Motivation and Job Satisfaction for Middle Level Career Army Officers

This study examines motivation and job satisfaction for middle level career army officers. A question is raised as to the efficacy of utilizing civilian motivational techniques in a military environment. It is hypothesized that the variables influencing job satisfaction for middle level civilian managers and middle level career army officers are associated in the population composed of these two groups. If this assertion is true the motivational techniques used in civilian industry would have applicability for motivating the military officer. A review of the literature dealing with motivation points to several factors which mold motivational behavior patterns. For example, environment substantially impacts on the level of motivation that exists. Assumptions the leader makes about his subordinates, greatly affects the approach taken to establish the desired level of motivation. Furthermore, the philosophy of the leader dictates the management system of a unit which in turn forms motivational behavior patterns for the individuals associated with it. Testing the hypotheses of the study required descriptive research to gather data on the perceptions of student officers attending Command and General Staff College concerning the variables affecting job satisfaction. The Hackman Job Satisfaction Schedule was the instrument used to survey two groups of student officers. The data collected was statistically compared to data collected on middle level civilian managers. The two statistical tests used to analyze the data were the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test and Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient. These tests provided the basis to test hypotheses and point out similarities and differences among the variables impacting on job satisfaction for the military officer and civilian manager, It was found with a level of significance =.10 that the variables influencing job satisfaction for these two groups were associated in the population they formed.