Key Points from Lecture on Motivation and Business
Introduction
Confession of the speaker about attending law school.
Emphasis on the desire to present a lawyerly case for rethinking business operations.
The Candle Problem
Origin: Created by psychologist Karl Duncker in 1945.
Objective: Attach a candle to a wall so that wax doesn't drip onto the table using a candle, thumbtacks, and matches.
Functional Fixedness: Many initially view the box only as a container for tacks, missing its potential as a candle platform.
Experiment by Sam Glucksberg
Participants were timed to solve the candle problem with varying incentives.
Group 1: No rewards, used for establishing norms.
Group 2: Offered financial incentives ($5 for top 25% and $20 for the fastest).
Outcome: The incentivized group took, on average, 3.5 minutes longer to solve the problem.
Conclusion: Incentives that suggest improvement often hinder creativity and thinking.
Importance and Scientific Findings
Over 40 years, research shows extrinsic motivators (contingent rewards) can hinder performance in creative tasks.
A mismatch exists between science (what motivates effectively) and business practices (traditional reward systems).
Evidence of Ineffectiveness of Extrinsic Rewards
Study by Dan Ariely: MIT students tested with games needing cognitive skills saw worse performance with higher rewards.
Similar results found in Madurai, India, despite differing cultural contexts.
Higher incentives led to worse performance in most of the tasks tested.
London School of Economics: Review of 51 studies showing financial incentives negatively impact overall performance.
The Need for a New Approach
Current business systems based on outdated assumptions rooted in folklore.
Need for high performance requires new strategies beyond traditional carrots and sticks.
Elements of Intrinsic Motivation and New Operating System
Autonomy: The desire to direct our own lives.
Mastery: The urge to improve and excel at something meaningful.
Purpose: The drive to contribute to something larger than oneself.
Focus on Autonomy
Traditional management promotes compliance; for engagement, self-direction is more effective.
Company examples:
Atlassian: "FedEx Days" allows employees to work on any project they wish, fostering innovation.
Google's 20% Time: Encourages engineers to spend a fifth of their time on personal projects, leading to significant product development.
Results Only Work Environment (ROWE): Offers complete autonomy in work schedules and locations, improving productivity and job satisfaction.
Case Study: Encarta vs. Wikipedia
Encarta: Paid professionals to create a resource.
Wikipedia: Crowdsourced knowledge created for intrinsic reasons.
Outcome: Wikipedia prevailed against Encarta, demonstrating the power of intrinsic motivation.
Conclusion
Science shows that traditional motivators are limited and often detrimental to creativity.
High performance comes from intrinsic drives, demonstrating that aligning business practices with scientific understanding can lead to better outcomes.
Final Thoughts
By updating our motivational strategies to align with modern understanding, we can strengthen businesses and solve complex problems.
Call to Action: Encourage a transformational shift in business motivation frameworks to foster creativity and engagement.