Suppose you are the People and Culture (or HR) Manager for a large electric company such as Origin Energy, Aurora, AGL.

The quarterly People and Culture Report shows a 25 percent decrease in participation in management professional development programs over the same quarter last year.

The number of managers employed by the company has not changed over the past year and the company's profits have remained stable.

You hold these professional development programs in desirable locations offsite (local hotels and conference centres) and participating in these programs counts towards the employees' annual performance evaluation.

1. Using your knowledge of motivation theory, suggest 3 possible reasons that could explain why participation rates are down.
2. If after investigations those reasons that you have identified above are true causes, what might you be able to do to improve participation rates?