Sheet: S10 of 12
Part: Leading people

Motivating yourself and others

Money matters, but less and more strangely than most managers assume. Autonomy, mastery and meaning do a lot of the work.

Readings

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton · Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense, ch. 5, 2006

Do Financial Incentives Drive Company Performance?

Incentives work, sometimes too well. They get you exactly what you pay for, including the gaming.

Financial incentives do change behavior, so design them carefully.
They can crowd out intrinsic motivation and teamwork, and they invite gaming of the measure.
Pay is also a signal of what the organization values.
Evidence beats belief: test incentive schemes rather than assume they work.

See it

Score a job you know: motivating potential

Lab 10.A

Skill variety4

Task identity4

Task significance4

Autonomy4

Feedback4

64MPS of 343

Weakest lever: skill variety. Raising it helps, but autonomy and feedback multiply the total.

MPS = ((variety + identity + significance) / 3) x autonomy x feedback. Range 1 to 343.

Expectancy: one zero sinks it

Lab 10.B

Expectancy: if I try, I can do it0.8

Instrumentality: if I do it, I get the reward0.6

Valence: I want the reward0.7

0.34motivation

Slide any one to zero and watch the total.

Frameworks

Two-factor theory

Herzberg

S10

Removing dissatisfaction is not the same as creating motivation.

Hygiene factors	Pay, policy, supervision, conditions, security
Motivators	Achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, growth

Expectancy theory

Vroom

S10

Motivation = expectancy x instrumentality x valence.

Expectancy	If I try, can I perform?
Instrumentality	If I perform, will I get the outcome?
Valence	Do I value the outcome?

Job characteristics model

Hackman and Oldham

S10

MPS = ((variety + identity + significance) / 3) x autonomy x feedback.

Skill variety	Range of skills used
Task identity	Doing a whole piece of work
Task significance	Impact on others
Autonomy	Freedom in how to do it
Feedback	Knowing how well you did

Self-determination theory

Deci and Ryan

S10

Three needs drive intrinsic motivation.

Autonomy	Choice over how you work
Competence	Getting better at something
Relatedness	Connection to others

Check yourself

Q1In Herzberg’s model, salary is a

Q2In expectancy theory, motivation is zero if

Q3Which job characteristic multiplies the whole score?

0 of 3 answered.

Think it through

P1What motivates you that would not show up in a pay review?
P2Where have you seen an incentive get people to hit the number and miss the point?