New Views of Motivation in the
Workplace
Dr. Matt Wiediger
Assistant Professor
MacMurray College
VS
Worked
well for a while
• But when work and how we
viewed workers changed….
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“There is no doubt that the benefits of [piece-rate systems or pay-forperformance incentive devices] can be considerably compromised when
the systems undermine workers’ intrinsic motivation. “
• Baron and Krepps, 1999, p. 99
“Incentives are then only weak reinforcers in the short run, and weak
punishment in the long run”
• Benabou and Tirole, 2003, p 489
“With some important exceptions, we observed that extrinsic rewards can
have detrimental effects on performance”
• Ariely, et al, 2005,
 “Call
it what you will, incentives are what
get people to work harder”
• Nikita Khrushchev
 “What
are you…..Do you actually believe
this? This is positive psychology junk”
• Beth Wiediger, Ph. D

 First
Premise: What we are doing now
isn’t the best (and may not match 70% of
what we do)
• For Simple Tasks, Extrinsic (rewards and
punishment) Motivation tied to performance can
speed performance
 Shoe tying contest?
• For Complex Tasks, Extrinsic Motivation tied to
performance can, and typically does, slow
performance
 Harlow’s
Studies
• Groups of Monkeys would solve a puzzle in
absence of reinforcement or punishment
• Monkeys that were later reinforced solved the
puzzle more slowly than Monkeys that never had
an incentive introduced.
 Flaws
of Incentives
• Can reduce intrinsic motivation
• Can reduce performance
• Can reduce creativity
• Can reduce good behaviors
• Can increase short cuts, cheating, unethical
behavior
• Can foster short-term thinking
• Money and other Extrinsic motivators have an
appropriate and important place in our
workforces
• Get the issue of compensation off the table as
quickly as possible
• Use Indirect monetary reinforcements when
possible
 This means no Christmas Bonus….
• Praise=don’t tie to a specific task outcome, but to
effort
 Second
Premise: Goal Setting is often
used incorrectly and works to decrease
long term behavior.
• What happens if a person misses a benchmark
or goal?
• Are you using Goals, but really want to be using
objectives?
• Goals have the same characteristics as
Incentives
 Ariely, Gneezy, Benabou, Tirole, Etzioni,
Deci, Ryan, Baron, Krepps, Ford,
Duckworth, Schmidt, Gates, etc…
 Dan Pink more recently
 Dan
Pink
• Autonomy: condition of self control or freedom
• Mastery: the pursuit of comprehensive
knowledge or skills
• Purpose: a clear intention or objective to strive
toward
 Management
developed as a system to
harness, control, and direct human
resources
 Dan
Pink argues it worked well for the
tasks it was designed for.
• But tasks have changed
 Less Shoe-Tieing
 More Two-String
 Deci, 1971
• Participants played
game of Soma
• Three sessions
 One Group paid for
second session, other
not
 Deci 1971 continued
• Last Session: Experimenter left the room told the
participants to do whatever they wanted.
• Group rewarded with pay or praise played the
game approximately 20-30% less than the group
that was not rewarded.
 Instead browsed magazines, watched TV, etc.
Take Home? Rewards decrease desired behavior
RYAN AND DECI DEVELOPED A SCALE TO MEASURE
AUTONOMY

1. 2. 3. 4 .5. 6. 7

very unlikely to very likely

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A n employee who works for you has generally done an adequate job.
However‚ for the past two weeks their work has not been up to par and
they appear to be less actively interested in their work. Your reaction is
likely to be:
A. Tell them that their work is below what is expected and that they should
start working harder.
B. Ask them about the problem and let them know you are there to talk
and help.
C. It is hard to know what to do to get them straightened out.



1. 2. 3. 4 .5. 6. 7
very unlikely to very likely
You are a plant supervisor and have been charged
with the task of allotting coffee breaks to three
workers who cant not all break at once. You would
likely handle this by:
A. Telling the three workers their situation and
having them work with you on the schedule.
 B. Simply assigns the times that each can break to
avoid any problems.
 C. Find out from someone in authority what to do or
do what was done in the past.

