• Creating an organizational culture that embraces teamwork and encourages creativity helps companies address the perennial question: “is money the motivator?” Most find the answer is “no.” Higher pay might encourage an individual to take a new job, it might encourage people to move a little faster or to work a little harder, but people soon forget about the money and start to focus on other things—such as job satisfaction, challenge, and respect from managers. Virgin Atlantic airline, for example, is not known as one of the highest payers, but is regarded as a great place to work. A strong organizational culture is, therefore, essential to success.
• The ability to motivate others and improve morale is a ’soft skill’ – difficult to acquire and almost possible to measure. Four key thinkers contributed this field in the 1950s and 60s, and their work is still the basis for contemporary approaches.
• Maslow developed his ’hierarchy of needs’.
  • Self-actualization needs
  • Ego (self-esteem) needs
  • Social needs
  • Security needs
  • Physiological needs

We move to the next stage up only when the lower need is met. And as soon as any need is met, then it is no longer a motivator. The bottom two are usually not an issue in business (unless you are hungry or in danger). After that, our next need is to feel accepted and part of a group (social need). If that happens, then next we have ego needs: recognition and acknowledgement from others, as well as a sense of status or importance. Finally, is that need is met, we want self-fulfilment (’self-actualization’ in Maslow’s terms): to achieve, to develop to our fullest potential.

• Herzberg expressed similar ideas.
  • He agreed that the most important motivators at work were sense of achievement, earned recognition and interest in the job itself. Others are: positive feedback, responsibility, advancement, personal growth.
  • But then there was another set of job factors (’hygiene’ or ’maintenance’ factors) that do not motivate employees, but can cause dissatisfaction if they are missing. These include supervision, policiy, salary, job security, working conditions and good relations with co-workers (peer relationships).
• McGregor observed that managers generally fall into two categories: Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X managers believe that most people dislike work and must be controlled and directed to achieve the organization’s goals. Theory Y managers believe that most people like work and actively seek responsibility. They believe in empowerment (= giving employees the authority to take decisions without traditional managerial approval) and enabling ( = giving them the tools).
• Drucker believed in ’management by objectives’ (MBO). MBO calls on managers to work with employees to formulate clear, ambitious but achievable goals. There has to be monitoring and measurement to ensure objectives are being met, and workers who achieve their objectives can be rewarded with pay rises, bonuses, etc..
• The work of Maslow and Herzberg has been developed into the theory of ’job enrichment’. This theory states that there are five characteristics affecting an individual’s motivation and performance.
  • 1 Skill variety: The extent to which a job demands different skills
  • 2 Task identity: The degree to which a job has a visible outcome
  • 3 Task significance: The degree to which a job has an impact on the work of others.
  • 4 Autonomy: The degree of freedom and choice that people have in scheduling work and determining procedures.
  • 5 Feedback: The amount of direct and clear information that is received about performance.
• The first three factors above contribute to the meaningfulness of the job. The fourth gives a feeling of responsibility. The fifth contributes to a feeling of achievement and recognition.
• Job enrichment tries to maximize the above five factors within the constraints of the organization. It also includes two specific strategies.
  • Job enlargement: combining a series of tasks into one challenging and interesting assignment.
  • Job rotation: moving employees from one job to another.

 Video 1: Ron Dan: The puzzle of motivation

What are the intrinsic human drivers and what do they mean?

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At the turn of the millennium, nobody would have predicted that an online encyclopedia to which anyone could contribute without getting paid and with little oversight could be a success. Yet that’s exactly how Wikipedia became the world’s go-to reference site. Career analyst Dan Pink connects the dots between motivation and performance.

Psychologist Karl Duncker created the “candle puzzle,” a cognitive science exercise that asks participants to adhere a candle to a wall so that, when lit, wax won’t drip on a table below. Participants have access to a candle, a box of thumbtacks and matches. The solution: Tack the thumbtack box to the wall, place the candle in it and then light the wick. The test examines participants’ “functional fixedness” – that is, their ability to view the thumbtack box as a candleholder rather than its prescribed purpose as a container.

Researcher Sam Glucksberg conducted a variation of the candle experiment to test the influence of incentives on work productivity. In his study, one group of participants garnered rewards according to how fast they solved the puzzle. A second group received none. Surprisingly, the group with incentives found the solution more slowly. Studies around the world produced similar results. However, when researchers asked participants to conduct the experiment when the tacks were already outside the box, the incentives worked. Thus, while rewards do boost productivity for rote tasks, they don’t promote the conceptual, creative thinking required to find solutions and pave new ground in the 21st-century business environment. Yet the business world relies on offering carrots and sticks, rewards and punishments, to raise performance and productivity. Clearly “there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.”

Researchers have found that three intrinsic human desires – “autonomy, mastery and purpose” – drive productivity. Atlassian, an Australian software company, has used this knowledge with incredible success. The firm gives its engineers a day every few months to pursue an idea of their choosing. Several software solutions and products have resulted from allowing employees free rein. Two American consultants created another workplace model called the “Results Only Work Environment (ROWE).” Employees work where, when and how they want, as long as they fulfill their job obligations. In ROWE workplaces, productivity rises, turnover rates drop and engagement skyrockets. The gap between research and practice is substantial. Business should consider that monetary incentives work only in a narrow set of routine conditions, that “if-then rewards” actually can impede creativity, and that the key to improved performance isn’t carrots and sticks but “the drive to do things for their own sake.”