English 307: Fundamentals of Organisational Communication

Small Scale Project

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Understanding motivation for communication of

secondary school students behind volunteer work

in an Interview with a social worker

1. Introduction Volunteer work could be organized by various organizations, including the social

department, schools and community centers. Community centers recruit members to

do volunteer services. These members are of a wide range, ranging from primary

school students to secondary school students, or even housewives and retirees.

Teenagers are most energetic at their age, they have a lot of things to choose to do in

their leisure time, why do they choose to perform volunteer services and what is the

motivation for them to communicate? Therefore, it would be interesting to investigate

the motivation for communication behind volunteer work of secondary school

students using motivation theory- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

The subject interviewed was a social worker working in the children and youth

integrated services center, which takes outsourced community services from schools

and organizes services itself, for over 10 years. Being a social worker, she was trained

with psychology theories, including motivation theories. She is responsible for the

volunteer services in the center. Her knowledge of her members and communication

behaviors served as the basis for my study. In particular, I will use Maslow’s

Hierarchy of Needs as the guide to questions, and show how this theory explains

students’ motivation to communicate. This paper includes a literature review followed

by a methodology, findings and discussion, and limitations and conclusion.

2. Literature Review

This study regards the relationship between the motivation theory - Maslow’s

Hierarchy of Needs and communication. Communication is a dynamic, interactive,

transactional and person to person process. People shares their constructed meanings

and developed expectations about their experiences with others (Bowditch & Buono ,

2005). The word ‘motivation’ comes from the Latin word mouve, meaning to ‘move’

(Drummond,2000). Psychological forces within an individual, determining the

direction of an individual’s behavior in an organization, an individual’s level of effort

and the level persistence when facing difficulties and obstacles, construct the meaning

of motivation (George and Jones, 2000).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory was proposed by Abraham Maslow (1908-

1970) (Shockley-Zalabak, 2006). The strength of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is

recognizing and identifying individual needs for the purpose of motivating behavior

(Bowditch & Buono , 2005). There are five levels in the hierarchical structure:

Physiological, safety and security, love and social belonging, esteem and prestige and

self actualization (See figure 1).

Figure one: Maslow’s Hierarch of Needs (MBA tutorial, 2010)

Maslow suggested physiological needs are the basic needs such as the need for air,

food, water, sex, sleep etc. Safety needs are security of an individual’s body, health,

morality, family, property etc. Love and social belonging needs are satisfaction

through friendships, family affiliation, social support and affection from peer groups.

Esteem needs are the desire for self respect, respect from others, status, recognition

and appreciation (Ellis and Dick, 2000). Self actualization needs mean reaching an

individual’s full potential and engaging in activities which is uniquely suitable for an

individual (Ellis and Dick, 2000). The model proposes individuals must achieve lower

level needs before achieving higher levels needs. Maslow suggested lower level needs

fail to serve as a source of motivation once are satisfied , in order to be motivated,

individuals pursue the needs at the next level in the model (Brook,2006). However,

there are questions about the concept of hierarchical progression. Cross sectional

empirical research agree with the levels of the hierarchical progression but it is not

clearly supported by longitudinal research (Bowditch & Buono, 2005). Researchers

raised questions about whether satisfied needs cease to motivate and lead to needs at

the next level, whether individuals can be motivated by several needs at the same time

and whether gender and sex are factors affecting the difference regarding to social and

esteem needs (Bowditch & Buono, 2005). Different needs at different life stages of

different people could be affected by culture, age and other factors (Adair and

Thomas, 1998). Even Maslow later recognized the model might not be applicable to

everybody, for example, the need for self actualization of creative people may

displace satisfying certain basic physiological needs and he suggested lower level

need might not have to be fully satisfied before proceeding to the next level need

(Brooks, 2006). Additional three stages: the need for knowledge and thinking

(cognition), the need to appreciate and enjoy beauty(aesthetics), the need to selflessly

help others(transcendence) were added to the hierarchy by either Maslow or his

colleagues in the later years (Robertson,2009). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has

important implications for communication behaviors because it implies

communication behaviors by reflecting whether needs are satisfied (Shockley-Zalabak,

2006). Assessment of need satisfaction could be used to explain communication

behaviors. This model can be used as a reference to motivate communication.

