Motivation Research Versus the Art of Faculty Management

This paper begins with a “short tour” of prevailing motivation theories from organizational behavior. Guidelines from current theories are pushed to their limit, however, when outcome curves are examined in their extremities. Traditional reward systems are shown to have many practical limitations. In addition, because they are derived from self-interest models of motivation, relevance to educational roles is incomplete. To explain organizationally-oriented rather than individualistic behavior, altruism as a theory is considered.