The Limitations of Conventional Motivation Theories in the Context of the Arguement that 'Motivation is a Surrogate for Meaning'

English (OpenAlex)

ABSTRACT In today's business, human factor attracts great attention due to its core significance for the success of the organization as a whole. As long as individuals work, produce and consume, the market cycle will not be disturbed and thus will keep going. This signifies the dependence of organizations on individuals such that if there is no individual working for a company, then that company has no existence. Therefore, almost all organizations are concerned with managing their employees' motivation in order to sustain continuity and they impose restrictions on them for the sake of order and efficiency. Motivation theories are used to realize these purposes by providing analytical tools. Unfortunately, these conventional theories could not go beyond being a tool for shaping, influencing and manipulating human behaviour. In the light of these arguments, by looking from a philosophical perspective it is reasonable to assume that whole notion of motivation is the genuine problem itself. This article will argue that whenever the meaning is lost from work, motivation theories emerge to recreate the meaning and become a “surrogate” for it. This stimulates the denial of death and thus reinforces the notion of immortality of organizations. In response, this illusion makes the present meaningless leading the way to deter the meaning to some future state. The idea behind this movement to future states hides in itself the notion of progress and improvement continuously. From managerial perspective, the article will discuss that programmes such as total quality management are applied to almost every part of the organization – work, product, service – and even to the people, to measure the achievement towards future goals and to sustain control; in the end, resulting in loss of motivation. Keywords Motivation, Conventional Theories, a Surrogate for Meaning, Meaning at Work, Loss of Motivation