The Will to Work:
What People Struggle to Achieve

Summary

Manfred Davidmann here clearly defines and describes motivation, its basis and 'motivating'.

Starting by considering motivation from the point of view of the employer (productivity, remuneration, job satisfaction), this leads to considering what people want and what they struggle to achieve.

A key part of the report is community orientated, including a detailed step-by-step listing of what people are struggling to achieve, their needs and wants, their achievements and objectives. This progression shows underdeveloped and developed people as they are, human beings at different stages of an identical struggle for a better life against those who wish to profit from their condition.

And you can assess how far the country/community you are living in has advanced in this struggle for independence and a good life for all, or where you are yourself on this scale.

Highlights are Figure 1 (Motivation of Directors) and Figure 3 (People's Needs and Wants, Achievements and Objectives: The Struggle for Independence and a Good Life).

Contents

The Will to Work

Payment by Results, Productivity Bargaining and Profit Sharing

Job Satisfaction

Remuneration, Job Satisfaction and Motivation

Needs and Wants People Strive to Achieve

The Struggle for Independence and a Good Life

People Work Willingly for what They Need and Want

Notes <..> and References {..}

Appendix 1

The Struggle for Independence in the Boardrooms, Government, Trade Unions and other Institutions

Illustrations

1. Motivation of Directors: Type, Extent and Intensity of Motivating Factors (Click illustration to see full-size chart)

2. Basic Confrontation

3. People's Needs and Wants, Achievements and Objectives

Relevant Current and Associated Works

Relevant Subject Index Pages and Site Overview

The Will to Work

What one would like to do is to create a working environment in which people like working and in which people work well, a working environment which helps to enrich the life of those who work. One would like to satisfy the requirements of those who work and of those who employ as well as the requirements of the community as a whole.

It could be that 'motivating' seems such a complicated subject because it deals with people and people are all different. But when people are all different then the one thing they have in common is that they are all different and that is a good starting point.

Much has been written about motivation. When determining the motivation of those who direct in the United Kingdom it seemed to take as long to read up on the background of what is commonly called 'motivation' and summarise it in a few short paragraphs {1} as it took to carry out the rest of the investigation.

'Motivation' views the commitment of the individual to work and to his workplace from the point of view of factors originating within himself, from the point of view of individual needs, likes and preferences.

But one cannot talk about 'motivation' or 'motivating' as such without clearly stating what one is attempting to persuade people to do. The salesman is not just 'motivating' but aims to persuade his prospective customers to make the purchase. Management is not just 'motivating' but is aiming to persuade its employees to increase output and/or to reduce costs so as to improve profitability.

We see that 'motivation' is closely concerned with the centre of controversy, with the sharing out of income and wealth between those who work and those who employ. There is at present considerable danger of the whole subject coming into disrepute as some employers attempt to use it to persuade employees to increase profits without corresponding gains for the employees themselves.

But there are other ways of looking at the will to work, namely from the point of view of the individual and from that of the community. Consider the point of view of the individual. Some time ago I wrote about some of the incentives necessary to motivate professional employees to higher productivity {6}. I then said that frustration arises from the work they are asked to do, from the way in which it is organised, from the lack of incentive to do well. What was needed was to utilise the potential of those who are not working at full capacity and ability, and to provide corresponding incentive payments for professional experience and excellence, in other words for knowledge, skill and experience.

So what we are looking at is the reaction of those who are employed to the impact of the style of management at work, that is to the way in which they are being treated at work, to the responsibility which they carry, to the extent to which work is imposed on them, to the extent and way in which they are rewarded for the work they do.

Payment by Results, Productivity Bargaining and Profit Sharing

Employees are paid with money and can be seen to be working for money. Hence pay can be related to output, the so called payment- by-results system. Management provides incentives, management rewards effort.

In any kind of payment-by-results system, the fundamental considerations are how the workers' pay depends on the output achieved and on the extent to which he shares in the increased value he produces.

It seems that in the Unites States roughly 10% of employees respond to incentive schemes. The other 90% hold back, restricting output in response to the style of management, perhaps because increased rate of output with resulting increased earnings in the past soon resulted in the rates being cut back so that workers had to work at the higher rate but gained less, or because inflation eroded the value of their earnings.

However, there is little point in paying according to increased production when the rate of production is determined by the speed of the assembly belt or by the process, since these are not under the direct control of the worker. This is happening more frequently in highly industrialised societies, say when considering automated production lines or when introducing roboticised computer-controlled processes.

