“On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B, with reward C”
In Steven Kerr’s article, he discusses how in business, very often the incentives given to employees for certain levels of achievement encourage only minimum effort and attendance, rather than outstanding initiative and leadership. This may be because certain behavior contributes more tangibly to profit, such as completing administrative tasks, whereas other skills such as creative thinking are more difficult to evaluate. As a result, not only will individual employees have less motivation to exceed expectations, but the company as a whole will also see less advancement.
However, not only does the criteria for rewards have to be consistent with the company’s goals, so do the rewards themselves. Reading through the article, I was reminded of the Candle Problem, which challenged subjects to fix a candle upright to a corkboard using tacks. The best solution to the problem was to utilize the tack box itself, and it was seen that when all of the tacks were taken out of the box, subjects could more easily recognize that the box was also a tool and thus, solved the problem faster.
- “The Candle Problem” Image by iGEM ASU
Professor Sam Glucksberg modified the problem by offering different financial incentives to subjects; he found that when completing the very straightforward task when tacks were outside the box, subjects performed increasingly better with higher financial rewards. However, when the tacks were inside the box and more creative problem-solving was required, subjects actually performed worse with increasing financial rewards. He essentially proved that financial incentives motivated only those with very routine, simple duties, but deterred critical thinking and innovation.
I found it interesting how these two ideas work together. In order to foster the creativity that will grow the company, management needs to ensure that the right rewards are given to the right people for the right purpose. We see that motivation science is slowly uncovering the particulars and reasoning behind human behaviour, and all companies should aim for a corporate culture that recognizes proactivity, vision, and passion in all of its employees.
Sources:
Morehead, Graham. “CEOs and the Candle Problem.” SciLogs, 2 Apr. 2012. Web.
Pink, Dan. The Puzzle of Motivation [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation?language=en