Motivation in knowledge workers

Traditional theories that form the basis of workplace motivation may be inadequate to manage workers in the knowledge-based economy. Knowledge workers are a growing segment of the workforce, and their needs differ from previous generations of employees. How managers can best motivate knowledge workers towards greater performance and employee satisfaction may not have a definitive answer, however we will explore the effectiveness of some of the commonly used practices in the current workplace. Knowledge workers add value to a company\u27s products and services by applying their knowledge. The self-determination theory (SDT) is considered a more encompassing theory than the traditional motivation theories (Ankli & Palliam, 2012) and provides the appropriate framework to understand motivation in knowledge workers. SDT makes the distinction between autonomous and controlled motivation (R. M. Ryan & Deci, 2000b) , where the range of motivation types range on a continuum from intrinsic motivation through to amotivation, classified into 6 subclasses. The aim of this thesis is to examine some of the factors that may impact the motivation of knowledge workers. These related factors of motivation were not previously considered in the traditional motivation theories, however are highly applicable approaches used to motivate knowledge workers in the current workplace. A quantitative approach has been taken to address the following research questions through three independent studies: 1. Is a knowledge worker’s motivation related to their personality traits? 2. How important is pay on the motivation of knowledge workers? 3. Does the motivation of knowledge workers differ significantly between age groups? 4. Are feedback and goal setting effective methods to motivate knowledge workers? The first study validates Tremblay’s SDT model using the data collected from our sample of 935 knowledge workers, which shows the subclasses of motivation are correlated. Addressing Research Question “1 - Is a knowledge worker’s motivation related to their personality traits?”, a number of related hypotheses on the role of personality traits on the impact on motivation and work satisfaction were tested, and found that personality traits have a weak or negligible impact on the motivation of knowledge workers. Though compensation is often a major consideration for employees when they are seeking work, specific academic research in the area of using pay as a source of motivation has been limited. In the second study, 630 knowledge workers completed the Work Values Questionnaire, which consists of 37 items consisting of both intrinsic and extrinsic work values. The second study aims to answer Research Question “2 - How important is pay on the motivation of knowledge workers?”. Pay was rated to be an important work value, however the intrinsic factors stimulation, balance, independence, and intellect rated more important to knowledge workers. Contrary to articles published in the popular press about generational cohorts, there is little theoretical justification or empirical data to support age-related differences (Ruth Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004a) . Our findings add to the limited quantifiable data on the topic of age-related differences in motivation. Using data collected in the first and second study, knowledge worker participants were used to collect data to assess the level of work motivation, job satisfaction, and other work-related values to address Research Question “3 - Does the motivation of knowledge workers differ significantly between age groups?”. Age did not have a significant effect on most work-related values. Work motivation was found to increase with age, however the importance of extrinsic incentive decreases with age. The practice of goal setting and feedback are commonly used methods in workplace performance management systems. Research Question “4 - Are feedback and goal setting effective methods to motivate knowledge workers?” In the third study, consisting of 730 knowledge worker participants, the majority of the hypotheses were found to be unsupported, indicating that goal setting and feedback are ineffective methods in increasing employee engagement and motivation, or enhancing performance. The findings of these three independent studies makes a contribution to furthering knowledge in terms of the factors affecting the motivation levels of knowledge workers in Australia

Characterizing the Cortical Contributions to Working Memory-Guided Obstacle Locomotion

While walking in complex environments, the ability to acquire information about objects in our surroundings is essential for successful obstacle negotiation. Furthermore, the ease with which most animals can traverse cluttered terrain while grazing, exploring, or hunting is facilitated by the capacity to store obstacle information in working memory (WM). However, the underlying neural substrates supporting such complex behaviours are poorly understood. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to examine the neural underpinnings of WM-guided obstacle negotiation in the walking cat. Obstacle locomotion was studied in two main paradigms, characterized by whether obstacle presence was detected via vision or touch. In both paradigms, walking was delayed following foreleg obstacle clearance. When walking resumed, elevated hindleg stepping demonstrated that animals successfully remembered the obstacle beneath them. The tactile paradigm was first examined to assess the ability of animals to remember an unexpected obstacle over which the forelegs had tripped. Such tactile input to the forelegs was capable of producing a robust, long-lasting WM of the obstacle, similar to what has been previously described using the visual paradigm. Next, to assess whether regions of the brain associated with spatial representation and movement planning contribute to these behaviours, parietal area 5 was reversibly deactivated as visual or tactile obstacle WM was tested. Such deactivations resulted in substantial WM deficits precluding successful avoidance in both paradigms. To further characterize this cortical contribution, neural activity was then recorded with multi-electrode arrays implanted in area 5. While diverse patterns of task-related modulation were observed, only a small proportion of neurons demonstrated WM-related activity. These neurons exhibited the hallmark property of sustained delay period activity associated with WM maintenance, and were able to reliably discern whether or not the animal had stepped over an obstacle prior to the delay. Therefore, only a specialized subset of area 5 neurons is capable of maintaining stable representations of obstacle information in WM. Altogether, this work extends our understanding of WM-guided obstacle locomotion in the cat. Additionally, these findings provide insight into the neural circuitry within the posterior parietal cortex, which likely supports a variety of WM-guided behaviours

