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From your personal experience (the experience can be of any of the group members, it can be

from any situation, not necessarily only from the work context) identify two situations where you

found individual/s (either one or more) highly motivated in one and highly demotivated in

another situation and analyze the two situations on the following lines:

1. Describe the two situations with relevant details and analyse them. Why do you come to

the conclusion that individuals are motivated/ demotivated?

2. Why is it that individual/s are motivated in one and demotivated in another?

3. Apply the theories of motivation and explain the phenomena through the lens of various

theories, which theory/ theories explain the phenomena the best and why? You can compare

and contrast with the cases and class discussions as well.

4. What are the learnings for HRM from the two examples? Elaborate.

MOTIVATION

Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some

should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.

- Paul Coelho

The latter part of the quote stands too apt and true in context of a real-life incident that happened

with one of our group members during the early days of his corporate career. This incident is a

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manifestation of how at times just a chance event can alter the thoughts and have a significant

bearing on the human mind on a particular aspect of life. Here goes the incident, as a first person

account.

It was a lovely evening. The sun was about to set, partly being juxtaposed by clouds in the

glorious evening sky. I was packing my bag to leave from office, when I got a call from my team

lead to have some snacks at the nearby MacDonalds outlet. Being a weekend, I did not mind it

either.

Fifteen minutes later we were comfortably seated at MacDonalds, chatting about workplace,

cricket, politics and what not. We were both feeling quite hungry, so I went to get us burgers and

French fries. The girl at the counter apologetically told me that the fries would take some time,

and meanwhile we could have the burgers and get the fries in five minutes. Just then, as if in

office, my lead called out as to what was causing the delay and I merely shook my head and

started walking back towards our table with the burgers. Barely a couple of minutes had passed

that the same girl appeared at our table with the French fries in a considerable state of

excitement. She addressed my lead, Hello sir, how are you doing? Do you recognize me? We

both were surprised and he answered in the negative. Then she said, I guessed so, I was just 14

years old at that time. I am Radha, and I was a part of the group of village children whom you

taught English and basic Computing as a part of the CSR initiative of your company. She went

on to profusely thank him of how that education had helped her immensely to build up basic

English reading and writing skills, and how today she was pursuing her graduation while at the

same time working at McDonalds as a part time job to support her family and her education. She

said, I just cannot thank you enough for your efforts, they have changed my life. I will forever

be indebted to you sir. With tearful eyes, she left. I was dumbstruck, and my lead wore an

expression of pride and vanity. He then told me in detail about the ongoing CSR initiative whichmost of us had recently joined in our team, how it started five years back in the company and

what was it like then compared with the times today, its implications for the company and so on

and so forth. We discussed it for around an hour and then left for our respective abodes.

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Back at home, this incident left me pondering. The purpose for which almost each one of us had

joined CSR was because the participation certificate awarded at the end of the program

guaranteed an added credential to our resume, and consequently resulting in a better performance

appraisal. It was our extrinsic motivation per se. However after todays happenings, I realized a

much broader perspective of Corporate Social Responsibility and the fruits it bore. With only

some of my time and efforts, I could actually impact and alter the life of a fellow human being in

a significant manner. That feeling in itself was amazing and can hardly be expressed in words.

This incident was, truly a life-inspiring experience and I would never forget it.