Motivational Factors in Routine Performance

Manipulation of factors relevant to job performance in an actual work setting can be quite expensive because making frequent changes necessitates a loss of production time. It is desirable, therefore, to complete as much research as possible within a less expensive laboratory setting, and then to undertake the necessary studies to verify that the determinants of performance so established hold also in the actual work setting. The use of an initial laboratory setting also permits greater control of conditions so that more stringent tests of the hypotheses are possible.

The research area which will be investigated in this simulation is that of specifying the determinants of performance level in a relatively routine task: doing a series of mathematical problems calling for adding and subtracting numbers in the head, and then writing down the answers on an answer sheet which is provided. In this task, the subjects are not permitted to use scratch paper for any intermediate steps in arriving at a solution to the problem. The scores which result from this task are the number of items answered correctly in a specified time period.

At the end of this simulated experiment, you should be prepared to make recommendations to the head of a large industrial plant who is unable, because of the nature of his product, to avoid a large number of routine positions. He is concerned with finding factors within this constraint which will maximize the performance of his workers, and it is in order to identify these factors that you have been asked to conduct this research program. You are expected to be able to justify every recommendation you make in terms of your data.

Andrews, J.D. The achievement motive and advancement in two types of organizations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1967, v. 6, 163-168.

Atkinson, J.W. Motives in fantasy, action, and society. Van Nostrand, 1958.

Atkinson, J.W. and Feather, N.T. A theory of achievement motivation. Wiley, 1966.