Optimizing Music Learning: The Effects of Contextual Interference on Memorization

The purpose of this study was to assess if blocked or interleaved practice learning was more effective for memorizing music, and to assess if metacognitive judgements aligned with performance. The study included 21 proficient pianists who regularly engage in piano practice. Participants learnt two excerpts and two technical studies, and played them from memory on both day 1 and day 2 of testing. Performances were recorded and rated by an expert in the field on a percentage scale. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA analysis revealed no significant main effect of day on practice schedule, (F(1,20) = .15, p = 0.70, ηp2 = .01), or schedule on day, (F(1,20) = 1.03, p = .32, ηp2 = .05), with no significant interaction between the two variables (F(1,20) = 3.20, p = .77). Results revealed that metacognitive judgements did not align with performance. Although results were not significant, overall performance under the interleaved condition was slightly better than the blocked condition, indicating that there may be some benefits to interleaved practice. This warrants further research on how the contextual interference effect impacts memorization amongst pianists

Quantifying Nonequilibrium Behavior with Varying Cooling Rates

We investigate nonequilibrium behavior in (1+1)-dimensional stochastic field theories in the context of Ginzburg-Landau models at varying cooling rates. We argue that a reliable measure of the departure from thermal equilibrium can be obtained from the absolute value of the rate of change of the momentum-integrated structure function, $\Delta S_{\rm{tot}}$. We show that the peak of $\Delta S_{\rm{tot}}$ scales with the cooling, or quench, time-scale, $\tau_q$, in agreement with the prediction by Laguna and Zurek for the scaling of freeze-out time in both over and under-damped regimes. Furthermore, we show that the amplitude of the peak scales as $\tau_q^{-6/5}$ independent of the viscosity.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Reversible cooling-induced deactivations to study cortical contributions to obstacle memory in the walking cat

On complex, naturalistic terrain, sensory information about an environmental obstacle can be used to rapidly adjust locomotor movements for avoidance. For example, in the cat, visual information about an impending obstacle can modulate stepping for avoidance. Locomotor adaptation can also occur independent of vision, as sudden tactile inputs to the leg by an expected obstacle can modify the stepping of all four legs for avoidance. Such complex locomotor coordination involves supraspinal structures, such as the parietal cortex. This protocol describes the use of reversible, cooling-induced cortical deactivation to assess parietal cortex contributions to memory-guided obstacle locomotion in the cat. Small cooling loops, known as cryoloops, are specially shaped to deactivate discrete regions of interest to assess their contributions to an overt behavior. Such methods have been used to elucidate the role of parietal area 5 in memory-guided obstacle avoidance in the cat

Hip Labral Injury Worsens After Platelet Rich Plasma Injections: A Case Report

Case Description A 47-year-old active male presented with 2.5 years of right hip pain suggestive of labral pathology. Ice, heat, celecoxib, ibuprofen, diclofenac gel, and physical therapy provided minimal relief. A diagnostic intra-articular bupivacaine injection resolved the pain. A subsequent MR arthrogram revealed a non-displaced tear of the right anterior superior acetabular labrum. In pursuit of conservative treatment, the patient agreed to a series of 3 right hip intra-articular PRP (platelet rich plasma) injections. When he presented for the second injection, he reported his pain had decreased by 20% and he was tolerating light running. Due to improvement in symptoms, an MR arthrogram was ordered to evaluate for structural change. The repeat MR arthrogram showed slightly increased displacement of the labral tear. Conclusion and Discussion There is evidence that PRP can improve pain and function in patients with hip labral tears1. Structural change through PRP injection for hip labral tears has not been previously evaluated. In this case, PRP appeared to decrease the patient’s pain and improve function, but subsequent imaging showed worsening of the labral injury. Functional improvement did not correlate with structural improvement. This may be due to a variety of factors, such as increased activity following PRP procedures, or improved anti-inflammatory and cytokine involvement in the hip joint following PRP leading to pain relief rather than tissue regeneration. PRP appears to be a safe and conservative option for decreasing pain and improving function in hip labral tears. However, more studies are needed to delineate the etiology of pain relief following PRP, as MRI imaging revealed apparent worsening of labral injury despite patient’s improvement in pain. Future large studies should include follow-up imaging to assess for correlation of functional change and structural change

