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    Danish students perceive the governmental proposal of

    the SU reform

    an individuals know-how

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    Abstract

    This project aims at investigating how the Danish students perceive the governmental

    proposal of the SU reform, which has the intention to stimulate human capital (anindividuals know-how). Through the students ees, the project will demonstrate

    their perception on which incentives are the ones that can motivate them to complete

    their degree within the nominated time, as well as ac!uiring the sufficient amount of

    human capital directed towards the Danish industr.

    Through the method of focus groups, we discovered that the Danish students regard the

    governmental proposal as "eing an appropriate method to get students faster through

    their educational program. # using Daniel $. %in&s theor onAutonomy, Mastery and

    Purpose we have realised the e'istence of other methods to get students faster through

    the educational program. dditionall, the students e'pressed that when it comes to

    ac!uiring the needed human capital towards the Danish industr, the governmental

    proposal will not provide the ade!uate human capital. n the other hand, to o"tain the

    sufficient human capital the theor onAutonomy, Mastery and Purpose is, according to

    the students, one of the right incentives to ac!uire such.

    Acknowledgements

    *irst of all we would li&e to than& the students from +os&ilde Universit and

    openhagen #usiness School, for participating in our focus groups, " sharing their

    e'periences and opinions, which have ena"led us to conduct this investigation. -e

    would also li&e to than& esper espersen, ens %eter Thompsen and $ans age for

    providing &nowledge on the matter, and for enlightening us on our field of investigation.

    Special than&s go to #elisa /te0erote arochi, our supervisor, for the guidance and

    support, during the entire process.

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    List of Contents

    1./ntroduction .................................................................................................................... 2

    1.1 %ro"lem rea ........................................................................................................... 2

    1.2 %ro"lem *ormulation ............................................................................................... 2

    1.3 +esearch 4uestions .................................................................................................. 3

    +esearch Design ............................................................................................................... 5

    2.#ac&ground hapter ....................................................................................................... 6

    3.Theoretical hapter ........................................................................................................ 7

    3.1 /ntroduction to Theoretical *ramewor& ................................................................... 7

    3.2 Description of Theor 8 ......................................................................................... 7

    3.3 utonom, aster and %urpose " Daniel $. %in& ............................................... 9

    3.5 naltical *ramewor& ............................................................................................ 1:

    3.; perationalisation of the Theories ........................................................................ 11

    5. ethodolog ................................................................................................................ 13

    5.1 The ntolog and Data nalsis ......................................................................................................... 1;

    5.7 +elia"ilit and ?alidit .......................................................................................... 1;

    ;.%re@analsis ................................................................................................................... 16

    6.nalsis ........................................................................................................................ 1>

    6.1 #S aster ............................................................................................................ 1>

    6.2 #S %hD ................................................................................................................ 2:

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    6.3 +U aster .............................................................................................................. 22

    6.5 +U %hD .................................................................................................................. 25

    6.; %art@onclusion ......................................................................................................26

    6.6 Discussion A %art 2 .................................................................................................2>

    >.onclusion .................................................................................................................... 27

    7.%ost@onclusion ............................................................................................................ 29

    9.#i"liograph ................................................................................................................. 3:

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    1. Introduction

    1.1 Problem AreaDuring the financial crisis in Denmar&, the ongoing de"ate is now how to enter a

    sustaina"le period of economical growth. /n the centre of the de"ate is how Denmar&

    can uphold and &eep its competitive advantages within the &e competence fields of the

    Danish industr (SBrensen, 2:1:). mong the political parties in Denmar& there is a

    consensus regarding an increased educational level of the individual citi0en (D+, 2:11),

    also recognised asHuman apital, as the catalst to stimulatethe Danish industr and

    its competitive advantagesC there" increasing the productivit and the overall

    economical growth (*, 2:1:). $uman capital is associated throughout the de"ate as an

    individuals know-how, (E) a!uired and use"ul abilities o" #an$ inhabitant (E)

    (Smith, 2::3)1. The essentialit to human capital should "e to diminish the gap "etween

    the structures of !ualification, meaning the !ualification an individual gets from

    learning, to the la"our mar&et. The human capital !ualifications should "e made more

    efficient and transfera"le for the la"our mar&et, instead of the &nowledge "ecoming

    wasteful and placed within a "oo& that onl collects dust on a shelf (Dahl, 2:11).

    Therefore, an agreed purpose has "ecome to diminish the e'istent gap "etween the

    structure of !ualification and the needs of the Danish industr (la"our mar&et).

    "taining such is recognised as "eing one motive to ac!uire the competitive advantage

    of the Danish industr in the world spectrum (*rederi&sen et al., 2:11).

    s an incentive to reduce the former mentioned gap and stimulate human capital, the

    current government (The Fi"eral %art, onservative %art) and the Danish %eoples

    %art, have proposed a political reform of the Danish students grants and loans scheme

    (SU) in the alread emplaced educational sstem. The reform depicts a governmental

    reduction on e'penditure of the SU, corresponding to the *inancial Faw 2:11

    proposition of a reduction on e'penditure within the educational sector. The reform has,

    among others, two measuresC (1) to allow the mar&et (industries) a greater connection to

    1dam SmithG The ac!uisition of such talents, " the maintenance of the ac!uirer during his education,stud, or apprenticeship, alwas costs a real e'pense, which is a capital fi'ed and reali0ed, as it were, in

    his person. Those talents, as the ma&e a part of his fortune, so do the li&ewise that of the societ to

    which he "elongs (Smith, 2::3).

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    education " increasing students lowest marginal earning (2) to motivate students to

    ac!uire their educational degree faster, ma&ing them more rapidl availa"le for the

    la"our mar&et2. (Uvm, 2:1:). To motivate the students to ac!uire their Universit

    degree more rapidl, in order to gain human capital, the government follows a

    motivational approach corresponding to Douglas c=regors theory %on reward and

    punishment (Findemann, 2:1:) H (ndersen

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    Spo&esman for Danish students living conditions, !uestion whether the motivational

    approach set " the government will affect the individual students to "ehave the wa the

    government e'pects them to "ehave (Ilingse, 2:11) H (ndersen

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    the nominated time but it is !uestionable i" they have a!uired the skills needed "or

    "illin' in the 'ap(=reve, 2:11).

    ccording to the *inancial inistr on the decomposition of the socio@economical

    "enefits in emploment and productivit efficienc, figures illustrate that the higher

    education ou o"tain, the more societ "enefits in regards to emploment and

    productivit efficienc (ndersen H adsen, 2:11). Therefore, for our investigation it

    will "e relevant to investigate aster students as the are the ones societ will "enefit

    the most from A concerning higher income, greater ta' returns as well as longer la"our

    mar&et attachment. Ta&ing into consideration the a"ove mentioned aspects in regarding

    the challenges on the macro@scale and the argumentations towards and against the

    governmental incentives to provide the la"our mar&et with highlL educated potential

    emploees, the following investigation will e'plore and e'amine various motivational

    factors that are, " aster students, considered "eing the appropriate approach to

    motivate and diminish the gap. ur investigation will "e conducted with the purpose in

    mind of producing a proposal, which can "e presented to the Danish government, for

    them to implement, on how to motivate the Danish students to terminate their master

    degree within the nominated time. This should "e conducted in order for the Danish

    industr to gain as stated a"oveC the re!uired highlL educated potential emploees. /n

    approaching this field, Daniel $. %in&s motivational wor& on Autonomy, Mastery and

    Purpose and Douglas c=regors (heory %on reward and punishment, will "e

    utilised for e'amining the following investigation.

    1.) Problem *ormulation

    $ow do individual students perceive the motivational incentive in the governmental

    planC terminating a master degree on nominated time, and how does it, according to the

    students, respond to the need for human capital re!uired " the Danish industrM

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    1.+ esearh uestions

    +esearch 4uestion 1G

    a) $ow does the individual student perceive the e'trinsic motivational incentive

    proposed " the governmentC reducing the SU of a master degree to the

    nominated timeM

    ") $ow does the individual student perceive the intrinsic motivational factors to

    terminate a master degree within the nominated timeM

    +esearch 4uestion 2G

    $ow does the human capital ac!uired " the individual students, unfolded

    within their motivational statements, respond to the need " the Danish

    industrM

    Main e" init ions

    Economic growth: is the process " which a nations wealth increases over time.

    $uman resources, capital resources and technological development can influence the

    rate of economic growth (#usinessdictionar, 2:11).

    igher educationG in our case we define higher education as "eing a two@ear graduate

    program to "e entered after three ears of undergraduate studies. # having completed

    this two@ear graduate program, a student will receive a master degree that can provide

    one with a jo" in line with ones education (

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    productivit, and assuma"l there is "oth a private and socio@economical production

    gain in education (#ec&er, $uman apital, 2:11).

