Ms all de un sustituto de la motivacin

摘要

The image of man as presented in the predominant organizational theoriesof motivation does not accord with the author experience of working withpeople in organizations. This dissonance has led to a critique of the concept ofmotivation and its inherent theoretical shortcomings as to the reality of peoplein organizations. The main argument of this essay, however, stems from a metacritical perspective according to which the notion of motivation and its referranttheories can be regarded as scientific inventions. The hypothesis is offered andelaborated that motivation is a surrogate for meaning, i.e. for the meaning of workand life which is increasingly lost through the high frequency of fragmentation andsplitting in our contemporary work enterprises. Any attempt towards discoveringexistential dimensions of meaning can be accomplished only if social scientists,managers and workers alike, both individually as well as collectively, again becomeaware of death as a fact of life; it is only through acknowledging mortality thathumanization can occur.