Motivation: The Polynomial Theory
Star Tribune Sales and Marketing
Published June 27, 2003

A great learning source for people that work in the Human Resources field is generally that of interviewing candidates.
This process allows for in-depth conversations with individuals that come from diverse backgrounds and have different experiences that can many times lead to finding new ideas and enriching thoughts.

During an interview with an excellent candidate for a Trade Marketing Manager position, I discovered a new approach to motivation, one that I call the Polynomial Theory. The definition for polynomial is a similar expression in more than one variable. This mathematical definition also applies to the Human Resources field.

During my conversation with the candidate, he explained the reasons why he would change from his current job to the one we were offering. The candidate told me that his motivation to work was a combination of different factors. These factors in turn, had a different relative weight, and the sum of these factors made up his motivation to work. "As a polynomial" he said.
What Motivates People

From Maslow’s Theory of Motivation to our days, pages and pages about human motivation have been written. Behavioral scientists, psychologists, and business people, have searched to understand what makes people do what they do. Organizations are constantly looking at different ways by which they can "motivate" employees, improve workforce morale and create better work environments.
The fact is that motivation is not a small topic, many times the results of individuals and teams, relate to their motivation. Any individual can produce different results, depending on the degree of motivation he has when performing a task, project or activity.

I believe that organizations cannot motivate their employees; instead, they can create a work environment where individual motivation flourishes. All individuals have different motivational factors; but, if they find the right environment they will create their own self-motivation.

Some organizations apply "motivational plans" to boost employee morale. Many times HR professionals are asked: "to motivate" people or create programs that will do so. Companies that implement these types of programs usually get meager results within the short term. During the long term, these superficial actions have a negative effect, as people’s apathy and cynicism grows.

Many times managers believe that if they have a problem with their employees’ morale, the company can create a "magic" morale boosting campaign that will solve all the problems.

On the other hand organizations that really care about employee motivation have ways of collecting data about the work environment, then the upper staff members talk to their employees on how morale can be improved, and take corrective actions.

Employee motivation is usually at a high level when the organizations, the individual objectives and values are aligned.

Motivational Factors

It is very important for managers to understand that different factors motivate different people. We call these factors "motivational factors".

It is also key to understand that not all people are motivated by a single factor; instead they are motivated by a series of factors.

The motivational factors change during the course of time, greatly depending on the particular phase that an individual might be going through, whether it be in his personal life or career.

When people are asked what factors motivate them to work, we generally receive answers, such as:

o The organization for which they work.
o The work environment.
o Their boss.
o Money.
o The achievements they can produce when they play a specific role.
o Recognition.
o The power that a position enables them with.
o Status.
o Their peers, team and co-workers.
o The work schedule.

A simple way to expose these factors is by means of a polynomial, whereby we add the elements that motivate a person.
Let ‘s take Anne as an example:

Anne’s motivation = Salary + Her boss + Power + Work Schedule + Work Atmosphere + Co-Workers.

Each factor also bears a different weight in Anne’s motivation formula:

Anne’s motivation is equal to: Salary (20%)+ Her boss (50%) + Power (10%) + Work Schedule (10%) + Work atmosphere (5%) + Co-Workers (5%).

In Anne’s case, her biggest motivation to work comes from her boss, followed by salary, power, work schedule, work atmosphere and co-workers.

Constant Change

Motivation changes depend on the individual's personal life and career phase (as well as many other instances).
In Anne’s case, being a recent college graduate that is taking her first steps in a corporation, her boss is the primary source of motivation. Her boss is an excellent coach and provides her with guidance and continuous training.

The motivation factors might change as she wants to apply for a loan to buy a house, then salary can become a more relevant motivating factor.

If Anne gets married and has kids, work schedule might become a key factor in determining her motivation to work in a specific position, as she wants to spend more time with her kids.
The polynomial theory gives us a vision as to how motivational factors interact and vary, depending on the person we are analyzing and the timing when the analysis is being made.

So, What Do We Use It For?

Understanding people's motivations is a key competency to being an effective leader, manager or team member.
If we understand the motivation factors, it will be easier to create a work atmosphere where motivation flourishes. There is not a unique formula as to how to create this atmosphere. Nevertheless, if we understand the motivation factor, we will be more likely to take actions that create employees’ satisfaction.

If we do not understand this, we can take actions that are neutral or even counterproductive. For example, if an employee is motivated by work related achievements and we give him a salary increase, probably this will have little effect on his motivation. On the other hand, if we assign him to a relevant project, this will probably have a positive effect on his behavior.

As organizations cannot magically motivate employees, it is the role of leaders, managers and team leaders to continuously monitor the motivational factors of their employees. This continuous exercise will allow them to take the right actions and to improve individual motivation.

Understanding the dynamics of how individual motivation works can make the difference between a successful leader and one that is not.
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Miguel Premoli is the Human Resources Director for PepsiCo’s Concentrate operations in the Americas Region overseen operations in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, USA and Canada. He has worked in the HR field for more than 12 years in companies like Colgate Palmolive, Wal-Mart Stores and Neoris Consulting. He served most of his career in Argentina, were he is from, and has published articles in many HR and Business magazines. miguel.premoli@intl.pepsi.com