The most cynical people in the salaried group were also unmotivated because they saw less of a connection between doing a good job and getting more money, ... The cynicism that we studied, which was all about organizational change and inertia vs. progress, spilled over into their beliefs in doing a good job and being rewarded for it. They're cynical in one area, and it poisoned their perceptions in another area.

That's logical because there is no connection, ... They're paid by the hour, not by performance. It's a (union-) negotiated wage.

We found that personality traits did little in explaining which employees were highly cynical and which employees were not.

I'd be the kind of person walking in and sitting around with a bunch of executives and handing each one a mirror and saying, 'All right, look in the mirror -- that's the problem.'