Motivators and Demotivators..

I am taking a class on motivational aspects. One of my readings is very interesting - motivators and demotivators.

Motivators:

According to Spitzer, the characteristics of motivators include fun, variety, input, stake sharing, choice, responsibility, leadership, social interaction, teamwork, using strengths, learning, error tolerance, measurement, goals, improvement, challenge, encouragement, appreciation and significance (pp. 67-78).

When reading the description of the motivators, my former boss, the Director of the Chinese University Press came to my mind. He has all the “qualities” that Spitzer mentioned, most importantly, he set himself as an example. He gave constructive criticisms and provided feedbacks in a timely manner. Once the print was offset on a publication, which made a complete wreck of the book. He claimed full responsibility and made a public apology to the author.

Demotivators:

It is my impression that Spitzer identified the major demotivators at the workplace related to the management teams. He pictured those demotivators as politics, unclear expectations, unnecessary rules, poorly designed work, unproductive meetings, lack of follow-up, constant change, internal competition, dishonestly, hypocrisy, withholding information, unfairness, discouraging responses, criticism, capacity underutilization, tolerating poor performance, being taken for granted, management invisibility, over-control, takeaways, and being forced to do poor-quality work (pp. 43-58).

Throughout my library career, I have seen managers who exhibited demotivated behaviors. I worked with a library branch manager who was lacking the simplest of management skills. To make matters worse, she was unorganized and unpredictable. The monthly staff meeting literally was not existed. Her unprofessional behavior had a tremendous negative impact on motivation and performance. Most of us were seeking opportunities to transfer or new employments. Those who had great courage and made complaints to the main library were dismissed abruptly by the collaborative human resource office. No one dared to challenge her, shamefully including myself. We all felt powerless and defeated. Eventually, an employee wrote directly to the county director's office, her unprofessional behavior was finally recognized and she was demoted and transferred to the main library. Unfortunately, many good employees had already fled the intolerable work environment.

In his book, Spitzer (p. 42) emphasized that we “need to declare war on demotivators.” He provided steps for reducing demotivators (p. 59). Yet I did not see how these steps could apply to my former manager.