HROB*4100 Professor S.

Lyons

Investigating how motivation affects

generation Ys relatedness in the
workplace
December 9th, 2011

Tara-Lynn Dent, Lesley James, Cam Beck, Colin Vince, Pricilla Mena,
Roxanne Johnson, Jennifer Grant, Paige Caletti

Introduction
In todays workforce, organizations face the challenge of having to meet the needs of
four different generational cohorts that have grown up in different times and have various
perspectives based on life experiences and fluctuations in the economy (Twenge et al., 2010).
The newest generation in the workforce, generation Y, has been said to have different values
and needs than previous generations. In recent years, organizations have been faced with the
new issue of integrating this generation. Generation Y has been found to be more external and to
have lower relatedness than previous generations, which may cause problems when integrating
them into the workforce. It is important for organizations to recognize the specific values and
needs of generation Y, in order to foster an efficient workforce.
We will investigate how extrinsic motivation affects generation Ys relatedness in the
workplace using elements of the self determination theory as expressed by Deci and Ryan. This
will help managers decide which approach is best to implement into their organization, to
motivate generation Y to work more effectively. Self-determination theory makes the distinction
between autonomous and controlled motivation. For generation Y to work most effectively it is
important that the managerial approaches enforce the self-determination theory. Specifically
when looking at the self-determination theory, we are looking at whether different types of
motivation affect generation Ys relatedness in the workplace. The outcome of this study will
allow us to determine the most effective way of motivating generation Y.
Literature Review
Generations
Generation Y are individuals born between the years of 1982 and 1999. This generation
has grown up within the technology era, using a variety of social networking sites as a main

source of communication, which is different than previous generations face-to-face way of

socializing. To generation Y, work is a means to an end; essentially they work to live as
opposed to live to work (Twenge et al., 2010). Generation Y has grown up with constant praise
and recognition, which is said to have caused them to be fickle and high maintenance with a
high sense of entitlement (Clement, 2008). Members of this generation are also known to have
lower levels of organizational commitment and need for social approval (DeMeuse & Mlodzik,
2010). Due to generation Y growing up in a technological era, this affects their social
interactions with others and contributes to their low organizational commitment. This may have
implications for their relatedness in the workplace.
Conflict in the workplace can be due to intergenerational misconceptions and
miscommunication; this can have a negative impact on the organization (DeMeuse & Mlodzik,
2010). Managers should know the different values of each generation, as they will be able to
facilitate better work environments and therefore, come up with better ways for employees to
work together increasing their relatedness. Managers who possess stereotypes of generational
cohorts whether accurate or not, may unknowing create factions within an organization. As with
other stereotypes, manages may adopt attitude behaviors and expectations based on
generalizations rather then reality (DeMeuse & Mlodzik, 2010).
The needs of these different generations pose a challenge for managers. Specifically,
motivating these individuals in order to meet the needs and values of different generations.
Management needs to be aware that generation Y is more concerned with high monetary returns
(Campbell & Twenge, 2008). This suggests that generation Y may be more extrinsically
motivated.

Motivation Theory
According to Latham & Pinder (2005), work motivation is a set of energetic forces that
originate both within as well as beyond an individual's being, to initiate work-related behavior
and to determine its form, direction, intensity, and duration. Psychologically, motivation is a
process that results from the interaction between the environment and the individual. It is
believed that workers have two fundamentally different orientations towards work. Some
perceive work as a means to an end, and are therefore said to be extrinsically motivated. While
others are said to be intrinsically motivated and satisfy their need for achievement and selfactualization through their work (Thomas, Buboltz & Winkelspetch, 2004). This suggests that
management should take different approaches to motivate employees and satisfy their different
needs.
Self-Determination Theory
A theory of motivation that has garnered a lot of attention in recent years is selfdetermination theory (SDT). This theory makes the distinction between autonomous motivation
and controlled motivation, which involves acting with a sense of volition and having the
experience of choice (Deci & Gagne, 2005). An important aspect of this theory is that extrinsic
motivation can vary in the degree to which it is autonomous versus controlled (Deci & Gagne,
2005). Self-determination theory has three components within it, which are presented below.
1) The autonomy orientation assesses the extent to which a person is oriented toward aspects of
the environment that stimulate intrinsic motivation, are optimally challenging, and provide
informational feedback. A person high in autonomy orientation tends to display greater selfinitiation, seek activities that are interesting and challenging, and take greater responsibility for
his or her own behavior (Deci & Ryan, 2011). High autonomy orientations in past research have

