Abstract

This study was designed as an exploratory study aiming to seek evidences on how to enhance motivation in a learning organization using the balanced scorecard. IMT, a prominent automotive company in Jakarta, Indonesia, currently practicing organizational learning, was the object of the study. This study identified motivational styles of the employees before and after the implementation of the balanced scorecard. The motivational styles distinctions were compared to obtain whether the balanced scorecard was able to shift learned helpless and self-worth motivated employees to mastery oriented in a learning organization. The motivational drivers evaluated were: tools that motivates (balanced scorecard), top management commitment, supporting environment, co-workers support, and rewards.<p> The findings were:</p><p> 1. Respondents’ perceptions regarding the balanced scorecard (motivating tool) were different between MO, SW and LH individuals. After the BSC implementation, the MO and LH respondents tended to value balanced scorecard (tool) more, while the SW individuals considered the importance of balanced scorecard (tool) less. As for the scores, LH people regarded the balanced scorecard (a tool, in the previous questionnaires) as a motivational factor more than MO and SW respondents did. This might mean that LH people depend on motivating tool more than MO and SW people do. Regarded by the three groups, rewards might as well contribute to the adoption of mastery oriented motivational style. The group that might be motivated the most by rewards would be the LH. 2. Motivational style adoption had nothing to do with the level of aptitude and performance. People with mastery oriented motivational style were not necessarily possessing higher level of aptitude nor performing better than people adopting maladaptive motivational styles. 3. There is a dependent relationship between the condition before and after the balanced scorecard implementation. There is a significant shift from self-worth motivational styles towards mastery orientation. However, the shift from LH to MO is considered not significant. The shift from LH to SW is the highest. The shift from SW to MO: 53.3333 % and from LH to MO: 24.390244 %. It is true that there is a logical relationship between the implementation of the balanced scorecard and the shifting of maladaptive motivational styles towards mastery orientation. 4. Looking at the average results, overall, the respondents in this study adopted learned helplessness motivational style before and after the BSC implementation. This might relate to the high level of collectivism and power distance in Indonesia. 5. The nature of the goals of the balanced scorecard are performance and interpersonal, striving for validation. The implementation of the balanced scorecard with attribution retraining might cause the respondents hold relationship and learning goals as well, seeking to improve people’s relationship skills. Attribution retraining traits; namely vision repeated, self confidence, part of a big project, and enhanced feedback in this study helps motivating the self-worth respondents more than it helps the learned helpless people. The results of the questionnaires regarding respondents’ perceptions on the balanced scorecard were not drastically different from each other. 6. In addition to the balanced scorecard, factors such as top management (moderating variable), organizational culture, and rewards and barriers (intervening variables) contribute to employees’ motivation. This study found that competition was not regarded as an important factor in motivation, particularly in Asian culture.</p>