    !ominated timeG to finish the education degree within the time set for the education,plus an additional si' months.

    SU reformG is a contractionar fiscal polic introduced " the Danish government in

    2:1:. /ts aim is to create economic growth and emploment " ma&ing students finish

    their education to the nominated time (Uvm, 2:1:).

    "arget groupA -e define our target group as "eing aster and %hD students from

    +os&ilde Universit (+U) and openhagen #usiness School (#S).

    1:

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    #esearch Design

    /hapter ) - 0ak'round /hapter

    The content of the "ac&ground chapter consists of several sections that each aim at

    e'plaining how the concept of human capital and how universities provide it.

    *urthermore, the concept of human capital and its attachment to the notion of

    economical growth will "e illustrated. dditionall, it serves to provide a fundamental

    understanding of the governmental reason for implementing the SU reform as a mean to

    achieve economical growth.

    /hapter + - (heoretial /hapter

    This chapter aims to portra the workin' toolson how to manage our e'planator

    investigation. /t will provide an insight into the theories " Douglas c=regor and

    Daniel $. %in& in depth as well as the operationalisation of the two theories. The

    chapter commences with a description of different was of loo&ing at human "eings,

    followed up " introducing the theoretical concepts. There", we go on to implement

    the analtical framewor& and the operationalisation of the theories. t the end of this

    section, the aim is to have provided a sufficient understanding of the theoretical "ase for

    the investigation.

    /hapter - Methodolo'y

    This chapter will provide the reader with how we have conducted and uncovered our

    findings. This includes the ontological stance, methodological approach, guidelines to

    focus groups, collection and processing of primar data, data analsis and relia"ilit and

    validit.

    /hapter 2 - Pre-Analysis

    This chapter will provide an overview of the themes, within the concepts of our chosen

    theories, which were detected during our coding process. dditionall, a figure will

    present the structure of the analsis.

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    /hapter 3 - Analysis

    The first part of our analsis is "ased upon research !uestion 1 part a) and "), as&ing

    how the students perceive the intrinsic and e'trinsic motivational factors to terminate amaster degree at the nominated time. This part of the analsis has "een separated into

    four parts, each one representing one of the four focus groups that have "een conducted.

    -ith the statements on motivation we have coded various themes. The second part of

    the analsis answers the second research !uestion "eingG how the human capital,

    ac!uired " the students through their statements, responds to the need of the Danish

    industr, " using the findings from the first part of the analsis. # using the themes

    created to answer the second research !uestion, the intention is to discuss how the

    students see their ac!uired human capital responding to the Danish industr.

    /hapter 4 - /onlusion

    /n the overall conclusion, we summarise our findings from the analsis and discussion

    to provide a reflection upon our pro"lem formulation.

    /hapter 5 - Post /onlusion

    The post conclusion serves to portra a reflection upon our choices, which we have

    ta&en throughout our research and the effects the have had on our investigation. -e

    discuss what other choices could have "een implemented and how the investigation

    could "e carried out further. s we approach the research field !ualitativel, we will

    e'amine how this field, given the results, could have "een conducted !uantitativel.

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    $. %ackground &hapter

    s the aim of the government is to gain competitive advantage, the concept of $uman

    apital and its relation to economic growth "ecomes essential. The government relies,

    among others, on an e!uili"rium model, which proposes a change in fiscal polic "

    reducing the time spent ac!uiring a master degree. The governments strateg is to

    arrive at this result, " their proposal of the SU reform, which intends to reduce the time

    spent ac!uiring a master degree. The aim with the following chapter is to provide the

    reader with an understanding of the conte'tual framewor& that our investigation

    operates in. -ithin this realm, it is necessar to demonstrate the human capital concept

    in an economical growth perspective and wh the government considers it to "e of

    importance to motivate students to finish a degree within the nominated time.

    uman &apital

    The concept of human capital stems "ac& from the 19;:s, where leading economists

    such as lfred arshall and ilton *riedman assumed that la"our power was a given

    entit and not augmenta"le. t that time it was not considered that human@"eings could

    educate, train, have medical care and incorporate other methods to augment their

    &nowledge and health to increase their own productivit (Schult0, 1963, pp. 1@2:).

    lthough the comparisons were made according to land, la"our, enterprise and capital,

    the implication of e'plaining the economical sstem simpl lac&ed this dimension of

    human capital. The economical sstem was not a"le to e'plain wh national output

    differed from one another. ccording to Theodore -. Schult0, human capital is a

    su"stantial part of production in deli"erate investments, and therefore it is to "e

    considered an aspect of the economical sstem (Schult0, 1963).

    =ar S. #ec&er formulated in his No"el price lecture, (he 6onomi 7ay o" 8ookin' at

    8i"e9 :;< =ndividuals ma&imi>e wel"are as they oneive it, whether they be sel"ish,

    altruisti, loyal, spite"ul, or masohisti. (heir behavior is "orward-lookin', and it is

    also onsistent over time. =n partiular, they try as best they an to antiipate the

    unertain onse!uenes o" their ations :;

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    and the costs in regards to education, training and investing in medical care. The

    "enefits include, for instance, cultural and other non@monetar gains along with

    improvements in earnings and occupations, and some of the costs include the foregone

    value of the time spent on these investments.

    *urthermore, #ec&er distinguishes "etween general and specific &nowledge in the

    creation of human capital. Specific &nowledge is understood as &nowledge that can onl

    "e utilised in a conte't dependent situation. ne e'ample is firm@specific &nowledge,

    which is onl useful in the firm providing it. =eneral &nowledge on the other hand can

    "e utilised in a conte't independent situation e.g. ac!uiring &nowledge on how to

    operate a personal computer is considered general &nowledge, which can "e utilised not

    onl in one specific conte't (#ec&er, $uman apital, 1993).

    Inowledge, in terms of specific and general, can "e ac!uired at universities, where it is

    considered that providing &nowledge can enhance large and diverse sets of s&ills

    (#ec&er, $uman apital, 1993, p. ;1).

    uman &apital and Economical 'rowth

    /n Denmar& the correlation "etween human capital and economical growth can "e seenin the wor& proposed " Fars ndersen and artin adsen in the "oo& en ?""entli'e

    @ektors konomi. The showcase that firms utilise more efficientl their monetar

    capital per wor&ing hour with a "etter educated la"our force. This can, according to

    ndersen and adsen, "e seen in that the Danish firms have increased their profit "

    2.3O in the period "etween the ears 19>: A 2::>, and in addition a relative constant

    contri"ution from the heightened la"our forces educational level has occurred.

    $owever, the la"our forces educational level will slowl change over time, as the

    process of education, in an economical perspective, is a long@term investment.

    Therefore, educating in a faster pace will contri"ute to more productivit and

    economical growth (ndersen H adsen, 2:11, pp. 122@123).

    ccording to ndersen and adsen, education and research are the central engines to

    create economic growth. /t is assumed that enhanced education, research, innovation

    and investments in new technolog are the central elements in order to strengthen

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    productivit in the societ and there" growth and prosperit (ndersen H adsen,

    2:11, pp. 122@123).

    "(pe of education: Disposable life income) m. kr.:

    Uns&illed 9.2

    ?ocational

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    showed that the average wages of college graduates declined after adjusting for

    inflation. *urthermore, over the past !uarter@centur, the average cost of higher

    education has increased at a rate four times faster than inflation Q and twice as fast as

    the cost of health care. *rom an economic point of view, a college degree costs more

    and more and the rates of returns are "ecoming less. %ut "luntl, in an op@ed " oseph

    arr ronin and $oward

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    *urthermore, it incorporates suppl and demand as not necessaril attaining mar&et

    e!uili"rium when suppl and demand e!ual each other, "ut indicates that another

    possi"le e!uili"rim is of e'istence. The model contains data from the most significant

    mar&ets, such as the financial A and goods mar&et, allowing mar&ets to effect one

    another. The implication, for the economical sstem analsis, is su"stantiated within the

    following paragraph (D+

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    indicates that this will heighten the education level, which will increase human capital

    and there" the Danish industr can ac!uire competitive advantages, which will lead to

    future economical growth.

