Fostering Cooperation LO21505

John Gunkler (jgunkler@sprintmail.com)
Wed, 5 May 1999 10:26:04 -0500

Replying to LO21478 --

Winfried, you suggest that a group will cooperate to achieve an "ambitious
target." I agree. That's a good way to motivate a group to work
together.

However, I'd like to modify (slightly, but importantly) your [is it
Goldratt's?] definition of "ambitious." You wrote:

>Ambitious: Nobody believes that can be achieved.

Some pretty good empirical evidence exists (from McClelland's work) that a
more effective definition would be:

Ambitious: Everybody believes that there's only about a 50% chance of
achieving it.

Choosing a target that nobody believes can be achieved is de-motivating
(as is choosing a target that can be too easily achieved.) But choosing a
target that people believe they have about a 50% chance of achieving
maximizes motivation to achieve it.

-- 

"John Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>

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