Motivation, Politics and Funding at the Second 'Young Faculty Meeting'

The second ‘Young Faculty Meeting’ took place on June 17th, 2009 at the University of Bern and again brought together twenty young researchers from all Swiss universities and all disciplines of chemistry. This annual symposium is sponsored by the Platform Chemistry of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) in order to promote both scientific exchange and networking for young academics in chemistry. This year’s organizers were Barbara Winter-Werner (Chief Science Officer, Platform Chemistry SCNAT), Hermann Wegner (University of Basel) and Andreas Zumbuehl (University of Geneva). “What makes you move?” – “What gets you out of bed every morning?” With these questions Christine Wittmer, Coach and CEO of the company ‘Punkt Satz Sieg’, opened the morning session. ‘Motive and Motivation’ was the theme of the following two and a half hours. The answers to the questions were elaborated in small groups revealing not only the noble ideals of a scientist, such as fascination and curiosity for scientific phenomena, but also basic needs such as earning one’s daily bread and butter as well as satisfaction of the inner ego and career considerations. Different external positive and negative influences on personal motivation were identified which demonstrated the complexity of the topic. Starting with Sigmund Freud’s thoughts on motivation, Christine Wittmer gave a brief overview of different theories of motivation. In the end she introduced the approach of David McClelland, who divides motivation into three categories: achievement, affiliation, and power and exemplified the characteristics of a person driven by each of these motivations. A personal questionnaire then showed each participant’s motivation profile. Christine Witt mer impressively demonstrated, how this analysis could help to understand one’s own actions and, applied to other people, explains specific reactions and behavior. Although the typical scientist usually shows more an achievementdriven motivation profile, all three types are important in a group. Each of them might be the perfect person for a specific task! After the coffee break Christine Wittmer took the concept one step further: How can we motivate our coworkers and how the theory of David McClelland could help to understand a student’s motivation? Addressing the individual motivation needs of each student will be the key to make them ‘walk the extra mile’. From this point Christine Wittmer raised the question about group leading in general: What qualifies a good group leader? Although a simple question, the answers given by the participants of the