been associated with higher levels of self-esteem, ego development, and self-actualisation as
well as greater integration in personality (Deci & Ryan, 2011).
2) The controlled orientation assesses the extent to which a person is oriented toward being
controlled by rewards, deadlines, structures, ego-involvements, and the directives of others. A
person high on the controlled orientation is likely to be dependent on rewards or other controls,
and may be more attuned to what others demand than to what they want for themselves. In the
U.S., at least, a person high in the controlled orientation is likely to place extreme importance on
wealth, fame, and other extrinsic factors (Deci & Ryan, 2011). The controlled orientation has
been related to public self-consciousness (Deci & Ryan, 2011). This shows that controlled
motivation (a form of extrinsic motivation) has been proven to have an affect on generation Y in
the workplace by decreasing their public self-consciousness.
3) The impersonal orientation assesses the extent to which a person believes that attaining
desired outcomes is beyond his or her control and that achievement is largely a matter of luck or
fate. People high on this orientation are likely to be anxious and to feel very ineffective. They
have no sense of being able to affect outcomes or cope with demands or changes. They tend to
be a motivated and to want things to be as they always were (Deci & Ryan, 2011). Impersonal
orientation has been found to predict higher levels of social anxiety, depression, and selfderogation (Deci & Ryan, 2011).
Extrinsic Motivation
Societys perception on generation Y is that they are intrinsically motivated but the
findings have shown that they may be just as extrinsically motivated as other generations
(Twenge et al., 2010). Extrinsic elements in the workplace include things such as pay, benefits
and job security. If there are major problems within the workplace, especially problems that

threaten pay and security, manager support for self-determination is not very relevant to
employees (Ryan & Connell, 1989). However, when these major problems are eliminated, for
instance unfreezing wages, immediate employer and employee relationships become more
relevant and there is a stronger correlation to job satisfaction. Therefore, it seems that employees
would rather have concrete evidence to prove that employers are concerned with employees
(Ryan & Connell, 1989).
Extrinsic work value orientation concerns the traditional pursuit of success by advancing
up the organizational hierarchy to achieve prestige, status, and high income (Watts, 1992).
Within SDT, the pursuits of financial success, power and status reflect an extrinsic orientation
because the importance of these values mostly lies within the anticipated personal admiration
and self-worth that can be obtained by realizing them (Vansteenkiste et., al, 2007).
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is an important construct, which reflects the natural human
propensity to learn and assimilate (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Intrinsically motivated behaviors are
performed out of interest and satisfy the innate psychological needs for competence and
autonomy. These intrinsically motivated behaviors are the prototype of self-determined behavior
(Ryan & Deci, 2000). Intrinsic work value orientation reflects the employees need for selfdevelopment. This includes the natural desire to actualize, develop and grow at the work place.
This self-development includes affiliation, meaning the desire to build meaningful relationships
with fellow colleagues, and the desire to help people in need (Vansteenkiste et al., 2007).
According to the self-determination theory, putting an emphasis on intrinsic work values will
lead to an increased well-being within the individual by satisfying the basic psychological need
for autonomy, competence and relatedness (Vansteenkiste et al., 2007).

Relatedness
Relatedness refers to the tendency to be oriented towards forming strong and stable
interpersonal bonds. Stable interpersonal bonds were related to greater autonomy in
relationships while avoidant and preoccupied attachment styles were negatively related to
autonomy (Guardia & Patrick, 2008). Relatedness is important in the workplace because it
facilitates relationships and creates a positive work environment. Relatedness will be observed
in our study to see if those in generation Y who are extrinsically motivated display lower levels
of relatedness in the workplace.
Previous Research Findings
Two studies found that holding an extrinsic relative to an intrinsic work value orientation
was associated with less positive outcomes (i.e. less satisfaction and dedication to ones job and
vitality on the job) and more negative outcomes (i.e. higher emotional exhaustion, short lived
satisfaction after successful goal attainment and turnover intention), (Vansteenkiste et al., 2007).
Another study found that holding an extrinsic relative to an intrinsic work-value orientation was
detrimental to employees job outcomes due to the fact that orientations thwarted the
satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness at work
(Vansteenkiste et al., 2007). The last finding investigated showed that social networking has
changed the way generation Y values relationships (Twenge et al., 2010). This is due to the fact
that generation Y lacks face-to-face interactions weakening their social skills below those of
previous generations, which in turn lowers their relatedness.
To embody all of the constructs listed above we have come up with the following hypotheses:
H1 Generation Y will be more extrinsically motivated than intrinsically motivated.