Where payment by results cannot be applied because the process is already highly controlled or operating at fixed speed then productivity bargaining is used which aims to introduce economies by different methods of working, sharing the gains with the work force in some negotiated proportion.

Increasing productivity means more than increasing output, means that capital equipment and men are more fully utilised, that goods are being produced more cheaply because overheads are lower in addition to the lower capital cost per unit produced.

But the argument again is about the extent to which the additional profits are shared between management and employees.

However, the reward of company directors {2}

1. 'should relate to work done and to responsibility carried. Remuneration should depend on results, based on profit, through profit-sharing. The aim should be to motivate towards better performance.' and
2. 'Directors consider they could share in the capital growth of the company, through share ownership and by way of share purchase and option schemes. Share ownership is regarded as assisting direct involvement while providing incentive through dividends and capital gain.'

The result aimed at is profit and the incentive is a share of the results obtained. Those who run organisations themselves would like to have a share in the enterprise, feel that common ownership assists involvement.

Job Satisfaction

Sisk {3} looks in some detail at whether there is a relationship between 'job satisfaction' and productivity. Herzberg considers that 'feelings of self-improvement, achievement, and the desire for the acceptance of greater responsibility' are more important than money for persuading people to increase productivity. He interviewed American engineers and accountants and on the whole they appear to have been quite frustrated. Sisk says that 'job satisfaction is but one of several factors making up the complex of needs ... and, as yet, there is no demonstrable relationship between job satisfaction and productivity'.

This means that there are other additional factors which need to be considered.

Remuneration, Job Satisfaction and Motivation

An investigation into the motivation of company directors {1} isolated motivating factors from those which were dissatisfying.

Figure 1 is reproduced from the report and illustrates the findings. It shows how strongly directors feel about each factor and just how important it is relative to other factors. (Click illustration to see full-size chart).

Figure 1 Motivation of Directors: Type, Extent and Intensity of Motivating Factors

These factors were felt to provide reward and incentive, that is were worth straining to achieve. The degree to which they were lacking was at times felt to be dissatisfying.

All the factors are money factors, consist of material rewards <1>. Directors first and foremost work for remuneration and want a greater share of the benefits of ownership.

Interesting is that the question of job satisfaction just did not arise to any significant extent. On the whole the directors were satisfied with the work they were doing. Generally in position of considerable responsibility, they are aware that success or failure of the enterprise they direct depends on the decisions they make and that others are aware of this. Hence they may well be working for the greater power and luxury which wealth brings.

Herzberg considered job satisfaction was motivating but that money is not. But we have just seen that at least as far as directors are concerned, money is motivating and job satisfaction is not.

Directors have all the job satisfaction they need or want. They carry considerable responsibility and success often depends on individual effort. They have nicely and often luxuriously furnished offices, dine in the directors' dining room, have the benefit of a company car and last but not least work with pleasant colleagues in a pleasant way. It is because they have all the job satisfaction they want that money is important to them.

The American accountants and engineers investigated by Herzberg were, like other American professional employees and managers, considerably frustrated with the style of management and hence the importance of self-improvement, achievement, and the desire for greater responsibility as motivating factors. Money is of secondary importance to those who are frustrated but the need for job satisfaction is felt according to the degree of their frustration.

One wants that which one does not have, one works to achieve that which one needs and this could be either job satisfaction or money. The devout minister may leave his congregation and work in industry or teach because his pay as a minister is too low, the nurse will go on strike for the same reason. In both cases we see that job satisfaction in itself is not enough if one is paid too little. The teacher will go on strike for extra pay although teaching also can be very satisfying work. On the other hand the engineer may be so frustrated with the work he is doing, with the way the company's work is organised and with the way people work together at his place of work, that he will find another job even if this means a drop in income.

If one assumes that the worker is only working for the money he earns, then payment by results on its own would seem logical. But if money is important only up to the point where basic needs are satisfied then job satisfaction becomes more important. Both job satisfaction and money are needs dependent on which one of these one is deprived of or is looking for.

Hence the following definition {1} of 'motivation', of what people will work to achieve:

'Motivation towards better performance depends on the satisfaction of needs for responsibility, achievement, recognition and growth.

Needs are felt, and their intensity varies from one person to another and from time to time, and so does the extent to which they are motivating.

Behaviour is learned, earned reward encourages even better performance, thus reinforcing desired behaviour.'

It is what one does not have that one wants, one works to achieve that which one needs. Hence if we know what people need and want then we know what they will work for, and like working for, and so work well to achieve.

