Motivation in Knowledge Intensive Firms - More art than science
Knowledge workerMotivationCultureRecruitmentRewardsManagement of enterprisesFöretagsledningManagementBusiness and Economics
Workers are more demanding than ever and stay a shorter amount of time within the same organization. For this reason we wanted to look further into how organizations work with motivation in order to create success in Knowledge Intensive Firms. The complexity of knowledge workers formed the base for our interest within the subject. The purpose of our thesis is to reflect upon what is written about the motivational effects of recruitment and reward strategies in Knowledge Intensive Firms. Further our essay is based on an abductive advocacy. Where we during our analysis we have been using a reflexive approach where we have always tried to challenge our existing interpretations. The empirical foundation consists of 9 scientific articles which is related to our purpose and were published in reliable journals. Additionally motivational theories developed by Maslow, Hertzberg and Vroom but also theory connected with the content of reward systems as well as recruitment strategies constitutes out frame of references. The result of our analysis showed that Knowledge Intensive Firms have to develop strong recruitment strategies and reward systems in order to lay the foundation for motivation. But still it is not these separate tools alone that will make the main difference in the effort of motivating knowledge workers. The mystery of motivation in knowledge intensive firms is instead the overall understanding of different cultural aspects.