Jack Merridews Decline in Lord of the Flies Essay -- essays research

Civilization is the force that keeps us all in line. We are taught from an early age that if we break a rule, we are punished. Why? Because that’s how society works. What would happen, though, if we took away society, civilization, and punishment. Would we keep up the rules that had been etched into us since birth and keep living in a civilized manner? In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores this scenario. In his opinion, a person would abandon all ideas of society and revert into a savage, relying on primal instincts to survive. The main character that goes through this is Jack. Throughout the book, Jack goes from being a civilized choir boy to a savage tyrant. In the beginning of the book a plane crashes onto an island and the only survivors are a group of boys in a school choir. Enter Jack: the leader of a small group of choir boys. They call a meeting and decide how things will be run and decide on the rules. Jack seems for them, saying â€Å"We’ll have rules!...Lots of rules and then when anyone breaks ‘em-â€Å"(33). They then vote on a leader. The candidates are Jack and Ralph, and Ralph won. Although he isn’t happy about it, Jack accepts his loss, and decides to try his hand at exploring. While exploring with Ralph and Simon, Jack comes across a wild pig. He draws his knife in order to kill it but finds that he can’t. Something deep inside him says that it’s wrong to kill, â€Å"They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh, because of the unbearable blood†. In his moment of hesitation the pig runs off, and he puts aw ay the knife. Civilization won this time. Even though his choir group is supposed to be watching the fire and making sure it’s lit, Jack takes ... ... of calls to communicate. He has complete power over the tribe, bending them to his will. He’s become a dictator, savage and brutal. Rules no longer apply to Jack because he’s forgotten the society he comes from. All he cares about now is killing Ralph to take revenge. In his mind, killing is a totally acceptable thing to do. Jack has lost all reason. His plan to kill Jack fails though, when an unexpected rescuer shows up. It is unknown if Jack ever regains his civilized self. It seems unlikely though, given how he is at this point. Civilization is the thing that keeps us in line. We have a system of checks and balances to make sure everyone behaves. If someone does something we believe to be morally wrong the person is punished. Take away civilization and society will go to ruin. People will revert back to their primal selves. Going on instinct and not intellect. Jack Merridew's Decline in Lord of the Flies Essay -- essays research Civilization is the force that keeps us all in line. We are taught from an early age that if we break a rule, we are punished. Why? Because that’s how society works. What would happen, though, if we took away society, civilization, and punishment. Would we keep up the rules that had been etched into us since birth and keep living in a civilized manner? In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores this scenario. In his opinion, a person would abandon all ideas of society and revert into a savage, relying on primal instincts to survive. The main character that goes through this is Jack. Throughout the book, Jack goes from being a civilized choir boy to a savage tyrant. In the beginning of the book a plane crashes onto an island and the only survivors are a group of boys in a school choir. Enter Jack: the leader of a small group of choir boys. They call a meeting and decide how things will be run and decide on the rules. Jack seems for them, saying â€Å"We’ll have rules!...Lots of rules and then when anyone breaks ‘em-â€Å"(33). They then vote on a leader. The candidates are Jack and Ralph, and Ralph won. Although he isn’t happy about it, Jack accepts his loss, and decides to try his hand at exploring. While exploring with Ralph and Simon, Jack comes across a wild pig. He draws his knife in order to kill it but finds that he can’t. Something deep inside him says that it’s wrong to kill, â€Å"They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh, because of the unbearable blood†. In his moment of hesitation the pig runs off, and he puts aw ay the knife. Civilization won this time. Even though his choir group is supposed to be watching the fire and making sure it’s lit, Jack takes ... ... of calls to communicate. He has complete power over the tribe, bending them to his will. He’s become a dictator, savage and brutal. Rules no longer apply to Jack because he’s forgotten the society he comes from. All he cares about now is killing Ralph to take revenge. In his mind, killing is a totally acceptable thing to do. Jack has lost all reason. His plan to kill Jack fails though, when an unexpected rescuer shows up. It is unknown if Jack ever regains his civilized self. It seems unlikely though, given how he is at this point. Civilization is the thing that keeps us in line. We have a system of checks and balances to make sure everyone behaves. If someone does something we believe to be morally wrong the person is punished. Take away civilization and society will go to ruin. People will revert back to their primal selves. Going on instinct and not intellect.

Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now: An Analysis Essay

The novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, published in 1902, is about the story of a man named Marlow, a steamship captain whose character is based on Conrad’s own experience. The story is told from Marlow’s perspective in a narrative. Marlow describes describes one particular journey he took on an African river as part of an assignment by his company to take charge of a barge stuck in the interior. In addition to his regular task of transporting ivory, Marlow has orders to bring back Kurtz, a man considered a legend in his company. Along the journey, Marlow makes his way through the jungle, witnessing the how whites exploit the natives even to the point of oppressing them in their quest for power and profit (Conrad 155; Galloway; Grant 215). Upon reaching Kurtz’s compound in a remote outpost, he is appalled to see a row of human heads mounted on poles. Marlow later realized that Kurtz has freed himself from the bounds of civilization, trading his soul for power resulting in him running his own fiefdom in the interior. But he paid a price for it in losing his humanity as he led the natives under him in raids along the surrounding areas to collect ivory and these raids are brutal as evidenced by the displayed heads (Conrad 160). It is also discovered that Kurtz is dying of an illness as Marlow took him back to civilization. On the way back, the dying Kurtz gives to Marlow a bold declamation of his deeds as a quest driven by visions he sees, at some point, the life in Kurtz slowly ebbed and his dying words were, â€Å"The horror! The horror! † which underscores the despair at the encounter with human depravity–the heart of darkness (Conrad 192; Galloway). Seguing more than 70 years later, Francis Ford Coppola wrote, produced and directed the film Apocalypse Now in 1979. The story of the film is loosely based on Conrad’s novel. Using artistic license, Coppola set the story in Vietnam at the height of the conflict there instead of the Congo. Coincidentally, the main antagonist of the film is also named Kurtz (played by Marlon Brando). Instead of Marlow, the other protagonist is Captain Willard (played by Martin Sheen), a special operations officer who has been having difficulty adjusting to a tranquil atmosphere as his body craves for action as shown in the scene where he is having â€Å"withdrawal symptoms† from being away in combat for quite some time. Likle Marlow, Willard is the one who narrates the story (Coppola; Galloway; Kinder 14). A new mission galvanized him into action as he is ordered by his superiors to kill Kurtz who is believed to have gone insane and like Conraad’s Kurtz, has created his private fiefdom in the heart of the Vietnamese jungle where he has apparently gone rogue, all the more reason why Willard is ordered to kill him (Coppola). Instead of commanding a steamship, Willard traveled on a riverine gunboat run by an eccentric crew and instead of seeing ivory traders attacking villages, his eyes feasted on the sight of an Air Cavalry regiment run by a Colonel Kilgore (played by Robert Duvall) whose disposition resembled that of General George S. Patton with a passion for combat when he uttered, â€Å"I love the smell of napalm in the morning (Coppola)! † as well as a passion for surfing. Like Conrad’s Marlow, Willard came upon Kurtz’s fiefdom and sees why the brass in Saigon wanted Kurtz dead. Willard is captured but has managed to escape and complete the mission by killing Kurtz at his vulnerable moment making a recording. As Kurtz lay dying, his dying words are similar to Conrad’s Kurtz as he uttered, â€Å"the horror†¦ the horror†¦ † as well (Coppola; Galloway; Kinder 15, 18). In analyzing both stories, there is a parallelism that exists in terms of theme. Looking at it from the political perspective, both stories underscore the evil of imperialism. In The Heart of Darkness, Africa is responsible for mental disintegration as well as for physical illness of Mr. Kurtz while Vietnam does the same thing for Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. It would appear that both Kurtzes have been in the service of their masters. Both men have been its servants and at the same time, its victims (Galloway). Mr. Kurtz has been conisdered a legendary man of the company for his ability to deliver the goods – ivory, a very valuable commodity among white traders in Africa. But in the course of carrying out his duties, it requires him to conduct raids on surrounding villages which entails killing people in the name of profit. As for Col. Kurtz, his mission as a Special Forces officer is to organize the indigenous tribes of Vietnam, the Montagnards into a paramilitary force intended to act as a deterent against marauding Vietcong guerillas but like Conrad’s Mr. Kurtz, his ragtag army also committed atrocities, only it is in the name of fighting communism and upholding democracy as his superiors would tell him (Coppola; Kinder 13, 15). It is in the service of their masters that drove these two men into madness. It is a madness not necessarily bordering on insanity or craziness, but it is the kind that caused them to detach themselves from this cruel and maddening reality and create their own world to escape it with their own norms to follow to the point of megalomania. Both Conrad and Coppola used this device to elicit sympathy