Keywords
Citation
Hale, R. (2000), "Motivation Management", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 36-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2000.32.1.36.1
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
This catchy title with the obligatory alliteration perhaps suggests that the book might be as motivational as the subject matter. Indeed, Ritchie and Martin state early on that their interests in the subject of motivation were fuelled by a recognition that managers are still being taught Maslow, Herzberg and McGregor and that we have surely moved on. I was able to immediately relate to this view that the time had come for an up‐to‐date and fresh approach to the subject.
The authors have built their book almost entirely around their own 12‐factor motivation‐to‐work profile and provide norms based on their own database of over 1,300 responses. An academic or psychometrics specialist might question whether there is sufficient evidence of reliability and validity to truly compare, as they do, with for instance Herzberg’s mere 200 subjects. However, my less academic and more instinctive question would be about the generalizability of such data drawn from “managers we met in the course of business” and “who attended courses that we ran”. Not that there is anything wrong with using such data, just that the claims regarding it may be a little overstated.
The questionnaire covers 33 questions and profiles individuals against 12 factors including, for instance, money and rewards, through relationships, power and influence, and self‐development. Subsequent chapters take a consistent but repetitive approach to unpacking these factors and painting a picture of people with different variations of each factor. Such comments appear rather definitive, given the complexity of the subject; for instance, “people motivated by money … do not particularly like to work in teams”.
I waited for the new theories or case studies only to read more of the age‐old references (e.g. Herzberg, Tuckman, the Hawthorne experiment, etc.) and sadly little that really addressed motivation in our changing world. For instance, it would have been good to hear about real examples of motivation in the virtual organization, in small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), in professional organizations, when reporting to several or no bosses, or when changing careers or with respect to achieving balance in life.
The later chapters pick up on the subjects of managing change, coping with stress, team working, training and selection. These are worthy issues to address with respect to motivation, but seem to be a bit of a “bolt‐on” and are somewhat dated in content.
Ultimately, the book proved to be not as profound a publication as I expected from reading the early sections. If it is pitched as an academically‐based publication then I would have expected more evidence supporting the research. If, however, it is meant more as a practical toolkit then I feel there should have been more pragmatic tools and techniques with named case studies to help its face validity.
Nonetheless, for analytical readers who respond to a very systematic approach, this may be a useful addition to their library. Also, to get the most from the book, I suspect there is a need to commit fully to use of the authors’ motivation profile. For some organizational development and human resource specialists who are able to indulge and co‐opt members of the organization, it may prove a useful way of stimulating debate and supplementing other interventions.