Understanding the Motivation of Pamela Jones

Pamela Jones enjoyed banking. She had taken a battery of personal aptitude and interest tests that suggested that she might like and do well in either banking or librarianship. Since the job market for librarians was poor, she applied for employment with a large chartered bank, the Bank of Winnipeg, and was quickly accepted.

Her early experiences in banking were almost always challenging and rewarding. She was enrolled in the bank’s management development program because of her education (a.B.A. in languages and some postgraduate training in business administration), her previous job experience, and her obvious intelligence and drive.

During her first year in the training program, Pamela …show more content…

The same economy drive that she had witnessed at her training branch resulted in the failure to replace customer service personnel. Pamela was expected to “pick up the slack” at the front desk, neglecting her own work. Her tellers seldom balanced their own cash, so Pamela stayed late almost every night to find their errors. To save on overtime, the manager sent the tellers home while Pamela stayed late, first to correct the tellers’ imbalances, then to finish her own paperwork. He told Pamela that as an officer of the bank, she was expected to stay until the works of her subordinates, and her own work, were satisfactorily completed. Pamela realized that most of her counterparts in other B of W branches were willing to give this sort of dedication; therefore, so should she. This situation lasted six months with little sign of change in sight.

One day, Pamela learned from a phone conversation with a friend at another branch that she would be transferred to Hope, British Columbia, to fill an opening that had arisen. Pamela’s husband was a professional, employed by a large corporation in Vancouver. His company did not have an office in Hope; moreover, his training was very specialized, and he could probably find employment only in large cities anyway.

Accepting transfers was expected of junior officers who wanted to get ahead. Pamela inquired at Head Office and learned that rumor was true. Her training officer told her, however, that Pamela