    *romoting uman &apital through +otivational Incentives

    /n order to fasten students completion rate, the governmental strateg needs to

    incorporate students "ehaviour as an essential dimension. Dependent on how the

    students "ehave, whether the finish their degree on nominated time or not, has a direct

    impact on human capital. Therefore, to achieve the positive impact, the government

    needs to motivate the students to fasten their completion rate (Uvm, 2:1:).

    otivation "ecomes the essential su"ject of investigation, as it is a wa to promote or

    change a certain &ind of "ehaviour. otivation is a tool that the government can use to

    o"tain its goals and o"jectives. otivation needs to "e stimulated towards the

    o"jectives otherwise the "ehaviour of those supposed to "e motivated, will onl remain

    constant. The governmental strateg utilises, to reach its o"jectives, motivational

    incentives proposed within the SU reform, the aspects of, diminishing the distri"ution

    period of the SU and a "onus provision. This approach is conducted on the premises to

    stimulate more human capital to ena"le more productivit and economical growth

    (Uvm, 2:1:).

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    ,. "heoretical &hapter

    The first section of this chapter provides an introduction to the fundamental

    assumptions that is rooted in motivational theories. The second section ela"orates on

    how different theories argue on how emploers can motivate emploees. -e argue that

    the relation "etween emploers and emploees are seen as e!ual to the relation "etween

    the government and the students. Therefore, in the following chapter and throughout the

    project, the relations will "e seen as interchangea"le.

    +.1 =ntrodution to (heoretial *ramework

    /n its simplest sense, motivation can "e defined as the mechanisms that drive one to

    "ehave in a certain wa or ta&e a particular action. There are a variet of different

    motivational theories that offer different e'planations on how to direct human

    "ehaviour. -hen investigating motivationC the essential !uestion is how a theor sees

    individuals. Theories can "e classified to mechanistic and organismic theoriesG

    Mehanisti theories tend to view the human or'anism as passive, that is, as bein'

    pushed around by the interation o" physiolo'ial drives and environmental stimuli,

    where as or'anismi theories tend to view the or'anism as ative, that is, as bein'

    volitional and initiatin' behaviours (+an, 197;, pp. 3@5).

    rganismic theories see that individuals have intrinsic needs that the aim to satisf.

    ccording to this perspective, the fulfilment of the intrinsic needs is self@initiated. /n

    contrast, mechanistic theories assume that individuals react to e'ternal factors. /t is

    perceived that individuals are passive and driven " their environment (+an, 197;, pp.

    3@5). #ased on this distinction, "etween mechanistic and organismic wa of viewing

    individuals, e'trinsic and intrinsic motivational theories have "een developed. The

    !uestion is whether individuals are motivated intrinsicall or e'trinsicall.

    /ntrinsicall motivated "ehaviour can "e defined as hoie behaviour, whih is

    e&hibited "or no apparent e&ternal reward (+an, 197;, pp. 3@5). n intrinsicall

    motivated person e'periences interest and enjoment in the action itself, and is therefore

    not motivated " e'ternal factorsC they pereive the lous i" ausality "or their

    behaviour to be internal (+an, 197;, p. 35). /ntrinsicall motivated persons find the

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    action itself satisfing as the are fulfilling their natural needs. These needs could e.g.

    "e the need to learn something new and to see the purpose in ones actions. /n contrast,

    e'trinsicall motivated "ehaviour can "e defined as behaviour direted toward some

    e&ternal reward (+an, 197;, p. 1:6).

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    emploees is " control and authorit. This fundamental assumption of managers is

    "ased upon the personalit of the emploee, which is "rought into the wor&place. -hen

    an emploee goes to wor&, wherever that ma "e, he "rings with him the personalit

    that onl considers the monetar gains. This "elief can "e connected to viewpoints of

    dam Smiths6onomi Manwhere a man onl has the interest of ma'imising gains at

    the lowest cost or within this case, effort, as possi"le. To displa this viewpoint on

    emploees, c=regor illustrates three dominant characteristics on human "ehaviour

    that managers consider when managing the firm and its relationships.

    1. (he avera'e human bein' has an inherent dislike o" work and will avoid it i" he

    an.

    This assumption is related to the da of sin, as portraed in the "i"le. s a conse!uence

    of not o"eing the rules laid down " =od, dam and ational obDetives.

    The pursuance for ma'imisation and greed of individuals are confronted within this

    assumption. s individuals have a difficult in determining the sufficient level of

    ma'imisation, there will alwas "e an inevita"le demand for getting more. The

    provision of a reward or an increase in the wage of the emploee will onl provide a

    short@term satisfaction "ut never reach the intended effort level. The emploee willeventuall, after a while, feel that he either deserves or wishes for another reward or a

    greater raise in his wage. /n order for the manager to avoid a fre!uent increasing

    demand and a sta"ilised effort level, punishment, also &nown in other occasions as

    stic&L, will "e the most efficient method of use for o"taining the firms o"jectives

    (c=regor, 196:).

    +. (he avera'e human bein' pre"ers to be direted, wishes to avoid responsibility,

    has relatively little ambitions, wants seurity above all.

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    ccording to c=regor, this line of assumption can "e connected to paternalism,

    which, despite its less appropriate recognition of the pu"lic, is a concept that is strongl

    considered to "e of use in the managerial world. The Social ontract " ean ac!ue

    +ousseau further supports this assumption, on how the procurements of certain rights

    from an individual to a sovereign, in order to achieve certain common ends.

    These illustrative characteristics are "ased on empiricism in relation to individual

    "ehaviour. ccording to c=regor, there is a tendenc among individual actors to

    predict with a close precision, how others will react and "ehave to certain situations that

    the are "eing confronted with. Therefore, having in mind the e'pected "ehaviour of the

    emploee, the manager can manipulate through the mean of control, to accomplish the

    desired o"jectives that the enterprise has set forth (c=regor, 196:, p. 6).

    The accomplishments of o"jectives set forth " the manager are dependent upon two

    principles, a gradual change in the s&ills of the emploees and the fulfilment of re!uired

    needs. ccording to c=regor, modifications are capa"le of providing the desired

    justifications e.g. throu'h the o""er o" a produt, the provision o" the pro"essional

    advie, or the promise o" a reward(c=regor, 196:, p. 2:). Throughout the following

    investigation, we will refer to this aspect as rewardL. +espectivel, as alternatives to

    o"tain the desired matters, c=regor recognises curtailments, such as disiplinary

    ation, a Dail sentene, the termination o" employment, or the threat o" a punishment, to

    "e means for the stic&L of individuals, in order to achieve the desired outcome. This

    aspect will "e &ept in line with c=regors conceptual utilisation, and therefore related

    to as punishmentL throughout the investigation.

    *or the manager to settle authorit, c=regor characterises the dependenc factor

    "etween two individuals, as an essential aspect in the construction of control in a

    relationship. ontrol and authorit are onl possi"le to "e of e'istence when

    dependenc occurs, ma it "e a low or high ratio. /f the dependenc does not occur, the

    emploee can for e'ample easil choose to find another emploer and vice versa, with

    the manager finding a new emploee. The e'ception to dependenc is onl, according to

    c=regor, if an individual considers that another individual has the possi"ilit to

    provide satisfaction for ones needs (c=regor, 196:, p. 2:).

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    hoosing the conte't on when to manage our emploees, through control and

    authorit, can "e determined on the satisfactor level, which can "e fulfilled. /n

    e'plaining satisfactor levels and the conte't on when to use control and authorit in

    form of management, c=regor draws upon wor& constructed " "raham $.

    aslows Hierarhy o" Beeds.L

    The theor "ehind thePyramid o" Beedswas presented " "raham aslow in which

    aslow clearl distinguishes "etween five different human needs. ccording to aslow

    these needs drive and motivate human "ehaviour. aslow argues thatG Endoubtedly

    the physiolo'ial needs are the most prepotent o" all needs (aslow, 1953). These

    phsiological needs ma&e up a long list "ut can "e summed up to the most important

    needG *ood. aslow argues furtherG =" the physiolo'ial needs are relatively well

    'rati"ied, there then emer'es a new set o" needs, whih we may ate'ori>e rou'hly as

    the sa"ety needs, (aslow, 1953). This second need ma prove to "e more important

    than the first need, "ecause it provides survival of the human. aslow introduces a third

    drive asG =" both the physiolo'ial and the sa"ety needs are "airly well 'rati"ied, then

    there will emer'e the love and a""etion and belon'in'ness needs, (aslow, 1953).

    This third drive indicates that humans will then strive for social relations. *rom then,

    aslow introduces a fourth drive, the esteem needs, which according to aslow can "e

    divided in two su"sidiar setsG (hese are, "irst, the desire "or stren'th, "or

    ahievement, "or ade!uay, "or on"idene in the "ae o" the world, and "or

    independene and "reedom. @eond, we have what we may all the desire "or reputation

    and presti'e, reo'nition, attention, importane, or appreiation, (aslow, 1953).

