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Motivating Drives
Language Function:

pre-intermediate

discussing issues - reading comprehension

intermediate

Vocabulary /Topic:

motivation - job satisfaction - work - sociology - word

formation

upper-intermediate
advanced

focus on talking

Discuss these questions in pairs

or small groups.

What are the main reasons that you stay at your

present job?
a good salary
attractive company perks
job security
challenging job assignments
a good boss

focus on comprehension

training opportunities
a good chance of getting promoted

convenient office location

work hours

Read the article to find out

the following information:

1. What are four common indicators

of motivation?

other reasons: ..............................

2. What are four drives influencing

motivational indicators?

What would be the three greatest things your

employer could do to boost your motivation?
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Motivating Drives

How To Make Us Work Harder

Based on article written by Nitin Nohria, Boris Groysberg, and Linda-Eling Lee (link to original article)

Is it a salary increase or a friendly atmosphere that gets

people to do their best work? What are the key
motivating drives? Getting the best from their
employees is definitely one of managers most difficult
challenges. Fortunately, cross-disciplinary research in
fields like neuroscience, biology, and evolutionary
psychology has allowed us to learn more about the
human brain, and identify factors that boost motivation.

To define overall motivation, its four common indicators

were measured: engagement, satisfaction,
commitment, and intention to quit. Engagement
represents the energy, effort, and initiative employees
bring to their jobs. Satisfaction reflects the extent to
which they feel that the company meets their
expectations at work and satisfies its implicit and
explicit contracts with them. Commitment captures the
extent to which employees engage in corporate
citizenship. Intention to quit is the best proxy for
employee turnover.
Both studies showed that an organisations ability to
meet the four fundamental drives explains, on average,
about 60 per cent of employees variance on
motivational indicators. The scientists also found that
certain drives influence some motivational indicators
more than others. Fulfiling the drive to bond has the
greatest effect on employee commitment, for example,
whereas meeting the drive to comprehend is most
closely linked with employee engagement.

Recent research suggests that people are guided by

four basic emotional needs, or drives, that are the
product of our common evolutionary heritage. These
are: to acquire (obtain scarce objects, including
intangibles such as social status); to bond (form
connections with individuals and groups); to
comprehend (satisfy our curiosity and master the world
around us); and to defend (protect against external
threats and promote justice). These drives underlie
everything we do.

Although fulfiling all four basic emotional drives is

essential for any company, our research suggests that
each drive is best met by a distinct organisational lever.
The drive to acquire is most easily satisfied by an
organisations reward system: how efficiently it
discriminates between good and poor performers, ties
rewards to performance and gives the best people
opportunities for advancement.
The most effective way to fulfil the drive to bond is to
create a culture that promotes teamwork, collaboration,
openness and friendship.

But what actions, precisely, can managers take to

satisfy the four drives and, thereby, increase their
employeess overall motivation? Notin Nohira, Boris
Groysberg and Linda-Eling Lee completed two major
studies aimed at answering that questions. In one, they
surveyed 385 employees of two global businessesa
financial services giant and a leading IT services firm. In
the other, they surveyed employees from 300 Fortune
500 companies.

The drive to comprehend is best addressed by

designing jobs that are meaningful, interesting and
challenging.
And finally fair, trustworthy and transparent processes
for performance management and resource allocation
help to met peoples drive to defend.

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Motivating Drives

Do you remember how your company can fulfil your needs? Match basic
emotional drives with ways to fulfil them without looking at the article.

1) drive to acquire

A. designing jobs that are meaningful, interesting and challenging

2) drive to bond

B. discriminating between good and poor performers; tying rewards

to performance; giving the best people opportunities for advancement

3) drive to comprehend

C. fair, trustworthy and transparent processes for performance

management and resource allocation

4) drive to defend

D. promoting teamwork, collaboration, openness and friendship

focus on vocabulary
Look at the context and try to explain the underlined words and expressions
from the article.

4
1.

cross-disciplinary research

2.

the product of evolutionary heritage

3.

intangibles

4.

underlie

5.

thereby

6.

implicit

7.

explicit

8.

the proxy for employee turnover

9.

variance

10. a distinct organisational lever

11. discriminates
12. resource allocation
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Motivating Drives

focus on vocabulary: word formations

Write the nouns derived from the verbs and the adjectives derived from the nouns.

1. to engage

....................................

2. evolution

....................................

3. to satisfy

....................................

4. to commit

....................................

5. motivation

....................................

6. to intend

....................................

7. meaning

....................................

8. to advance

....................................

9. emotion

....................................

10. to collaborate

....................................

11. essence

....................................

12. to allocate

....................................

focus on talking

Discuss these questions in pairs or small groups.

Which of the four emotional drives does your employer satisfy best?
Imagine a perfect company. How does your imaginary company motivate their
employees?
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