Type of Work and Motivation

Abstract

nOCIOLOGISTS HAVE done much on motivation, yet most of this ois concerned with the capitalist entrepreneur who attracted attention as LJthe key individual in the system of free enterprlse.l As to the worker, we have to fall back on the field of Industrial Psychology to obtain a starting point. 2 There are, however, several obstacles. Observations by psychologists are frequently couched in terms of individual differences of aptitude and temperament; but in a sociological re-interpretation of the available material, this aspect must be eliminated. Furthermore, the distinction between general (physical) conditions of and conditions specific to different occupations and types of does not appear to be of great importance in the context of Industrial Psychology. The two terms conditions of work and type of work are often used in close association and they both refer chiefly to the physical characteristics of a job or the environment in which it takes place. This practice has its advantages so long as the emphasis is on the worker's capacity, for in many types of the specific conditions inherent in the actual operation are inseparable from the general conditions of the workplace. Thus, we cannot describe the specific characteristics of iron smelting without reference to the general conditions of excessive heat all round. As far as working capacity (and fatigue as impaired capacity) is concerned, there is indeed no point in distinguishing between what is specific to any particular operation and general conditions such as heat, dust, noise, lighting and dirt. But the moment we approach the matter from the worker's subjective experience, as we must when dealing with problems of motivation, the distinction between specific and general conditions becomes of crucial importance. In what follows we shall use the word specific when refelTing to the concrete type of , and the term conditions of shall denote the general physical environment of a job. In an iron foundry, for example, each type of such as floor moulding, bench moulding, metal pouring and cleaning of castings has its own specific characteristics, while the conditions of heat,