Personal & Situational Factors as Predictors of Managerial Motivation

This paper attempts to test the validity in the Indian context of a widely accepted theory which suggests that human behaviour is the product of a combination of both personal at tributes and situational factors. The variables chosen for the study include (a) organisational commitment as a measure of behaviour; (b) employee needs as a measure of personal attributes; and (c) organisational climate as a measure of the situation. The data for the study consists of the responses to a structured question-naire of 88 managers from two manufacturing organisations from the same industry and located in the same state in the eastern India. The findings of the study show that while the theory is fully supported, the situational factors are far more powerful than personal attributes in influencing behaviour.