    *inall aslow argues that9 6ven i" all these needs are satis"ied, we may still o"ten

    e&pet that a new disontent and restlessness will soon develop, unless the individual is

    doin' what he is "itted "or :;< (his need we may all sel"-atuali>ation,L (aslow,

    1953).

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    The manager is, according to c=regor, capa"le of providing means to support an

    individual with the phsiological and to a certain e'tent, safet needs. The manager

    satisfies these levels, " offering emplomentL and various "enefits that follow as a

    conse!uence of emploment, e.g. wages and wor&ing conditions. The fulfilment of

    these needs is possi"le " the use of control and authorit management, however to

    fulfil the other need levels, displaed within aslows hierarch, another tpe of

    managerial approach is needed. The following section will touch upon Daniel $. %in&s

    theor onAutonomy, Mastery and Purpose, to illustrate how this proposed managerial

    approach is capa"le of fulfilling the other need levels.

    +.+ Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose by aniel H. Pink

    This is an outline of wh the theor ofAutonomy, Mastery and Purposewas developed

    on the "asis of human motivation. The line of argumentation " %in& "uilds on scientific

    research within different social conte'ts such as, families, athletes, "usinesses and in

    particularl students in order to grasp varieties within the societ. %in& argues that theprinciples are applica"le to all learning environments, and he argues further for the

    relevance within the "usiness world, which his "oo&rive, is aimed at. -ithin his "oo&

    he e'plains how emploers can motivate their emploees to increase productivit. -e

    assume that the concepts used "etween emploers and emploees, also applies to the

    relation "etween the government and the students, and therefore we find it relevant to

    use this theor to investigate what motivates students to finish their master degree.

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    /n 2::9 %in& pu"lished his "oo&rive - the surprisin' truth about what motivates us, in

    which he presents the theor of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose as an alternative

    operating sstem to the theor of +ewards and %unishments. $is theor, as well as

    +ewards and %unishments, "uilds on aslows Pyramid o" Beeds, however the put

    emphasis on different levels of the pramid. %in& focuses on the fifth level of needs, the

    self@actualisation, where emploees have alread fulfilled the underling four levels

    within aslows Pyramid o" Beeds. #oth theories demonstrate how individuals can "e

    motivated to strive for a particular o"jective. Due to the comple'it of the 21st centur,

    %in& has developed seven reasons for wh +ewards and %unishments no longer wor&.

    These areG

    1. The can e'tinguish intrinsic motivation

    2. The can diminish performance

    3. The can crush creativit

    5. The can crowd out good "ehaviour

    ;. The can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical "ehaviour

    6. The can "ecome addictive

    >. The can foster short@term thin&ing

    Due to these seven reasons, %in& introduces otivation 3.:, the third drive, which is a

    new operating sstem, designed to match the world of toda. This operating sstem

    "uilds on self@determination theor, which categorises "ehaviour as either e'trinsic or

    intrinsic motivated, which has later "een re@categorised as controlled and autonomous.

    *rom these terms %in& uses the concept of utonom as one of his three &e concepts

    within his theor of motivationGAutonomy, Mastery and Purpose (%in&, 2:11).

    Autonom( means self@direction and is an intrinsic motivator. ccording to %in& it is themovement awa from authorit management, towards an idea which emphasises that

    emploees are willing to act on their own, and should "e a"le to do their jo", within

    their own terms. %in& argues that for emploees to "e self@directed the need control

    over four essential parts for them to master autonom over task, time, tehni!ue and

    team.

    (askG is, according to %in&, when emploees are a"le to decide which &ind of tas&s the

    want to perform. This has "een utilised " firms allowing its emploees to spend 1;@2:

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    percent of their time to wor& on a tas&, which the find interesting. These e'periments

    have often led to increased productivit and the inventions of new products. This

    happens "ecause emploees often get e'cited when wor&ing on a tas& the have chosen

    on their own, and feel dedicated to finish the project (%in&, 2:11).

    (imeG can, according to %in&, create autonom for emploees when the are a"le to

    create their own wor& schedule. -hen it comes to creative thin&ing it is difficult to

    dictate people to start "eing creative from eight to five, "ut instead the should have the

    possi"ilit to find their own natural flow of wor&ing, which should also "e compati"le

    with their famil life and other free time activities (%in&, 2:11, p. 96).

    (ehni!ueG is, according to %in&, when emploees do their jo" " using the techni!ue

    the prefer. # having autonom over their techni!ue, the decide how the want to do

    their jo". The important matter is that the do their jo", how the do it, is up to them

    (%in&, 2:11, p. 1:6).

    (eamG is, according to %in&, important for creating autonom for emploees "ecause it

    allows emploees to wor& with the &ind of people the prefer to. This method is

    possi"le within firms, which allows its emploees to wor& 1;@2: percentage of their

    time on a tas& that the themselves choose. -hile wor&ing on these tas&s, the are a"le

    to team up with people the prefer to wor& with. This ena"les people from different

    departments within the same firm to cooperate, and allows creativit to grow (%in&,

    2:11, p. 1:;).

    /f emploees are a"le to utilise all four aspects within their jo", the o"tain autonom

    and "ecome self@directed instead of "eing managed. This will often lead to higher

    productivit and increased creativit, which most -estern firms need in order to

    compete in a glo"al mar&et. # having autonom over tas&, time, techni!ue and team,

    emploees often find themselves more engaged with the firm and are willing to produce

    the "est possi"le outcome. This "ehaviour fosters aster (%in&, 2:11).

    +aster( is the pursuance of getting "etter and "etter at something. aster is the

    pleasure people get from doing something the are passionate a"out, and " doing so

    their wor&ing routine converts into a flow. *low is how people wor& when the are full

    committed to achieve master. /t is a mindset, which occurs when emploees are

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    wor&ing on a project the find interesting. Therefore, to achieve master it is crucial to

    wor& in a flow, otherwise it will not "e satisfing enough to &eep moving towards

    master (%in&, 2:11).

    The =oldiloc&sL tas&s mean not too easy, not too hard, but Dust ri'ht "or you. This is

    how %in& argues that ever tas& should "e li&e, in order to achieve master.

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    7ords can "e a stepping stone towards serving a higher purpose. %in& writesG

    Humani>e what people say and you may well humani>e what they do(%in&, 2:11, p.

    139). This thought indicates that it matters to formulate into words how ou want to act,

    and hopefull ou will act upon our words.

    Poliies can enhance a firms purpose, " stating within the policies the greater purpose.

    *urthermore, " letting the emploees have autonom to decide how the firm should

    serve a greater purpose, it motivates the emploees (%in&, 2:11, p. 139).

    The three main concepts have "een presented asC utonom, aster and %urpose,

    which will "e conceptualised and operationalised in the following sections. The will

    further "e used, within the analsis, in order to answer the !uestion on how to motivate

    students to terminate their master degree within the nominated time.

    +. Analytial *ramework

    The following section will provide insight to the framewor& that has "een chosen to set

    the direction and shape of the analsis. /t is the interest, to illustrate the analtical frame

    and to enlighten the theoretical conceptual definitions that the analsis will put

    emphasis on. The operationalisation of the theoretical concepts, which are ta&ing into

    consideration, are dealt within the ne't section (theoretical operationalisation) to

    indicate the degrees of adaption to our framewor&.

    The analtical framewor& that has "een chosen to "e the setting in this investigation is

    the five motivational conceptsC reward, punishment, autonomy, mastery, purpose set

    forth " c=regor and %in&. #oth theories clarif that motivation is a dnamic process

    in a manager@emploee relationship and ought to "e stimulated and maintained, to

    ensure a high outcome of wor& " the emploee. c=regor assumes, on the "asis of

    human "ehaviour as seen in the previous sections, that motivation can "e enhanced if

    the manager introduces incentives in form of reward and punishment, for the emploee.

    eanwhile, %in& argues that the rightful stimulation process does not occur when an

    e'ternal intervention (manager) tries to set forth incentives, "ut that the emploee must

    place his own recognition to the conte't that needs motivation. This recognition is

    constructed " the emphasis on Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. The degree of

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    conte'tualisation of these theoretical concepts to the investigative framewor& will "e

    enlightened in the following section. The following section will provide a conceptual

    definition of the five concepts that are at wor&, which will provide the reader with a

    more general understanding of the concepts.

