« Don’t Forget Your Manners | Main | 3 Reasons Why We Don’t Pay For Performance »
Herzberg Is Turning Over In His Grave
By Ron | October 30, 2008
I just read interesting comments on a blog about the unintended consequences of a certain bonus program. My experience has been that there is always unintended consequences. When people chase the proverbial carrot, the motivation for the real work gets sidelined. The carrot becomes the goal, not the job itself.
I told someone recently that Herzberg, the great guru on motivation, has never let me down. When management uses material things (money, prizes, perks) as motivators, motivation doesn’t happen. Movement may happen, but not motivation. The task may get completed, but the quality usually suffers or other tasks go undone while the person is obsessed with completing the incentivized project. I believe that people are more noble than performing like trained monkeys. They aspire to higher things in life, like the simple joy of accomplishment or just enjoying doing the task at hand. Don’t get me wrong, I think that they should still get paid an equitable salary.
I am not naive. I know that this theory is a hard sell to many managers. Using money or other incentives is easier than managing using intrinsic methods. And, people may even appear to be motivated by the external things. Once they are potty-trained to chase salary increases, higher salary grades, executive perks and the like, they, themselves even believe that tangible rewards motivate them. However, as Frederick Herzberg, himself, said, “When you are feeding jelly beans to a bear at Yellowstone Park, you better not run out.”
Topics: HR |