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by Dr. Gary W. Lawson
CEO, Lawson & Associates

"The Entrepreneur's
Marketing Guide" ($20)

What Do People Want From Their Jobs?

Objective - To identify what motivates people to work.

Give each learner a copy of the form listed below. Divide the learners into small groups of four. Ask each learner to indicate in the column titled "Individual" which of the 10 items listed is felt to be of most importance in contributing to morale. Weight the items from 1 to 10, with 1 being the most important item, 2 being the second most important, 3 being the third most important, and so on until all 10 items have been weighted.

When they have completed the ranking,  have each group total the individual weights within their group. Rank the 10 items under the column titled "Group."

Inform the group that this same scale has been given to thousands of workers across the country. Their ranking is as follows: 

Supervisors ranked it as:

• High Wages
• Job Security
• Promotion in the Company
• Good Working Conditions
• Interesting Work
• Personal Loyalty of Supervisor
• Tactful Discipline
• Full Appreciation of Work Being Done
• Help on Personal Problems
• Feeling of Being In On Things

However, when employees were given the same
exercise, their answers tend to follow this pattern:

• Full Appreciation of Work Being Done
• Feeling of Being In On Things
• Help on Personal Problems
• Job Security
• High Wages
• Interesting Work
• Promotion in the Company
• Personal Loyalty of Supervisor
• Good Working Conditions
• Tactful Discipline

Discussion Questions

1. In comparing the different ratings, what might account for the different opinion?
2. What might be the cause of the supervisor's rankings being so different from the employees?
3. If this survey was given to your department, what would the results be?

Reference

This survey is based on works by Susan Herrington, North Tennessee Private Industry Council in Clarksville, Tenn.

Copyright © 2006 Lawson Small Business Consultants
Last modified: 07/27/07