How Do We Relate to Work? While this view of work motivation fueled positive impacts in motivation and performance, it also led to a decades-long debate about the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. One clear example is found in McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y con- ception of the worker, which suggests leaders manage employees based on the belief they hold regarding human nature. Those who believe that work is not a natural activity for humans (Theory X) manage their employees as though they intrinsically dislike work and responsibility, and must be coerced to perform. Conversely, those who believe work is a natural activ- ity for humans (Theory Y), tend to manage employ- ees under the assumption that they enjoy work, are creative, seek out responsibility, and can exercise self-direction. The intrinsic versus extrinsic as well as the needs (push) versus incentives (pull) debates continued for years.


Cognitive and Goal-Oriented Approaches One potential deficit with the approaches discussed to this point is framing employees as passive partic- ipants in the process being acted upon by biological or psychological drives or external events. Cognitive theory suggests the employee is an active agent in his or her own motivation. Victor Vroom’s “Expec- tancy Theory” suggests employees consider three primary issues before expending the effort to per- form at a particular level:


1. Will it lead to a desired performance level?


2. Will the anticipated level of performance lead to the desired outcomes?


3. Will the desired outcomes have the desired personal value?


The cognitive approach also leads to one of today’s well-used techniques: goal-setting. Goals direct attention and action, help individuals mobilize effort, increase their persistence, and encourage the devel- opment of strategies to achieve them.


The first benefit of these approaches is a move away from the “intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation” debate and the provision of techniques that consider the employee as somewhat autonomous. It also moves


from the idea of the satisfied worker toward the engaged employee. It defines involvement and enthusiasm for work through employees’ intellectual, emotional, and behavioral connectedness. Employee engagement has been consistently linked to such critical outcomes as productivity, customer satisfaction, profitability, retention, quality, and safety.


Looking Forward Turning to the future, findings in such cutting-edge areas as neuroscience and evolutionary psychology are providing insights into effective employee man- agement. Recent findings suggest leaders’ behavior and company culture send signals that evoke brain activity that helps us process our social experiences. More specifically, there are connections in the brain for which we may be hard-wired and may have had some survival value as humans evolved.


There are at least five domains of social experi- ence likely to cause increased activity in the brain’s behavioral activating system (causing people to seek out rewards) or the behavioral inhibition system (causing people to avoid punishment): status, sense of certainty, autonomy, relationship with co-workers, and fairness.


Both leader behaviors and company culture can have a profound impact on the brain connections related to these social events. For example, a leader can provide very powerful signals to employees during times of change that will lead those employ- ees to consider their status to be enhanced or decreased after change implementation. Similarly, a leader can have a profound impact on individuals’ perceptions of fairness in the organization, thereby activating parts of the brain that lead to engagement or disengagement.


As the world of work continues to evolve, leaders must find better ways to engage employees intel- lectually, emotionally, and behaviorally to get them to take full ownership of their own professional goals, the strategic objectives of the company, and to consistently examine their roles to derive purpose- fulness and meaning from their work.


The Magazine 9 3.2017


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