Workplace Motivation

JC Penny Course Handout

May 22, 2008

Workplace Motivation

New research shows that men are not __________ motivated by money, but also by how much more or less they __________ than their __________. Traditional thinking was that men were only interested in the size of their ___________. New __________ from a study at the University of Bonn reveal that men are also concerned about how much their peers are __________. The research is published in this month’s edition of the journal Science. Researchers put 38 male volunteers under the ___________. The men had to perform simple tasks so that scientists could analyze the __________ in the “reward centre” in their brain. They played a game in which they received payments __________ on how well they did. They were also told how much money the other men were getting. The researchers discovered a lot more brain activity with the men who knew they were __________ their rivals.		activity earn getting paychecks depending colleagues just beating microscope findings
Lead scientist Dr Bernd Weber said he now wants to __________ a similar study on women. He wants to __________ whether they too are motivated by their peers’ earnings and not just individual success. It is not yet clear how the new findings will __________ the workplace. There is a possibility that worker productivity could increase with the introduction of a system that __________ competition. Sales staff have __________ been in competition with each other to win bonuses. Human resource officers may now look at this research to find ways of bringing a __________ of competitiveness to offices and perhaps schools. However, this may have a negative impact in the workplace if rivalries turn __________ with jealousy. One company CEO, Jackie Baxter said: “It’s a balancing __________ between keeping harmony in the office and encouraging workers to be more efficient.”		sense created gauge act sour conduct affect long

1.	motivated	a.	assess
2	colleagues	b.	productive
3.	peers	c.	effect
4.	perform	d.	income
5.	rivals	e.	equals
6.	gauge	f.	driven
7.	earnings	g.	nasty
8.	impact	h.	carry out
9.	sour	i.	coworkers
10.	efficient	j.	competitors