Relationship Between Complexity Work Motivation

Complexity

Spatial complexity is one of most important part of complexity. Spatial complexity involves the extent to which organizations have different sites in different physical locations (Tolbert and Hall, 2009). One form of spatial complexity reflects in the acceptance of different cultures in different geographical locations.

For example in China, McDonald’s adds some special items to its menu which are particularly favored by Chinese people such as fried rice, chow mein, green tea etc. The change in McDonald’s menu is one form of spatial complexity which could lead to a positive or negative result. The positive part is that this change could help McDonald’s get more satisfactions from Chinese customers. However, the negative part is that after establishing some regional stores in different areas, it has become difficult for the headquarters to control.

The relationship between complexity and work motivation

As different people have their own culture, in spatial complexity, how to satisfy the needs of employees in different areas is also a very important part in organization. Culture conflicts may lead to a low efficiency in the organization. This can be linked to the Need Theory in work motivation. Need Theory is actually a group of theories about work motivation that focuses on employees’ needs as the sources of motivation (George and Jones, 2007).

For example, the Spring Festival is China’s traditional festival just like Christmas in western countries. In this period, employees care more about the holiday rather than pay, benefits and praise etc. However, in some foreign companies, as they do not understand Chinese culture, they still require employees to work during this holiday. Therefore, it leads a negative result in that action like absenteeism and low efficiency in production. In contrast, domestic enterprises’ employees are not only given holiday