on the part of the audience as well as reflect on the human nature and experience they have gone through which could happen to anyone (Grant 215; Kinder 13, 18; Galloway). By way of clarification, Conrad and Coppola’s Kurtz are not inherently evil. Both men have started out as the ideal of the company they serve. What drove them to the proverbial dark side is that â€Å"obsession† (for lack of a better word) in carrying out their mission. Their duties have somehow made them jaded and desensitized as they realized that what they are doing appear to violate morality when their duty entails killing people for profit and politics respectively. Thus it has become clear for both Marlow and Willard why their Kurtz need to be taken care of. Both men have been corrupted to the point of madness that they are â€Å"out of control† and they have to be dealt with lest they cause more damage and turn against their own masters (Galloway, Kinder 19). In conclusion, both William Conrad and Francis Coppola showed through their works the dark side of the individual when pushed to the limit. While one may be appalled by the horrors depicted in both stories, both Conrad and Coppola has managed to somehow make the audience sympathetic towards the two Kurtzes rather than loathe them entirely for they used to be â€Å"human† and it is not their own fault why they have gone off the deep end. What Conrad and Coppola are doing is that they helped guide the audience on who is responsible for the madness that has befallen the two Kurtzes who could have been destined for greater things instead of the tragic fate that befell them. The bottom line is man is not inherently evil but they can be seduced into it by the circumstances surrounding them.

Literature review of concepts and theories of Motivation - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 15 Words: 4472 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Psychology Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? In the fierce era of competition, organizations nowadays are more emphasizing on the management of Human Resources (Robert. L, 2008). Motivation; a key strategy in Human Resource Management has helped practitioners largely enough to subject the term Motivation for a discussion. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Literature review of concepts and theories of Motivation" essay for you Create order Steers et al. (2004), asserted that employee motivation plays a vital role in the management field; both theoretically and practically. It is said that one of the important functions of human resource manager is to ensure job commitment at the workplace, which can only be achieved through motivation (Petcharak, 2002). Based on these reasoning, this paper shall include analytical and empirical studies to reveal the discrepancies and feasibility aspect of the domain, as Rai (2004) put forward; motivation is crucial for good performance and therefore it is increasingly important to study what motivates employees for better performance. This section offers a review of literature, which explores the concepts, types and theoretical aspects including content and process theories, theories of motivation developed in other psychological areas as well as empirical evidences in organizational contexts. 2.1 Motivation Motivation is defined as a human psychological characteristic that add to a persons degree of commitment. It is the management process of in ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡uencing employees behavior. (Badu, 2005) Conversely, Bartol and Martin (1998) relate motivation to the force that stimulates behavior, provide direction to behavior, and underlies the tendency to prevail. In other words individuals must be sufficiently stimulated and energetic, must have a clear focus on what is to be achieved, and must be willing to commit their energy for a long period of time to realize their aim in order to achieve goals. However, other than motivation being a force that stimulates behavior, Vroom (1964) emphasized on the voluntary actions. Supported by Steers et al. (2004), Vroom (1964) defined motivation as a process governing choice made by personsamong alternative forms of voluntary activity. Similarly Kreitner and Kinicki (2004) assumed that motivation incorporate those psychological proce sses that create the arousal, direction and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal oriented. Quite differently from the other definitions, Locke and Latham (2004) identified that motivation influence peoples acquisition of skills and the extent to which they use their ability. According to the authors the concept of motivation refers to internal factors that impel action and to external factors that can act as inducements to action. The three aspects of action that motivation can affect are direction (choice), intensity (effort), and duration (persistence). Motivation can affect both the acquisition of peoples skills and abilities; and also the extent to which they utilize their skills and abilities (Locke and Latham, 2004). In a nut shell, different authors have put forward the concept of motivation differently. Nonetheless, these definitions have three common aspects, that is, they are all principally concerned with factors or events that stimulate, channel, and prol ong human behavior over time (Steers et al. 2004). 