Jane O'Hara faced a serious choice. Five years after receiving her MSHI degree from a prestigious university, she was advancing quickly in a large consulting firm. She was receiving assignments with some of the firm's most important clients, and her salary had increased steadily. She was certain that she made at least $15,000 more per year than her classmates working in hospitals. The only thing that bothered her about her position, besides the travel, was a nagging feeling that she wanted to become the CMIO of a large hospital.

One of O'Hara's clients is a large eastern teaching hospital that has a vice president for IT who is about 5 years from retiring. He is set in his ways; O'Hara judges him to be about a decade behind the sophisticated data analytics techniques in her bag of tools. She was surprised when he offered her a job as his assistant- with a strong hint that he wanted to groom a replacement. The salary is about what she makes with the consulting firm, and the hospital position has slightly better fringe benefits.

When she discussed the offer with her managing partner, he showed a resigned interest in learning what it would take to retain her. Over the next several weeks, the firm developed a counteroffer that included an $8,000 salary increase and a clear indication that she was "pegged" for a partnership position in a few years.

O'Hara took a long weekend to consider her choice.

1. Identify and describe the motivation variables present in this case.
2. Would these two positions permit O'Hara to fulfill different needs? If so, what are they?
3. What would you do if you were O'Hara? Why?