Compensation and Benefits Issues Analysis
Challenging Behaviorist Dogma
Myths About Money and Motivation
The article I reviewed and will analyze is by Alfie Kohn. It is about how people are motivated in the workplace and what really makes people want to work harder for their employer. There are many misconceptions about this and the article covers each of them and the theorists behind the thoughts of what actually motivates people to work harder.
The key issues in the article are; does money matter to most people, does it motivate, what the research says, and, what does it all mean? I will analyze each issue and respond accordingly.
The first question posed in the article is whether or not money matters. The idea that dangling money and other goodies in front of people will "motivate" them to work harder is the conventional wisdom in our society, and particularly among compensation specialists. In the workplace, numerous studies have shown that when people are asked what is most important to them about work, money ranks well behind such factors as interesting work or good people to work with. (Interestingly, when managers are asked what matters most to their employees, they tend to rank money at the top of the list-and then proceed to manage on the basis of that error.) (Kohn) This does not mean that money does not matter to people, but rather, it is to offer an alternative to the declaration that most people are actually motivated by money to improve work ethics. This is one of the first assertions that supposedly justifies manipulating people with incentives. I agree with the author wholeheartedly on this subject because I know in the businesses I have been involved in financial incentives might produce more production, but the quality suffers and the workforce is not really any more satisfied.
The next question refers to whether money actually motivates employees to improve the work quantity and quality. The use of money for getting people to do something works well, but on the other hand, it does not make people “want” to do something. The author asserts that the seminars and articles regarding how to motivate employees, should be avoided because he feels that the prescriptions these exhort only attempt to control people and can actually make things worse in the long run.
Mr. Kohn also touches on the difference between intrinsic motivation, that is where the task itself is appealing, and extrinsic motivation, or where the task is just a means to an end, a prerequisite for receiving a reward or avoiding a punishment. He says the question then becomes not “how motivated are the people at our organization “, but “how are people motivated?” The author believes that it is not the amount of motivation that matters , but what type. Hence, someone could be motivated by money, however, this would probably create a major problem, a motivational orientation that isn’t associated with a high quality of work or quality of life. (Kohn)
I agree with the author in the [next page]