Harvard Business Publishing

In the short term, it's possible for entrepreneurial employees to align on specific projects if objectives and passions are aligned.

But in the long term, it's nearly inevitable that at some point employees will disagree on direction and the company's goals (either at the macro-company or micro-project level), simply due to the nature of systems of distributed-decisions.

Different people react differently, and I find it hard to believe an entrepreneurial employee will consistently find the ability to pursue directions they do not internally believe in.

"Intellectual honesty" is a tough thing to contain in a big company.

I find it difficult to feel passionate about big corporations because in the end, everything I do comes down to making money for the corporation. While I'm not completely motivated by money, the reason I spend long hours working is to make money for me. But when it's all said and done, I get a small share, the corporation gets a big one.

I feel passionate about things that matter to me. I rarely find passions align with anything the corporation does or stands for.

First off, the title caught my attention. I thought how can "employee motivation" be an oxymoron, but I understand where you are coming from. It was interesting what you had to say about the CEO engaging you and after awhile you felt as though you had lost your drive. I currently work for a staffing company in Boston, Hollister Staffing (www.hollisterstaff.com) and our boss is always trying to keep morale high. It is important to be consistent and constantly recognize and reward positive behavior instead of once a year. It sounds like maybe you need to figure out what you really want to be doing and go for it.

Motivation to do what? Many people in big companies are certainly motivated; there are plenty of ladder climbers out there. Is the distinction between the motivation for personal advancement rather than the "good of the company" an important one? What about a simple drive to win, by any one individual's measure of winning (lots of those)?

Shannon, I think you've hit on the central challenge in employee motivation. (And I say that not just because you're a member of our tiny Jamseed team.) I have seen lots of cases where individual motivation didn't match the corporations goals.

Witness my own failed business where employees sabotaged our plans to send work to Manila by scanning color documents in black and white. The US employees thought they were protecting their own jobs. The larger corporate reality was that without the low-cost Manila production facility, our costs were too high to compete with other firms that were also going overseas. So we ended up losing because our employees weren't aligned with the company's goals.

On the other hand, was it really honest of us, at that time, to say that "American jobs are being protected by outsourcing"? Maybe for the moment, but we could see the trend of other companies sending ever larger percentages of work overseas. And if employees can see the same trends, how do you align a company and it's workforce without appearing duplicitous?

And, ultimately, how different was my company's outsourcing problem from the challenge of having a bunch of employees attend a motivational sessions where you all fall in each others arms and then six weeks later people are either laid off or have their bonus payments cuts?

in my opinion employees can only be motivated if they feel a sense of ownership. this is easier the smaller the company is. in any way you have to pay employees according to their performance (however difficult it is to determine performance)

I found this article very interesting and motivating. People should take a time everyday to motivate themselves, and that way enjoy life despite all the things that are constantly happening in this world. Read some excerpt from motivation.co.in