Vocational Needs

If your organization is failing to provide the vocational needs that your workers desire, they aren’t going to be satisfied or motivated to do their best work. Successful managers will try to fulfill as many of these needs as they possibly can. In doing so, they will find a happier, more content workforce that produces more. Employees are more likely to be motivated when they are used according to their capabilities. When they’re not, the result is failure, a powerful demotivator, and continuous failure can drive motivation to non-existence. Managers must maximize motivation while downplaying failures.

Do you really know what you’re looking for in your job? Can you answer the following questions or are you unsure?
- What intrinsic or extrinsic rewards are you looking for?
- Is your boss helping you in ways that he or she can?
- Is he or she taking credit for your accomplishments without
recognizing you in any way?
- When raises are given, does everyone get the same even though some
aren’t doing nearly the same as you and you have identical positions?
- Is your boss holding you back from what you want?
- Have you made your boss fully aware of your goals?
- Do you like what you’re doing?
- Is your job rewarding and challenging?
- Does your job allow you the freedom to be innovative, creative, and
give input?
- Does your boss undermine you and your authority, or promote you and
your interests?
- Does you job allow you enough time to have a healthy existence outside
of work?
- Are you locked in place or are there promotional opportunities?
- Do you feel appreciated, respected, and properly rewarded and/or
compensated?
- If you hate your job, why are you staying? Are job security, more
pay, and benefits worth your unhappiness?
- In five years what do you want to be doing? In ten? In twenty?

These are important questions that you should know right off-hand. A person has to know what they want and take a path that allows them to get it.

A supervisor should do whatever he or she can to fulfill the vocational needs of each of their employees. Employees that receive the investment of time and money in their development are happier and make better workers. If you want them to take ownership of their positions, take accountability, and accept responsibility, you must give them the ability to affect their work. The supervisor should negotiate goals with the worker and leave the methods to them.

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Vocational needs taken from the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (see Psychology – Human Relations and Work Adjustment, 7th Edition, pp. 144-145) include:

Ability utilization --The need to use one’s abilities.
Achievement -- The need to get a feeling of accomplishments.
Activity -- The need to be busy all the time.
Advancement -- The need for opportunities to advance.
Authority -- The need to be able to tell others what to do.
Company policies and practices -- The need for fair administration of company policies.
Compensation -- The need to be paid well in comparison with others.
Co-workers -- The need for co-workers who are easy to make friends with.
Creativity -- The need to try out some of one’s own ideas.
Independence -- The need to be able to work alone on the job.
Moral values -- The need to be able to work without feeling it is wrong.
Recognition -- The need for approval and acknowledgment for the work one does.
Responsibility -- The need to make decisions on one’s own.
Security -- The need for steady employment.
Social service -- The need to be able to do things for other people.
Social status -- The need to be “somebody” in the community.
Supervision – human relations -- The need for a boss who backs up the workers.
Supervision – technical --The need for a boss who trains the workers well.
Variety -- The need to do something different every day.
Working conditions -- The need for safe, clean, and secure conditions.

Six values underlying these needs that are important for a work environment are:
1) Safety (predictable and stable).
2) Comfort (comfortable and free of stress).
3) Status (provides recognition and prestige).
4) Altruism (fosters harmony with and service to others).
5) Achievement (encourages accomplishments).
6) Autonomy (stimulate initiative).

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