Big Dog

Return to the Leadership Development Outline.

Motivation Activity: What Do People Want From Their Jobs?

Objective - To identify what motivates people to work.

Give each learner a copy of the listing below. Divide the learners into small groups of three or four. Ask each learner to rank each item under the column titled "Individual" from 1 to 10, with 1 being the most important and 10 being the least important.

Individual Factors Group Factors What do people want from their jobs?
________  ________  Promotion in the Company
________  ________  Tactful Discipline
________  ________  Job Security
________  ________  Help with Personal Problems
________  ________  Personal Loyalty of Supervisor
________  ________  High Wages
________  ________  Full Appreciation of Work Done
________  ________  Good Working Conditions
________  ________  Feeling of Being In on Things
________  ________  Interesting Work

When they have completed the ranking, have each group total the individual weights within their group. Rank the 10 items under the column titled "Group."

Inform the group that this same scale has been given to thousands of workers across the country. Their ranking is as follows:

Supervisors ranked it as:

However, when employees were given the same exercise, their answers tend to follow this pattern:

Discussion Questions

  1. In comparing the different ratings, what might account for the different opinion?
  2. What might be the cause of the supervisor's rankings being so different from the employees?
  3. If this survey was given to your department, what would the results be?

Reference

This survey is based on works by Susan Herrington, North Tennessee Private Industry Council in Clarksville, Tenn.