Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Why do you do what you do?

Here's another TED video. In this one, Dan Pink discusses intrinsic motivation and its value in future workplaces.

Dan argues that intrinsic motivation is made up of "autonomy, mastery, and purpose." He also says that this form of motivation will be necessary as work moves from simple and repetitive tasks to complex and creative thinking tasks (knowledge/information economies). According to behavioral psychology research he references, traditional incentives such as bonuses are not effective for jobs of the near future.

Last month, I saw a job posting for an employment specialist that advertised $50.00 bonuses per placement as part of the compensation. According to Dan's talk, it should be better to build the bonuses into the salary and offer a higher base pay. Job placements require so many different factors to come together that it's hard to feel a direct connection between placing a job seeker and receiving an extra $50.00 weeks after the job begins. Also, placing someone already feels rewarding; the emotional experience can outshine the monetary reward.

See this post for another view on intrinsic motivation. It identifies autonomy, competence, and relatedness as factors for intrinsic motivation...2 out of 3 factors in agreement (autonomy, competence/mastery).