Attaining goals leads to feelings of self-respect, strength and confidence.

Few people are able to continue a pattern of achievement and success without the added encouragement provided by others recognising their achievements.

Continued failure and frustration and defeat can result in feelings of inadequacy and a withdrawal from competitive situations.

Persistent lack of rewards leads to a view of society as being hostile and unrewarding.

It is what one does not have that one wants, one works to achieve that which one needs.

Hence we can now look at the

Needs and Wants People Strive to Achieve

We have seen {8} that the professional employee's pay increases with age. It does so {4} because he absorbs and applies experience, because he then has the opportunity to use his enlarged knowledge and experience by working at a higher level, being paid more correspondingly. The rate at which his pay increases depends not only on his ability but also on the work and positions open to him, on the scope and opportunity provided by his employer or by the work he can find.

Hence what the individual wants and expects from the job, from the management, is to be given challenging work, to be backed by management and colleagues in carrying it out, and then to be rewarded by being given the chance to utilise the experience gained by being given the opportunity to work at a higher level with correspondingly higher pay.

The individual will generally progress according to a specific remuneration 'grade line' of his own <2>. Remuneration grade lines give the norm for individuals of a particular trade or profession at their own level of ability and success. When an individual's level of working and income drop below his line then he is falling behind colleagues of his own age doing similar work elsewhere and feels this and becomes frustrated. Frustration on the part of an individual, and his finally leaving the work unit, are both detrimental to the performance of the work unit {4}.

Progress according to these remuneration grade lines is the norm, is the way in which others doing similar work at the same age are in fact progressing.

The individual becomes aware of and assesses any changes away from his remuneration grade line. Moving up and moving down are felt to be promotion and demotion, respectively, relative to colleagues of same age working in the same profession at the same level. Those progressing according to their remuneration grade line are fulfilling their expectation, those improving their position feel that they are doing well, both generally feel satisfied with their own progress relative to their colleagues.

People are aware of their own position in the community, of the pecking order and of their place in it <3>. Changes are noticed and felt. Indeed people are often intensely concerned about the threat of increasing differentials and about whether they are moving up or down, gaining or losing.

In other words, people strive to maintain their position, in this way striving to receive their share of the increasing national income and wealth.

In addition people are both aware of and concerned about the large differences in the standard of living which exist between different countries. Their commitment to their own community depends on the style of management and on the success of the community, depends on the extent to which the community serves them and satisfies their needs. In other words, people will strive for the community to the extent to which they see it as satisfying their needs or as a means for satisfying their needs.

Hence we can now look at the range of needs and wants people strive to achieve.

First there are certain basic needs which have to be satisfied if people are to exist and survive, such as:

Shelter and food, clothing and warmth.
Affection and esteem.
Friendly and trustful co-operation and companionship.
Security from external threats (i.e. protection from attack).

Then other needs make themselves felt, such as:

Independence from domination by others (e.g. because of need).
Security from internal threats.
Housing, education, good health.
Help when in need.
Constructive leisure activities.

To which we can add the ones we have just discussed, namely:

Challenging work, which means scope to work at increasing levels of skill and usefulness and thus of pay, to the maximum of one's ability.
Maintaining, and the chance for improving, one's position relative to colleagues.
Recognition of success by others (leads to feeling of self- respect, strength and confidence).
Fair share of the national income and wealth.
Fair share of the international income and wealth.

These then are the needs and wants people strive to achieve, indeed struggle to achieve. People will co-operate with each other, will work hard and well to satisfy these needs and gain much satisfaction from doing so.

The Struggle for Independence and a Good Life

Now if you look again at the list of needs and wants then the one thing which stands out is that they are not special. This is what people need and want, this is what people are striving to achieve and nowadays this what people could have. And yet all around we see people struggling at the different stages to achieve the next step.

That progress arises only as the result of struggle is expressed in many different ways. Consider it from the point of view of the workplace. No matter how paternal the company, the employees know that whatever they are getting arises from the self-interest of the employer and is likely to be the result of confrontation and of a balance between negotiating strengths. And yet commitment to the objectives of the owners and directors, for example a company's objectives, comes from the extent to which the company serves its employees, comes from the extent to which it helps them to achieve their needs and wants.

We saw again and again, in the reports on the style of management and on work and pay, that there is no real conflict of interest between those who lead and those who work. What we saw was that what is good for the employees is good for the owners, that what is good for the people is good for the leadership, that what benefits the people also benefits the leadership.

