Interpretive Paradigm on the Use of Fear as Workers’ Coercive Motivation
Abstract
Workplace challenges are increasingly becoming detrimental to organizational health. This is more on the dynamics of workers motivation, which is expressed through commitment. This paper interpretively explores the use of fear as an instrument for employee coercive motivation. It expresses its worry and curiosity on the lopsided use of positive stimuli and the redundant application of detrimental influences. The paper contended that both gain and pain are behavior stimuli, as behavior tends to be a function of its consequences. Thus, the fear of an unpleasant consequence may compel a desirable behavior, as the expectation of a benefit will. The paper sees fear as capable of triggering serious avoidance tendencies, that can be directed to elicit motivation. The paper however contended that fear is capable of generating only continuance and normative commitment but not affective commitment. Also, it argues that the use of fear as an instrument of motivation be discriminated on context specifies, to avoid the abuse of the fear instrument, as a form of coercive motivation.