Spelifiering – ett nytt sätt att motivera

Abstract

To have motivated employees is important for companies so that they are able to keep valuable competence within the organization. This report treats a relatively new concept for increasing the motivation of employees. It is however, a concept that gets more and more attention. It is called gamification. Gamification is defined as “using game design elements in non-gaming contexts”, i.e. that game elements usually applied in games, are used e.g. at the work place. Important such elements, or mechanics, are fast feedback, transparency, goals, badges, leveling up, onboarding, competition, collaboration, community, and points. This study examines how and why these game mechanics influence the motivation of young employees. The authors have carried out a qualitative study and a case study at the call center company Faceways to evaluate their use of game mechanics. The study is based upon nine interviews with respondents in the age of 18-28 all working in the department of outgoing calls. The study also included a smaller observation at the office of Faceways to discover how the elements of gamification express themselves in the company. The results show that the company is applying several of the game mechanics considered important in gamification. The study finds that several of the game mechanics allows for one or more of the components by modern motivational theory described to be necessary to create intrinsic motivation. This fact partly reveals why the mechanics are motivating. The components are autonomy, mastery, purpose, and relatedness. Furthermore, the results indicate that if salary would have been the sole motivational factor at Faceways, i.e. that they would not have used game mechanics, then the employees would have sold less units and they would have been less motivated to work.