    #ewards:

    The five concepts are all defined as a certain feature to an individuals motivation and

    originate in different "ases that determine the nature of the concepts. +eward is, in

    accordance with erem #entham, defined as an element which is "estowed upon

    someone in order to ma&e an individual perform a tas& that otherwise would not have

    "een rendered (#entham, 173:). This definition assumes a modification of

    reinforcement to "ehaviour, " which "ehaviour "ecomes strengthened in regards to

    intensit in commitment of a tas&. /n line with this, ustin -. #err recognises that this

    element is capa"le of "eing desi'ned by onesel" or "rom others (#err, 2::7).

    +espectivel, rewards can, according to David #eswic&, "e perceived and classified in

    intrinsic and e'trinsic terms. #eswic& defines the intrinsic separation as "eing the

    proess o" arousal and satis"ation in whih the rewards ome "rom arryin' out an

    ativity rather "rom a result o" the ativity (#eswic&, 2::3). eanwhile, the e'trinsicis perceived as when the task #is$ bein' a means to an end that is rewarded or

    satis"yin' (/"id.).

    *unishment:

    %unishment is, according to #urrhus *. S&inner a proedure in whih responses are

    "ollowed by either :a< the removal o" a positive rein"ore, or :b< the presentation o" a

    ne'ative rein"ore :or aversive stimulus)

    ac&nowledged as a onse!uene, delivered a"ter a behavior, whih serves to redue the

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    "re!ueny or intensity with whih the behavior oursL ($enr, 2::3). -ithin an

    economical dimension, Schimelpfening argues, that punishment is painful and that this

    cost will "e avoided whenever possi"le. $ence, if punishment is associated to a specific

    tpe of "ehaviour, pain will not "e felt if one chooses not to perform the specific

    "ehaviour.

    Autonom(:

    The term autonom ma refer to individuals, groups or governments position that

    allows the entit to "e in charge of its actions.

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    poet -stan $ugh uden e'plains this state of mind as "or'ettin' themselves in a

    "untion, descri"ing flow not as a single moment "ut as something that maintains

    (%in&, 2:11). aster also indicates that the jo" should "e challenging enough for the

    person to learn something new, without it "eing too difficult, which can result in an

    unenthusiastic "ehaviour towards the jo" (Feading nswers, 2:1:).

    *urpose:

    %urpose is according to %in& defined as the yearnin' to do what we do in the servie o"

    somethin' lar'er than ourselves(%in&, 2:11, p. 9>). $e continues " saing that the

    most deeply motivated people G not to mention those who are most produtive and

    satis"ied hith their desires to a ause lar'er than themselves (%in&, 2:11, p. 133).

    -illiam Damon, a %rofessor at Stanford Universit, has a similar perception of the

    concept of purpose, as he states that purpose is a stable and 'enerali>ed intention to

    aomplish somethin' that is at the same time meanin'"ul to the sel" and onse!uential

    "or the world beyond the sel"(Damon, 2::7, p. 33).

    %in& and Damons viewpoints on purpose have similar features in that the "oth

    emphasise that purpose goes "eond personal meaning and reaches out to the world

    "eond the self. /t implies a earning to ma&e a difference in the world, perhaps "

    contri"uting something to others or creating something new.

    +.2 ?perationalisation o" the (heories

    -hen loo&ing at the five concepts possessed " the different aspects, the original

    framewor&s simpl discern "etween the presence and a"sence of reward, punishment,

    autonom, master and purpose. Ta&ing up this view, we will use our empirical data of

    the four focus groups conducted at +U and #S, to argue of the e'istence of an of the

    five concepts, using our framewor& on stud completion. -e perceive from the

    theoretical assumptions on emploee@manager relationship, an identical formation

    imposed in a student@government relationship. -e ac&nowledge this relationship on the

    "asis of the principals of A'eny-(heory, suggesting a relationship is made up " a

    principal and an agent. The government within our framewor& is recognised as the

    principal and the students "eing the agent. The relationship "etween the two parties is

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    structured with the universit "eing an actor or a form of facilitatorL acting in the

    interest of the government in the middle of the two partiesC the universit is thus "eing

    an agent in the government relationship, and principal within the student relationship.

    The essentialit to this relationship is the principals desire to direct the agent to perform

    an appropriate "ehaviourC respectivel, "oth actors have to reach a settlement on what is

    the re!uired "ehaviour (contract). The principal is in this process faced with

    asmmetrical information, in which he has a hard time monitoring the full performance

    of the agent. -ithin the government@student relationship, this asmmetrical information

    is present within two factors (1) the government cannot full monitor whether a student

    attends lectures, participates activel as in accordance with the law and (2) the cannot

    full monitor whether the human capital of the students, which the invest in, provides

    the necessar output. To minimise the effects of asmmetrical information and have

    greater monitoring, the government has ta&en the incentive of the SU reform. $ence, the

    government directs a certain tpe of "ehaviour, which the students must come to terms

    with (to settle the contract). n the "asis on what has "een set forth " the student@

    communit, we will therefore argue for the students recognition towards the

    governmental incentives and those set forth " %in&, in terms of settling the contract.

    The "asis of the analsis originates from the theoretical assumptions, in line with the

    ontological considerations, the identification of codes within the empirical data, which

    does not !ualif within an of the five concepts will "e recognised as an emergent

    realit (criteria esta"lished from the definition of each concept will "e discussed later in

    this section). Using this as point of departure, the following section will now proceed to

    operationalise the concepts for further use in the analtical part of our investigation. ur

    aim is to create measures for all five concepts that are "oth consistent with the original

    definitions as given " c=regor and %in& (and the others that is "eing used), as well as"eing applica"le to our empirical data.

    #ewards:

    -hen classifing reward, on the "asis of motivation, there is a general tendenc that it

    is connected to an e'pectation on receiving. /n line with #errs definitional part, we

    ac&nowledge that a reward is desi'ned by othersthan the individual and, in accordance

    with #eswic&, is regarded as "eing a motivational attri"ute when the tas& is "eing a

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    means to an end that is rewarded. *urthermore, we agree with #entham on the

    assumption that the introduction of a reward is fundamentall implemented to promote

    a "ehaviour that otherwise would not have "een performed. -e recognise within our

    framewor& that the concept of reward is the governments "onus incentive within the

    SU reform that is targeted towards students, as "eingC firstl ( desi'ned by othersI

    namely the 'overnment), providing a "onus when ou have completed our educational

    degree faster (ma&ing the more rapid completion a mean to obtain the bonus), and

    secondl, the introduction of the "onus is an attempt to promote another tpe of

    "ehaviour.

    *unishment:

    /n regards to punishment, we agree with S&inner and llens similar definitions that

    punishment is a procedure in which responses are followed " either (a) the removal of

    a positive reinforce, or (") the presentation of a negative reinforce. /n line with

    S&inners (a) argumentation, we perceive llens assumption as "eing appropriateC

    whenever an individual is deprived o" somethin' they would like to retain :then< this isthe essene o" modern punishment. +espectivel, we regard the introduction of

    punishment as "eing a conse!uence directed towards a specific "ehaviour, which serves

    to reduce the fre!uenc or intensit in which the "ehaviour occurs. Throughout our

    investigation, the concept of punishment will "e referred and connected to the

    governments incentives within the SU proposal. These incentives are connected to the

    former illustrations that we have agreed upon, " which the diminishment of SU

    gratification to the nominated time is firstlC a removal of a positive reinforcer. The SU

    is regarded " Danish students as a positive attri"ute to their well@"eing hence

    (diminishing it, deprives the individual student from what (s)he would li&e to retain),

    secondlC the incentive aims at reducing the fre!uenc or intensit of students

    graduating at post@nominated time. =iven the two conceptual definitions on reward and

    punishment, we perceive within our conte't that e.g. the SU can "oth "e related to as a

    reward as well as a punishment (providing and retaining the SU from the students). -e

    ac&nowledge this principal throughout our coding process, "ut leave the conte't settled

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    $ence, this concept shares similarities to purpose and we will distinguish it within the

    parameters of o"taining &nowledge, s&ills, wisdom etc.

    *urpose:

    -e agree with the definition put forth " Damon that a purpose can "e "oth self@

    fulfilling and at the same time serve a purpose "eond the self.

