Is Reward the only source of Motivation
At the very outset, yours truly is no Management Guru. Nor is he an established leader of men. He had only gone through some years ago, a handful of literature on Military Leaders, their leadership traits and what they have suggested to hopeful military leaders. So the few lines that are being discussed today are just the deductions of a layman.
In a job or profession there is a correlation between the motivation that makes a person put in effort to achieve a certain goal and then claim its reward. It is a cycle and one thing leads to the other.
It is generally believed that employees have certain aspirations so they are motivated to put in efforts. The aspiration may be to achieve goals per se or get the rewards that come with the achievement of goals. Sometimes the very satisfaction of goal achievement is the reward itself. The efforts they put in are channelised to achieve the goal desired by the organization. Once a goal is achieved then rewards are doled out to people who have achieved their goal and target.
Sometimes a slight disharmony sets in. It is not always that people feel motivated, put in efforts, over-achieve on goals, get rewards and live life happily ever after. At times the rewards belie the efforts, that is to say, the reward may be so little vis-a-vis the effort being put in and the degree and quality with which the goal set is achieved. Thus a wrong impression of the effort and achievement is projected. Some school of thought would argue that reward always justify the effort or achievement or that it always commensurate with the effort/achievement.
Actual incidents occur where people who expect certain reward may not actually obtain it despite being best performers, even if the organization objectively judge people on merit only. There might be inexplanable reasons why they have been left out. Thus then do people become frustrated and decide not to put in any effort in the next cycle? This runs the risk of being a wrong notion. It is so because of the simple fact that when reward does not do justice to achievement or effort, dissatisfaction is born. Throughout history it is man’s dissatisfaction with what he has or achieved with his life that has pushed to more discoveries, inventions and of course led man to push boundaries. Thus dissatisfaction will actually breed motivation in the same people and make them thrive for better performances in the next year or next business cycle.
The sociology of organizations prove that they have souls like the people who constitute it and thus all the imperfections of its sole component are in it too.
In a job or profession there is a correlation between the motivation that makes a person put in effort to achieve a certain goal and then claim its reward. It is a cycle and one thing leads to the other.
It is generally believed that employees have certain aspirations so they are motivated to put in efforts. The aspiration may be to achieve goals per se or get the rewards that come with the achievement of goals. Sometimes the very satisfaction of goal achievement is the reward itself. The efforts they put in are channelised to achieve the goal desired by the organization. Once a goal is achieved then rewards are doled out to people who have achieved their goal and target.
Sometimes a slight disharmony sets in. It is not always that people feel motivated, put in efforts, over-achieve on goals, get rewards and live life happily ever after. At times the rewards belie the efforts, that is to say, the reward may be so little vis-a-vis the effort being put in and the degree and quality with which the goal set is achieved. Thus a wrong impression of the effort and achievement is projected. Some school of thought would argue that reward always justify the effort or achievement or that it always commensurate with the effort/achievement.
Actual incidents occur where people who expect certain reward may not actually obtain it despite being best performers, even if the organization objectively judge people on merit only. There might be inexplanable reasons why they have been left out. Thus then do people become frustrated and decide not to put in any effort in the next cycle? This runs the risk of being a wrong notion. It is so because of the simple fact that when reward does not do justice to achievement or effort, dissatisfaction is born. Throughout history it is man’s dissatisfaction with what he has or achieved with his life that has pushed to more discoveries, inventions and of course led man to push boundaries. Thus dissatisfaction will actually breed motivation in the same people and make them thrive for better performances in the next year or next business cycle.
The sociology of organizations prove that they have souls like the people who constitute it and thus all the imperfections of its sole component are in it too.
Nice and thought-provoking article...
ReplyDeleteTaking the discussion further, motivation last longer if it comes from within. Self motivated people will always find causes, reasons and goals to always motivate themselves.
ReplyDelete