<p>The study of work motivation has yielded many applicable theories. This thesis investigated how older employees viewed factors that have been linked to the advancement of age and believed to affect work motivation. Three different conceptualisations of age were included in the study; organisational age, chronological age and life stage. By using a qualitative approach, participants were allowed to shed light on this complex area and give their own views on possible age effects. More specifically, changes in needs and values, the effects on goal setting and the development of skills were investigated. Chronologically younger employees placed greater value in their careers and reported that they would continue to work even if they became financially independent. Older employees attributed less importance to their careers and said that they would choose early retirement in order to have more time if they had money to enjoy it.</p>

Syftet med undersökningen är att få en ökad förståelse för hur de anställdas upplevelser av arbetsmotivation och stress ser ut i arbetet samt att se om finanskrisen har påverkat de anställdas upplevelser av arbetsmotivation och stress. Undersökningen är genomförd på Volvo Aero Corporation i Trollhättan. Uppsatsens teoretiska referensram är uppdelad i fyra huvuddelar: arbetsmotivation, stress, krav/kontroll/stöd och finanskris. Uppsatsens datainsamlingsmetod är en kvalitativ och kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie med enkäter och gruppintervjuer. Totalt har två gruppintervjuer utförts, samt en enkätundersökning med 122 deltagare. Det empiriska materialet delades upp i fyra olika kategorier, samma som i teoriavsnittet. Resultatet visar att de anställda främst motiveras av arbetskamrater och varierande arbetsuppgifter. Motivationen har ökat något till följd av finanskrisen då de anställda stöttar varandra mer och de är även tacksamma att de har ett arbete att gå till. De anställda på Volvo Aero Corporation är stressade endast i viss mån och stressorer är bland annat för hög arbetsbelastning och för lite kontroll över arbetet. Finanskrisen har påverkat de anställdas stressupplevelser på så sätt att de har fått högre arbetsbelastning till följd av uppsägningar på grund av finanskrisen. / The purpose of the study is to obtain a better understanding of employee perceptions of work motivation and stress in the work environment and see if the financial crisis has affected the employees' experiences of work motivation and stress. The survey is conducted at Volvo Aero Corporation in Trollhättan. The theoretical frame of references is divided into four main parts: work motivation, stress, demands/control/support and financial crisis. The method of collecting data is a qualitative and quantitative cross-sectional study with surveys and group interviews. A total of two groupinterviews conducted, and a survey with 122 participants. The empirical material was divided into four different categories, the same as in the theory section. The result shows that employees are motivated primarily by colleagues and varied tasks. Motivation has increased slightly due to financial crisis when employees support each other more. They are also grateful that they have a job to go to. The staff at Volvo Aero Corporation is stressed only to a certain extent and stressors include excessive workload and too little control over work. The financial crisis has affected the employees’ stress experiences so that they have a higher workload because of layoffs due to the financial crisis.

The study of work motivation has yielded many applicable theories. This thesis investigated how older employees viewed factors that have been linked to the advancement of age and believed to affect work motivation. Three different conceptualisations of age were included in the study; organisational age, chronological age and life stage. By using a qualitative approach, participants were allowed to shed light on this complex area and give their own views on possible age effects. More specifically, changes in needs and values, the effects on goal setting and the development of skills were investigated. Chronologically younger employees placed greater value in their careers and reported that they would continue to work even if they became financially independent. Older employees attributed less importance to their careers and said that they would choose early retirement in order to have more time if they had money to enjoy it.

