Question

Are there some people who simply can’t be motivated at work? Discuss.

Answer 1

The objective is to state that whether there can be some people at work who simply can’t stay motivated at work. A closer look into the integrated model of motivation reveals that employee motivation is a function of both personal and contextual factors. Personal factors and contextual factors are inter related. There are a broad array of personal factors that influence the employee motivation. Some of them are personality, attitude and core self evaluations. On the other hand, among contextual factors, organizational culture, job design, communication technology and leader behavior positively contribute to employee motivation.

Additional study of Adam’s equity theory about motivation reveals an important aspect related to the topic in discussion. Suppose two employees of an organization have equal education, experience and job profile. They perform tasks very similar to each other. Now, if the ratio of perceived outcome for employee1 is greater than employee2 for similar input, employee1 enjoys positive equity. On the other hand, if the perceived outcome for employee1 is lesser than employee2 for similar input, employee1 suffers negative inequality. People respond in different ways to same level of inequity due to difference in their tolerance level. Entitled are those who cannot tolerate inequity and becomes de motivated quickly. This explains why unlike benevolent (higher tolerance for negative inequity) and sensitive employees (follows norms and reciprocity to resolve both negative and positive inequities), few entitled always stay demotivated at work.