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26 Emp. Resp. & Rts. J. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/emprrj26 and id is 1 raw text is: Employ Respons Rights J (2014) 26:1-20 DOI 10.1007/s10672-013-9230-1 Evaluating Moral Issues in Motivation Theories: Lessons from Marketing and Advertising Practices Tamar Shultz Published online: 22 August 2013 O Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract Motivation theories in the management and organizational behavior literature rep- resent researchers' attempts to understand the processes that cause people to act productively in the context of the employment relationship, for the benefit of their employers (Miner Organizational behavior, performance and productivity New-York: Random-House 1988). These theories attempt to develop tools that will enable managers to make their employees' behavior cost-effective and directed toward the achievement of the organization's goals. From this perspective, motivational and marketing practices are quite similar, especially if we compare motivational and advertising practices. The goal of both is to propel people into behaving in a way that will benefit the organization. This paper examines what the well- developed criticism of advertising and marketing practices can teach us about the use of motivational practices in work organizations. Following Bishop's (Business Ethics Quarterly 10: 371-398, 2000) framework of the moral issues raised by ads, this paper critically investi- gates the moral meaning of classic motivational theories and practices and their implications for both theoreticians and practitioners. Keywords Motivation theories - Ethics Introduction Critical theories in organizational behavior studies aim at exposing the ideology behind the theories used in the field (Alvesson and Willmott 1992). They offer a different perspective on managerial functionalist theories that are widely used in organizations. Their main argument is that prevailing theories in management and organizational behavior are oversimplified and dominated by mechanical and managerial perspectives which are devoted to achieving organi- zational effectiveness and efficiency, what Lyotard (1984) called performativity, assuming the unity of goals between employers and employees (Willmott 1997), and giving precedence to performance over social welfare (Walsh and Weber 2002). Critical theorists view the mainstream management theories as an ideology reproduced by organizational and management practices while inhibiting and distorting social development T. Shultz (E) Netanya Academic College, School of Behavioral Sciences, Netanya, Israel e-mail: tamishu@gmail.com 4Z Springer