2.2 Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation Following Lakhani and Wolf (2005), Lakhani and Von Hippel (2003) and Lemer and Tirole (2004), the current scholarly thinking favors a framework that considers two components of motivation given by intrinsic and extrinsic components. Accordingly, Lawler (1969) intrinsic motivation is the degree to which feelings of esteem, growth, and competence are expected to result from successful task performance. This view bounds intrinsic motivation to an expectancy approach and expectancy theory which clearly indicates that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations summate (Porter Lawler, 1968). Moreover, as per to Amabile et al. (1993) Individuals are said to be intrinsically motivated when they seek, interest, satisfaction of curiosity, self expression, or personal challenge in the work. On the other hand individuals are said to be extrinsically motivated when they engaged in the work to gain some goal that is part of the work itself. As per to the author this definition of intrinsic and extri nsic motivation is based on the individual perception of the individual perception of task and his or her reasons for engaging in it. Moreover, Amabile et al. further argued that intrinsic motivators arise from an individuals feelings with regards to the activity and they are necessary to adhere to the work itself. Conversely, extrinsic motivators although they may be dependent on the work, they are not logically an inherent part of the work. Furthermore, in line with the concept of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, De Charms (1968) suggest that external rewards might undermine intrinsic motivation. He further proposed that individuals seek for personal causation and because of the desire to be the origin of his behavior; man keeps struggling against the constraint of external forces. Thus, De Charms hypothesized that when a man perceives his behavior as originating from his own choice, he will value that behavior and its results but when he perceives his behavior as originatin g from external forces, that behavior and its results, even though identical in other respects to behavior of his own choosing, will be devalued. De Charms (1968) further argued that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation may interact, rather than summate that is the introduction of extrinsic rewards for the behaviors that was intrinsically rewarding may decrease rather than enhance the overall motivation. The author argued that the introduction of an extrinsic reward put the individual in a dependent position relative to the source of the reward. The locus of causality for his behavior changes from self to the external reward and thus the individuals perception of self-control, free choice, and commitment deteriorate and hence do his motivation. In addition Frey (1997) note that high intrinsic work motivation evolving from work which is interesting involves the trust and loyalty of personal relationships and is participatory. However, under certain circumstances, intrinsic motivatio n can be diminished, or crowded-out by external interventions like monitoring or pay-for-performance incentive schemes. This was also supported by Frey and Jegen (2001) who reviewed the literature on intrinsic motivations and found that the evidence does suggest that incentives sometimes do crowd-out intrinsic motivations. Besides, Frey (1997) suggests that the important matter is whether the external intervention is in the form of a command or a reward. Commands are most controlling in the sense that they seize self-determination from the agent, while rewards might still allow autonomy of action. The maximization of employees motivation to attain the organizations goals can only be obtained through a complete understanding of motivation theories (Reid 2002). There is a wide variety of theoretical frameworks that have been developed in the attempts to explain the issues related to motivation. Stoner, Edward and Daniel (1995) has described two different views on motivation theory, given by the earliest views and the contemporary approach which can further be subdivided into content and process theories. 2.3 Theories of Motivation 2.3.1 The earliest views of motivation One of the earliest views of motivation is Frederick W Taylor et al. (1911) scientific management theory. Taylor (1911) with regards to employee motivation proposed a paternalistic approach to managing workers and argued that workers are economic men and in order to motivate them, workers should be paid higher wages. The author also argued that the higher is the wage rate, the higher will be the level motivation and productivity. Furthermore, Taylor points out that many payment methods were ineffective, as they did not reward efficiency and he believed that a differential piece-work incentive system should be replaced with a piece rate incentive system (Wren, 2005). In other words workers should be paid according to the number of units produced in order to motivate them to work. On the other hand in line with building on the concept of motivation Elton Mayo (1953) came up with the Human Relations approach whereby the emphasis is laid on non-economic motivators. According to Elto n Mayo (1953), if objectives of organizations are to be met, it must attempt to understand, respect and consider the emotions, sense of recognition and satisfaction that is