My most effective method for learning and understanding material is to see how the material is relevant in my life. After learning about intrinsic and extrinsic motivators in Chapter 4 of Nancy Langton’s Organizational Behavior textbook, I wanted to expand my understanding of this topic by browsing the web. There, I read Merge Gupta-Sunderji’s article in the Globe and Mail “Why money is not an employee motivator.” Like the title suggests, the article is about how once employers pay their employees appropriately at the competitive market wage, employees are satisfied and money no longer motivates them. Instead, employees look towards other motivators intrinsically such as a sense of achievement, and recognition for achievement.
I found her insights most relevant and easily understandable when I connected it to my current work situation as a server for a restaurant. As a server, I am paid at a wage lower than the regular minimum wage where a large portion of my actual earnings come gratuities. Although a logical assumption would be to maximize my earnings by serving larger tables, I personally find happiness and motivation for my job from other factors. These other factors are my intrinsic motivators, and they include satisfaction from seeing the smiles of happy customers, and positive recognition through the comment cards that my customers fill out after their visit. If money was a motivator for me, I would serve as many large parties as possible, as their large bill would mean more money in gratuities for me. But when serving large parties, I lose the personal connections that I form with small tables of four. Because I have reached a state of content with my financial wellbeing, money is no longer a motivator and I would rather serve small tables, where as a server communicating with my customers, I can more easily form conversations with customers, learn about their backgrounds, and overall getting to know them on a more personal level. This ultimately satisfies me and makes my job more rewarding than simply making as much money as possible through flipping tables at a high rate.
Sources:
Langton, Robbins, Judge, Organizational Behaviour, 7th edition, p. 128
Merge Gupta-Sunderji, “Why money is not an employee motivator,” Globe and Mail, January 30, 2017, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/why-money-is-not-an-employee-motivator/article33755286/
Image Sources:
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