Keys to motivating tomorrow's workforce

Human Resource Management Review 16 (2006) 181 – 198 www.socscinet.com/bam/humres Keys to motivating tomorrow 's workforce☆
Gary P. Latham a,⁎, Christopher T. Ernst b b a
University of Toronto, Canada
Center for Creative Leadership, Singapore

Abstract
Work motivation is a set of energetic forces that originate within as well as beyond an individual 's being. It is a psychological process resulting from the reciprocal interaction between the individual and the environment that affects a person 's choices, effort, and persistence. The purpose of this chapter is to peer inside the door to what might or should be the motivational sources of tomorrow 's workforce. To discover the key for opening this door, the history of research and theory on work motivation in the 20th century is reviewed in order to identify principles that are likely to be timeless. Second, the current status of research and theory at the dawn of the present millennium is examined. Third, and on that basis, predictions are made regarding the design of organizations in the 21st century; predictions are made on ways to motivate the employees who will work in them.
© 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Work motivation; History of motivation research; Current motivation research; Prediction of future

1. History of motivation research and theory
The history of workplace motivation has been described in detail by Latham (2006) and Latham and Budworth
(2006). Motivational research conducted during the first 50 years of the 20th century was, for the most part, atheoretical. In the first two decades, the study of motivation was left largely to engineers. They believed that money was the primary, if not sole, source of an employee 's motivation (Taylor, 1911). If the engineers had been correct, the well known actors in Hollywood and professional athletes would have been among the happiest people on earth; yet, this was and is not the case despite the fact these

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