H2 Due to generation Y being extrinsically motivated, this will have a negative affect on
relatedness in the workplace.
Methodology
Sample
The sample of this study was individuals between the ages of 18 and 25, commonly
known as generation Y. Participants were recruited through social media, email and word of
mouth. These individuals had an education level of high school or higher and have worked
within the past year full-time, part-time or seasonal. There were a total of 143 respondents who
completed our survey. Of the 143, 106 fit our criteria, which were then used in our analysis.
Measures
Intrinsic/extrinsic motivation was measured using the COGS-12 vignette scale
developed by Deci and Ryan. This scale is used to measure a persons level of intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation based on their autonomy, impersonal and controlled tendencies. To analyze
all of the data, we referred back to the COGS-12 vignette scale answer key which rated
participants based on their responses to the question. This determined if each participant was
autonomous, impersonal or controlled. Based on this information, a Pearson correlation was
used to identify relationships between variables.
Relatedness was measured using questions we developed that we believed were relevant
to measure the participants relationships with coworkers inside and outside of the workplace.
Questions were also asked to determine their preferences of accomplishing tasks in the
workplace.

Results
We tested hypothesis 1, regarding generation Ys extrinsic motivation, by conducting a
correlation analysis. The results of the Pearson correlation are displayed in Appendices 6-11 and
the following are of significance.
1) The more close friends a person has in the work place the less extrinsically motivated they
were which in turn affects relatedness (r= -.225 at the 0.05 level). This is also true with
respondents who spend more time with co-workers outside of work, their extrinsic motivation
decreases and they become more intrinsically motivated and related to both their work and coworkers (r= -.206 at the 0.05 level).
2) People who said that most of their friends are people that they work with were much more
likely to feel comfortable discussing personal issues with their co-workers which demonstrates
higher relatedness in the workplace (r= .312 at the 0.01 level).
3) Those who said most or all of their friends are from outside of work were more likely to not
see developing work relationships as important (r= -.252 at the 0.01 level), spend less time with
co-workers outside of work, keep work life and friends separate (r= -.282 at the 0.01 level), and
not feel comfortable discussing personal issues with co-workers (r= -.254 at the 0.01 level).
Based on the questions that were designed to measure relatedness, we obtained the
following results. There is a significant difference between where individuals met their closest
friends; the majority of participants closest friends were from outside the workplace. As seen in
Appendix 1, it is shown that 118 participants met their closest friends from school compared to
10 people who said their closest friends are from work. The participants results also revealed
that they spend less time with coworkers outside of the workplace, which is not far off from
individuals who spend more than 4 times a month with coworkers outside of the workplace,

which is demonstrated in Appendix 2. Appendix 3 looks at the importance of developing

relationships/friendships with co-workers. The results showed that individuals do find it
important to create relationships with their co-workers. There was a significant difference
between individuals who did find it important and individuals who did not find it important. If
given the choice generation Y preferred to complete work related tasks alone versus working in
a group, these results can be seen in Appendix 4. It was apparent from the results of the study
that individuals in this generation were both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated.
Discussion
Based on these findings we can conclude that generation Y yields a mix of both intrinsic
and extrinsically motivated individuals. While the findings were close, the sample proved to be
slightly more intrinsically motivated, which refutes our first hypothesis. Due to our recruitment
methods and time resources available the majority of respondents were between the ages of 21
and 22. This could have affected the findings due to the fact that this age group in general has a
lack of professional work experience, which could have skewed the results of the study.
Findings also confirm that there is a negative correlation between extrinsic motivation and
relatedness in the workplace, which supports our second hypothesis, as it proves that extrinsic
motivation has a negative effect on relatedness in the workplace.
These findings are important for managers because a lack of relatedness can have a large
effect on the overall productivity and efficiency of an organization. Relatedness in the
workplace facilitates productive relationships among employees and embodies teamwork, which
is an important goal of any management team. Within an effective and productive organization
all employees work together to achieve a common goal. When relatedness is low people become
distant from one another, and thus organizational objectives and the overall bottom line of a

