David J. Krus and Jane A. Rysberg
Arizona State University

A group of 83 Czechoslovak industrial managers was tested using the McClelland’s need for achievement measure. The mean nAch score was considerably lower than a mean nAch score of a comparable sample from the United States. Also, Osgood’s semantic differential was administered with managers rating four work related concepts. Significant differences were found between managers classified as high and low on the nAch measure. The study does not replicate earlier findings on the nAch level of Eastern block industrial managers.

The need for achievement (nAch) was conceptualized by Murray (1938) a striving for success in any situation in which performance can be evaluated according to some standard of excellence. As pointed out by Atkinson (1957), nAch is a combination of a motivational strength and situational variables, of relatively enduring characteristics of personality and variable contingencies arising from conditions of a society, jointly determining behavior of entrepreneurs.

Cross cultural studies of need for achievement have been recently summarized by Brislin, Lonner, and Thorndike (1973). Some studies have shown the generality of nAch process (McClelland, 1961; Angelini, 1966), while others have demonstrated the strength of situational variables on the motivated behavior across cultures and classes (Nuttal, 1964; Merbaum, 1962; Kerekhoff, 1959). The cross-cultural studies pertaining to nAch have been conducted in numerous countries, ranging from Turkey (Bradburn, 1963) to Trinidad (Mischel, 1961). There are relatively few studies involving East European countries. One of these, done in Poland by Choynowski (McClelland, 1961, p. 294), led Murray (1964, p. 101) to conclude that there is ‘evidence that managers in countries as diverse as the United States, Italy, and Communist Poland have high need for achievement scores.’

The purpose of the present study was twofold. First, it was to replicate Choynowski’s study in another Eastern block nation and second, to describe a the semantic differential ratings of work-related concepts by managers scoring high and low on the nAch measure.

METHOD AND RESULTS

Subjects were 83 middle-age males. Their mean age was 42.3 years and most of them graduates of various technical institutes. Our study was conducted in Spring of 1968 as a part of attempted economic reform by the liberal wing of the Czech Communist Party. All subject held key positions in the central planning and operational branches of the Czech industry.

Need for achievement was scored following the procedure described by McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, and Lowell (1953), using TAT slides 1,2,7, and 8 from the Atkinson’s (1958, pp. 822-883) array of slides. Only the neutral condition was used. Administration followed the standard procedure. Each response was scored using McClelland’s scoring system C, which allows for a scale ranging from -1 to 11. Inter-scorer reliability for two experienced readers, scoring the obtained protocols, was .87. The mean level of the nAch scores was 3.32.

For construction of the semantic differential, four concepts related to successful performance in managerial positions (McClelland, 1961) were selected: decision, risk, concentration, and endurance. Five bipolar adjectives were selected from Osgood’s list (Osgood, Suci, and Tannenbaum, 1957, p.37, Table 1) to reflect each of three factors of evaluation, potency, and activity. The administration of the semantic differential followed instructions suggested by Osgood, Suci, and Tannenbaum (1957, pp. 80-85). Each bipolar scale was scored on the -3 to +3 scale. Scores toward the positive pole of the scale indicated ‘good’, ‘strong’, and ‘active’, scores toward the negative pole indicated ratings of ‘bad’, ‘weak’, and ‘passive.’ Subjects were divided into two groups, high and low nAch. The division point was located at the median of the obtained nAch scores. The average scores for each rated concept are presented in Table 1. Scores which were  significantly different are printed in italics.

TABLE 1   Semantic Differential Comparisons of
 Industrial Managers

With a single, marginally significant difference, no significant differences were found between the ratings of the four work-related concepts by the subjects scoring high and low on the need for achievement. However, on the potency dimension, all rated concepts were significantly rated as more threatening.

DISCUSSION

We did not replicated Choynowski’s findings that industrial managers in Socialist countries score as high on the nAch measures as industrial managers in the United States. The mean achievement score obtained by us was about three points lower than a score obtained for industrial managers in the United States. Choynowski’s study, using a group of Polish industrialists, reported a mean nAch score of 6.58, close to that of the United States’ 6.74 level (McClelland, 1961, p.294). Previous work (Merbaum, 1962) indicated that similar social styles were associated with similar nAch scores. The social styles of Poland and Czechoslovakia could be expected to be more similar than diverse as a result of geographical proximity and similar cultures and economies. Also, in socialist economies, need for power rather than achievement motivation could be more likely to facilitate success, i.e., staying in a power position (McClelland, 1975).

Also of interest are findings pertaining to the semantic differential ratings of work-related concept and the level of the need to achieve. The low nAch group consistently rated all concepts as more potent, i.e., potentially threatening. This finding is in agreement with the general theory of achievement motivation and provides further support for the relationship between cognitive and motivational structures.

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