Dan Pink's The Puzzle Of Motivation

In society there are still differences in classes such as higher class, middle class, and lower class. In sociology, we observed a film called The Pursuit Happyness, where we witnessed the struggles a father went through to succeed. Chris Gardner, who was played by Will Smith, is living in his apartment with his wife and his son. Due to their struggles, the mother walks out on and leaves Chris struggling alone with his son. In the film Chris Gardner applies for an unpaid internship for a competitive stockbroker company where out of twenty men, only one gets the job. While he is on his internship, we see the hardships of getting kicked out of his apartment to staying at a shelter home to then sleeping in a subway bathroom with his son. Viewing the movie through a sociological lens, The Pursuit of Happyness will be analyzed according to the major three sociological paradigms: structural functionalism, social conflict theory, and symbolic interactionalism.

An interesting point of his speech is the explanation of the Karl Duncker’s candle experiment. The experiment used some participants and gave a problem: To attach a candle to one wall and light it up not letting it to fall down. The participants received a box of matches and box of thumbtacks and were divides in 2 groups. The first one had would be timed and the second one would receive financial rewards. The second grouper took longer to conclude the task and solve the problem and this is a strange result, since we believe that bonus and financial incentives are the most important ones. The conclusion of the experiment is that financial incentive could block creativity and according to Daniel Pink, money could work to incentive basic activities but not activities that involve

Cameron, J., Banko, K. M., & Pierce, W. D. (2001). Pervasive Negative Effects of Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation: The Myth Continues. The Behavior Analysist , 1-44.

Although CHEER may seem hard and overwhelming to students, they have to push themselves to achieve an A in both courses. Establishing a growth mindset in summer school is key to being successful in the classes that are being taken. Students should take advantage of tutoring and lab time that is offered. Wisely using both opportunities, CHEER students have the ability to obtain an A in both courses. In order to do so, students have to keep a healthy brain by getting rest, exercising and living a healthy lifestyle. By doing such things, students will be prompt and ready for class.

The theories relating to the motivational methods and techniques I have chosen to reinforce the information are the two-factor and expectancy theory. The two-factor theory was developed by Frederick Herzberg’s and falls under two categories the satisfier and hygiene factors. The two are linked and are identified as being turned

productivity is high with reduced labour cost as a result of less man hours. But most

While watching “The Puzzle of Motivation” by Dan Pink, I was very intrigued. Throughout the entire talk, there were several interesting points that were made. It really interested me when Pink talked about the group that was rewarded. Pink stated that if the contestants were in the top 25% of the fastest times, they would be rewarded five dollars. With this incentive, most would hope to do well, if not better than the person that would not be rewarded. Pink then goes on to point out the results. How much faster did the group that was offered a reward actually do? On average, it took them three and a half minutes longer. This really stood out to me because when offered a reward for a task, normally a person would be more motivated and thus do better. What amazed me even more was that this isn’t just a one time thing. This is has been replicated over and over for nearly 40 years. As Pink says around 04:33, “These contingent motivators -- if you do this, then you get that -- work in some circumstances. But for a lot of tasks, they actually either don 't work or, often, they do harm.” These rewards that are being offered are being used to attempt to sharpen thinking and accelerate creativity, but instead it’s proving to do the opposite. It’s proving to dull thinking and block creativity.

Ever since I began my teaching career, I have been fascinated with the topic of motivation and the role it plays in student learning. Daniel Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, has been on my personal reading list for a couple of years now, and I was elated to find that it was one of the recommended books to read for this assignment. I have often wondered why some of my students, and even one of my own children, are more internally driven than others to complete a given task. Now that I am in the process of becoming a school administrator, my curiosity about what motivates adults has been heightened, as well. In the hopes of finding some insight, and perhaps the answers to some of my burning questions, I

Comparatively, I can agree to Drevitch’s point of view that the problem with today’s society is that many people are easy distracted and influenced by even a small amount of incentives that get thrown their way. Drevitch emphasized “When it comes to getting people to do what they ought to, our first instincts are often wrong.” Nevertheless, I can admit I have personally fallen into these categories with motivation at work. I have co-workers that I really like to work with, and we try to make it a fun work environment, so it’s enjoyable and really does make someone motivated to be a productive worker. Nonetheless, I know my limits if asked to do something beyond my pay grade, and I have to make conscious decisions before I can consider if it is worth it. On the other hand, I don’t think all extrinsic motivation is a bad concept for certain situations. For instance, as parents, our purpose is to help guide and motivate our children to do things that will help them towards their future through disciplinary and sometimes reinforcement. However, it is important to understand, and acknowledge that there is a fine

A reward is a high extrinsic motivator. The reward can be monetary, gift certificate, day off with pay, a two hour lunch, or working for two hours on anything but work. All entice performance and competition in the workplace. A gold star, being the teacher’s helper for a day, no daily

In the book “DRIVE - the surprising truth about what motivates us”, Daniel Pink says that people will not do a better job if they’re offered a reward. They will do a better job if given the opportunity to work on their own time, be creative and do good. He states, “The secret to high performance and satisfaction is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, learn and create new things and to do better by ourselves and our world”. He speaks about a whole new way that companies should look at human motivation. The book discusses three main components of motivation- autonomy, mastery and purpose. Autonomy describes how people want to be

“While Mangers complain about lack of motivation in their workers, they might as well consider the possibility that the reward systems they’ve installed are paying off for the opposite”.

In our daily lives we encounter temptations and regardless of resisting or falling for them is due to the amount of willpower you posses. In the book The willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal, demonstrates how stress can affect our daily lives by causing us to act irrationally by listening to our temptations however through, her teaching of self-control, motivation, and the beneficial aspect of controlling your willpower can lead to a successful and healthy human being. Facing these temptations can be difficult when dealt with, but through the willpower experiments the cause and effects of temptations can be learned from. One willpower challenge I currently have is my poor habit of spending money due to the temptations that occurs when I’m mostly with my social peers, but through gaining self-control, a better sense of self-awareness, and motivation progresses me through this challenge.

Scientific management uses incentives to motivate workers. This idea comes from Henry Gantt who introduced the bonus system, which motivated workers to complete their daily tasks by

Keeping employees motivated in addition to creating incentives and/or additional ways for employees to receive more compensation will create better performance overall within an organization. Contrary if company B gives their employees incentives to perform, without any motivational tactics they probably will not have as many top performances as company A, in addition the company may only seek short term rewards verses have long term success. Lack of motivation for employees within an organization, can cause long term damage for the company’s success. Different things motivate everyone; therefore there should be a system in place to keep employees motivated for the long term success of the company. In the MBM textbook under the concept of incentives, compensation, and motivation, there are a couple of different views of how it should be applied within an organization. We will discuss The Social Role of Profit, Personal Profit and Losses, and the way Market-Based Management view how incentives, compensation, and motivation should be applied and the things that effectively drive employees’ actions while at work.