Motivation in Unionized Construction

Abstract

A survey was corrducted of unionized construction workers in a major midwestern city to collect data on their perceptions of the motivational climate in their jobs. The framework for the collection and analysis of the data was the expectancy model of worker motivation and performance. The findings indicated that the motivational climate is very poor. Contractors rely more on punishment and discipline than they do positive rewards. Little is done to encourage good performance. Discipline is used to discourage poor performance. Contractors provide little in the way of rewards, even when they are not prohibited from providing a variety of rewards by their labor agreements. The workers surveyed reported very little incentive to be highly productive.