Attitude and Motivation

This case is about people who thrives on working much more than the normal 40-hour week, spends most of their workweek traveling and faces high stress. Though most people can handle these kind of extreme jobs for a short period of time, only a small percentage of individuals choose to work that way their whole lives.

The case tells us about four special people, all in their thirties, who instead of working a normal nine-to-five job and enjoying happy hours with officemates or spending time at home building a family, are in extreme jobs that takes up eighty percent of their time.

John Bishop is an investment banker who gives 90 to 100 hours a week to his job. He agrees that he is a workaholic but feels that its normal to put in long hours.

Irene Tse has been in bond-trading and stock market for 10 years. Due to the nature of her work, she doesn't even sleep through the night as she needs to check the global market status. Eventhough her sleep is disturbed, she wakes up every day anxious to get to work.

Tony Kurz is a managing director and raises funds for real-estate investments. His work involves travelling to exotic locations to meet prospective clients. He often sleeps on planes and has to deal with jet-leg. His girlfriend who is in marketing is also a constant tarveller. Both of them are in love with each other and their jobs.

David Clark is the vice president of global marketing for MTV. His job often consist of travelling around the globe to promote the channel. Most of his time is spent on communication with his clients via email and handphone. He believes that there are many people who would love to have his job and that motivates him.

In my opinion, for individuals to be attracted to extreme jobs, the individuals have a "plus factor" in them and the job itself has characteristics which fulfills the individuals' satisfaction.

Individuals with "plus factor" are those who created their vision and mission at an early stage of life. They can see clearly where they want to be in ten, twenty years time. They have a positive attitude and great determination. They are disciplined and are always focused on their goals. They do not get easily distracted with their environment and are always prepared for the unexpected. They are flexible and able to adapt to changes. They are confident and calm but still enthusiastic in everything they do. They do not allow failure to despair them. These individuals sees job challenges as motivating. They recognize work as part of their purpose and life-balance. Their perception is different. When others see problems, they see it as opportunities.

According to the Expectancy Theory by Victor Vroom, how the person react depends on their expectation and whether the outcome is attractive to the individual. Employees will be motivated to put in a high level of effort when he/she believes that:

(a) Effort will lead to good performance appraisal;

(b) A good appraisal will lead to rewards and benefits; and

(c) The rewards will satisfy his/her personal goals.

Expectancy