Analyze the Case Study in Work Motivation and Attitude
Book resource for the week:
Spector, P. E. (2012). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice. 6th ed. John
Wiley & Sons.Read Chapters 8, 9, and 10
Individual motivation and attitude play a key role in job satisfaction and in related job performance. In this
week, you will analyze a case of job motivation and attitude.
Consider this case:
Lydia is a 58-year-old woman who has worked with Norman Electronics for over 12 years. Lydia's children
are grown and her husband died three years ago, leaving Lydia a tidy insurance settlement. Lydia began
working for the company head, Fred Norman Sr., as a general secretary and as the company expanded,
she became an assistant to the head of personnel, where she dealt with scheduling interviews and
handling related hiring issues for the 250 employees of Norman Electronics. Lydia knew almost all of the
employees on a personal basis, and often spent extra hours doing new employee orientation, handling
questions, and negotiating with management to settle employee complaints. Lydia was a very valued
employee.
When a new position with higher pay opened in the payroll department, Fred Norman Jr., now head of
Norman Electronics immediately promoted Lydia. She now was in charge of a group of five accountants
whose job was to process the payroll, including computing the bonuses and sales commissions of the
employees. After a brief training to orient her to her new responsibilities, Lydia began her new position.
Although she was working a similar number of hours as in her old position, Lydia's performance dropped
on the job. The department itself had problems with accuracy and timeliness in delivering paychecks.
Lydia herself often came to work late, or called in sick, citing exhaustion and tension headaches as a
reason for her tardiness and absenteeism. In just a matter of months, Lydia had gone from being a loyal,
valued employee, to a withdrawn employee whose presence in the company was becoming a liability.
Instructions:
For this assignment,write a paper in which you analyze the case of Lydia. Include in your analysis the
following points:
What work motivation theory might best explain Lydia's motivation?
How might Lydia's age or financial situation be a factor in her work motivation and attitudes?
What tests would you use to evaluate Lydia's job satisfaction and attitudes in her new position?
What emotions or attitudes may have influenced her job satisfaction in both positions?
How would you characterize her counterproductive behavior in her new position? How could
this be overcome?
Sample Solution