 Baard
et al., 2004 : Investment Bankers
Deci et al., 1989 : Fortune 500
companies
 Berg et al., 2001 : Psychiatric Hospital
• Productivity?
• Interventions helped
• Take Home:
 How
to Increase Autonomy (According to
the Research and Pink)
 Give Employees Autonomy


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When they do it (time)
How they do it (technique)
Whom they do it with (team)
What they do (task)
• Choose employees that have an innate interest/
preexisting record of autonomy in areas
 Do you do anything in your free time related to this
field?
 If you didn’t have to work, would you do with your
time?
 Diener
and Dweck (Various studies)
• What do we do when we don’t succeed?
 End Path or Growth Path?
• Any guesses about which group ultimately had more
success on an unrelated task later on?
• How we face a challenge is important in how we
develop Mastery
 Mastery is a DOMAIN SPECIFIC QUEST!

Mastery is part Grit
• Sticking with things (passion and perseverance)
• Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007
 Surveys on GRIT, IQ, Personality, outcomes on tasks, etc., given to


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
National Spelling Bee Contestants
Two classes at West Point
Sales Agents
Teachers
Insurance Sales people
 GRIT=AWESOME!
 IQ=Meh…
 GRIT also predicts a lower number of careers, less divorce, and
higher educational attainment over a lifetime

How to find those that are into Mastery
• Find those that have GRIT
• Find those that are QUESTING in your area
 Or create a QUEST?

Develop Aspirations/Milestones
• Promotions as acknowledgements of past performance

Develop Mastery?
• Have an environment where Mastery is a real and sought out GOAL/OBJECTIVE
• Help your employees develop GRIT
 Incremental successes can create persistence
 Making work more like a game can create passion and persistence
 Teachable moments

Learned helplessness is the bane of GRIT and Mastery
 Argument that in motivating others
• “Over” think the “how” to do something
• “Under” think the “why” to do something
we…
 Niemiec, Ryan, and Deci, 2008
• Measured students at time of graduation on
 Goals
 Intrinsic (growth) or Extrinsic (financial)
 Health
 Happiness
• Results?

Adam Grant
• “Give and Take” Book
• Three types of people
"Whereas takers strive to get as
much as possible from others,
and matchers aim to trade
evenly, givers are the rare
breed of people who contribute
to others without expecting
anything in return. These styles
have a dramatic impact on
success. Although some givers
get exploited and burn out, the
rest achieve extraordinary
results across a wide range of
industries."
HAND WASHING?
CALL CENTER?
 Wrzesniewski
and Dutton, 2001
• “Job Crafting”
 Physical and cognitive changes individuals make in
their tasks or starting work boundaries
 Hospital cleaners
 Nurses
 Accountants
 Job Satisfaction increased
 Customer Satisfaction increased
 Some people will have a purpose
• And they will tell you who they are
• IF their purpose and yours are aligned….
 Further motivation is less needed
 Difficult to find?
 Most
will be very receptive to goals,
objectives, and direction if…
•
•
•
•
It serves an important purpose
They can directly serve that purpose
You need to make that important purpose clear
Need to remind people about that purpose
 Communicate
the Purpose: How an
individual can contribute
• Make it specific to a person, not generic
 Place
an equal emphasis on purpose and
profit
• Profit driven focus can lead to short cuts for
short term benefits
• Purpose driven focus can lead to focus on long
term benefits
 Incentives
are less effective in fostering
work that we do in the 21st Century
 Intrinsic Motivation is far less harmful
and much more powerful in compelling
employees in the modern workplace than
in the past
 Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose may be
a new way to motivate those around us to
do
Great and Creative things.
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Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY:
Riverhead Books.
Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 18, 105–115.
Baard, P. P., Deci, E. L. and Ryan, R. M. (2004), Intrinsic Need Satisfaction: A Motivational
Basis of Performance and Weil-Being in Two Work Settings. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 34: 2045–2068.
Deci, E. L., Connell, J. P., & Ryan, R. M. (1989). Self-determination in a work organization.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 580-590.
Berg, J. M., Dutton, J. E., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2013). Job crafting and meaningful work. In B.
J. Dik, Z. S. Byrne & M. F. Steger (Eds.), Purpose and meaning in the workplace (pp. 81104). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Diener, C.I., & Dweck, C.S. (1978). An analysis of learned helplessness: Continuous
changes in performance, strategy and achievement cognitions following failure. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 451-462.
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance
and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 1087–
1101.
Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2010). Self-determination theory and the relation
of autonomy to self-regulatory processes and personality development. In R. H. Hoyle
(Ed.), Handbook of personality and self-regulation (pp. 169-191). Malden, MA: Blackwell
Publishing.
Grant, A (2014). Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success. Penguin