How to motivate employees : what science knows and the consulting industry does
Raulf, Frederik (2014)
Raulf, Frederik
Turun ammattikorkeakoulu
2014
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014061212678
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014061212678
Tiivistelmä
Companies are spending yearly an estimated 50 billion US-dollars on the improvement of their leaders. Especially the question how to motivate the employees has been researched a lot. However famous organisational behaviour researchers like Daniel Pink (2009) highlight that “there is a mismatch between what science knows and business does”, meaning that even though companies are spending tremendous amounts of money for employee motivational training programs and coaching, they will not imply this newly gained knowledge within their companies’ cultures. Therefore a research was conducted to investigate the available knowledge about employee motivation critically and inspect to which extent companies are really using their knowledge and involving it within their companies. Because of the researcher’s personal experiences the research focuses on the global consulting industry.
The theoretical framework is based on literature review of five of the most acknowledged theories of employee motivation. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs model, Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, Edwin Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory and Daniel Pink’s ideas about motivation including Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose were critically reviewed and discussed.
For the research the researcher gathered empirical data in form of an online survey, sent to employees of major global consulting companies. The participants were asked questions related to the theories of Frederick Herzberg and Daniel Pink. The goal was to determine how well the companies are implementing those theories in their own company cultures.
Various discoveries have been made through the research. The results presented that most of the theoretical knowledge about employee motivation have been very well applied within the companies’ cultures. However the findings also displayed that there is room for development of certain motivational incentives that would lead to an increased overall performance of the employees.
Implementing other motivational theories within the research and increasing the target group could conduct possible future research and increase the focus on possible cultural differences.
The theoretical framework is based on literature review of five of the most acknowledged theories of employee motivation. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs model, Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, Edwin Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory and Daniel Pink’s ideas about motivation including Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose were critically reviewed and discussed.
For the research the researcher gathered empirical data in form of an online survey, sent to employees of major global consulting companies. The participants were asked questions related to the theories of Frederick Herzberg and Daniel Pink. The goal was to determine how well the companies are implementing those theories in their own company cultures.
Various discoveries have been made through the research. The results presented that most of the theoretical knowledge about employee motivation have been very well applied within the companies’ cultures. However the findings also displayed that there is room for development of certain motivational incentives that would lead to an increased overall performance of the employees.
Implementing other motivational theories within the research and increasing the target group could conduct possible future research and increase the focus on possible cultural differences.