Motivational Conflicts

An organization’s learning, knowledge, competence and culture are developed through its participants’ resolutions of intermotivational conflicts. It is counterproductive for the organization and the individual when managers single-mindedly push for the achievement of financial (extrinsic) results, as this encourages the resolution of intermotivational conflicts in favor or extrinsic over transcendent motives. The organization’s control, incentive and evaluation systems should be reviewed with an eye to discerning their likely effect on participants’ resolution of intermotivational conflicts, and managers should aim to factor personal growth, the development of operative and evaluative knowledge, into the organization’s strategies, policies and mission.