what's the next idea?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Can monetary rewards lead to lower performance, and decreased motivation? I've seen in the news lately a story about a study of tennesee teachers who fared no better with student test scores than teachers with no bonus .. Additionally , there are gears that incentives for teachers may lead to competitiveness and stifle sharing and collaboration . This story columnists with my reading of Daniel pinks book " drive". He makes the case that when you offer extrinsic motivation for creative problem solving you may well get worse results. I kind of equate it with getting paid to travel and write. Once you start "working" at your passion , does it then cease to be fun? How can we apply these findings to organizations? To classrooms? What can manager offer employees to get them to enjoy their job? Dare we even think it?