Many times it can be the simple things that affect the attitude of work and which have an importance on the organization's effectiveness. These are not always apparent but can have a large importance for the motivation and the attitude of work. Large number of companies uses wage and other financial rewards system but is there any form of informal factors that have an importance for the coworkers and that affects motivation. What factors that affect the motivation within the industry are interesting to examine and specifically the factors that are not apparent, in other words informal factors that increases the motivation. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and describe which informal motivator factors co-workers/employees in a production department think are meaningful. This study was pursued with a quality approach and with the purpose of getting a profound view and an understanding of informal motivation. This study uses quality interviews to collect information. The interview questions are based on the theoretical frame of references which are Theory X and Theory Y, Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory and The Three Circles Model. The departmental manager view of the co-workers is that they are engaged and that they take responsibility for their work task. According to the departmental manager, the informal motivator factors are more significant than the formal motivator factors. According to the co-workers the informal motivator factors were elements which did not cost a lot but had a large importance to them. The informal motivator factors which have the most significant meaning were to be appreciated by the departmental manager, the freedom in the work and the social relationship with the workmates. According to the co-workers the work within the industry had no motivator factor and therefore, was the informal factors significant for the human effort. They felt happier and the work felt easier and more fun which made the co-workers performs better. The informal motivator factors increased the wellbeing and the motivation within the individual which was significant for the individual emotional state and the team spirit which affected the co-workers human effort positively. / Många gånger kan det vara de enklaste sakerna som påverkar attityden till arbetet och som får betydelse för organisationens effektivitet. Dessa är inte alltid så synbara men kan ha en stor betydelse för motivationen och attityden till arbetet. Många företag använder sig av lön och andra ekonomiska belöningssystem för att motivera personalen men finns det faktorer av informell karaktär som är av betydande för medarbetare och som påverkar motivationen. Vilka faktorer som påverkar motivationen inom industribranschen är intressant att undersöka och speciellt de inte så synbara faktorerna, det vill säga informella faktorer, som orsakar att motivationen ökar. Syftet med studien är att undersöka och beskriva vilka informella motivationsfaktorer medarbetarna i en produktionsavdelning anser är betydelsefulla. Studien bedrivs med kvalitativ ansats i syfte att få en djupare inblick och förståelse för fenomenet informell motivation. I denna studie används kvalitativa intervjuer för att samla in information. De frågor som används vid intervjuerna har formats utifrån arbetets teoretiska referensram vilka är Teori X och Teori Y, Hertzbers Tvåfaktorsteori och The Three Circles Model. Avdelningschefens syn på medarbetarna är att medarbetarna är engagerade och vill ta eget ansvar för arbetsuppgiften. Enligt avdelningschefen har informell motivation större betydelse än den formella. Det medarbetarna ansåg var informella motivationsfaktorer var faktorer som inte kostade mycket men gav stort tillbaka. De informella motivationsfaktorerna som hade störst betydelse var uppskattning från avdelningschefen, det fria arbetet och den sociala samhörigheten. Eftersom medarbetarna ansåg att industriarbetet i sig inte var motiverande hade de informella faktorerna en viktig betydelse för arbetsinsatsen. Medarbetarna ansåg att de blev glada och det kändes lättare och roligare att arbeta vilket gjorde att de presterade bättre. De informella faktorerna gav en ökad inre tillfredställelse och motivation hos individen vilket hade betydelse för både individens känslomässiga tillstånd och teamkänslan inom gruppen vilket påverkade medarbetarnas arbetsinsats positivt.

Work motivation has most often been defined operationally as job satisfaction, but this dimension has shown to be unrelated to job performance. Therefore, a new measure of work motivation defined as willingness to work was developed. Two main questions were investigated in this thesis. Three work groups were included in the studies. The first purpose was to explore willingness to work and related variables for two groups, people employed in pre-schools (Study1) and employees of an insurance company (Study 2). The variance in willingness to work was explained to 59% for the pre-school employees, and to 69% for the employees in an insurance company. Work interest, affective organizational commitment, perceived competence and risk burden were predictors of willingness to work in both of the groups. Other factors related to willingness to work in this study were, for the employees in pre-schools, positive evaluation of the job, normative organizational commitment, general intrinsic motivation and accepted risks. Additional factors that contributed to the explanation of the variance in willingness to work for the employees in an insurance company were job satisfaction, spontaneous creativity, work environment and opinions about one’s job. A second purpose was to investigate the construct validity of willingness to work dimension by examining its relationships with absenteeism, number of hours worked, intention to quit, and job performance. In Study 1 and Study 2, the relationship between absenteeism, number of hours worked, intention to quit and willingness to work was examined. The result showed that willingness to work was strongly related to intention to quit and number of hours worked in both of the studies. The relationship between willingness to work and job performance (subjective and objective) was also investigated. Participants in this study were insurance sales people. The correlation of willingness to work and objective as well as subjective job performance was quite high (r=.41 and .57, respectively). According to the results, the work motivation measure could be considered as being a quite valid assessment of work motivation. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001

