The content theories of motivation that are presented in most management classrooms are so broad that their usefulness to managers is limited. Yet it is important for managers to have away of thinking about what people value or need. This article describes a design for a class session that uses adult development theory to help students see how motivation may change over the adult life cycle. Because the design hinges ondividing students into discussion groups by age, the session also offers a gentleway to raise awareness of other kinds of diversity in the classroom and workplace.
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