J ÖNKÖPING I NTERNATIONAL B USINESS S CHOOL JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY Reinforcing Work Motivation - a perception study of ten of Sweden’s most successful and acknowledged leaders Master thesis within business administration Authors ©: Alexander Hall Niklas Nyman Tutor: Tomas Müllern Jönköping: September 2004 Master thesis within Business Administration Title: Reinforcing Work Motivation – a perception study of ten of Sweden’s most successful and acknowledged leaders Authors: Alexander Hall Niklas Nyman Tutor: Tomas Müllern Date: 2004-09-23 Subject terms: Work motivation, Work encouragement, Incentives, Intrinsic, Extrinsic, Rewards, Compensation, Praise, Delegation, Informa- tion-sharing, Communication, Productivity, Frontline Abstract Problem In pace with a noticeably fiercer global competition and an in- creased customer awareness, today’s organizations are faced with vast requirements for higher productivity and stronger customer- orientation. This transformation has denoted that human re- sources have become more and more accentuated, and a consen- sus has grown for the true power embraced within them. In Sweden, some few prominent leaders have distinguished them- selves by being highly successful in reinforcing employee motiva- tion, and their knowledge and experiences are priceless in the pursuit of utilizing the full potential of the workforce. Purpose The purpose with this thesis is to study how ten of Sweden’s most successful and acknowledged leaders view and work with employee motivation and critically examine their standpoints. The purpose is furthermore to exemplify how other leaders can strengthen employee motivation through adapting these motiva- tional suggestions. Method Qualitative cross-sectional interviews were conducted for the empirical research, holding a hermeneutic and inductive research approach. Respondents The respondent pool is comprised by both commercial leaders, as well as leaders from the world of sports. They range from be- ing managers over purely service-focused organizations, to being founders of innovative product-producing organizations. Theories The major areas, which are touched upon are; general work mo- tivation, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, communication, and lastly empowerment, responsibility and participation. Conclusions Four major areas influence employee motivation (The Society and Social Surroundings, The Organization and Business Envi- ronment, The Manager and The Employee). This is visualized in the “Four-Factor Model”. Acknowledgements We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our respondents for Their benevolence and kind assistance to our master thesis. We wish You all good luck also in the future. Jan Carlzon Former President and CEO of SAS, former President of Linjeflyg and Ving, Founder and Executive Chairman of Ledstiernan Marika Domanski-Lyfors Coach of the Swedish national ladies’ team in soccer Sven-Göran Eriksson Coach of the English national team in football, former coach in premier league teams in Portugal, Italy and Sweden Bert-Inge Hogsved Founder, owner and CEO of the Hogia Group Johan Staël von Holstein Founder and former President of IconMedialab Lars-Johan Jarnheimer President and CEO of Tele2 and former President of ZTV, Comviq and Saab Opel Sweden Bengt Johansson Coach of the Swedish national team in handball Ingvar Kamprad Founder, owner and Executive Chairman of IKEA Stefan Persson Main owner and Executive Chairman of Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) Jan Wallander Doctor in Economics, former President, Executive Chairman and Honorary Chairman of Svenska Handelsbanken, former Executive Chairman Dagens Nyheter Acknowledgements To our supervisor and advisor at Jönköping International Business School. Your council, encouragement and critical comments have been of great value to us throughout our time with this task. Tomas Müllern Proffessor, Jönköping International Business School Great appreciation also to our proofreaders for assisting us in reading through the thesis, making recommendations for changes and giving us a second opinion on the contents. Karin Koch Lic. oec. HSG, Universität St Gallen Charlie Ahlbin LLM Commercial Law, Jönköping International Business School Last but not least, a special thank You to our families, friends and loved ones for valuable knowledge, inspiration and exchange of ideas. Without Your caring, support and advices, this thesis would not have seen the light of the day. Alexander Hall Niklas Nyman Jönköping, September 2004 Jönköping, September 2004 Table of contents 1 Introduction............................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem definition.......................................................................... 3 1.3 Purpose......................................................................................... 4 1.4 Delimitations.................................................................................. 4 1.5 Authors’ backgrounds.................................................................... 5 1.6 Targeted interested parties ........................................................... 5 1.7 Disposition..................................................................................... 6 2 Method.................................................................................... 7 2.1 Theoretical approach..................................................................... 7 2.2 Research approach....................................................................... 7 2.3 Data collection and analysis.......................................................... 8 2.3.1 Selecting the respondents .................................................. 9 2.3.2 Secondary data................................................................. 10 2.3.3 Conducting the interviews................................................. 10 2.3.4 Conducting the analysis.................................................... 10 2.4 Method evaluation....................................................................... 11 2.4.1 Trustworthiness ................................................................ 11 2.4.2 Method criticism................................................................ 13 3 Frame of reference .............................................................. 14 3.1 Work motivation .......................................................................... 14 3.1.1 The essence of work motivation ....................................... 14 3.1.2 The arise and origin of work motivation theory ................. 16 3.1.3 The manager’s crucial view of employees ........................ 24 3.2 Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation............................................. 25 3.2.1 The success-determinative intrinsic motivation................. 25 3.2.2 Despite everything – extrinsic motivation is vital............... 28 3.2.3 Praise as an alternative type of reward............................. 30 3.2.4 The diverse sets of employee minds ................................ 30 3.2.5 The Principal-Agent Theory .............................................. 31 3.3 Communication and information-sharing..................................... 32 3.3.1 Corporate communication................................................. 32 3.3.2 The internal marketing approach ...................................... 34 3.3.3 Communication of goals, visions, and ideas..................... 36 3.4 Participation, responsibility and empowerment ........................... 38 3.4.1 Empowerment................................................................... 38 4 The story of the ten respondents....................................... 40 4.1 Jan Carlzon – The man who “tore down the pyramids”............... 40 4.2 Marika Domanski-Lyfors – Placing a national team on the map.. 42 4.3 Sven-Göran Eriksson – International success impersonated ...... 44 4.4 Bert-Inge Hogsved – The company that became companies...... 46 4.5 Johan Staël von Holstein – The entrepreneurial pioneer............. 48 4.6 Lars-Johan Jarnheimer – Connecting the globe.......................... 50 4.7 Bengt Johansson – The man with the voice to motivate ............. 52 4.8 Ingvar Kamprad – Furnishing the world....................................... 54 4.9 Stefan Persson – Fashion for everyone ...................................... 56 4.10 Jan Wallander – Decentralizing the banking sphere ................... 57 5 Empirical findings ............................................................... 59 5.1 Work motivation .......................................................................... 59 5.1.1 The existence of forlorn hopes.......................................... 63 5.1.2 Personal encouragement.................................................. 66 5.2 Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation............................................. 69 5.3 Communication and information-sharing..................................... 74 5.4 Participation, responsibility and empowerment ........................... 77 5.5 Some last unmentioned recommendations ................................. 80 6 Analysis................................................................................ 83 6.1 Work motivation .......................................................................... 83 6.1.1 The essentiality of work motivation................................... 83 6.1.2 Employee are humans...................................................... 84 6.1.3 The importance