Motivating Employees in a Collective Culture

1. Motivating Employees in a Collective Culture The overall purpose of this exercise is for students to understand how collectivist cultures differ from individualistic cultures in terms of motivation and goal-setting. This exercise gives the students an opportunity to explore the various Western motivation theories and propose an appropriate motivation theory for application in collectivistic cultures. Encourage students to use their books for this exercise.

2. Motivation Defined Motivation is “a set of energetic forces that originates both within and outside an employee, initiates work-related effort, and determines its direction, intensity, and persistence.”1

3. Collectivism Defined Collectivism – a culture that stresses interdependence of members in a society where group goals are more important than individual goals. In this culture, members focus on the taking care of other members of the group.

4. Objectives To determine factors important in motivating employees in collectivistic cultures. To apply various Western theories of motivation to collectivistic cultures.

5. Instructions Lead a discussion on various Western motivation theories (selected at instructor’s discretion). Ask the students to generate a list of three countries with a collectivistic culture using the Business Around the World portal. Have the students list these countries in the first column of the matrix (slide 6). Next, have the students identify factors that will lead to high motivation in this country in the second column. In the third column, have the students identify factors that led to low motivation in this country.

6. Instructions Break the students into groups of 4-5 students and ask them to share their completed matrices. Have the groups select a representative to compile the factors that increase and decrease motivation in collectivistic cultures. Have students answer the following discussion questions in their groups (slide 7) Reconvene the class and have each group’s representative report their answers to the discussion questions. Probe for commonality of factors and theories across the class.

7. Instructions Conclude the discussion by emphasizing the importance of organizations and students recognizing that motivation in collectivistic cultures will differ from those used in individualistic cultures.

8. Collectivistic Culture Motivation Matrix • Colquitt, J.A., LePine, J.A., and Wesson, M.J. (2009) Organizational Behavior: • Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace.

9. Discussion Questions In your group, what were the common factors that contributed to high motivation? Low motivation? What theories of motivation explain motivation in collectivistic cultures? Explain your answer. Develop a motivation theory that is ideal for collectivistic cultures. (Be creative).