Thanks to Rick for inviting a discussion of the book "Punished by Rewards"
by Alfie Kohn on this list. In the short run, I do not have access to the
book. It will take a while before I get a copy of the book. I have read
Alfie Kohn's "No Contest"(1986). I would agree with readers about the
authors ability to communicate his thesis with clarity and conviction. I
would venture to guess that Punished by Rewards would have a similar
argument.
Alfie Kohn proves that cooperative ways of achieving ones goals are more
effective than competitive and independent ways of achieving goals.
Extrinsic rewards are probably appendages of a competitive culture(my
inference). Choosing a cooperative culture over a competitive culture in
organisational reward systems would mean a major shift in values. Mike is
right when he stated his reservations about creating the conditions for
intrinsic motivation to work. The author "Kohn" was quite critical of the
American culture. Ours is no different. To state a remark when
discussing the book here, It is like "showing an ice cream in your hand
and telling me that I would be better off not having it while you eat it".
Any one venturing into this would require to build high levels of trust to
prepare the ground for a cooperative culture.
Reading "No Contest" has been an important input in my understanding of a
conducive culture for a learning organisation. Is anyone else with me on
this conclusion?
Thomas P Benjamin
PO Box 60, Anand 388 001, India
E-mail:benjamin@fac.irm.ernet.in
http://irma.irm.ernet.in
--"Thomas Benjamin" <BENJAMIN@fac.irm.ernet.in>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>