Många kända teorier inom psykologin beskriver motivation som en drivkraft, vilken är viktig för individens vilja att arbeta. Trivsel och motivation leder tillsammans till välmående på arbetet. Arbetsvillkor och uppskattning är viktiga faktorer för individens trivsel och motivation på arbetet och brister av dessa kan leda till vantrivsel och minskad motivation. I denna studie intervjuades åtta medarbetare om motivation och trivsel inom vårdyrket och syftet var att se om anställningsstatus har betydelse för trivsel och motivation. Skillnader i motivation och trivsel fanns beroende på anställningsstatus. Fastanställda trivdes bättre på arbetet på grund av bättre arbetsvillkor, högre trygghet och samhörighetskänslan, men deras motivation var lägre jämfört med vikarier. Vikariers bättre motivation ansågs bero på högre engagemang och vilja att utveckla sig.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka om det förelåg några skillnader i upplevelsen av arbetsmotivation och arbetstillfredsställelse bland lärare avseende organisationsform och kön samt om det fanns en interaktion mellan organisationsform och kön avseende arbetsmotivation och arbetstillfredsställelse. Totalt deltog 84 respondenter i undersökningen. Mätinstrumenten som användes var Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire och Basic Need Satisfaction at work scale. Resultatet visade att det inte förelåg några signifikanta skillnader i arbetsmotivation beroende på organisationsform och kön. Vidare visade resultatet att det fanns signifikanta skillnader i yttre, inre och generell arbetstillfredsställelse beroende på organisationsform, där privatanställda var mer tillfredsställda i jämförelse med offentligt anställda. Resultatet visade också att det förelåg signifikanta skillnader i yttre, inre och generell arbetstillfredsställelse beroende på kön, där män var mer tillfredsställda än kvinnor. Ytterligare visades ingen interaktion mellan organisationsform och kön avseende arbetsmotivation och arbetstillfredsställelse. / The purpose of the study was to examine whether there were any differences in teachers' work motivation and job satisfaction depending on sector and gender and whether there was an interaction between sector and gender regarding work motivation and job satisfaction. A total of 84 respondents participated in the study. The instruments used were the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire and Basic Need Satisfaction at work scale. The results showed that there were no significant differences in work motivation depending on sector and gender. Further the results showed that there were significant differences in extrinsic, intrinsic and general job satisfaction due to sector, where private sector employees were more satisfied compared to public sector employees. The results also showed that there were differences in extrinsic, intrinsic and general job satisfaction depending on gender, where men were more satisfied than women. Finally there was no interaction between sector and gender regarding work motivation and job satisfaction.

Inre motivation är per definition en drivkraft i beteendet drivet av intresse och tillfredställelse för arbetet i sig, utan närvaron av yttre belöningar. Då monetära belöningar är väldigt utbrett och kostar företag stora summor är det av intresse att även studera hur motivation påverkas av hur arbetet i sig ser ut. Syftet med denna studie är att med ett kvantitativt förhållningssätt beskriva och analysera vilka dimensioner i arbetet och dess miljö som predicerar inre motivation. De prediktorer som utifrån tidigare teori valts ut är tron på sin egen kompetens, tillhörighet, autonomi, feedback, personlig utveckling och arbetets meningsfullhet. För att besvara syftet har en enkät delats ut till 211 anställda inom organisationen Skandia Advise. Statistiska analyser av resultatet visar att inre motivation till 25 % prediceras av de sex dimensionerna tillsammans. Enbart tron på sin egen kompetens och personlig utveckling är säkerställda som enskilda prediktorer för inre motivation inom Skandia Advise vilket bör tas under beaktning i ett nytt belöningssystem.

This research has generated interesting findings from the inductive approach and the qualitative methods that were used in the inquiry process. Thanks to the literature review, the semi-structure interviews, a focus group and secondary data it was possible to obtain the necessary information to answer the research question: How do ecological, economic and social sustainability influence employee motivation? In order to answer this question, two sub-questions were considered first, namely What constitutes sustainability in the company-specific context of Wagner &amp; Co Solartechnik? and Does sustainability motivate people? The answer to the latter question has to be yes, as the analysis revealed numerous linkages. From the data gathered, it is apparent that economic sustainability constitutes the most basic level of sustainability at Wagner Solar. Although the influence of money has its clear limitations, an increase in material orientation could be observed compared to previous. At the company level, ecological sustainability manifests itself as ‘striving for the energy turnaround’. The majority of employees show, as their most important source of motivation, an interest in solar technology as well as a concern for increased eco-efficiency. The information gathered has permitted an assessment of whether the company hires people that are already committed to the company’s vision and mission, or whether the company makes an effort to socialise employees. While this does not seem to be the case it is apparent that the company cultivates a communication and information policy that perpetuates its values. Wagner Solar also exhibits a strong and consistent corporate culture. In terms of social sustainability, democratic decision-making appears to exert the greater amount of influence on employee motivation, while the influence of employee ownership is comparatively diminished. The company appears to both attract and seek out employees who value the ability to work autonomously, partially explained by the German nationality but not exclusively. Positive work environment and good collaborations between colleagues were deemed another important motivational factor, both by the interviewees and the intra-company survey. However, working at Wagner Solar is not without its perceived negatives. These are mostly related to the company’s unique decision-making structures, the use of the language, and possible “island” mentality that some departments might suffer. The study also aimed to analyse the influence of different motivators on employees. When contemplating which pillars of sustainability motivate the most, the analysis of the main motivators revealed that the most important pillar is the social one, since most of the participants have one or more main motivators connected to it. Overall, the impression is that the social values of Wagner Solar are the most pervasive, affecting attitudes and behaviours such as autonomy and responsibility, and, therefore, constitute the main motivators for its employees. The ecological pillar also noticeably influences employee motivation, while the economic pillar is the least influential. / MSPME - Masters in Strategic Project Management European

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