The process of transformation in the South African MilitaryHealth Services, has influenced the nursing servicemanagers’ level of motivation and the following researchquestion is applicable: what are the perceptions of thenursing service managers within the South African MilitaryHealth Services on their level of motivation? The purpose with this study was to explore and describe theperceptions of nursing service managers on their level ofmotivation within these health services. A qualitative researchdesign was utilized and four focus group interviewswere conducted with 33 nursing service managers countrywide. The transcribed interviews were exposed to acontent analysis. The results confirm that the level ofmotivation amongst these nursing service managers is low.The demotivators relate mainly to the following: inadequateacknowledgement, job insecurity in relation to thefuture, problems with the process of integration, transformationand rationalization, problems with management,many labour related issues, poor/inadequate communication,inadequate support, increased work load, poor physicalenvironment, negative publicity and poor self motivation.Although there were a few motivators identified,they were of less importance. These results were interpretedwithin Herzberg’s motivation theory to identify thehygiene/maintenance factors and to assess whether theimportant motivators were in place. During any processof change, and/or when the level of motivation amongstemployees is low, it is important to adequately managethe environment (hygiene/maintenance factors within theHerzberg theory). But it is even more important to ensurethat the motivators are in place or to intensify them. It istherefore recommended that a motivation strategy, basedon the Herzberg theory as well as the Hackman-Oldhamjob enrichment model, be developed, implemented andevaluated.