David J Paul Project Management Professional, Management Professor, Author and Small Business Manager
If you enjoy your team and the people you work with, you are an exceptional manager. For others, It is a struggle to embrace the notion of strengthening their caring for others at work, to make this notion both believeable to and embraceable by rank and file managers. Some just said, ‘no way, too busy,’ ‘too touchy-feely’. Some, at the mid-level manager level, asked good questions: What exactly is implied or meant by caring in the workplace? What does it mean to young people to feel cared for? How are the different elements of caring at work linked to productivity and motivation—through what mechanisms? What are the keys to the perception of feeling cared for, valued, and connected in the work place? We worked on it, and It appeared that Respect, Regard, and Reward, but especially Regard, in the workplace encouraged people to WANT to work, not merely to do the work.
Early work on these questions developed a tentative construct that not only encompassed the elements of caring, but also engaged people’s hearts and minds in a motivational atmosphere.
This idea was tested with hundreds of individuals, managers, and workers. Over a period of two years, they reported notionally and anecdotally about the value of these three key elements of caring (Respect, Regard, and Reward) in the workplace. Their answers seemed to indicate that the elements of Respect, Regard, and Reward had not previously been studied or taught together, either as a context for task motivation, leadership, or engagement. However since these elements are linked to leadership, to motivation, and to innovation, we want to determine how other managers are beginning to view the notion of caring at work, and how the various pieces that create a culture of high mutual regard are assembled. In doing this, we can begin to answer the key questions: Does an appropriate balance of Respect, Regard and Reward create a work environment where individuals and teams are actively engaged in the work of the firm; How can managers determine the value of Regard in the workplace and eventually convince leaders to encourage a sense of high mutual Regard among all employees?
If you’re a mid-level manager in a large technical company, or even a director at some of the firms in Silicon Valley, it is highly possible that you have had no mentoring on the subject of motivation—specifically how your people might be motivated by one or another element of the workplace environment. Chances are your HR people haven’t been mentored either. That’s one place to start—what is your theory of motivation? Do you have one? Does your company value motivated and prepared employees? How do you intend to show people you care about them?
Doubtless, as a manager, you have heard of both Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a term that identifies a condition in which an individual does something because he or she ‘likes it’, or it gives them pleasure, benefit, or satisfaction (what economists call ‘personal utility’, and the economic assumption is that people will act rationally to maximize their personal utility). Extrinsic motivation is a term that identifies a condition in which an individual takes action when prompted by some external stimulus (threats, coercion, an offer of money, for example).
When The Work Matters to you and PEOPLE seem to care for you, you are more likely to bring BOTH intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to work. You will want to be at work, with others, doing work that matters to you for people who care for you.
The Cameron Group, Inc. 