3. Methodology

This study is conducted by adopting a deductive approach. Questions, based on

three stages: first time meeting of a service project, preparation and performance,

evaluation after service, were asked which specifically oriented towards how to

explain communication behaviors and how to motivate communication by Maslow’s

Hierarchy of Needs. The study subject, who is a certificated social worker and has

studied psychology courses, was assumed to have knowledge of Maslow’s Hierarchy

of Needs and this assumption was confirmed by question 5 and the sub questions. She

was given sufficient time to think before answering questions and proceeding to the

next question. The main and sub-questions are below (sub-questions refer to further

inquiries regarding to the main question):

Q1. “How many volunteer groups do you have now?”

Q1 sub Q1: “Are they all new comers or experienced volunteers or a mix of both

types?”

Q2. “Are they active in participating in group discussions when they come here?”

Q3. “For the first few times, how do you break the ice with them?”

Q4. “How do you motivate them to speak and give ideas in early stages?”

Q5. “I know Maslow’s hierarchy of needs this theory is very well known in

psychology and sociology. Have you ever heard of it?”

Q5 subQ1: “So you have a comprehensive knowledge about the five levels of

needs right?”

Q5 subQ2: “Do you think your members fit in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

theory?”

Q6. “How do you see them motivated with the explanation of Maslow’s hierarchy of

needs?”

Q7. “During preparation and performing services, are they active in giving ideas? If

not, how would you help them? Or how would they help themselves?”

Q8. “Do you think peer communication facilitate communication among members?”

Q9. “Do they often have conflicts? How do they solve conflicts? Why are they willing

to solve conflicts?”

Q10. “How do you motivate them to speak during evaluation time?”

4. Key Findings and Discussion

The data of first time meeting of a service project, preparation and performance and

evaluation after service will be summarized and put in tables for discussion.

Stage one: first time meeting of a service project

Situation Action taken by

social worker

Action taken by

old members/

Results

peers

Members being

silent, not

participative and

reluctant to

express themselves

Some members are

referred by old

members

Some members are

forced by parents

to come

Rewards (praises,

candies etc)

/ Members like rewards and

are more willing to talk

after receiving rewards.

Rules and

expectations

establishments

/ They follow the rules and

expectations set by all

members. They

communicate under these

rules and shared

expectations.

Grouping and

peer support

/ Members tend not to talk

in front of all the members

but are more willing to

speak in small groups,

especially encouraged by

old members.

For the first time meeting, there are usually a mix of old members and new

members. Some new members are referred by old members. Some of them are just

new comers who registered the project themselves. Some of them are forced by their

parents to join the project. They are usually silent and passive in the first meeting.

They even do not introduce themselves even being asked to do so. To motivate them

to speak, the social worker and old members use different approaches. The social

worker gives rewards such as praises and candies for members who initiate to express

themselves. One example is the social worker once asked if anyone would like to

introduce himself in the first meeting but members stayed silent. The one who spoke

first without being forced would receive candies and praises from the social worker.

The social worker praised a member for being brave to be the first one to introduce

himself by giving his name and hobbies in front of all the members. Rewards satisfy

the esteem needs by giving recognition to the member in front of everybody to

motivate communication. Others would follow this communication behavior to pursue

rewards in order to satisfy esteem needs. Reward system strengthens the motivation

for the member who receives rewards to further communicate and express because he

or she gains the confidence by recognition. The social worker establishes rules and

expectations with the members. They build a shared reality which offers security. As

the expectations and rules are jointly set and communicated, members know clearly

the environment they are in. They need not be afraid of uncertain punishment or

demand. One example of rules was a hand sign to make everybody silent and drew

their attention. When a hand sign of victory was raised in the air, others had to follow

and keep quiet. Until everybody did the same, the one who started the signal could

draw everybody’s focus on him, allowing him to speak with attention of all members.

