Abstract - Annales. Etyka w życiu gospodarczym

Menedżerowie i mafiosi: etyka motywowania w autobiografich self-made manów
Autor: Michał Szukała
Artykuł opublikowany w „Annales. Etyka w życiu gospodarczym” 2015, vol. 18, nr 1, s. 83-94
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Stable URL: http://www.annalesonline.uni.lodz.pl/archiwum/2015/2015_1_szukala_83_94.pdf
Manages and Mafisi: Ethics of Motivation in the Autobiographies of Self-Made Men
Author: Michał Szukała
Source: ‘Annales. Ethics in Economic Life’ 2015, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 83-94
Published by Lodz University Press
Stable URL: http://www.annalesonline.uni.lodz.pl/archiwum/2015/2015_1_szukala_83_94.pdf
© Copyright by Uniwersytet Łódzki, Łódź 2015
Annales. Etyka w życiu gospodarczym / Annales. Ethics in Economic Life 2015
Vol. 18, No. 1, February 2015, 83-94
Michał Szukała
Uniwersytet Warszawski
Wydział Zarządzania
e-mail: [email protected]
Manages and Mafiosi: Ethics of Motivation
in the Autobiographies of Self-Made Men
The paper is an attempt to verify the assumptions of the motivation-hygiene theory
by Frederick Herzberg in the context of the values and practices of leading managers of the U.S. economy. The two-factor theory is a part of every synthesis of
management science, although its assumptions raise serious controversies. The
subject matter of the analysis is the biographies of the most prominent managers,
such as Henry Ford, Lee Iacocca, Walter P. Chrysler and Jordan Belfort (known as
the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’). The basic aim of the analysis is to check their biographical story in the context of their motivation issues. The selection of characters has been imposed by the feature of being self-made men.
It seems that their descriptions of how to motivate employees may be interpreted as a specific manifestation of values important to them in the perception of
economic life and the interpersonal relations in structures of corporations functioning in different market circumstances. The choice of source materials from
different historical moments and different economic spheres shows a conversion
of values and goals in the American economy. One of the results of the analysis is
the observation that Herzberg's theory does not reflect the multiplicity of factors
that may have a significant impact on the motivation of employees to perform
their duties as well as possible. One of the aims of the discussion is to indicate the
unusual source material, considered by many researchers as anecdotal, as potentially attractive for analyses in the field of the management sciences.
Keywords: motivation, autobiography, ethos, corporation, manager
JEL Classification: M12, M54, N22