motivational analysis of organizations

❚❘ MANAGERIAL WORK-VALUES SCALE
T. Venkateswara Rao
The term value has been defined as “the excellence or the degree of worth ascribed to an
object. Though ascribed to the object and reacted to as if external or objective, value is a
function of the valuing transaction, not of the object” (English & English, 1958). By this
definition, work value means “the degree of worth ascribed to a particular type of work,
activity, or aspect of the work.” This definition of work value makes the term distinct
from occupational (or job) preference, because it refers to the degree of worth that is
ascribed to it. Whereas preference indicates a general attitude, value implies a stronger
attitude or a positive evaluation.
REVIEW OF RESEARCH
From the 1920s through the 1980s, hundreds of investigations were conducted on the
question of work values or job attitudes. Douglass (1922) studied 2,844 high school
seniors, who gave the following reasons for preferring a job: (1) a general impression of
the advantages and attractiveness of the job; (2) the respondent’s own fitness for the job;
(3) the job’s financial returns; (4) opportunities for service; and (5) the respondent’s
knowledge of his or her fitness for the work based on personal experience. Kornhauser’s
1936 study of 350 Chicago males indicated that security and independence were the
most strongly desired aspects of a job by members of lower- and middle-income groups;
this contrasted with members of wealthy and upper-income groups, who most desired
social approval (Centers, 1949).
Centers (1961), whose many studies stimulated research in this particular field,
conducted a nationwide survey of U.S. Americans. Centers found that the respondents
desired independence, self-expression, security, the opportunity to serve others, and
interesting experience, in that order. They placed less value on dimensions of power,
fame, esteem, leadership, and profits.
Centers also found significant differences in value patterns for different
occupational groups. Large business owners’ preferences for self-expression, leadership,
and interesting experiences were in marked contrast to those of unskilled laborers, who
chose security more frequently than any other value.
Ginzberg (1951) theorized that choices made before seventeen years of age were
only tentative and that real choices were made only after age seventeen.
Gray (1963) compared the work values of fifty secondary-school teachers, fifty
accountants, and fifty engineers. Teachers scored highest on their preferences for social
rewards, whereas accountants scored highest on the value of prestige.
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The Pfeiffer Library Volume 19, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer