The basic thesis of the book is that extrinsic motivators kill or diminish
intrinsic motivation. Kohn details the history and effect of Skinnerian
behaviorism on our schools, businesses and child-rearing techniques and
debunks Skinner's assumption that humans should be treated as lab rats.
He points out that the basis of "do this and you'll get that" is control
and manipulation.
Kohn maintains that "the most destructive business practices are those
that set employees against each other in a race for recognition or
compensation that has been made artificially scarce. Competition is
uniquely destructive of motivation and excellence. But even a
noncompetitive system, if based on carrot-and-stick psychology, proves
counterproductive. Such an approach may work to train the family pet, but
humans simply cannot be manipulated to do good work. In fact, the more
closely we condition compensation on achievement, the more harm we do in
the long run."
I have told Alfie about our plans to discuss his book and he is eager to
follow the discussion and will probably join us on occasion. If you have
any facilitation suggestions for me, please e-mail me. This will be my
maiden voyage at listserve facilitation.
Roxanne Abbas
[Host's Note: I'm delighted to support this focused discussion with
Roxanne as facilitator. ...Rick]
--Roxanne Abbas Abbas Compensation Strategies rabbas@comp-web.com http://www.comp-web.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>