When co-operation pays so handsomely, how come that we see so much confrontation and struggle, how come that all around us we see progress being achieved only as the result of struggle.

What stands out is that the confrontation is not between employers and employees, between management and labour, between state and citizens since there are companies, enterprises and administrations which have the backing and co-operation of those who work with and for them. The confrontation and struggle appear to be against those who wish to run enterprises and wish to organise society on authoritarian lines <11>, appears to be a struggle against authoritarian minds.

There is a point of balance within each organisation or administration and in the democracies this ranges from 'authoritarian' to the fully participative common ownership enterprise. However, to understand the causes of the confrontation and struggle, let us look at the confrontation between fully authoritarian owners or rulers and their employees or people, let us look at what people do to achieve their needs and wants by seeing what it is that people struggle for.

Figure 2 illustrates the basic confrontation. There is nothing here which has not been mentioned or discussed either here or elsewhere in these seven reports on community leadership and management. Authoritarian owners and rulers (no matter whether 'left' or 'right') wish to dominate and control employees and people for the sake of personal income, wealth and power. Employees and people counter this by behaving in ways which encourage trustful co-operation and co-operate with each other.

Figure 2

BASIC CONFRONTATION

The 'community' includes all and in this context people organise their affairs and administration on participative lines to safeguard their independence and to achieve their individual and common aims.

It is this which underlies democracy and authoritarian minds (examples being owners as well as rulers) confront and struggle with communal institutions so as to take them over and make them serve themselves instead of the people, instead of serving the policy-making body.

This means that the two sides confront each other not just at the place of work but in all communal institutions. It is because of this that people's needs and wants are achieved only as the result of struggle.

People Work Willingly for What They Need and Want

In the previous two sections we saw just what people need and want and strive to achieve and that their needs are only satisfied and that their wants are only achieved as the result of struggle, as the result of struggle for independence and a good life.

We also saw that the struggle takes place in all aspects of life and while the confrontation in, and the struggle for control of, communal institutions is discussed in more detail in appendix 1, we can now fit the parts together to form the complete picture.

The whole struggle is described and illustrated by figure 3 'Peoples' Needs and Wants, Achievements and Objectives: The Struggle for Independence and Good Life'. It lists the aims and methods of the authoritarian mind, of those who wish to oppress so as to exploit. It also lists what individuals are striving to achieve, that is their needs and wants. What we have seen is that people have to struggle all the way and the illustration also shows what has already been achieved in democratic countries and what remains to be achieved.

What I have described here is a list of needs and wants and thus policy aims, the successive achievement of which gives a sequence and a measure of noted and felt progress which should give a feeling of forward movement, growth and satisfaction.

However, one's resources are generally limited and one needs to decide how to allocate funds between main areas such as (a) economic growth, (b) national security, (c) an internal rising standard of living combined with (d) a liberalisation from authority, towards greater freedom both in government and in the work place, combined with (e) ever greater participation in policy setting in government as well as in the work place.

The knowledge, methods, techniques and measures described in this set of reports enable one to obtain a favourable balance between the requirements of those who lead and those who work.

Independence for some may mean self-employment with guaranteed independence but for others may mean the right to work (employment) and pay.

People strive for satisfying work, for social security and for independence, want to be masters of their own destiny through self- employment. They would like the community to back the individual in this, the individual in turn contributing to the community so that it can help others and protect all.

One needs to be concerned about the value placed on different kinds of work, for example about the extent to which those who are well paid serve the rulers or owners instead of the community, about internal differentials and about the extent to which the style of management at the place of work and countrywide is authoritarian, not forgetting that in an emergency an authoritarian organisation can work well but that precautions need to be taken at all times against the authoritarian mind taking over participative institutions and organisations.

One has to go beyond this and consider not only one's own position within one's own community but that of one's own community within the world at large, consider the extent to which some countries are exploiting others. We are not just concerned about an unequal division of land, of the means of production (i.e. capital) but need to include profiteering from raw materials. And this means that there have to be certain limits beyond which differentials may not be allowed to increase. This applies equally well between countries as it does within a country between different levels or occupations.

There are at present some important and crucial areas in which the community is under attack from within and where the community needs to defend itself to ensure its safety and to regain its strength. Some of these are discussed in the report which deals with the question of social responsibility.

