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June 7, 2007
Not So Motivated
In 2005, American HR firm Towers Perrin conducted a global survey on employee motivation (意欲) towards work, and to everyone's surprise, including the Japanese, Japan ranked the second worst of all the countries included. Only 2% of Japanese surveyed were "very motivated" towards their work and 41% had "low motivation." Although the Japanese totals resembled the Asian average, there was a significant gap with the global average.
There may be some gruesome sampling bias that invalidates this data and I have no idea whether this survey includes both part-time and full-time employees, but the results appear to directly challenge the "happy worker bee" narrative at the heart of the Japanese employment system. We have discussed before that the Japanese social system does not advocate an oppositional relationship between "work" and "life." Work is not just a means to support one's lifestyle as much as the core determinate of identity. These attitudes may be changing very rapidly, but this conceptualization of total labor dedication was central to the tatemae of the Japanese employment system in years past - at least for white-collar workers.
What does it say about Japanese livelihood in toto if companies have such high levels of unmotivated employees? Why would they be unmotivated towards what they have essentially accepted as their "lives"? Maybe "motivation" in the survey did not capture the sense of obligation and duty many Japanese feel towards their occupation, and perhaps, even without motivation, Japanese employees gain some sort of sense of fulfillment from giving their lives to this duty. But even if the work is grueling, shouldn't the central location of labor in employees' lives automatically create some level of motivation towards the job?
Oddly, the models of happy employees are in Brazil and Mexico. Maybe workers don't like long-hours, low-flexibility, and low productivity regardless of their cultural background?
Posted by marxy at June 7, 2007 2:47 PM
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Comments
Posted by: Mulboyne at June 7, 2007 6:23 PM
Nice. Thanks for that link.
Posted by: marxy at June 7, 2007 7:01 PM
What's interesting is how no one can come up with a theory on why these results came back as they are. There does not seem to be a linear relationship between X and motivation/engagement for all of these countries.
Posted by: marxy at June 7, 2007 7:06 PM
Well, this does sound dangerously like global happiness surveys, which show happiness all the heck over the map.
The short answer is that stuff like this can be so culturally dependent that it's like asking people how happy they are: responses are not easily comparable from culture to culture, or at least they don't line up with any of the things we think make people happy, or variables that, within cultures, make for happier or less happy people.
In other words, if you do global surveys of concepts as vague and self-reported as "employee engagement," you're going to get some pretty random results.
Posted by: Ryan Cousineau at June 7, 2007 7:24 PM
We can at least assume that Japanese employees were asked about "意欲" and they answered that they an average amount or very little.
Posted by: marxy at June 7, 2007 7:36 PM
This survey seems to prove what Fujiwara Masahiko implied last year, a certain superiority of the haiku over the indian epic.
Posted by: alin at June 7, 2007 8:28 PM
If I might venture something... 非常に implies much more than the norm. If the broad social perception is that most employees are super-duper motivated, it would be harder to answer that you exceed them in your motivation.
in fact, it would be quite likely that you, a generally motivated person who doesnt dislike his job would find yourself falling short or the ideal/standard, and confessing on this survey.
the numbers dont mesh well with my experience, and like you I am open to suggestions.
Posted by: nate at June 7, 2007 9:38 PM
"This survey seems to prove what Fujiwara Masahiko implied last year, a certain superiority of the haiku over the indian epic."
I am glad I am not the only one to think so!
"非常に implies much more than the norm. If the broad social perception is that most employees are super-duper motivated"
I could buy this explanation, but it doesn't explain the high number of unmotivateds.
Posted by: marxy at June 7, 2007 9:50 PM
I found the .pdf from where that table came from, and this is their "explanation":
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/capasso/asdf.jpg
I'm no expert in it but if common sense serves I could see the brazilian results being not so surprising. Office-wise "motivation" is the mantra of the employees, motivational courses and seminars are quite common and books related to personal success sell like hot cake in here. Professional engagement, I guess, is the result of an individualistic approach more than a group mentality.
サラリマン work in Brazil has the most meritocratic progression ladder avaible, especially when compared to public work, and to a certain degree academic life. For someone coming from college the choice is usually perceived as:
a) private companies pays better and gives you the chance to get you promoted thanks to your own work. On the other hand you might get fired or replaced and the chances increase as you get old.
b) public work is safe. You won't get fired unless you do something really stupid so just stay there and fake you're actually doing something, in 30 years you retire without big worries. You might even become friend of someone important and get yourself a nice promotion eventually!
I can't really tell if that's the case around the world, but the dichotomy is pretty clear in Brazil and that might be a possible factor.
ps: as you can tell english is a second language.
Original pdf regarding Brazil (but with the comparative data):
http://www.towersperrin.com/tp/getwebcachedoc?webc=HRS/BRA/2007/200701/Brazil_6.pdf
Posted by: Capasso at June 8, 2007 12:02 AM
I found the .pdf from where that table came from, and this is their "explanation":
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/capasso/asdf.jpg
I'm no expert in it but if common sense serves I could see the brazilian results being not so surprising. Office-wise "motivation" is the mantra of the employees, motivational courses and seminars are quite common and books related to personal success sell like hot cake in here. Professional engagement, I guess, is the result of an individualistic approach more than a group mentality.
サラリマン work in Brazil has the most meritocratic progression ladder avaible, especially when compared to public work, and to a certain degree academic life. For someone coming from college the choice is usually perceived as:
a) private companies pays better and gives you the chance to get you promoted thanks to your own work. On the other hand you might get fired or replaced and the chances increase as you get old.
b) public work is safe. You won't get fired unless you do something really stupid so just stay there and fake you're actually doing something, in 30 years you retire without big worries. You might even become friend of someone important and get yourself a nice promotion eventually!
I can't really tell if that's the case around the world, but the dichotomy is pretty clear in Brazil and that might be a possible factor.
ps: as you can tell english is a second language.
Original pdf regarding Brazil (but with the comparative data):
http://www.towersperrin.com/tp/getwebcachedoc?webc=HRS/BRA/2007/200701/Brazil_6.pdf
Posted by: Capasso at June 8, 2007 12:03 AM
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