    Transferring this &nowledge to the field of education, students can " their own

    creation, have e'trinsic aspirations e.g. to "ecome wealth, to achieve fame, or to

    accomplish a certain image or status, these e'amples are what %in& refers to as profit

    goalsL (%in&, 2:11, p. 152). dditionall, students can have intrinsic aspirations such as

    to help others, to learn, and gain personal growth, these aspirations are referred to as

    purpose goals.L

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    -. +ethodolog(

    .1 (he ?ntolo'y and 6pistemolo'yThe theories of +eward, %unishment, and utonom, aster, %urpose are "uilt on the

    premise that there is a causal relation "etween one factor and the outcome. /t is

    necessar to illustrate the different varia"les that are of significance in order to approach

    the constructed research !uestions successfull and to approach the ontological stance

    correctl. -hen considering varia"les, there are three different ones to ta&e into

    account. There are the independent (8), the dependent (K), and the e'traneous (h)

    varia"les to ta&e into consideration (Saunders, Fewis, H Thornhil, 2::>, p. 361). The

    dependent varia"le regulates in accordance with a change in other varia"les, here"

    either the independent or the e'traneous varia"les. This relationship can "e illustrated in

    an e!uationC 8 h R K. -ithin our case, it is possi"le to identif our independent

    varia"le (8) to "e aster students, as the are the ones that sta constant within our

    chosen framewor&. The h varia"le is a com"ination of the five concepts proposed " the

    two theories that we are using (+eward, %unishment and utonom, aster, %urpose).

    +espectivel, the dependent varia"le (K) is the ratio of getting finished with the enrolledprogram. $aving settled the varia"le relationship, it is now possi"le to clarif that a

    change in the h varia"le, should presuma"l have an effect on the ratio of completion,

    e.g. if students consider the motivational aspect of more autonom to "e necessar in

    order to finish the enrolled program !uic&er, it will "e the "elief that as h increases, so

    does K. This is the underling assumption that the investigation is "ased upon when

    investigating how to get students faster through their enrolled programs. -e direct,

    throughout the investigation, attention to what our conte'tual framewor& defines as the

    casual varia"lesC in our case the h varia"le (c=regor, 196:).

    Since we see that there is causalit "etween the factors mentioned a"ove, we address

    our ontological consideration towards the premises of critical realism. ccording to +o

    #has&ar, critical realism is a"out the onern with disoverin' 'enerative mehanisms

    within an obDetively e&istin' soial reality (Tan, 2:1:). ritical realism sees that there

    are different laers of realit. ccording to #has&ar, there e'ist three levels of the social

    worldC the Preal, the Pactual and the Pempirical. The Preal level consists of hidden

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    mechanisms and structures, the Pactual level consists of the events produced " hidden

    mechanisms and the Pempirical level consists of o"serva"le events (Tan, 2:1:).

    -ithin our framewor&, we identif the governments incentive, as "eing placed on anempirical level, where it is assumed that " promoting the h varia"le in form of reward

    and punishment, it will cause a faster completion rate. -here critical realism "ecomes

    meaningful, within our framewor&, is that it provides us with the notion to ta&e into

    account hidden mehanisms in the causalit e!uation that the government proposes,

    while providing wider e'planations a"out human interpretation of a social phenomenon.

    These hidden mechanisms, which ma e'ist within the real level to the motivational

    e!uation, will "e approached through the framewor& of %in&s theor (utonom,

    aster and %urpose). /n order for us to approach such an investigation, we consider it

    "eing relevant to e'amine social actors interpretation of what the perceive as "eing

    motivating. Through the ees of the students, we will discover possi"le hidden

    mechanisms that the government has not ta&en into its causalit relationship to motivate

    the students (Tan, 2:1:).

    -hen e'amining social actors interpretation, within our given conte't, we assume that

    through the conducted method of focus groups, we will uncover hidden mechanisms

    (these are identified through our open coding processC see themes page 57). -here a

    focus group provides uni!ueness in order to reveal hidden mechanisms, compared to

    other methods of collecting empirical data, is "ased upon the relationship "etween

    social actors. social actor, among a group of other social actors "eing present, is

    challenged to reflect upon his as well as other actors perception towards motivational

    mechanisms. s critical realism holds a notion of constructivism, the former can also "e

    e'plained " social actors &nowledge "eing in a constant state of revision whenchallenged " others. -e ac&nowledge that interpretation differs from social actor to

    social actor. Therefore, having a focus group will com"ine social actors interpretation

    at the given moment. # that we can presuma"l unfold a more generalised perception

    towards various hidden mechanisms within the real level of the causalit e!uation of

    our population sample. This means, for our project, that social phenomenon is

    constructed through the ees of the students as an entit, and we &eep this throughout

    the entire investigation.

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    .) Methods

    ur investigation ta&es point of departure in the governmental planC terminating a

    master degree on nominated time in order to respond to the needed human capital " the

    Danish industr. Upon entering the field of investigation we !uestion whether the

    overall goal of enhancing economical growth in societ can "e achieved " the

    governmental plan to enhance human capital with its proposalC reducing the SU to the

    nominated time of a master degree.

    /n our investigation, we e'amine how individual students enrolled at a master degree

    perceive which incentives and motivational factors promote the students to finish their

    master degree on nominated time. /n addition, %hD students are considered on what

    the thin& could have motivated them to finish their master degree on nominated time.

    The motivational theories that we have utilised to investigate our social phenomenon are

    the two theories of Douglas c=regor and Daniel $. %in& which have "een presented

    in the theoretical chapter. The theories have "een applied to our collected empirical

    data. These theories have "een confined to the methods for collecting data from realit

    to Pprove the theories validit. Su"se!uentl, the empirical data collected has "een

    thematised to adjust the theories into the conte'tual framewor& that our social

    phenomenon operates in. This indicates that our approach to the investigation is an

    a"ductive methodolog ($aig, 2::;).

    The nature of the research engaged, provides insight into wh the investigated students

    "ehave the wa the do in a situation of learning at the universit. /n the search of

    appropriate methods of investigation, it is relevant to state that the nature of !uantitative

    methodolog does not provide &nowledge as to whysu"jects "ehave the wa the do,

    "ut instead provides &nowledge on numerical data (how

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    methodolog and its methods will provide the necessar tools to the investigation

    (Silverman, 2::;, p. 1:9).

    s the nature of the investigated phenomenon was the perception of our su"jects onmotivation, it was important that the method chosen could reveal e'periences and

    displa relevant statements, "oth within the su"ject itself and how the su"ject perceived

    its environment within the social phenomenon, which we were investigating.

    /n our search for an appropriate method, we were aware that an interview would "e a"le

    to provide &nowledge on e'periences and interaction "etween the interviewer and the

    interviewee "ut not on the interaction on interviewee and its environment. $owever, we

    found that focus group interviews are a"le to provide this tas& and therefore we decided

    (after reflecting on the implication to future results in terms of validit and relia"ilit)

    that the method of focus group interviews was appropriate to our investigation

    (Silverman, 2::;, p. 1:9).

    .+ *ous Froup =nterviews

    -e conducted focus group interviews, " including the considerations made in the

    following sections. -ithin this we have weighted the pros and cons to conduct focus

    group interviews and not to conduct a pac&age of individual interviews. *ocus groups

    are normall a method used to test a certain product within mar&eting research, however

    in the Social SciencesC the method can "e "eneficial to investigate perceptions, opinions,

    "eliefs and attitudes toward societal issues (arshall, 1999, p. 11;).

    *ocus groups often "ring out users spontaneous reactions and let ou o"serve the group

    dnamics revolving the theme presented. /t shows how individuals utilise the stream of

    argumentation, forwarded in the room, and su"se!uentl organise the issues presented

    in the individual argumentation, ena"ling to challenge or "uild upon the alread made

    argument. This creates an atmosphere where &nowledge is produced rapidl and ena"le

    the individual to reflect on issues, that otherwise would have "een a longer process, to

    arrive (if ever) at the same conclusion. /n an individual interview, this situation is not

    possi"le (arshall, 1999, p. 11;).

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    The re!uirement was, for our research, in@depth &nowledge on a particular topic as we

    researched the why (!ualitative method). *or this consideration, as mentioned a"ove, we

    were faced, with the choice, to conduct a pac&age of individual interviews or focus

    group interviews. /n individual interviews, the interviewer is interested in the co@

    production "etween the interviewer and the interviewee, as opposed to a focus group

    interview, where the interviewer is interested in the interaction among the participating

    interviewees. -hen having a large target group, li&e in our case, focus groups are

    prefera"l used. David Silverman refers to e'amples li&e politicians using focus groups,

    in the conte't of gaining a picture of the pu"lic opinion, which for us is a similar target.

    ccording to Silverman, a focus group is defined as :;< en'a'in' a small number o"

    people in an in"ormal 'roup disussion :or disussions< "oused around a partiulartopi or set o" issues(Silverman, 2::;, p. 11>)./n our conte't, the discussion evolved

    around which motivational factors plaed a role, in the participants education.

