Integrative Case Study: A Juggling Act

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Team H Integrative Case Study: A Juggling Act – Part 1 October 9, 2011 Identification Key Facts * Prior to becoming a parent Anna was a star performer, was promoted rapidly and received significant pay increases * After she had her daughter, Anna moved to part-time to allow her the flexibility of working and spending time with her daughter. * Anna’s motivation is now shared between being a mother and a “star performer” * Anna found that her work on an internal office project was unrewarding and she missed the pressure and satisfaction of working on a client site. * Anna became part of the management team of a large, client based project with tight deadlines and challenging work. * Anna is dissatisfied with…show more content…
She finds daily work challenges and working with driven people to be highly motivating and she sees herself as a “star” at work. Based on her beliefs of what makes a good parent, she is also highly motivated to be a devoted mother at home. The motivators are conflicting and she is feeling pressured, guilty, unhappy and stressed, The MARS model of individual behaviour and performance is a good illustration of Anna’s current difficult situation. Her behaviour and performance is deteriorating as role perceptions and situational factors clash with her motivators. Motivation – Anna much prefers the daily challenges of working on a client site over working on internal office projects. She is motivated in her work by skill variety. She identifies herself with the task and the significance of the work is much higher when working directly with clients. Being out in the field also affords more autonomy and job feedback is more direct since Anna is dealing directly with the client. These are all core components of the job characteristics model. Ability – Anna is well experienced in her role and has a great deal of ability in getting the job…show more content…
It also applies to Anna’s situation. Drive to acquire: This includes enhancing one’s self-concept through relative status and recognition in society. After going to part time, Anna watched peers race past her on their way to partnership. Anna was once among the foremost of the people in this race and her self-concept, confidence and self-esteem are negatively affected. There is even a brief nod to equity theory in this. Some of her peers are also parents but have chosen to hire nannies and continue to work full time. This gives them the advantage at work and creates feelings of inequity in Anna. Drive to Bond: Anna needs to develop the special bond of mother and daughter. Anna also wants to nurture the relationships she worked hard to create with her employer, co-workers and church group. She is now finding social interaction to be stressful because she feels under constant pressure to get work done. Drive to learn: Anna used to find new daily challenges to be stimulating and motivating. With her current situations, she is finding them stressful and
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