Ruth Conrad
17:610:570:01
Prof. Betty Turock
2/21/2001
David C. McClelland
David
McClelland was a psychologist and professor, receiving his Ph.D. at Yale in
1941, and going on to teach at Harvard for over 30 years. Although he had no practical managerial
experience, McClelland made a name for himself because of his research into the
psychological and cognitive aspects of motivation and achievement in the
workplace. Although his books and
research cover a broad spectrum of ideas over the course of his long career,
this fascination with human motivation was one of the earmarks of all his work;
some of his books include The Achieving Society (1961), The Roots of
Consciousness (1964), Power: The Inner Experience (1975), The Achievement Motive (1953), Personality (1951), and Motivating Economic Achievement (1969).
Of all his works, Motivating Economic Achievement would seem to have only a passing relevance to library management, since economic gain is not the top priority in library settings. This book primarily discusses the research and observation that McClelland and his colleagues conducted in India, as the government attempted to foster and bolster economic growth. As such, some of the topics discussed in the book were not of much use to librarians, such as models of economic development. Even though the study was provided primarily for the improvement of economic institutions, however, it comes from a broad theoretical standpoint, some of which theories will allow for adaptation in a library setting. After all, in libraries, as with any other institution, the manager is in charge of motivating and directing the achievement of her/his staff. One section in particular that seemed to have widespread utility started at the end of Chapt. 1, and continued in Chapt. 2, were entitled respectively “Increasing the urge to improve” and “Can adults acquire a strong need to achieve?”. It is here that McClelland lays out the theoretical framework upon which the book is based, while a large portion of the rest of the book is involved with detailing the results of the application of this framework in a practical setting. At the end of the first chapter, McClelland illustrated how not all people feel this drive to improve by telling a story of how the Indian government, in attempting to improve the working conditions of rural fishermen, gave the fishermen new, durable nylon nets to replace the previously primitive, breakable nets. McClelland notes, however:
It is true that the fishermen caught more fish, but then one of two things happened. Some of the men stopped fishing when they caught their usual number of fish, …and others caught more fish, but used the extra income to buy more liquor and to have more fun. In neither case did technical aid automatically produce the values and attitudes necessary…(30)
Prior to this date, motivation had largely been assumed to come from within the individual, and, while McClelland cites several studies attempting to explain this phenomenon, he appears to be among the first to suggest that the urge to succeed can be imposed on an individual from exterior sources. It is interesting at this point that McClelland even allows for some ethical ambiguity in this approach (or perhaps he is just anticipating criticism!) by admitting, to some extent, that this might just be the psychologists playing gods, knowing right from wrong. With modern advertising, among others, hardly bothering to quibble over such concerns these days, this over-scrupulousness on McClelland’s part seems somewhat contrived now, but it appears to have been at least one subject of unease in the field at the time.
McClelland then outlines the several ways he intends to encourage motivation and achievement. He starts teaching motivation by first introducing thoughts or “fantasies” of achievement, and then attempting to attach these fantasies to some kind of action, however small. McClelland’s hypothesis here is that, as the subject can connect the thoughts of achievement to the achieving actions, the subject can start perpetuating his/her own motivation. The next phase is that of making this cycle relevant to the subject’s own life, by creating a need for this motivation either in the subject’s career, in the subject’s personal life (i.e. his/her own self-image), or in the subject’s perception of his/her cultural norms. McClelland calls his third phase goal-setting; this, after all, is the planning of the perpetuation of this motivation. McClelland also hypothesizes that as goals are made and met, this motivation becomes more and more incorporated into the subject’s thoughts and actions, and thus has more potential to influence future thoughts. The final aspect of McClelland’s motivational training is the interpersonal support the subject receives from the instructor (or, in the case of a library atmosphere, the manager). As the subject feels validated and respected, and as the new motivational behavior is shown to be important to other group members, as well, this training has a very good chance of taking hold. A combination of peer pressure and peer support are powerful persuaders, against which few have the courage or desire to rebel.
McClelland’s entire body of research, covering more than fifty years, is rather too large to cover in one paper, but this is a sampling of the kind of research that typified his career. McClelland’s writing can be difficult to read, especially to a person unconnected and unfamiliar with the field of psychology. He is, however, a major player in the field of social sciences, and his research has a great deal of practical applicability in the field of management. In libraries, as in any other work setting, the manager must learn how to coax employees, as a preferable alternative to disciplining them. McClelland has done his part for managers everywhere by attempting to understand both the intrinsically motivated high achiever, who is rather rare, and his less motivated counterpart, with an eye toward grafting motivation where none had previously existed.
“Biography: David C. McClelland” http://www.dushkin.com/connectext/psy/ch09/bio9b.mhtml
“David C. McClelland: Achievement Motivation” http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_06_mcclelland.html
“David McClelland, Former Professor of Psychology, Dies” http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/04.09/DavidMcClelland.html
McClelland, David. (1969) Motivating Economic Achievement. New York: The Free Press.