Motivation of Labor
All economic and political systems throughout the history of Man have struggled with the most basic problem of setting the population to the task of running the infrastructure needed to support itself. In the earliest times, motivation was not a problem; survival was at stake. The early tribesmen had little to argue about when they were told by their leaders to find food or die, the necessity was obvious even to a neanderthal. The only decision was whether to forage for berries or to hunt game.
As civilizations progressed there were always different levels of opportunity and different levels of reward for work. Slaves worked to stay alive and to avoid pain or punishment. Occasionally a slave might win favor with his master by being a good worker and would receive a reward such as better working or living conditions, or the privilege to have a wife. More often, a hard working slave would merely "raise the bar" for the other slaves and make a bad situation even worse.
As industrialization changed the modern workplace, more workers were required to work in dull, repetitious and often dangerous jobs with little or no hope of advancement. Many theories emerged describing the control of these workers.
Labor theory in the early twentieth century, now called "Theory X" taught that workers are inherently lazy. Workers despise work and only perform their jobs to the end of achieving safe shelter; security. Workers have no personal motivation nor desire for autonomy, and they avoid assuming any responsibility. With this philosophy, often attributed to Sigmund Freud, workers must be either pulled along, with a carrot on a stick, or pushed along with a kick in the ass. Both of these techniques are referred to as "KITA Motivation". As described by Frederick Herzberg, the late Management Professor at the University of Utah, negative KITA may be physical such as literally kicking the worker in the pants, or psychological such as verbal abuse or carefully applied guilt. Unfortunately, negative KITA does not truly produce motivation on the part of the worker, it produces movement by the worker at the demand of the motivated manager.
Alternatively, positive KITA has also been applied using the same theory. Managers tried any number of different carrots to hold out in front of their workers; salary bonuses, a day off, or even the promise of the removal of negative KITA. However, positive KITA does nothing more than change the "push" to a "pull"; the same net external force still needs to be applied and the net result is movement, not motivation
Douglas McGregor offered a new theory in his 1960 book The Human Side of Enterprise. He held the belief that workers naturally desired to challenge and improve themselves and develop self-discipline and that this was more important than the wages they received from performing their jobs. In other words, workers want to function as adults and have some control of their work destiny. This is in sharp contrast to Theory X, where workers are assumed to be child-like, working for condescending or punitive "adult" managers, and are encouraged to stay that way. To fully apply this theory, all workers would first have to possess the potential for adult functioning; a condition which cannot be guaranteed.
Abraham Maslow, a founder of Humanistic Psychology, was a keen observer of human motivation in twentieth century America. He wrote that individuals are inherently good, and strive for self-actualization. Throughout their lives, humans strive to climb the steps of a pyramid of human needs towards self-actualization starting with basic physiological needs (food and water), safety, companionship and love, and progressing to self-esteem, and finally self-actualization. If man is allowed to meet the lower needs, he can become a giving, positive, spiritual citizen.
In our World, we have the benefit of having seen many different labor theories implemented throughout history. Our labor theory employs facets of each of the aforementioned theories, as needed.
The goal of our labor theory is, as Maslow outlined, to allow all citizens to achieve self-actualization. Every citizen is encouraged to rise to the highest level of functioning of which they are capable. We have the benefit that the first steps of our pyramid are under ground; all citizens have food and drink, and they have safety and shelter. Even more so, we offer them the foundations of self-actualization by providing endless educational, cultural, and spiritual growth opportunities.
Every job in our world can be changed, improved, or tailored to the worker when needed. It is not only allowed, but is the responsibility of the worker, once established in his job, to redefine the implementation of his job. In this way, the worker may maximize his efficiency and productivity, develop self-esteem, self-management, and thrive. Our managers are required to have philosophical and psychological training, as their job is to understand their workers, and to help them to develop in a positive manner.
Some jobs are simply unpleasant due to their very nature. In these jobs our managers focus their attention not on finding workers who would enjoy this work, but instead on finding workers who are likely to have no job dissatisfaction in the work. Once this basic need of the worker is met, the manager can strive to help the non-displeased worker develop in other ways. If advancement to more challenging jobs is a possibility, that can become a goal, as can promotion to a management position. As all of our industry is centralized, any worker who performs well in a job and is deserving of promotion, can be easily moved, if he desires, to another facility where his advancement can be accommodated.
Some workers do not desire or cannot achieve a great deal of self-actualization. Some workers prefer or need to be dealt with in a parent-child relationship. When those cases are identified by managers, the method of management changes. Even in our world without wants, needs, and bonuses there are still carrots or "perks" that managers can offer their workers, primarily through manipulating either the job environment, or job content.
While it is necessary for our workers to be productive, there is less true need for extreme efficiency as there is no profit. Slight fluctuations in production have little effect on a global scale and can be compensated for by altering work hours (adding or subtracting five minutes to the work day) or by increasing or decreasing the volume of nonessential (luxury) goods and services made available to citizens.
Having said this, it remains to be admitted that there are citizens who simply do not want to work. This may be a result of lower intellect and the lack of ability to understand the need for all citizens to contribute. Or it may an individual failure of our educational system. It may be the result of psychological or substance abuse problems, or the result of poor parenting. In any case, it does happen.
All workers who fall into this category are evaluated by Social Services and undergo psychological and medical evaluation. Any issues discovered by the above evaluations are treated and the citizen is returned to work under supervision by the appropriate agency as well as their supervisor to monitor their progress. Repeat offenders who have no valid reason not to work, are imprisoned for up to twelve months time, during which they are educated further in philosophy, religion (if desired), and conditioned, to respond to positive KITA management. If, after twelve months, they are prepared to re-enter the work force they may do so. Otherwise, they are transferred to the Penal Colony, with the possibility of parole back to a supervised work commune and eventual reentry into the free working world.