Managing Organizational Behavior 2nd Edition by Timothy Baldwin,Bill Bommer,Robert Rubin

Exercise 11

Dealing with the Unmotivated Person
As a new employee in the accounting department, you are surprised at how few people seem willing to do more than their most basic job duties. To you, it appears ridiculous; you know all of your co-workers have college degrees and several are CPAs. Clearly, they are well paid and have excellent working conditions. When you ask a more senior employee about his apparent lack of motivation, he answers, "Well, the only reward around here for working hard is more work, so if you're smart, you are better off just doing what you are told and flying under the boss's radar. Moreover, all management tries to do is keep us from socializing and being together. I guess they feel like we cannot be trusted to give the company a fair day's work. Just try to have a game of cards at lunch with some buddies and see what management does." How would you diagnose this lack of motivation: Is it the people or the situation? What might be done to increase motivation in this situation?