeking a fulfilling work experience. Unfortunately, when measured by the relative
amount of research spent on it, it seems this last concern seems to be of less importance and in spite of enormous
research-basic as well as applied-employee fulfillment is an area that is more often than not, poorly practiced." |
Assessing motivation from an economic perspective leads to a plethora of issues including the rising value of intangible
assets as part of market value (at least for publicly-listed companies), the increasing difficulty in attracting and
retaining talent, shifting attitudes towards work among Gen X and Y workers, and the debatable link between job satisfaction
and productivity.
Intangible assets are of significant interest to economic spectators and new statistics indicate there has been a substantial
increase in the value of intangible assets as a component of market value on stock markets around the world. In fact, as much
as US$5 out of every US$6 of market value on the New York stock market is made up of intangible assets1. While the amount
ascribed to human capital is a contentious issue, it has been debated that it ranges from one-quarter to one-half of the
intangible asset value. "There has been a significant increase in the value of people," attests Brown. "The more engaged your
workforce is, the higher the company's intangible asset value. The challenge for companies is putting a measure around the
engagement capability of its people, however once it has achieved this it is well on its way to defining the value of human
capital."
This increased awareness of the value of human capital means shareholders are taking a greater interest in understanding how
its value is measured and, perhaps more importantly, what the return on such an investment will be. In turn, management is
more actively measuring and pursuing ways to increase performance levels in their people.
The tightening labor market and the shifting attitudes of newer entrants-Gen X and Y employees-to the workplace are also
variables for consideration. This generation of workers has a unique set of ideals. They are not only searching for more
meaning in their work; they are also more mobile and willing to move for a role. According to some, these variables are the
reason younger workers do not place the same level of importance on complying with the needs and demands of their jobs. While
researchers endeavor to explain the relationships between motivation and absenteeism and turnover, it has come to light that
many people are being viewed as volunteers rather than employees. Combined with decreasing levels of available talent, these
unsettling findings indicate that organizations need to take more interest in motivating people to join, stay and perform at
their best.
"We are seeing a shift from positional power to personal power," says Brown. "The younger generation is
increasingly motivated by the personal relationship they share with their leaders. They want to be shown respect as an
individual and this has contributed to a shift in leadership approaches. Most notably, managers are taking a more
individualistic approach to leadership and are adopting 1:1 individualistic policies rather than blanket policies that cater
to the group."
It's been argued by some that an over-focus on employee motivation can lead to abuse, creating environments that not only
fail to increase employee satisfaction, but actually result in greater stress on employees. This perspective contends that
workloads have not actually decreased but that by providing the best possible work environments, organizations are simply
encouraging people to work harder. In other words, employees are being manipulated.
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Understanding the idiosyncrasies of motivation is a complex and arduous task. Theoretical-psychoanalytical, cognitive, and
social-perspectives are continually evolving and consequently a single view incorporating all dimensions of motivation is yet
to be agreed upon. There are many reasons for these differing opinions and while empirical research has yet to yield
definitive answers concerning human motivation, some contend that researchers have approached the subject from a different
theoretical and philosophical bias, which has led many researchers to argue that there are a variety of motivation theories
with no unifying theme. In reality, definitive, workable solutions need to be sought instead of grouping a wide set of
theories under one umbrella.
In an attempt to explain the "why" of human behavior, recent research has taken a holistic, interactive view of employee
motivation, assuming that behavior is a function of both the environment and personality. Within this model links have been
found between employee motivation and leadership. The impact of employee involvement in strategy development,
team-versus-individual rewards, feedback, learning, and motivation culture have also been assessed. These differing research
perspectives illustrate the potential number of variables that need to be taken into account to understand motivation in the
workplace.
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There are many challenges, particularly for managers, when it comes to the application of motivational theories and
principles to the workplace. Unlike researchers, who seek to understand the patterns of behavior and remain distanced from
the organizations they study, managers reside within the organizations and have to manage the behavior of their people on a
sustained daily basis and are often forced to achieve more with less. To counter this challenge, managers need to recognize
the variety of forces that motivate employees in order to design the best and most appropriate ways to stimulate the
motivation to change. By gaining an understanding of the sources of motivation, they can discern the differences between
individuals and sources of motivation. As Brown explains, "There is a direct correlation between what people think about
their leaders and how engaged they are. As such, leaders need to motivate their employees individually and in accordance with
their specific needs. They also need to spend more face-time with their teams and to lead by example. In the old days it was
a case of 'do as I say'; nowadays it is a case of 'do as I do'."
One of the most compelling reasons managers and researchers continue to be so interested in motivation is self-interest.
There is a basic human need to understand where we fit in and how we make sense of the world around us and workplace
motivation is just one piece in the jigsaw of a person's self-concept. An emerging field of study in workplace motivation has
shown that by seeking to better understand ourselves and our relationships with others, we may well become better equipped to
motivate those around us.
Brown explains, "Ultimately, the field is replete with conflicting and bewildering theories of motivation that only serve to
create more conceptual clutter. At the end of the day employees can't fake motivation and managers can't force it. There no
simple motivation formula and unraveling its elusive nature can only be achieved by assessing the vagaries of human nature
(at both an individual and group level) from a clear point of view. Furthermore it is necessary to establish clear goals, and
create a balanced set of incentives. While it would be easy to leave the thinking to the researchers and the work to
management, the reality is that both groups will benefit from continuing in this quest."
By David Brown
(Footnotes)
1 Lev, B., (2000), Intangibles, management, measurement and reporting, Stern School of Business, December
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