On Monday, July 21, 1997 2:35 PM, Kerr, Donald A wrote:
> >There is an obvious ideal quality to intrinsic motivation, it probably is
> >self-sustaining, yet it has been proven in real practice by probably
> >almost every member of this list, that effectiveness can be derived
> >through extrinsic rewards. I'm not saying it is the right thing to do and
> >I am not saying that extrinsic rewards always work (especially in the long
> >term), but if you fail to take advantage of extrinsic motivation IN THE
> >MEANTIME, you may not be around for the LONG TERM!
>
> When do you break the cycle of destruction? When do you stop shifting the
> burden to lead off on bribery? How do you stop the escalation? By feeding
> it? Not being around in the long term is different leadership weakness. A
> different way to duck responsibility. Eliminating resignation to
> extrinsic motivation alone is not enough. Everyone in the company can be
> intrinsically motivated and doing their best, but still go out of
> business. When do you stop shifting the burden of planning off on bribery?
>
> Have a Great Adventure!
> Don Kerr
> donald.a.kerr@USAHQ.UnitedSpaceAlliance.com
Don,
I'm not sure if you're asking a set of rhetorical questions or directing
the questions to me, but I would like to reply anyway.
> When do you break the cycle of destruction?
First off, I don't disagree necessarily with your contention, but I think
we need to put ourselves in management's shoes: Let's make it safe for
them to stop extrinsic motivation before we rail against a system which
promotes it!
>When do you stop shifting the burden to lead off on bribery?
Again, I don't think we are far apart, but lets examine the point. It is
our socio-economic systems which creates the behavior, most of us enjoin.
How many of you recently have had success with your teenager relying only
on their intrinsic motivation--it sure has identified for me some real
weaknesses in my philosophical underpinnings.<g>
>How do you stop the escalation?
I think we stop the escalation by probably what is determined by most as
non-action at this point until we can converge around an acceptable form
of action, in the meantime the clock and everything else will go right on
ticking. Your question can also be asked of our command and control,
bureaucratic structures of leadership and so on. However, while I
appreciate your state of mind, we can't stop the merry go round until we
have something for people to ride on. At this point, I see no offering of
a socio-economic system that can be widely adapted to cure the ills of the
world any better than what we have, although I am looking!
>By feeding it?
It's kind of like an ornery horse, if you want to ride, you better feed
it, until you have something better. We lack in a very gross sense the
ability to mobilize management and leadership into an effort, reprogram an
entire social order and create the systems which would reverse this
current mode.
>Not being around in the long term is different leadership weakness.
Again, I think you've hit the nail on the head, however, I pale at the
thought of asking people to become martyrs under the current order. I
realize there are small pockets of "resistance" and these need to be
encouraged, written about and celebrated, but overall, I think you would
have some pretty unhappy citizens if you "blew the whistle" and said
everybody out of the "extrinsic" pool, don't you think? We have
conditioned people to carrot and stick and nothing you or I will say will
change that in the short run, and sometimes you "gotta eat" in the short
run--right or wrong!
> A different way to duck responsibility. Eliminating resignation to
> extrinsic motivation alone is not enough. Everyone in the company can be
> intrinsically motivated and doing their best, but still go out of
> business.
Again, a strong well-said point.
> When do you stop shifting the burden of planning off on bribery?
I don't agree that planning is the way out, especially when I learn at the
edge of chaos that as a leader I must do everything I can to "preserve
variation!" And this, in my view, is closely tied to intrinsic
motivation, so I think the problem is on orders of complexity that no
simple strategy will provide a solution towards.
I think being engaged in the dialogue and exploring the constructs of
Kohn's--as well as everyone else's take on the motivation--is a "huge"
first step and while at times, I share your impatience, there is a much
larger set of forces at work here and the complexity is compounding almost
daily.
Hope I answered the questions in the spirit you intended them!
--mike jay quarterback@msn.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>