In Natasha Widjaja’s blog post entitled “The Effectiveness of Money Motivation”, she uses a firm as exemplar to stimulate the greater argument of money as a primary source of motivation. John Schnatter, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Papa John’s has eliminated the workplace hierarchy through distributing equal amounts of dividends to all members of the organization, despite their exclusive positions.

I agree with Natasha’s statements supporting her claim that equity is a foolproof way to motivate employees. The first is Theory X, that belief that most people are not keen about their tasks and need a sort of external motivation – as they somewhat lack in the department. Natasha’s second statement is that through additional equity (workplace bonuses), physiological needs such as homeostasis, breathing, food, etc. are entirely fulfilled. A final assertion is the potential value one has to capital, and that if a worker does perceive money to be of value they will, in fact be motivated – driving an improved performance.

It is quite controversial if I were to agree with Widjaja’s last claim that money is only a short-run extrinsic motivator. Some individuals – some more in certain careers, such as finance – really do dislike their jobs and are solely working for the vast amount of capital. As an aspiring finance major myself, I am aware of the extremely long hours and tedious work which is a definite given in the workplace. Despite the horror stories I have heard, I am fully prepared to push through the tough tasks and dreadful hours to acquire a salary that would compensate for my hard work. Henceforth, I do partially agree with Natasha’s point that yes, money would not be a long-run motivator for a firm, however I can say with no doubt that some fields – finance in particular – are not examples of this claim.

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