How Many Hats do You Wear?

First it was separating and recycling paper at my desk. Soon to follow was the announcement of cutbacks in the frequency of trash pick-up. Then, there was the inevitable request to sort my trash, and deliver it to a central trash location. These are all things I am willing to do out of my core values and concern for the environment. However, I can’t shake the feeling that by persuading me to do these tasks, there may just be more requests to come. So, what’s next? Will it soon be my turn in the rotation to deliver the entire fourth floor’s trash to the parking lot?

I could add a multitude of job titles to my resume as a result of management’s effective use of commitment-consistency theory. This theory suggests that “persuading people to comply with a small and seemingly harmless request greatly increases their likelihood of complying with a subsequent, larger request” (Vaidyanathan and Aggarwal, 2005, p. 2). As of now, I should be on the payroll as an expeditor, postman, photo-copier repairman, and my newest role, waste disposal management. These jobs are all in addition to my official given title of Financial Services Representative. They are also a direct result of being persuaded to carry out a seemingly small, no-strings-attached task.

Nevertheless, these adopted roles have helped to create a positive brand for myself which probably plays a part as to why I allow myself to be persuaded. Thanks to Vaidyanathan and Aggarwal’s article, I now have a name and theory to apply to the tasks I am frequently motivated and often suckered in to doing.

Vaidyanathan, R., & Aggarwal, P. (2005, December). Using commitments to drive consistency: enhancing the effectiveness of cause‐related marketing communications. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(4), 231-246. Retrieved October 19, 2008.

Doing More with Less, While Giving you the Same

In order to reach my desired career goals, I do not need any more education, and I definitely do not need the added stress. Nevertheless, my motivation to change my work role remains a major component of enrolling in Franklin's MCM program. However, the program itself raises motivational issues that drive me to do my best, and challenge myself.

This is what Ken and Professor Param Shah refer to as achievement motivation. Although I stand to gain from completing the MCM program, I am not required by my current or ideal workplace to do so.

Motivation within my current work space varies drastically. While some associates are entirely in-trinsically influenced, others are solely motivated by extrinsic factors. Management in my office seems to prefer Jeremy Bentham's metaphoric theory of "The Carrot and the Stick." By using the promise of reward and punishment, the majority of the associate's motivations are captured.

However, Abraham Maslow's assertion that people have a need for self-fulfillment and accomplishment is not always employed by the managers in my office. It may do these leaders some good to realize that employees are not always looking for the monetary reward. Sometimes, simply hearing "Good job" is all it takes to effectively motivate one to continue to do their best.

References

Shah, K. & Shah, P. (n.d.) Motivation. Retrieved July 10, 2007,
from http://www.laynetworks.com/Motivation.html.

tutor2u. (2007). Motivation in theory - Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved June 4, 2007,
from http://www.tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_maslow.asp.

Huh?

How many times have you responded to someone when you didn't even listen to what they had to say? Jianyin Lu says that "failure to listen is probably the cause of more interpersonal problems than any other aspect of human behavior" (Lu, 2005). Lu’s claim definitely resonates in my work environment. The abundance of “miscommunication” in my office could easily be better described as ineffective listening.

I agree most with Lu’s claim that effective listening is an active process that requires attention to the speaker in order to appropriately react and respond (Lu 2005). With practice, we can make our days at the office run a little smoother. My goal might be to do a little less multitasking while attempting to receive messages.

The majority of my ineffective listening stems from intrapersonal factors. So, new technology such as email allows me to focus less on global culture, sender’s position, or urgency of the message as suggested by Cornell’s Amy Newman (2007). Instead, computer mediated communication allows me to slow down and focus on encoding and decoding the true intended message.

References

Lu, J (2005, May). The Listening Style Inventory (LSI) as an instrument for improving listening skill. Sino-US English Teaching, 2(5),45-50.

Newman, A. (2007, January). Real-time computer-mediated communication: email and instant messaging simulation. Business Communication Quarterly, 70(4), 466-470.

Nelson, N (2000, June) Can computer-mediated communication democratize the workplace? Information Outlook, v4 i6 p18