the non-monetary needs of workers. He believed that employees are not just concern with money but also they need to have their social needs to be met in order to be motivated to work. He is of view that workers enjoy interactions and managers should treat them as people who have worthwhile opinions. Furthermore, McGregor (1960) postulates Theory X and Theory Y which is based on assumptions about people and work. According to this theory, there are two types of assumption made with regards to employees whereby theory X assumes that employees are lazy and therefore theory X suggests that in order to motivate employees a more autocratic style of management is required. On the other hand theory Y assumes that workers enjoy work, committed to objectives of the organization and will apply self control and self direc ted in the pursuit of organizational objectives and therefore does not require external control. 2.3.2 Content theories of motivation Content theories tend to focus on individual needs and attempt to explain the factors within a person that stimulate and stop behavior (Reid, 2002). According to Bassett-Jones and Lloyd (2005), content theory assume a more complex interaction between both internal and external factors, and explored the circumstances in which individuals react to different types of internal and external stimuli. The most well known content theory of motivation is the hierarchy of needs which has been put forward by Abraham Maslow (1943). According to Maslow, people are motivated by five types of needs and in order to motivate people to work more productively there is a need to offer them opportunity to satisfy those needs. He proposed that basic needs are organized in a hierarchy of prepotency and probability of appearance (Wahba and Bridwell, 1973). These needs include physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem and self-actualization. Maslow argued that once a lower order need is fulfilled, the next level of needs in the hierarchy comes into play that is once employees satisfy the lower order needs they will next consider the next level of needs. The author further argued that unfulfilled lower needs dominate ones thinking and behavior until they are satisfied (Berl et al. 1984). However this theory has also been criticized to a large extent, for example Wahba and Bridwell (1973) argued that based on the ten factor analytic studies that have attempted to test Malows theory; there is no clear evidence that human needs are classified into five different categories, or that these categories are organized in a special hierarchy. The authors contradict Malows proposition and points out that, none of the studies has shown all of Maslows five need categories as independent factors, for example some studies have showed that the self-actualization needs may emerge as an independent category. They also argued that studies have also proved the issue of need depri vation and the domination of behavior to be different from that suggested by Maslow. Moreover results have also proved that either self-actualization or security are the least satisfied needs and social needs are the most satisfied. Therefore it is difficult to determine the general pattern of the degree of satisfaction and these trends are not the same as proposed by Maslow (Wahba and Bridwell, 1973). Conversely, Alderfer (1972) in the attempt to address the short comings of Malows theory proposed an alternative to Maslows theory which he termed as the ERG theory and postulate a three level hierarchy. Alderfer grouped Maslows five categories of needs into three categories given by Existence, Relatedness and Growth. According to the author, people are motivated by these three groups of core needs and he asserted that as one level of need is satisfied another takes over but if a need is not satisfied on a continuous basis, the individual may decide to give such a need a low priori ty. Nonetheless, while Maslow and Alderfer presented the concept of motivation in a hierarchy, McClelland (1961, 1971), ignored the concept of hierarchy and put forward a theory known as the acquired need theory that emphasize on three types of needs namely, need for affiliation, need for achievement and need for power. McClelland is of view that individuals experiences are acquired through life experiences that is they are learned. According to this theory individuals possess several needs, and when these needs are activated they serve to motivate behavior and this is to the contrary of Maslows proposition of a continuous progression throughout the hierarchy of needs (Steers et al. 2004). Moreover, also put differently Herzberg et al. (1959) sought to understand how work activities and the nature of an employees job influence motivation and performance. They proposed a theory that involves what they termed as motivators and hygiene factors. According to Herzberg the most cruc ial difference between the motivators and the hygiene factors is that the motivator factors involve psychological growth while the hygiene factors involve physical and psychological pain avoidance. The authors examined motivators and hygiene factors in the workplace and proposed that where job satisfaction was high there would be corresponding high motivation. Herzberg (1959) further argued that work motivation is influenced to a large extent by the degree to which a job is intrinsically