Figure 3

PEOPLE'S NEEDS AND WANTS, ACHIEVEMENTS AND OBJECTIVES:
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND A GOOD LIFE

NOTES AND REFERENCES

Notes

References

Appendix 1

The Struggle for Independence Against the Authoritarian Mind which is Taking Place in Boardrooms, Government, Trade Unions and Other Institutions

What is good for the people is good for the leadership, what benefits the people also benefits the leadership. And yet although co-operation pays so handsomely we see all around us that progress is achieved only as the result of confrontation and struggle against those who wish to run enterprises and organise society on authoritarian lines, that progress is achieved only as the result of struggle against authoritarian minds. The two sides confront each other not just at the place of work but in all communal institutions. <16>

Here we are not directly concerned with this part of the confrontation but an example from the boardrooms of our companies will illustrate its relevance.

Take a board of directors consisting of chairman, managing director, three executive directors and two part-time directors. The board exists to serve the interests of the shareholders who own the enterprise and there are no worker directors. The managing director and the three executive directors are full-time employees of the company and the three executive directors are departmental heads. The managing director is responsible to the Board for the day-to-day running of the company and the three departmental heads are responsible to him for the work of their departments.

The board of directors can be represented by this chart (Click illustration to see full-size chart):

Board of Directors

In practice, the organisation chart (click illustration to see full-size chart) is more likely to look like:

Board of Directors: Organisation Chart

The managing director is unlikely to admit that shortcomings could be due to those he controls or due to inadequate organisation or management. The three departmental heads who are also directors and who are responsible to him for their work as departmental heads are unlikely to argue with or contradict their superior at board meetings.

The chairman generally represents the shareholders and so do the part-time directors. The part-time directors owe allegiance only to the shareholders and may freely criticise the way in which the company is managed.

It can be seen that the three directors who represent the owners may be outvoted by the other four directors whose first allegiance is to the company's executive, to the managing director.

The Board's policy-making is supposed to safeguard the interests of the shareholders and thus chairman and part-time directors can speak up on any issue. But in this case policy-making is unduly influenced by the managing director who may now influence policy as he sees fit. If he wishes to organise matters so as to give himself more and perhaps even full control and authority for the sake of personal power, then it is unlikely that this board would argue that participative management is more difficult but also more profitable.

The same confrontation between on the one hand elected representative policy-making bodies, and on the other hand those who are supposed to put their policies into effect, can be seen in many areas. For example there are the arguments about the executive powers of the President of the United States, between President and USA's representative legislative assemblies (Congress and Senate). A further example is that of the trade union General Secretary who shortly after election attempts to change the rules so as to make his appointment more secure or permanent.

Another example is that the Histadrut, Israel's general federation of trade unions, decided about twenty years ago that worker participation in decision making was to be introduced in the Histadrut's own enterprises. Twenty years later the indications are that workers in Histadrut owned enterprises still have a long way to go before achieving this.

Even when the annual conference of a political party consists of local delegates elected by secret ballot from among all the local membership we are likely to see friction if not confrontation between the party's executive and the policy setting annual conference. In Israel the otherwise very democratic system of proportional representation which gives minorities a voice and power according to their numerical strength, has been defeated by the way in which prospective members of the Knesset (government) are selected by party hierarchies.

What is characteristic of a community is that it consists of all the people together co-operating with each other for the common good and their joint struggle against authoritarian minds which wish to oppress people so as to exploit them.

Individuals and the community are struggling for independence and a good life, are struggling to establish co-operative institutions and enterprises, are struggling internally against the authoritarin mind taking over their leaders and thus their co-operative enterprises.

This is a constant struggle. So how come that the authoritarian mind is so persistent and how come that it can persuade people to behave in ways which are against the interests of the people? How come that the people have in the past been made to behave, and are even now at times behaving, in ways which serve the authoritarian mind at enormous cost to the people as a whole?

The underlying causes, the way in which people are persuaded into serving the authoritarian mind, the way in which institutions have been infiltrated and taken over, the way the leadership of the people has in the past been turned against the people, the way in which public opinion is manipulated and the means used for doing this, need to be explored and exposed.

It is a struggle for men's minds and then for their bodies, on the one hand towards love of servitude and at best mere existence but on the other hand towards love of independence and towards freedom and a good life.

Relevant Current and Associated Works

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Relevant Subject Index Pages

• Press Notices
• Community
• Motivation
• General Management
• Economics

Other Subjects; Other Publications

• Christianity
• Judaism
• Islam
• Religion, Government and People
• Teachings

The Site Overview page has links to all individual Subject Index Pages which between them list the works by Manfred Davidmann which are available on the Internet, with short descriptions and links for downloading.

To see the Site Overview page, click Overview

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