A Self-Reflection essay

Undoubtedly, one of the main forces behind effective performance is motivation.

Organizations all around the world have perfected the skill of motivating their staff to deliver better results, which lead to effective performance. The major errors businesses make while attempting to excite their workforce are covered in this essay, along with possible fixes. According to Daniel Pink’s research, which is presented in the essay, people require an internal motivation to grow and perform tasks more effectively rather than following the principle of punishment and reward. In his TED talk, Pink establishes that monetary rewards are likely to lower an organization’s performance because it fails to give people a reason to be better. Although bonuses, commissions, and awards are standard in the business world, Pink notes that it is not an effective long term method and there is hence need to look for alternatives to motivation. Pink states that the main principles of motivation should be founded on autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Key words: Motivation, autonomy, purpose, mastery, performance, rewards

Self-Reflection

Motivation is a personal initiative to accomplish an individual goal or task (Frey & Osterloh, 2011). According to pink, many organizations follow outdated policies that distract people naming it the “candle problem” (2009). Companies choose reward as incentives and it results in low performance. Motivation should make people seek to do much more with the available resources for the benefit of all.

I believe that motivation is a factor that leaves people feeling better about themselves and their capabilities. I always strive to motivate others by always applauding them for tasks well completed, and this has successfully fostered better performance. I am driven by the ability to work within my schedule and set my timelines which also allows me to test my limits.

Pink is indeed right to note that companies that seek to be successful should encourage autonomy in their policies (2009). Employees should work in an environment which allows them to explore their intellect as long as they get their work done on time. Managers should hence refrain from always monitoring their workers because this also tends to take away their confidence which is essential in achieving their set targets (Frey & Osterloh, 2011).

Lastly, positive motivation prompts people to master their activity and get purposes (Frey & Osterloh, 2011). Pink defines mastery as the desire to improve and get better at what one does. Pink labels money as an extrinsic motivation because it does not leave the employee with any sense of achievement (2009). In this case, the motivation ought to be intrinsic in that he employees do not have to live by the reward and punishment policies to work. Pink is right to conclude that offering reward and punishment to the employees only hinders good performance and it is also likely to make things worse.

References

Frey, B. S., & Osterloh, M. (2011). Successful management by motivation: Balancing intrinsic and extrinsic incentives. Berlin: Springer.

Pink.D(Aug 25, 2009). The puzzle of motivation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y