| Generational diversity is an issue of growing intensity in the American corporate workplace. For the first time in American history, there are four generations operating in the workplace, and this generational diversity has presented a range of attitudes, views, values and work ethics materialize, which has resulted in challenges for managers in the supervision and motivation of staff to achieve the organizational goals. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore what intrinsic motivational factors Millennial employees possess within the U.S. professional services consulting environment. The case study design involved interviewing, collecting, and organizing the data from each participant to conduct an in-depth study of the Millennial consultants identified through the Houston, Texas chapter of ISACA. Data analysis resulted in five themes: three themes for research question 1 (a) task assignment/assigned responsibilities leads to career advancement, (b) flexible autonomous work was preferred, (c) flexible work arrangements drove quality of work life, and two themes for research question 2: (d) challenging work facilitated planned career advancement, and (e) praise or acknowledgment for level of effort drove motivation. The findings of the study directly aligned with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory on human motivation and Herzberg's two-dimensional motivation-hygiene theory in that motivation is derived from self-actualized needs and the five distinct factors which were strong determiners of job satisfaction or strong job performance: achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and advancement with consistent with Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory. Recommendations for practice included (a) development of defined developmental work plans to include pathways to promotion, (b) development of alternative work programs that encouraged and enabled Millennial consultants to pursue interests outside the workplace to enhance skills or capabilities, (c) and development and implementation of a 360-degree feedback program. Recommendations for future research included (a) quantitative descriptive study to further explore themes specific challenging autonomous work task as intrinsic motivation factors, (b) a quantitative causal comparative study to determine the effects of various alternative work arrangements on motivation for Millennials, and (c) a qualitative interpretive phenomenology study on Millennial intrinsic motivation. |