This was a kind of communication tool. People used to shout at and scold others for

not paying attention which scared people. Now, they have a common rule for

communication with satisfaction of safety needs because everybody knows the signal

for focus- victory sign, but not anything else they cannot predict. The social worker

communicates expectations with the members. The social worker observes the

character of each member and understands their interests by casual chats. For

example, members had to choose the target service group which was either children or

elderly. The social worker communicated with them and understood their interests and

fears. Some of them were fear to deliver service to elderly. Therefore, they reached

consensus, the shared expectation, to serve children rather than elderly. This satisfied

the security needs of the members as they felt safe and comfortable with the target

served group. They were motivated to communicate the project and with the target

served group. The social worker adopts grouping to motivate them to express

themselves. A large group will be divided into small groups and each small group is

usually a mix of old and new members. The old members take the leading role to

initiate others to speak by being the first one to give ideas and asking others questions,

especially yes/ no questions. This method satisfy their desire for security as members

are in a smaller group and therefore possess less fear to talk. Old members, with a

sincere attitude, are experienced and hence give a sense of security to other members.

Peer support provided by old members can satisfy the social belonging needs. By

being friends and establishing a closer relationship with the old members, new

members find it easier to adapt to the environment and are more willing to talk. As old

members are already friends, the strong social bonding motivates communication and

cooperation, again satisfying love and social belonging needs.

Stage two: preparation and Performance

Situation Action taken by

social worker

Action taken by

old members/

peers

Results

Not giving ideas on the

implementation of

project

Giving a

framework

/ Following framework to

add ideas

/ Initiating to give

ideas and asking

questions

Eliciting responses and

discussion

Having conflicts / Proactive Conflict resolved

communication

Communication during

work

Giving oral

praises, awards

and certificates

/ Members communicate

more often and work

harder

Having gatherings Active

communication

Enhanced communication

and better cooperation

During the preparation of work, they often do not give opinions on the details

and implementation of the service project. Sometimes, the social worker gives a

framework for members. Members then follow the framework to add ideas or make

minor adjustments. For example, members were asked to design a game for a game

booth for kindergarten children. Members did not express any ideas until they were

given a framework on the design of the game. The framework contained some

suggested basic rules of the game design and purposes of the game, for example,

games must be easy to play and explain. Then, members added ideas and details such

as the materials used in the game and method to play by themselves. Framework

satisfied their desire for safety and security and therefore motivated them to

communicate their own ideas. Old members and peers motivate others to

communicate ideas by initiating to speak and asking questions. For example, an old

member first expressed his idea such as suggesting having chocolates as presents for

winners in the game which motivated others to respond to his idea. Peers also asked

questions, especially yes/ no questions such as should we use paper as material? to

elicit responses. These satisfied the security needs because members were afraid of

speaking first. It would be easier for them to start with responses such as agree or

disagree and then discuss. When they have conflicts, they are proactive to talk to each

other to resolve conflicts. For example, once a boy and a girl quarreled because they

held different opinions on the division of labor. After a few hours, they calmed down

and talked to each other again about the problem. Finally, they agreed on the division

of labor after discussion. Motivation to communicate is due to need for love and

social belonging, security and esteem. Members in the service group are good friends

as they always work together. They resolve conflicts because they desire to maintain

good friendships. Quarrels or fights will affect the progress of the project. They settle

conflicts to ensure the project to be on schedule but not affected by disagreements.

This reflects the need of security of the project motivates them to communicate. Need

for esteem motivates them to resolve conflicts because they want to gain self respect

and respect others. During the project, members are motivated to communicate

proactively by praises, awards and certificates. These awards such as the volunteer

service awards issued by the Social Welfare Department of the government give

recognition, status and respect, satisfying their need of esteem. The social worker

organizes gatherings to create closer relationships of members. For example, they

have gatherings at least once a month apart from normal meetings. During gatherings,

they talk in a casual atmosphere and are drawn closer. Their desire for love and social

belonging are satisfied because they have friendships and a sense of belonging to the

group. This motivates them to communicate with each other frequently. Some

members proactively communicate because their need for self actualization is

fulfilled. Some services are based on their own talents. For example, a girl in the

group has received dance training for years. She was responsible to teach children

dance during one of the services. She was extremely motivated to communicate with

others the details of implementation such as the setting of the venue. She was

reaching her potential therefore the satisfaction of self actualization motivated her

active communication. All members are motivated to communicate the project

because their need for transcendence is fulfilled by selflessly helping others in the

services.