challenging and provides opportunities for recognition and reinforcement. However despite that Herbergs theory has been widely accepted by managers (e.g Latham 2007, Miner 2005, Steers and Porter 1983), this theory has been criticized by many authors. For example Reid (2002) argued that the work of Herzberg is an examination of job satisfaction rather than motivation of employees. Reid also argued that no matter how much emphasis is laid on factors that are intrinsically rewarding, if hygiene fac tors such as low pay is not addressed, their full effect cannot be felt. Moreover, also Brenner et al. (1971) contradict Herzberg proposition that motivation factors increase job satisfaction and hygiene factors leads to job dissatisfaction and points out that his study and others indicated that the employees received job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction from both the motivating and the hygiene factors. Similarly Locke (1976) assessed Herzberg two factor theory and argued that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction result from different causes. 2.3.3 Emperical studies of content theories Zakeri et al. (1997) carried out research in the Iranian construction industry to find out level of Maslows hierarchy of needs are the most motivating factors and whether these factors are motivating factors or just hygiene factors as proposed by Herzberg. A list of 20 factors was chosen according to Maslows classification of needs and the lists were presented to the construction crafts- men and operatives whereby Zakeri et al. (1997) found five most motivating factors in descending order namely; fairness of pay, Incentive and financial rewards, on-time payment, good working facilities and safety. The authors argued that despite Herzbergs proposition that money is not a satisfier, this survey along with others proved that money is the most motivating factor. In addition Arnolds and Boshoff (2002) conducted research in a number of firms in South Africa to investigate the impact of need satisfaction on self-esteem and of self-esteem on performance intention as suggested by Alderfe r (1972). According to the empirical results, self-esteem was found as a significant determinant of employee job performance and results showed that providing frontline employees opportunities to perform challenging work, allow participation and teaching them new things on the job will enhance their self-esteem as well as their performance intentions (Arnolds and Boshoff, 2002). The authors argued that the experiment also showed that the satisfaction of fringe benefits does not have a significant impact on performance intentions via self-esteem as an intervening variable and this support Herzbergs et al. (1959) theory. 2.3.4 Process theories of motivation Along with the content theories, there are also different process theories. According to Viorel et al. (2009) the content theories emphasize on specific factors that motivate workers with regards to certain necessities and aspirations, while the process theories emphasize on the processes and the psychological forces that have an impact on motivation. They start from the premise that motivation starts with the desire to do something. The process theories provide more realistic principles with regards to motivation techniques and therefore they are more useful to managers compared to content theories (Viorel et al. 2009). Vroom (1964), in the interest to study motivation developed an alternative to the content theories which is known as the expectancy theory. Vroom suggest that there are three mental components that are considered as instigating and directing behavior and these are referred to as Valence, Instrumentality, and Expectancy. He argued that employees rationally analyz e different on-the-job work behaviors and then choose those behaviors which they believe will lead to their most valued work-related rewards and outcomes. Moreover, Porter and Lawler (1968) expanded Vrooms work to identify the role of individual differences for example employee abilities and skills and the role clarity in relating job effort to actual job performance. Porter and Lawler also explained the relationship between performance and satisfaction and argued that this relationship is mediated by the extent and quality of the rewards that employees receive in return for their job performance. In addition to expectancy theory Adams (1963), developed the equity theory to clarify how employees respond cognitively and behaviorally with regards to unfairness in the workplace. Adams suggested that employees develop beliefs about what constitutes a fair and equitable return for their job performance and contributions therefore employees always compare their efforts and the associat ed rewards with that of other employees and in case there is a situation whereby there is an element of injustice or unfairness there is an imbalance that is a perception of inequity will result. The author is therefore of view that when perception of inequity occurs the employee will get engaged in activities and do effort in order to reduce the inequity. On the other hand, quite differently Latham and Locke (1979) came up with the goal setting theory. According to Latham (2004), the underlying premise of the goal setting theory is that ones conscious goals affect what one achieves. The author argued that this is because a goal is said to