    The pre@conditions, for collecting the &nowledge at the focus group interviews, were

    that the &nowledge surrounding the specific topic should "e produced in the room. /t

    should not "e forced or influenced " opinions formed " the interviewer, "ut preceded

    openl.

    /n regards to this schedule, the researcher(s) should function as a moderator, not

    controlling the conversation, "ut to &eep it going. eaning that, when the focus groups

    are done discussing one topic, or the conversations starts to fade out, the moderator

    should lead the conversation with point of departure in the focus group schedule. lso,

    when dealing with a focus group, the moderator should have in mind that, though a

    focus group can "e viewed as a group interviewL, he or she should not "e as&ing each

    individual, "ut facilitate the discussion among the participants, and ta&e up new

    !uestions when needed. This is of great importance, since the interaction of each focus

    group mem"er, can "e used in the analsis and research (Silverman, 2::;). None the

    less, there are some challenges one might e'perience when handling more than one

    participant. *irst of all the moderator should "e prepared to "ring the !uiet mem"ers of

    the group into the conversation, and to ensure confidentialit among the group

    mem"ers. *urther, the moderator needs to "e prepared, to prevent conflicts among the

    participants or even "etween the researcher and the participants. (Silverman, 2::;).

    5:

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    -ithin ever focus group the duration should "e in "etween :,5 to 1,; hours depending

    on the duration of the discussions, and how much time the respective participants can

    set off for the focus group. (#rman, 2::5, pp. 121@126).

    . (he *ous Froup =nterview @truture

    %revious to the conduction of our focus groups, we created overall !uestion guidelines

    for the focus groups, which have "een conducted in a semi@structured method. These

    were created to enlighten what could and would "e the motivational factors for Danish

    students to finish their master degree within nominated time. The were to "e used "

    the moderator, to facilitate the answers and provide data directed towards our conte'tual

    framewor&. The guidelines formulated through the !uestions can "e heard from an

    audio fileC disc attached.

    -hat motivates ou to finish our stud within nominated timeM

    -hich factors have influenced the pace of studM

    -hat do ou thin& a"out the governmental proposal to reduce the SU in order to

    ma&e ou finish our master degree within nominated timeM

    .2 /riteria to *ous Froups

    The ne't step was to narrow down our su"jects of investigation to a sample, that would

    ena"le our research to displa a relevant answer to our pro"lem formulation and at the

    same time "e relia"le. *or this purpose the &nowledge, produced in the field of

    investigation, was to displa relevance to a trend among students in Denmar&.Therefore, the chosen strateg, for selecting a sample had to ena"le information from a

    small sample of single cases and provide the ma'imum amount of possi"le information.

    /n our case the sample represents su" groups within the student population, where there

    is a ma'imum of variation, displaing student trends in general. This approach is ta&en

    in order to get a wider scope of motivational factors of the entire student population,

    which can further "e verified " !uantitative methods. This assumption is in line with

    #ent *lv"jerg ?ne an o"ten 'enerali>e on the basis o" a sin'le ase, and the ase

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    study may be entral to sienti"i development via 'enerali>ation as supplement or

    alternative to other methods(*lv"jerg, 2::5). To o"tain this information, a"out the

    significance of various circumstances of our sample, we showcase their different

    dimensions towards student trends, in regards to finishing their education on nominated

    time

    /n our investigation, it is relevant to state that, the students we gathered originate from

    different universit institutions where the variations in preferences for general and

    specific &nowledge offered to the students are the most prevailing. /n this conte't

    +os&ilde Universit descri"e itself (+os&ilde@Universitet, 2:11) as an institution that

    puts emphasis on offering more general &nowledge than specific to its students.

    +espectivel, #S descri"es itself as an institution, which puts emphasis on offering

    more specific &nowledge than general to its students (openhagen #usiness School,

    2:11). -e thin& that " ma&ing this deli"erate choice, we too& into account cases with

    the ma'imum variation. The students gathered are therefore originating from those

    universities.

    /n our consideration we found it necessar to have students reflecting "ac&ward in time,

    on what could and would have motivated them to finish their master degree within

    nominated time. *urthermore, we found it necessar to have students that can

    foreshadow what can motivate them to finish on nominated time. Therefore, we have

    chosen to com"ine samples with %hD students and aster students from "oth

    institutions. These students were all re!uired to receive, or have received SU, as

    otherwise the governmental proposal would not have an effect on them. dditionall,

    we have randoml selected the students at the institutions, regardless if the will or have

    terminated their aster degree within nominated time.

    .3 /olletion and Proessin' o" Primary ata

    The projects analtical content is "ased upon empirical data, collected in the period

    from end of pril to the "eginning of a, 2:11. During this period, we conducted four

    semi@structured focus groups with a variet of students from +os&ilde Universit (+U)

    and openhagen #usiness School (#S).

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    The focus groups were carried out in settings, which were considered to "e natural to

    the participants. The two focus groups, containing +U students, were carried out at the

    campus at Tre&roner and respectivel with the #S students at the campus on

    *rederi&s"erg. This consideration was made, to ensure that each participant felt

    comforta"le in a rela'ed atmosphere. *or e'ample, we strategicall offered them lunch,

    if the participated in the focus group during lunch time. This was done to motivate

    them, and none the less to show appreciation for the time the spent " participating.

    %rior to the conducted data for the analsis, we approached our chosen field of research,

    " performing short conversations with +U

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    successfull accomplish our ideal.

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    conducted. *urthermore at +U, two aster students signed up voluntaril to participate.

    s we had targeted +U and #S as the two institutions in our population, we o"tained

    contact at #S to five %h.D. students to our third focus group and four aster students

    to our fourth focus group. Due to difficulties in collecting students to conduct the focus

    groups, the differ in num"er of participantsC "etween 2@6 per focus group. The

    selection process of the participants involved in our sampling was chosen on the set of

    criteria alread mentioned. The &indness and willingness to participate from all our

    participants have "een a remar&a"le support in e'ploring motivational factors that can

    enhance the completion rate of Universit students in Denmar&.

    The four focus groups, that were conducted, all lasted appro'imatel 6: minutes and

    were all transcri"ed in order to comprehend them te'tuall. -hen finished, each one of

    them were cross@chec&ed " another mem"er of the group, to ensure that the

    understanding of the conte't did not include errors such as misinterpretation, grammar

    etc. dditionall, as illustrated in the transcripts, we do not cite the name of the

    participants, as we were not given permission. $owever, we were allowed to have a

    Dictaphone present, recording the conversation from all enrolled within the focus

    groups. ll of the conducted focus groups were processed in Danish, meaning that we

    utilised free translation when !uoting. The translation has carefull "een evaluated " a

    plural amount of mem"ers in order to reduce and avoid an lost meaning from

    translation. -hen conducting each transcription, we have put emphasis on what has

    "een enlightened and e'pressed " the participants (*airclough, 1992, p. 229) and

    disregarded elements such as tone, "od language and possi"le mood status. -e

    ac&nowledge that e'cluding elements such as these might affect to a certain degree the

    interpretation process, "ut regard that the chosen elements ta&en into consideration are

    sufficient to provide a comprehensive image of the various perceptions that are of

    e'istence.

    .4 ata Analysis

    /nspired " illustrations from -illiam Fawrence Neuman, we approached the collected

    data with a com"ination of open, a'ial and selective@coding process (Neuman, 2::6, ss.

    522@525). dapting such an approach allowed us to inherit new emergent perspectives,

    5;

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    which had previousl not "een recognised, while it challenged the prior e'isting

    &nowledge of ours. -e decided within this com"ination of open, a'ial and selective@

    coding, to divide our process into various stages, consisting of individual and

    colla"orative wor&. The first stage consisted of reading the original transcript ta&ing

    into consideration, without ma&ing an notes, the overall assumptions portraed in the

    e'tract, which was then followed up, within the second stage, " re@reading the e'tract

    while ma&ing notes and indicating relevant aspects. The third stage consisted of two or

    three mem"ers going through the o"served codes, ensuring that elements that would

    provide new perspectives were not left out. The codes that were processed from these

    stages were all ta&en up on the wall within one of the rooms at +U, in order to facilitate

    a division process, where we identified themes that were present within each theoretical

    concept (+eward, %unishment, utonom, aster, and %urpose). The division of the

    codes into various themes was created to ela"orate the theor into the conte'tual

    framewor& of our investigation. The structure of the analsis has "een constructed into

    where the statements of our participants met our operationalised conceptual definitions.

    These can "e seen further down.

