Human behavior and psychology has
always fascinated me; therefore I have chosen to discuss the motivational
differences among different cultures and generations. The fact that there is a
direct link between different types of people and the way they respond to
reward systems/incentives in the work place is a very interesting topic. Motivation strategies are difficult to
implement when an organization just has one culture, or one generation; the
implementation of such strategies becomes even more of a challenge when the
workplace is more diverse in generations, culture, and the type of organization
culture that is present.
Cultural differences in
motivation -
"At the global level, culture
affects reward structures" (Orr & Lockwood, 2006). There are so many differences between
cultures such as morals, values, and even what motivates an employee in an
organization. For instance, the German
culture is individualistic which means it focuses more on personal growth and
personal monetary gain; whereas in Japan, where it is a collective society,
employees are more focused on group rewards.
But, there is an internal culture made up of many different cultures –
for instance, an organization that employs Japanese, American, Germany, and
Indian workers has cultural diversity; however the organization itself has an
overall culture that it has created through the types of employees hired, and
overall company practices.
I feel
that the difference in organizational culture is the best to discuss for this
forum and not simply the collectivist vs. individualistic nature of particular
cultures from around the globe. The Orr
and Lockwood article points out that there are three types of organizational cultures
based on an adaptation from T.B. Wilson’s book entitled Innovative reward
systems for the changing workplace.
These three organizational cultures are: entitled, compliant, and
achievement-oriented.
“In an entitlement environment, people simply
expect that they will receive the rewards because senior management will find a
way to adjust the measures to justify the payout” (Wilson, 1995). The entitlement culture expects to be
promoted, they expect more rewards from their work, and they “feel that they
deserve more” (Orr & Lockwood, 2006).
The entitled culture simply feel that the need a raise just because they
are employed with the organization; they feel that they are entitled to a
reward “without having to do anything special for it” (Wilson, 1995). In
cultures who feel entitled, the employees do not connect pay and performance
well – in other words, employees do not link their pay increases with their
performance and therefore do not exert any special effort for a raise, since
there is no need to do so.
As a
previous manager, I feel that creating this type of culture or rewarding a
person “just because” is not a good or correct step for any company to
take. I feel that specific cultures who
feel they are entitled already need to be taught that hard work is what pays
and rewards are not handed out to employees just because they work in the
organization and have a pulse. Standards
should be held high and rewards should be given to those who earn them. The second type of culture is the
compliant. In this culture, employees
“do what is expected and seek clarity of goals; focus on the leader” and do not
take risks very often. In the compliant
culture, employees understand very well what they need to do and they may or
may not be rewarded for the efforts; however “the negative responses to problems
or failures to meet certain goals are well known” (Wilson, 1995). The third type of culture is
achievement-oriented. In this type of environment, “people are
rewarded for achievements and feel that they have earned what they receive”
(Wilson, 1995). Employees in this type of organizational
culture directly link pay to performance; a demotion or lack of reward is very
noticed with achievement-oriented employees and it is understood that the
reason for the loss of merit is due to their poor performance. “Members of the organization will know why
these awards did not materialize” (Wilson, 1995). Achievement-oriented cultures “do what is
necessary to achieve desired results; challenge conventional practices;” and
“focus on the tasks to be done and communicate freely” (Orr & Lockwood,
2006). So, essentially, the culture has
a serious affect on the reward structure and if a company is just handing out
rewards for no other reason that being present, the company has an entitlement
culture. If the company punishes people
for not meeting goals and rarely rewards their employees for their efforts,
then this is a compliant culture. And if
the organization reinforces good behavior with rewards, then the company s operating
in an achievement-oriented environment.
Generation differences in
motivation -
Currently, the United States labor
pool consists of four major generations:
Traditionalists (also called veterans or seniors), Baby Boomers,
Generation X, and Generation Y. Due to
the variety in the workforce, “a ‘one size fits all’ approach to total rewards
will no longer be adequate” (Orr & Lockwood, 2006). These generations are grouped by birth year:
traditionalists (pre-1945), Baby Boomers (1945-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), and Generation Y
(post-1980). There is some slight
variation in the years according to research; however the years of the
generations are usually congruent with each other, as are the typing of the
generations. “Traditionalists (also
called Veterans, Silents [sic], or Greatest Generation; 75 million born before
1945; 10% of the workforce), Baby Boomers (80 million born 1945-1964, 45% of
the workforce), Generation X (46 million born 1965-1980, 30% of the workforce),
and Generation Y also called Echo Boomers, Millenials [sic], Internet
Generation, or Nexters [sic]; 76 million born after 1980; 15% of the workforce)”
(Eisner, 2005).
Traditionalists are the eldest of
the generations and have experienced in their lifetime immense hardships such
as the stock market crash in 1929, the Great Depression, and World War II
(mainly). These groups of employees
understand scarcity and hard times and therefore they “have a tendency to be
disciplined and respectful of rules and regulations” and “Individuals in this
generation believe in a hard day’s work in exchange for fairness and pay”
(Crampton & Hodge, 2009). Traditionalists have the assets of wisdom,
perseverance, and experience; however lack in technology skills and therefore
should be communicated to via face-to-face methods instead of emails or text
messaging. Traditionalists also tend to
take charge and do what is needed, and if there is a dilemma they are usually
the group that does what is considered ethically right (Orr & Lockwood, 2006). To motivate the traditionalists, managers
should let these employees know that “their experience is respected and
important to the company and that their perseverance is valued and will be
rewarded” (Eisner, 2005). The manager
should let the traditionalists share information with the younger employees in
order to teach them what has or has not worked in the past. And if the traditionalist employee retires,
it was also suggested in Eisner’s article to hire them as a part-time employee
to coach and teach younger employees. Baby
boomers are the children of the traditionalists and they comprise the largest
percentage of the total current workforce.
