Thami Nompula MBA Dissertation March 2007 - Rhodes eResearch ...

First, disillusionment with the status quo has been identified as major cause for driving
knowledge workers out of the firm where their needs are consistently not met (Kinnear, 1999).
When disillusionment sets in, employees will look elsewhere for an employer that can help them
meet their satisfaction needs (Kinnear, 1999). For knowledge workers, the ability to leave their
employer is much easier due to the fact that their skills are in high demand while the supply is
low (Kinnear, 1999). The ease with which this category of employees can move is a contributing
factor to the growing turnover statistics of knowledge workers (BMR, 2004). Husbands and
Downes (2003) found that specialists in regulatory authorities in the Caribbean are usually
poached by the utilities they regulate after a few years on the job.
Secondly, a World Bank (2004) also found that the regulatory authorities could not match the
remuneration packages offered by utilities. Harris (1994) arrived at a similar outcome where
knowledge workers were discouraged by the dissonance between their contribution to the firm’s
success and financial rewards they received. When knowledge workers perceive their rewards to
be below their expectations, the dissatisfaction that results from the dissonance drives them away
towards an employer who will adequately recognise their contribution through a commensurate
remuneration package. Milkovich and Boudreau (1997) have found perceptions of pay inequities,
either internal or external, as significant antecedents of turnover.
Thirdly, although a bit paradoxical in comparison to the second point, knowledge workers are not
motivated by money only (Branham, 2005). Essentially, knowledge workers are motivated by
the achievement of goals that they have set for themselves: money is only good when it is seen as
a measure of their achievement. For example, when employees set themselves the goal of
improving a system, they pursue it until they are satisfied with the outcome and the results are
acknowledged by their peers. Although low salaries with their current employer or better salary
offers elsewhere are reasons given when resigning, the real reason may lie elsewhere
(Michelman, 2003; Romano, 2002). Because they state money as the reason to leave, managers
believe that money is the key motivator for knowledge workers to either stay or leave. These
postulations are different from the first point above. Dobbs (2001), and Jordan-Evans (2002) and
Romano (2002) found that some employees are reticent about the real reason for leaving.
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