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178 MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES: OPERATIONAL DEFINITION AND SCALES

and yet continue to work undaunted by failures. For example, an accountant
might find that she is unable to balance the books. She spends an hour trying
to detect the error, fails to do so, gives up, and leaves the workplace. Another
employee in the same position stays patiently on the job, discovers the error,
and balances the books spending the entire evening in the process. In this
case it is easy to tell which of the two is the more persevering by merely
observing them.
Finally, in order to measure the reluctance to take time off, we need only
know how frequently people take time off from their jobs, and for what rea-
sons. If an employee is found to have taken 7 days off during the previous 6
months to watch football games, attend an out-of-town circus, and visit
friends, we would conclude that the individual would probably not hesitate to
take time away from the job. However, if an individual has never been absent
even a single day during the past 15 months, and has not missed work even
when slightly indisposed, it is evident that he is too dedicated to work to take
time off from the job.
Thus, if we can measure how many hours per week individuals spend on
work-related activities, how persevering they are in completing their daily tasks,
and how frequently and for what reasons they take time off from their jobs, we
would have a measure of the extent to which employees are driven by work. This
variable, when thus measured, would place individuals on a continuum ranging
from those who are least driven by work, to those whose very life is work. This,
then, would give some indication of the extent of their achievement motivation.
Figure 8.1 schematically diagrams the dimensions (the several facets or main
characteristics) and the elements (representative behaviors) for the concept of
achievement motivation. Frequent reference to this figure will help you follow
the ensuing discussions.

Elements of Dimension 2
The degree of unwillingness to relax can be measured by asking persons such
questions as (1) how often do you think about work while you are away from
the workplace? (2) what are your hobbies? and (3) how do you spend your time
when you are away from the workplace? Those who are able to relax would indi-
cate that they do not generally think about work or the workplace while at
home, spend time on hobbies, engage in leisure-time activities, and spend their
waking hours with the family or in other social or cultural activities.
Thus, we can place employees on a continuum ranging from those who relax
very well to those who relax very little. This dimension also then becomes
measurable.

Elements of Dimension 3

Individuals with high achievement motivation have no patience with ineffective
people and are reluctant to work with others. Whereas achievement-motivated per-
sons in the organization may rank very high on these behavioral predispositions,