Baby boomers have the asset of social skills however they also lack in
technology skills; they respect authority, are good at micro-managing, they are
hard workers, proactive instead of reactive, and they enjoy networking (Orr
& Lockwood, 2006). Baby boomers have seen a lot such as the
invention of the television, the JFK assassination, the invention of the birth
control pill, the space race between Russia and the United States, the Vietnam
War, and the start of the Civil Rights movement (to name a few pivotal moments).
They were the first generation to watch
the world change via media and therefore tend to judge their performance with
material incentives (in order to keep up with the Jones’). Managers can motivate this group of employees
by letting them know that they are important to organizational success, that
they are considered equals among employees but that they are unique individuals
whose contributions are important and needed.
This generation “should be encouraged to become facilitating coaches
rather than authoritarian figures dictating expectations and methods. They
should be offered flexibility, authority, and respect” (Eisner, 2005). Both baby boomers and traditionalists “prefer
monetary rewards and promotion to benefits, services and workplace
opportunities” (Orr & Lockwood, 2006).
Employees from generation X are the
children of the baby boomers and comprise 30% of the total workforce. Their assets include technology skills, fast
achieving, managing capabilities (usually taking over management positions from
the retiring traditionalists), and this group has a good education generally;
however generation X employees are skeptical, bend rules where they see fit,
and are hesitant to network (Orr & Lockwood, 2006). This generation has also seen a lot such as
more of the Civil Rights movement, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the
assassination of Robert Kennedy, the Women’s Liberation Movement, the shooting
of John Lennon, Woodstock, Watergate, and also during this time Apple released
the first personal computer. Also, many of the baby boomers parented the
generation X children via the Dr. Spock method and therefore many of the
generation X children want to be the authority figure, rather than the
subordinate. Generation X was also a
part of the latch-key generation due to the baby boomers working hard;
therefore the generation X (also known as the “me” generation) often feel less
appreciated and overlooked (Crampton & Hodge, 2009).
Motivators for generation X employees are personal freedom in their jobs
(autonomy), and they should be provided with up-to-date technology. This group of employees do not appreciate
having orders barked at them, but would rather have a coaching-style of
management and they enjoy room for organizational advancement (Eisner, 2005).
Generation Y is the newest and most
difficult to manage generation in the workforce today. They comprise 15% of the current workforce
and have been influenced by world events like AIDS epidemic, MTV,
Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, video games, the Columbine High School killings, the
Gulf War, soccer moms (strict scheduled childhood), Desert Storm, and the huge
growth of the Internet. This
generation is “fundamentally conservative in their lifestyle, with a dislike of
ambiguity and risk” (Williams, 2009).
This generation has been called the “why me?” generation, they become
easily bored at work, and are considered impatient. Pinpointing motivational factors for this
generation and managing this generation overall is extremely difficult because
they are considered the “trophy generation” which indicates that they were
raised by soccer moms and in an environment where everyone always wins, even if
they really lose (Crampton & Hodge, 2009).
This generation would likely fall into the category of the entitlement
culture discussed above. Generation Y employees are more motivated when
they are communicated with through emails, text messaging, and other
technologies because they like to be on the go and sitting through meetings or
having long work days is considered demotivation for this generation. Their assets include education, they love to
network, they are able to effectively multitask, and they have great technology
skills. Their weaknesses are lack of
soft skills (interpersonal), and lack of direction, focus, and confidence. Generation Y is very fast-paced,
open-minded, tolerant of diversity, enjoy blending work and play, and like to
get their work done right away in order to start on new goals/tasks (Orr &
Lockwood, 2006).
Through researching the different types of
generations, I feel that a great motivation for the generation Y employees
would be to mentor /coach the baby boomers and traditionalists in new
technologies and the Internet. This way,
the generation Y employees are not bored, they feel important, they feel in
control, and they will gain knowledge from the older generations in casual
conversations and in a work environment (Raines, 2002). Flexibility and autonomy should be granted to
generation Y employees, and job expectations should be clearly explained -
sometimes even written out (Eisner, 2005).
Also, since this generation is so face-paced, a manager will need to
make sure the praise/ feedback is immediate to the generation Y
employee(s). A manager could also make
sure the generation Y employees have enough work, again, because they are
fast-paced but also because this generation tends to get bored easily. As for
rewards, generation Y enjoys “time off, flexible work schedules, and
specialized training” (Orr & Lockwood, 2006).
References:
Crampton, S. M., & Hodge, J. W.
(2009). Generation Y: Unchartered Territory. Journal of Business and Economic
Research, 7(4), 1.
Eisner, S. P. (2005). Managing
generation Y. S.A.M. Advanced Management Journal, 70(4), 4-15. Retrieved
from http://search.proquest.com/docview/231242493?accountid=38003
Orr, C. B., & Lockwood, N. R.
(2006). Total Rewards: Motivating with strategic rewards. SHRM Online -
Society for Human Resource Management. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from
http://www.shrm.org/research/articles/articles/pages/total_20rewards_20_20motivating_20with_20strategic_20rewards.aspx
Raines, C. (2002). Managing
Millenials. Generations at Work. Retrieved on October 31, 2012, from
http:// www.generationsatwork.com
Williams, R. B. (2009, June 14).
Millennials Poised to Take Over the Workplace | Psychology Today. Psychology
Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. Retrieved November 3, 2012, from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/200906/millennials-poised-take-over-the-workplace
Wilson, T. B. (1995). Transform
Rewards from Entitlement to Achievement. Innovative reward systems for the changing workplace (pp.
306-312). New York: McGraw-Hill.