Stable Delay Period Representations in the Posterior Parietal Cortex Facilitate Working-Memory-Guided Obstacle Negotiation

In complex environments, information about surrounding obstacles is stored in working memory (WM) and used to coordinate appropriate movements for avoidance. In quadrupeds, this WM system is particularly important for guiding hindleg stepping, as an animal can no longer see the obstacle underneath the body following foreleg clearance. Such obstacle WM involves the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), as deactivation of area 5 incurs WM deficits, precluding successful avoidance. However, the neural underpinnings of this involvement remain undefined. To reveal the neural substrates of this behavior, microelectrode arrays were implanted to record neuronal activity in area 5 during an obstacle WM task in cats. Early in the WM delay, neurons were modulated generally by obstacle presence or more specifically in relation to foreleg step height. Thus, information about the obstacle or about foreleg clearance can be retained in WM. In a separate set of neurons, this information was recalled later in the delay in order to plan subsequent hindleg stepping. Such early and late delay period signals were temporally bridged by neurons exhibiting obstacle-modulated activity sustained throughout the delay. These neurons represented a specialized subset of all recorded neurons, which maintained stable information coding across the WM delay. Ultimately, these various patterns of task-related modulation enable stable representations of obstacle-related information within the PPC to support successful WM-guided obstacle negotiation in the cat

The association of types of training and practice settings with doctors’ empathy and patient enablement among patients with chronic illness in Hong Kong

Background: The increase in non-communicable disease (NCD) is becoming a global health problem and there is an increasing need for primary care doctors to look after these patients although whether family doctors are adequately trained and prepared is unknown. Objective: This study aimed to determine if doctors with family medicine (FM) training are associated with enhanced empathy in consultation and enablement for patients with chronic illness as compared to doctors with internal medicine training or without any postgraduate training in different clinic settings. Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey using the validated Chinese version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure as well as Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI) for evaluation of quality and outcome of care. 14 doctors from hospital specialist clinics (7 with family medicine training, and 7 with internal medicine training) and 13 doctors from primary care clinics (7 with family medicine training, and 6 without specialist training) were recruited. In total, they consulted 823 patients with chronic illness. The CARE Measure and PEI scores were compared amongst doctors in these clinics with different training background: family medicine training, internal medicine training and those without specialist training. Generalized estimation equation (GEE) was used to account for cluster effects of patients nested with doctors. <b>Results</b> Within similar clinic settings, FM trained doctors had higher CARE score than doctors with no FM training. In hospital clinics, the difference of the mean CARE score for doctors who had family medicine training (39.2, SD = 7.04) and internal medicine training (35.5, SD = 8.92) was statistically significant after adjusting for consultation time and gender of the patient. In the community care clinics, the mean CARE score for doctors with family medicine training and those without specialist training were 32.1 (SD = 7.95) and 29.2 (SD = 7.43) respectively, but the difference was not found to be significant. For PEI, patients receiving care from doctors in the hospital clinics scored significantly higher than those in the community clinics, but there was no significant difference in PEI between patients receiving care from doctors with different training backgrounds within similar clinic setting. Conclusion: Family medicine training was associated with higher patient perceived empathy for chronic illness patients in the hospital clinics. Patient enablement appeared to be associated with clinic settings but not doctors’ training background. Training in family medicine and a clinic environment that enables more patient doctor time might help in enhancing doctors’ empathy and enablement for chronic illness patients

Memory-Guided Stumbling Correction in the Hindlimb of Quadrupeds Relies on Parietal Area 5

In complex environments, tripping over an unexpected obstacle evokes the stumbling corrective reaction, eliciting rapid limb hyperflexion to lift the leg over the obstruction. While stumbling correction has been characterized within a single limb in the cat, this response must extend to both forelegs and hindlegs for successful avoidance in naturalistic settings. Furthermore, the ability to remember an obstacle over which the forelegs have tripped is necessary for hindleg clearance if locomotion is delayed. Therefore, memory-guided stumbling correction was studied in walking cats after the forelegs tripped over an unexpected obstacle. Tactile input to only one foreleg was often sufficient in modulating stepping of all four legs when locomotion was continuous, or when hindleg clearance was delayed. When obstacle height was varied, animals appropriately scaled step height to obstacle height. As tactile input without foreleg clearance was insufficient in reliably modulating stepping, efference, or proprioceptive information about modulated foreleg stepping may be important for producing a robust, long-lasting memory. Finally, cooling-induced deactivation of parietal area 5 altered hindleg stepping in a manner indicating that animals no longer recalled the obstacle over which they had tripped. Altogether, these results demonstrate the integral role area 5 plays in memory-guided stumbling correction