Election analysis & the workplace

Results of Indonesia’s 2024 elections will be announced soon – on 20 March 2024 – and based on quick count results the winners of the presidential race are clear.  Prabowo Subianto is set to be elected President, and Gibran Rakabuming Raka his Vice-President.

Both the vote itself and the circumstances surrounding it have been the subject of intense debate.  One particular point that resonated with me was the analysis a university professor offered in a televised discussion (I don’t recall his name, unfortunately).  He made the critical point that mid to low socio-economic groups in Indonesia were swayed by policies offering them direct benefits (e.g. free lunch program) and that they did not care about ethical violations (e.g. the Constitutional Court ruling that allowed Gibran to stand for election).

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory that can help us understand the professor’s point.  The theory is that there is a universal set of human needs, and that basic needs must be met before there can be motivation to meet higher level needs (e.g. psychological needs) – see here for a more detailed explanation.  Prabowo-Gibran’s campaign promoted policies that met the basic physiological needs of mid to low socio-economic groups in regional Indonesia (e.g. food on the table).  And while this demographic was struggling to meet its basic needs, it would have little concern for the ethical issues that concerned many of us here in Jakarta.

The theory can also help managers more effectively motivate their teams in Indonesian workplaces.  Staff are unlikely to seriously pursue career development opportunities, participate in team building exercises, or worry about organisational culture and values as long as they remain occupied with meeting basic physiological and safety needs.  While a key advantage of doing business in Indonesia is often low labour costs, it remains important to ensure employees are paid fair wages, provided safe working conditions, given access to healthcare, and assigned a manageable workload.