be the objective or aim of an action and having a specific goal result to improved performance. Employees with specific hard goals tend to perform better compared to those with vague goals and that a goal is a standard for assessing an individuals performance. Moreover, Latham also suggested that to the extent that the goal is met or exceeded, satisfaction increases; and conversely, to the extent that performance falls short of the goal, ones satisfaction decreases. While content theories have tended to focus on needs of people and process theories have focused on factors motivating people, Adair (2006) have brought some new issues in the field of employee motivation and developed a new theory of motivation known as the Fifty-Fifty rule. Unlike the authors of content and process theories, Adair is of view that motivation lies both within an individual as well as external to the individual. According to the author, 50 percent of motivation lies within a person and fifty percent lies outside the person however Adair points out that this theory does not assert for the exactly fifty-fifty proportion in the equation but it only emphasized on the idea that a considerable part of motivation lies within a person while a considerable part lies outside and beyond its control. 2.3.5 Emperical studies of process theories With regards to Adams Equity theory, Levine (1993) calculated wage residuals for more than 8,000 manufacturing employees. Wage residuals re ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡ect employees wages relative to employees with similar demographics and human capital in terms of education and training (Ambrose and Kulik, 1999). Levine found that employees with higher wage residuals reported that they were less likely to leave, were more satis ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ed with their pay, were willing to work harder than they had to, and were more committed to the organization. Therefore in line with this argument, the author pointed out that employees with low wage residuals might be expected to experience inequity or unfairness relative to similar others and exhibit negative responses. Moreover Arnolds and Boshoff (2002) conducted research in a number of South African firms whereby they analyzed the application of the expectancy theory put forward by Vroom (1964) and they argued that the satisfaction with pay and fringe benefits does not impact on the performance intentions of frontline employees because these need satisfactions do not have any esteem valence for these employees. In other words, frontline employees do not have a higher regard of themselves if they are getting enough pay to fulfill basic necessities (Arnolds and Boshoff, 2002). Besides based on the Goal Setting theory, Stans ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ eld and Longenecker (2006) performed a study in a traditional manufacturing plant in the Midwestern USA to develop a model of efficient and effective goal setting and feedback practices for manufacturing. According to the authors the study showed that an information system, facilitating goal setting and feedback can play a vital role in improving individual performance levels. Stansfield and Longenecker also found that employee motivation and performance were both improved in the study, which lead to better organizational performance and pro ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ tability. The autho rs also argued that goal setting and feedback can create competitive advantage for manufacturers with a minimum investment of time and capital if they implement these practices with proper coordination. 2.3.6 Reinforcement Theory B.F. Skinner (1953) compared to need and process theories, came up with a different theory known as the reinforcement theory in which he proposed that peoples behavior is dependent upon its consequences. He suggested that if consequences of behavior is positive then such behavior will be repeated and vice-versa. Skinner (1953) argued that behavior can thus be reinforced through different forms of reinforcement or rewards. According to him individuals can be influenced in four different ways given by positive reinforcement (a reward such as praise so that the person repeat the behavior), negative reinforcement (rewarding employees by removing unwanted consequences), extinction (deliberately withheld positive reinforcement to discourage unwanted behavior) and punishment (applying undesirable consequences for unwanted behaviors). Through these theories, it can be said that work motivation has been characterized by dimensions such as interesting job, ability to perform, recognition, adequate pay, and feedback on performance (Dwivedula and Bredillet, 2010). However according to Meyer et al. (2004) it is also very important to consider differences in the psychological states, or mindsets that can accompany motivation. Therefore, Meyer et al. (2004) argued that motivation theories developed in other areas of psychology render a convincing case that motivation is multidimensional. 