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    . *re/anal(sis

    # this chapter we wish to present to the reader, how different statements, made " thedifferent focus groups, match with our concepts defining the different intrinsic and

    e'trinsic motivations. -e will outline the themes, we found represented in the different

    focus groups and ela"orate on how the are seen as a motivation, according to the

    students, and " which concept it represents. -e will start " introducing the various

    themes, and how we have operationalised them.

    #eward

    0inancial incentive

    *inancial incentive comes in the form of a reward, "ecause it is 'iven by another

    individual, the government, to enhance a certain "ehaviour of a student. *inancial

    incentive is given as state education grant (SU)

    *unishment

    0inancial incentive

    *inancial incentive can further "e introduced in form of a punishment, "ecause a

    punishment is seen as the removal o" a positive rein"ore, which in this conte't is the

    removal of the state education grant (SU). # removing the state education grant, the

    government is a"le to punish the students, since a punishment is perceived as something

    whichserves the purpose to redue the "re!ueny or intensity of a certain "ehaviour.

    Autonom(

    Institutional structure

    /nstitutional structure represents the structure given " the universities for the students

    to follow and act in accordance with, when participating in a master degree program.

    This structure has potential to influence the autonom of the students, " either

    hindering or enhancing students autonom over tas&, time, techni!ue and team.

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    +aster(

    Interest

    -ithin the concept of master, we recognise the theme interestas "eing, the students

    perception of their own curiosit as a motivational factor. -e perceive it as the students

    ur'e to 'et better and better at somethin' that matter, according to the student.

    Ambition

    The concept of master is seen as an ur'e to 'et better and better at somethin' that

    matters, and from this we have detected the theme ambition, as "eing in line with the

    concept of master. -ithin this conte't, am"ition is categorised as having an urge to

    achieve good grades, to "ecome wiser, as well as having an urge to attain a good jo".

    This is seen as an inner drive.

    *urpose

    &areer

    The concept of purpose is defined as sel"-"ul"illin' and at the same time, servin' a

    purpose beyond the sel", which we see within the theme areer. %urpose can "e

    categorised as either apro"it 'oal or a purpose 'oal, and within the theme areer,we

    see profit goals as dominating. The students strive to finish the education in order to get

    a good jo", start a career and to earn mone.

    Determination

    The theme determination is seen as something the students can persist, and as

    something which can "e enhanced " other individuals. Determination, within this

    conte't, is characterised as the students "eing a"le to identif advantages of their stud

    program, which is perceived as a motivational factor.

    Self/reflection

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    The theme ofsel" re"letionis attached to the concept of purpose, as we see thatsel"

    re"letionacts as a catalst to personal growth, which is an intrinsi aspiration. %ersonal

    growth occurs when an individual reflects "ac& on e'periences and thus e'pands the

    wa of thin&ing.

    The figure "elow illustrates the structure of the first part in the analsisG

    a) $ow does the individual

    student perceive the

    e'trinsic motivational

    incentive proposed " the

    governmentC reducing the

    SU to the nominated time

    of a master degree to

    terminate a master degree

    within the nominated

    timeM

    ") $ow does the individual

    student perceive theintrinsic motivational

    factors to terminate a

    master degree within the

    nominated timeM

    CBS Master CBS PhD RU Master

    Reward and Punishment

    Financial

    incentive

    Financial

    incentive

    Financial inc

    utonom!

    "nst itu tional structure "nsti tutional

    structure

    Pur#ose

    ;:

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    Career

    Determination

    Career

    Career

    Master!

    "nterest

    m$ition

    "nterest

    . Anal(sis

    Using the operationalisation of the former mentioned themes, we will use them to

    analse the statements of the respective students, in order to showcase how the

    perceive motivational factors, which have or could have had an influence on their

    studies.

    3.1 /0@ Master

    The following section will portra the four #S aster students perception towards the

    motivational attri"utes that are at wor&. Through our open@coding process, three of five

    attri"utes were detected as "eing considered, " the students, to have a relevant impact

    on their motivational "ehaviour. These three were detected as "eingC reward, master

    and purpose.

    #ewards:

    Su$-theme% Financial "ncentive

    The rewarding incentive is recognised among the #S master students as an essentialit

    for the continualit of their studies. The SU, whether it "eing the amount ou receive

    ;1

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    choosing to stud #usiness dministration and /nformation Sstems at #S, "oth at the

    "achelor degree, as well as the master degree, was simpl that this was and still is his

    area of interest, e'pressed in his own wordsG = "ound it interestin' :;< this is my area

    o" interest, =( (*ocus@group1, 2:11, p. 1). nother participant showed same line of

    thought, when she e'pressed that one of the reasons for choosing #usiness

    dministration and /nformation Sstems at the master level was out of interestG

    = have always had "un playin' around with omputers :;< ?ne day, = had to do

    somethin' with the network, and it worked, so then = thou'ht to mysel", this is !uite

    e&itin', let me try and move "orward with this (*ocus@group1, 2:11, p. 2).

    -hen all of the participants were as&ed, what motivates them to commence and finish

    an education, these two participants forwarded, that having a profound interest in what

    ou learn is a motivational factor to finish ones stud within the nominated time.

    Su$-theme% m$ition

    Two out of the four participants remar&ed, that at #S there is a high am"ition levelsettled " the environment. This is occasionall, during the focus group, referred to as

    having a particular mindset, which is indicated " one of the students statingG

    ;but yeah, = do "eel that you want to end up with a 'ood 'rade, = do not want to end

    up with a two or a "our, it is a seven and up, and this mindset you really beome a

    part o"(*ocus@group1, 2:11, p. 1:).

    dditionall, the participant ela"orates that this mindset of course differs, depending onthe educational program ou are enrolled in. She clarifies " giving an e'ample of how

    the students enrolled in the program /nternational #usiness and %olitics (/#) have a

    mindset determined to o"tain high grades. This is represented " the student saing that

    the /# (;< is very, very hardore, it is very muh #like$ 'et a twelve or die (*ocus@

    group1, 2:11, p. 1:). $aving this determined mindset is in regards to "ecoming "etter

    and wiser, the students want to surpass their previous results and not lower their

    am"ition.

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    level rises as well. This means that the students alwas have to surpass themselves and

    do their "est not to "e left "ehind. This internal drive to achieve the "est result,

    continuall "ecome wiser, as well as crossing the finish line first,L is an am"ition set

    " the students themselves, which, in the end, motivates them to complete an

    educational program within the nominated time, with the "est result possi"le.

    nother participant stresses her am"itions towards having a student jo" alongside the

    studies, as havin' a student Dob, :;< really helps you onward, beause it shows you

    how an enterprise operates(*ocus@group1, 2:11, p. 7). This !uotation highlights the

    foundation of the $D program at #S (a diploma in #usiness dministration). The aim

    of this particular program is to gain practical &nowledge and e'perience from the la"our

    mar&et, while studing, and transferring this practical &nowledge and e'perience to the

    academic world. ompared to the ordinar universit degree, which usuall ta&es five

    ears to complete, the $D program onl ta&es four ears to complete (Thorn, 2:11).

    This means that " ta&ing a $D program, students, find that having a student jo"

    relevant, have the possi"ilit of finishing their studies faster than the nominated five

    ears.

    *urpose

    Su$-theme% Career

    ll of the participants could recognise career as "eing an important factor, in order to

    complete a degree within the nominated time. ne of the participants statedG

    = have pretty muh studied all the way throu'h, and this = have hosen beause = want

    to "inish !uikly :;< = Dust want to enter the labour market. (his is my 'reatest driveri'ht now, and that is also why = hose to do this eduation "aster (*ocus@group1,

    2:11, p. 1).

    nother participant states something along the same linesG ;so, the motivation has

    pretty muh been that = should "inish and then enter the labour market(*ocus@group1,

    2:11, p. 2). an of the participants perceive career as "eing the cherr on the ca&e,

    and this also implies that the are to a certain degree ver goal orientedG

    ;5

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    Here it is very muh tar'eted, it is very ambitious, also in relation to the other

    students, :;< there is a very 'eneral understandin' that one must strive "or9 areer, the

    'ood Dob, and the money, you should strive "or all o" these thin's(*ocus@group1, 2:11,

    p. 9).

    lthough, the students themselves have constructed this line of thin&ing, at least to

    some e'tent, the are constantl "eing reaffirmed, from all sorts of places, that #S

    integrit and reputation will ensure them a sustaina"le future within the la"our mar&et.

    s all of the participants strive for career and see this as a motivating factor to finish the

    degree within the nominated time, some also !uestion the hindrance of the current jo"

    situation in Denmar&. ne, of the participants, statesG ;there has always been 'reat

    Dob opportunities, and t