Frustrated at Age 30

The case incident entitled “Frustrated at 30,” demonstrates how the fundamentals of values associated with contemporary work cohorts serve as a foundation in the explanation of employee motivation. Bob Wood’s rendition of his employment experience through age 30 reveals the frustration he encounters in his inability to adapt to the changing times. Symbolic to the characteristics of a Generation Xer decent jobs came with a price, a college degree was essential in opening the doors to higher paying jobs, yet left many in debt and Bob was no exception. The 90’s would furnish a false sense of stability to these job seekers who entered a market where the competition for skilled employees drove salaries up, causing job longevity to be a thing of the past. Bob’s dependency on the rewards that accompany these unrealistically high salaries would cloud his vision of reality and ultimately attribute to his demise. Present day employment options afford Bob a job as a technology analyst earning half of his customary salary, once optimistic about what the future holds; now Bob concerns himself with the lack of job security, a retirement plan and a means to make ends meet. Examining the concepts of motivation through the eyes of Maslow and his need hierarchy, as well as the organizational justice and expectancy theories, will provide a manager the means to evaluate Bob’s behavior and implement a program that can positively influence his motivation.

How Maslow’s Need Hierarchy explains Bob

Robbins and Judge define motivation as “the processes that account for an individual’s intensity direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.” “The most well known theory of motivation is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs”(Robbins & Judge, 2007, p.187). Maslow sees Bob as an individual who possesses a hierarchy of...