Stage three: evaluation after service

Situation Action taken by

social worker

Action taken by

members

Results

After services, Giving beverages, / Members start to give

members are asked to

evaluate themselves and

others.

snacks and breaks responses after having a

drink, snacks and a break.

Grouping / Members are more willing

to express themselves in

small groups.

/ Active

evaluation

Members actively evaluate

themselves.

During evaluation after service, most members do not speak up but some

actively evaluate themselves. For the majority, the social worker always gives

beverages, snacks and a break after service. This is to satisfy their physiological need

because they are tired after delivering service. One example given by the social

worker was that the members all sat on the floor right after service and could not say a

word because they were exhausted. Food, beverages and a break must be given to

them in order to fulfill their physiological needs. The satisfaction of hunger, thirst and

rest would motivate them to express themselves in the reflection time. Grouping

motivates members to evaluate by fulfilling the needs for security and love and social

belonging. Members feel safe to speak in small groups because they are afraid of

speaking in front of a crowd. Some are able to express in small groups and gain

confidence to present ideas in a large group. As members have cooperated for a period

of time, they become good friends. The intimacy between friends satisfies the love

and social belonging need which motivates them to communicate comfortably. Some

members would actively evaluate themselves. This communication behavior is

motivated by fulfilling needs for self-actualization and knowledge and thinking. Their

potentials are reached so they are motivated to evaluate themselves. Take the dancing

girl mentioned in the preparation and performance above as an example, she was

motivated to communicate her experience because she fully made use of her potential.

Some members proactively evaluate themselves to others because they are motivated

by the fulfillment of knowledge and thinking.

The analysis of findings for three stages has suggested a few points. Along the

three stages, the hierarchical progression is not fully achieved. Needs of self

actualization, transcendence and knowledge and thinking appear later in the second

and third stage after fulfilling security needs and esteem needs but physiological

needs appear in the last stage. Need for security appears in all three stages.

Satisfactions of more than one need appear at the same time or same stage. Examples

are needs for security, love and social belonging, esteem, self actualization and

transcendence all appear in stage two. Some needs such as need for security continue

to motivate members even they are fulfilled.

5. Limitations and Conclusion

The government has just implemented the new education system, other learning

experience (OLE) is compulsory under the new system. OLE means a minimum time

allocation of 5 % each for Aesthetic Development, Physical Development, Moral and

Civic Education, Community Service and Career-related Experiences (Education

Bureau, 2010). Community service is often outsourced to community centers by

schools. It is compulsory for present junior secondary school students (F1 to F4) to

take OLE but not for present senior secondary school students (F5 to F7). This study

has not investigated the difference between the motivation to communicate for junior

and senior secondary schools students as there is an influential variable, the

compulsory requirement of junior secondary school students to do community

service. Age, sex, family background and other environmental factors have not been

taken into consideration for analysis. The discussion is based on the observation and

experience of the social worker solely. The discussion is limited because members in

the service group are not interviewed for comparison and verification of the data.

This study matches the literature review by showing some degrees of following

the hierarchy progression of needs, the coexistence of needs satisfactions and the

continual motivating ability of some satisfied needs.

6. Reference

Adair, J. (1998). "Motivation and people management". In "Handbook of Managemen

t & Leadership". Ch.7. P. 155 - 175

Bowditch, J.L. & Buono A.F. (2005). “A primer on organizational behavior. 6th

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Brooks, I. (2006). “Organisational behaviour : individuals, groups and organization.3rd

edition”. Harlow: Prentice Hall

Drummond, H. (2000). “Introduction to organizational behavior”. Oxford: Oxford

University Press

Education Bureau (2010). “Other learning experiences”.[online]. Available World

Wide Web, URL:

http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/lwl/ole/01_intro_01.asp

Ellis, S. & Dick, P. (2000). “Introduction to organizational behavior”. Maidenhead:

McGraw-Hill

George, J.M. & Jones, G.R. (2000). “Essentials of managing organizational

behavior”. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall

MBA tutorials (2010). “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”. [online]. Available, World

Wide Web, URL:

http://www.mba-tutorials.com/management/409-maslow%E2%80%99s-hierarchy-

of-needs.html

Robertson, F. (2009). “Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs". In "Gower handbook of interna

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Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2006). “Fundamentals of Organizational Communication: Kno

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