company suffer. With this information, managers become aware that with extrinsically
motivated individuals present in the workplace a lack of relatedness may also be present.
Managers need to be aware of the different motivational tendencies of generation Y and
promote the importance of high relatedness among a work team. Managers may be successful at
this by identifying motivational tendencies of individuals and helping to build productive work
groups accordingly. By knowing employees and discovering individuals that work well together
organizational efficiency and relatedness can benefit. In addition, managers may want to
implement new team building activities for employees to assist in the development of both
communication and positive relationships between employees.
Researchers can take these findings and attempt to explore new initiatives and
management techniques that will help increase relatedness among employees. More specifically,
ways to help generation Y connect more effectively with other generation Y employees that
display different motivational techniques as well as other generations who are present in the
workplace.
Limitations/Conclusions
A lack of time and resources limited our sample group and available respondents to
mostly being 21-22 year old university students. With increased time and resources we could
have drawn a greater sample size, which may have been more representative of the real
population. Although these respondents fit into generation Y, this sample does not include all
members of generation Y of different ages and work experience. With a more diverse sample of
generation Y and greater number of respondents, results may have varied slightly or even
significantly. Perhaps recruiting respondents from organizations with work experience would
have helped to add substance to the sample results and provided for accurate conclusions as to

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the motivational tendencies of generation Y and their affects on relatedness in the work place.
The recruiting process could have been aided by more resources and enabled our researchers to
provide incentives to respondents and yield greater participation numbers.
We noticed that a large percentage of survey respondents did not complete the entire
survey and therefore did not provide sufficient data to be used in our study. Perhaps if we had
made the survey more user friendly, and established better ways to keep respondents interested
throughout the survey process we could have had more full responses to the survey. The length
of the survey and scenario questions may have also deterred participation.
During our review of past literature pertaining to generation Y, relatedness and
motivational tendencies, we found that research was lacking in these area. Specifically, we were
unable to find research on relatedness and its implications for workplace behaviour and
motivation. With further research in this area, future studies could benefit from our research and
can attempt to develop a more reliable questionnaire to pinpoint and gage workplace relatedness
among respondents from generation Y.
Relatedness in the workplace and among members of an organization is an important
measure to study as it demonstrates a cohesive work atmosphere, fosters teamwork and
demonstrates an overall efficient workforce. Managers should attempt to measure and interrupt
levels of relatedness within their organization and implement plans to help build and promote
the importance of relatedness. Team building exercises and other relationship building
techniques adopted can help to promote and grow relatedness between co-workers.
In finding that generation Y yields almost equal numbers of intrinsic and extrinsically
motivated people, we can confidently conclude that generation Y should not be stereotyped as
being mostly one or the other. Accepting that this generation of workers encompasses a plethora

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of behavioural characteristics and can be motivated by different means, managers should be able
to affectively create a work environment that allows for individuals of different motivational
tendencies to work together and successfully accomplish work tasks.

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Appendix 1

Where participants met the majority of

their friends
6.2%

5.5%

6.9%
School
Work
Recreational Activities
Other
81.4%

Appendix 2

Spending time with co-workers outside

of the workplace
15.9%

Less than once a month

4%

34.1%

Once a month
Twice a month

9.5%

Three times a month

Four times a month

15.9%

More than four times a month

20.6%

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Appendix 3

Importance of developing
relationships/friendships with coworkers
Yes

24%

No
76%

Appendix 4

Preference of completing work related

tasks

22%
37%

Group
Alone

41%

No Preference

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Appendix 5

Controlled vs. Autonomous

33%
42%

Controlled
Impersonal
Autonomous

25%

15

Appendix 6

16

Appendix 7

17

Appendix 8

18

Appendix 9

19

Appendix 10

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Appendix 11

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