Our study and research assignment was about motivation. We compared two populations: public service, and private companies employes. This research emanated from a reflexion built around three points. Firstly, it seems inconceivable to me to undertake on the long term a task without any motivation. Secondly, I realized that a great part of complaints associated to work are related to motivation or to the absence of motivation. To conclude, throughout my personal experiences, I came to realization that (as a team manager), how hard it was to motivate teams.
In order to successfully achieve this research, I had to establish an overview of theoretical knowledge on the notion of motivation. This overview permitted me to develop my redaction skills in order to guide my work towards a qualitative analysis. The results of my study show indeed a fundamental difference in the representation of motivation for each sector. On the one hand, public service employes express a motivation oriented towards the object of a task and the pleasure that it is associated to. On the other hand, private companies employes express their motivation through factors of remuneration. Besides, we noticed that the public services employes’ motivation tends to change by incorporating dimensions of remuneration in the background.
This research enabled me to shed light on the influence the business sector has on the factors prone to motivate individuals, as well as the values they advocate. Despite the fact that this research is not representative (hundred participants), we have shown the influence of an ideology shared within a group on those motivational factors at stake in professional activities. In this sense, this research is a starting point to tackle the motivational issues met at work.
This study and research assignment has been enriching, for it is an opportunity for me to reevaluate my preliminary knowledge on motivation and on team-managing. This study teaches us that motivation is subjective and proper to each.
