Case Study
Dr. Ranga comes from a very highly placed family of South India. His father was a Major General in the armed forces and his mother, though an educated housewife, was very ambitious and aggressive in teaching her children the value of success, competition and achievement. All the five children in the family are very well settled in various fields.
Dr. Ranga, the second son and the third child in the family was specially loved and attended to by the mother because he was exceptionally bright and from a very early age expressed his desire to become a doctor. He went to the best convert school, was very good in sports and graduated with high honors. He was accepted in one of the finest medical schools in India and completed his MBBS degree inn 5 years, specializing in neurosurgery.
After spending two years in medical residency in a hospital in India, He came to America in 1974 and started working in a hospital. He was very diligent, hard working and became know as one of the best neurosurgeons in the hospital by 1980.in the meantime, he went to India in 1976,got married and had one daughter. He was making very good money and was considered as one of the most successful and affluent India doctors in the Indian social circles.
In 1984,one of Dr. Ranga's old friends from India, Dr. Singh who had also settled in America visited at Indian restaurant for dinner. He was most surprised to see Dr. Ranga sitting lotus style on the floor playing an Indian musical instrument known as Sitar. His total income from playing the instrument for the guests including tips came to less than $100 for the day. Dr. Singh greeted Dr. Ranga with affection but wanted to known what was going on. The conversation went something like this.
Dr. Singh: Dr. Ranga! My god! What a surprise? I have not seen you for ages. I heard you are working in the hospital as a neurosurgeon. And I assume you are playing the Sitar just as a hobby.
Dr. Ranga: No, Dr. Singh. I am not playing the Sitar as a hobby. I am playing it as a profession. I have always liked music and it gives me a lot of peace of mind. My needs are limited and I make enough money to satisfy these needs.
Dr. Singh: But Dr. Ranga, you spend a lifetime in being a doctor, a very good neurosurgeon, with unlimited money potential. You could afford the most beautiful house, the best car and anything else you wanted. Every body wants the best in materialistic possession. They are the best motivators to work harder, chive more in your professional life and be successful. I feel bad that you have to give up all that.
Dr. Ranga: But I have achieved all I wanted to achieve. I made a lot of money and have everything material that I need. These material things are no longer motivators to me. Now I want to know myself. I want to understand the purpose of life. I want to be happy. And I am happy. I am what I want to be and I do what makes me happy. Isn't happiness the ultimate goal in life anyway?
Dr. Singh: Well you are right on that point and I wish you best of luck.
1. What has Dr. Ranga lost in giving up his hospital job and medical practice and what has he gained instead?
2. How does Maslow model of motivation explain and justify his behaviour?
3. What do you think might have promoted Dr. Ranga to change his entire outlook on life? Knowing what you know, do you think his change in behaviour was a gradual process building within him or is it possible that some sort of crisis situation suddenly affected this change?
4. How does McClelland's theory of needs fit in with this situation where McClelland's theory emphasizes achievements, power affiliation as the primary motivators in an organizational settings?