An Exploratory Study of Motivation Within Working Environment of Armed Forces

Abstract

In the armed force scenario, motivation and morale are the key factors which make the vital difference between 
victors and vanquished. Motivation makes preeminent influence on a soldier's behaviour at the moment of  engagement. It is thus essential to maintain both at all time for a battle-ready army. In this work an attempt is  made to study various aspects of motivation. Effort is made to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators  and their effects on soldiers. To carry out a holistic study, responses from the cadets (newly joined youth in the  officer cadre) as well as personnel from Services have been collected. Seven key factors are identified for  personnel in service. These consists of 4 extrinsic and 3 intrinsic factors. In case of newly recruited cadets, six  factors have been identified that consist of 4 extrinsic and 2 intrinsic attributes. For the cadets, the intrinsic  factors are found to be at the bottom of scale. The variation is studied using both descriptic and inferential  statistics. Areas have been identified which can be emphasized to maintain high motivational level of soldiers  in the working environment of Indian armed forces.