Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.2E Grade 12 CPI 3

 

Standard: 2.2 - Integrated Skills

 

Strand: E - Leadership, Advocacy, and Service

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 3 -  The student will discuss factors that influence intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and employ motivational techniques to enhance group productivity.

 

Grade: 12

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        YOU'RE THE EXPERT IN MOTIVATION - Ask students: “What motivates individuals to work harder or try something new?” Divide the class into small groups, and assign each group one of the following case studies. Allow plenty of time for groups to review and discuss their case. Groups present their situation through role-play, a creative story, or character interviews and classmates discuss each presentation. Students complete the activity by writing “Ten Tips to Motivate Me.”

SAMPLE CASE STUDIES: MOTIVATION

Case 1: Sally comes to work late every morning. Because other office staff depend on her to assign their work, her lateness holds up the functioning of several people. Sally received a raise just six months ago. She has been a good worker for three years in the office. You are Sally’s supervisor and you want her to arrive on time. What do you say to her to motivate her to return to her previous work habits?

Case 2: Harry is a salesclerk in the sports department of the store where you are a personnel counselor. You received a complaint from the billing office that Harry’s charge slips have been incorrect, causing losses for the store. Harry was accused by a customer of not paying any attention when asked questions about bicycles. In fact, the head of the sports department took over when Harry simply disappeared from the floor and ignored the customer. You are talking to Harry about his performance and hope to retain him, because he’s been a very productive employee for six years.

Case 3: You are a news editor on a daily afternoon paper with six reporters assigned to you. They range from retirement age to a very new graduate of journalism school. All six are bright and quick to locate news sources and to write their material when given assignments. In the past few weeks, however, the oldest member of your staff has failed to find time to cover assignments and has not produced even reasonably good stories on his own. He is near retirement but would like to continue to free-lance for other publications after he retires in 18 months. In the meantime, he has been most valuable to you and has been helpful in training new people. The new reporter, a bright young woman named Jill, has also suddenly become uninterested in following up assignments and has turned in very sloppy copy. Although she fit in very well when she started with the paper just over a year ago, her production has decreased so much that you are left with only four of your six regular reporters to handle all the work. Are these problems related? What happened to their drive and interest? What approaches do you make to motivate their renewed efforts?

Variation: Divide the class into small groups and assign each group all three scenarios. As groups present their ideas, focus on the following questions: “Did the groups arrive at the same solution or recommendation? What are some different ways to motivate people? Do different circumstances
require different treatment?”

 

      Variation: Invite a personnel director or a counselor to view the presentations and offer comment on the proposed solutions. The speaker can address legal issues that might impede certain approaches suggested by the students.

Variation: As students discuss these cases and recommendations, have them consider whether their ideas were based on preconceived ideas or stereotypes of how workers ought to be treated and what people are really like in the jobs described. Ask students to respond to the following questions: “Lacking more specific data, for example, do you fall back on a stereotypical picture of the aging reporter as perhaps drinking too much, or the young woman reporter as being put down by her colleagues? Do you sometimes make motivational decisions in real life as much on the basis of stereo-types as on the basis of obtainable data? Do you tend to put people into typical roles and thus treat a person as a role and not as an individual?” Allow sufficient time for discussion and debate of these issues.