2.3.7 Adaptation-Level Theory Bowling et al. (2005) argued that the adaptation-level theory (Helson, 1948, 1964a, 1964b), offers one potential explanation for the temporal stability of job satisfaction. Bowling explained that the theory postulates that someones evaluation of an outcome is said to be a function of previous experiences outcomes. For example, an employee who has worked for years without a pay raise would be expected to respond positively to even a small pay increase because this change in pay would be different from that individuals adaptation level, however the positive response would be temporary as the individuals adaptation level would eventually change as the experience of the pay increase is integrated into the employees adaptation level (Bowling et al. 2005). 2.3.8 Self-Regulatory Theory Moreover quite differently, Higgins (1997, 1998) proposed the regulatory focus theory that draw important differences in the processes through which individuals approach pleasure and avoid pain. Huggins proposed that individuals have two types of motivational systems given by a system that regulates rewards (promotion focus) and one that regulates punishments (prevention focus). According to the author people who operate primarily within the promotion focus are concerned with accomplishments, are sensible towards the existence or absence of rewards, adopt a goal attainment strategy, are more creative and are more willing to take risks. However, people who operate within the prevention focus tend to be more concerned with duties and responsibilities and are more sensitive to the existence or absence of punishments. Moreover the regulatory focus is ascertained both by situational and chronic factors (Higgins, 1997, 1998). 2.3.9 Activation theory On the other hand Anderson (1976, 1983) came up with the activation theory whereby he argued that the strongest motivating factor is the work itself however over time as the worker get used with the environment and learns the responses required in the repetitive task there may be a fall in the activation level or job stimulation. It is important to highlight that over time all work tends to become repetitive after the job has been practiced and therefore a wide range of dysfunctional and non-task activities must be pursued to offset the fall in the job stimulation level (Milbourn 1984). Moreover according to Milbourn (1984), if dysfunctional activities are addressed, managers can consider enriching jobs through job redesign to reduce monotony at work in order to maintain job stimulation. 2.4 Motivational practices in Organizational environment According to Islam and Ismail (2008) the theories mentioned continue to offer the foundation for organization and managerial development practices to a large extent. Along with the above theories, during the last decade, based on employees motivation many empirical studies have been carried out (Islam and Ismail, 2008). For example, Bent et al. (1999) carried out research in small food manufacturing businesses whereby respondents were asked to complete, using a five-point Likert scale about how they felt motivated and then how satisfied they were with their jobs and the authors found that the degree of positive motivation was high. According to Bent et al. (1999) the employees were either very or moderately motivated with their jobs, however it was important to note that no respondents stated that they were either very motivated or very dissatisfied with their job. The authors also argued that issues which are associated with individual management style include lack of appreciation from management to feel for the work of employees and that there was also poor communication contributing to low job satisfaction and this contrasts with the identification by employees, of the motivating or satisfying qualities of a good management style. Moreover VaitkuvienÃÆ'„- (2010) conducted research in two Swedish manufacturing companies given by, the company Frilight AB and Enitor Plast AB and reported that the workers were found satisfied with the working conditions, training of staffs and career opportunities. The author argued that the Swedish employees were motivated and that the employees do not avoid responsibilities and follow directions. VaitkuvienÃÆ'„- (2010) also found that almost all employees are stimulated with the organizing of recreational tours, holidays and events. According to the author more than half of employees in the Sweden manufacturing companies are stimulated through gifts on various occasions (birthdays, holidays), free meals at w ork, health insurance coverage, work, clothes, equipment, travels for the company employees, days off, recognition and good working conditions and therefore the author pointed out that the employees of the manufacturing companies consider non-financial motivation tools to be more important. Eventually, Dwivedula and Bredillet (2010), in line with the authors Cummings and Blumberg (1987) pointed out that studies from the manufacturing sector emphasize on the importance of providing autonomy, and skill variety to the employees which are otherwise absent. On the other hand Adler (1991) observed and concluded that manufacturing firms rely on job rotation, and voluntary job switching to motivate the employees. Moreover, Galia (2008) supported by Dwivedula and Bredillet (2010) reported that more recently it has been observed that, in a survey of 5000 manufacturing  ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ rms by SESSI (Industrial Statistics Department of the French Ministry of Economics, Finance, and Industry ), practices such as autonomy at work, incentives to promote creativity have been widely adopted in order to motivate the workers.