Mechanisms Underlying Creative Performance : Employee Perceptions Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Rewards

What are creativity, innovation, and design, and how are these concepts important to meeting the objectives of an organization? To understand these concepts they must first be defined. Webster’s dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com) defines creativity as the “Ability to produce something new through imaginative skill, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic objects or form. The term generally refers to a richness of ideas and originality of thinking. Psychological studies of highly creative people have shown that many have a strong interest in apparent disorder, contradiction, and imbalance, which seem to be perceived as challenges. Such individuals may possess an

According to researcher Lindner (1998), motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces to aid in the survival of organizations. Not only is it important to meet the needs of the consumer, it is equally important that to make sure that associates are taken care of and remain motivated. For this reason, Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly and Konopaske (2012) “states much of management’s time is spent addressing the motivation of their employees” (p. 125). According to the Encyclopedia of Small Business (2007), employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity employees bring to their jobs; the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals (Lindner, 1988). Despite its obvious importance, employee motivation can be an elusive quest for managers due to the multiplicity of incentives that can influence employees to do their best work. The reality is that every employee has different ways to become motivated and the knowledge of how to motivate them is key to organizational success. It is imperative that employers get to know the personal needs and wants of their employees in order to establish tactics in which to motivate each of them. Once achieved, “managers are in a better position to encourage and reward employees to behave in effective ways” (Gibson et al, 2012, p.

Rewards: people tend to show less creativity when they know they’ll receive an award for it. Ex. Dominique received an award last year for an science experiment, so he does the same experiment knowing he’ll receive one again.

In the context of creativity’s stated definition, we will proceed to group our arguments into three themes of factors: cognitive ability, expertise training, and environmental conditions. The human brain is highly adaptable and can continue to develop new cognitive abilities, even past adulthood (Norman, 2015). Proper cognitive expertise and training can help workers produce and operate in ingenious ways (Ginamarie, Lertiz & Mumford, 2004). Finally, the working environment can both motivate or stifle creative output. Managers can influence all three components: expertise, thinking skills, and motivation (Amabile, 1998).

Chapter 12 of our textbook is titled “Motivating Employees,” and it encompasses much of what was in Drive. An extrinsic reward is defined as the “payoff, such as money, a person receives from others for performing a particular task.” Extrinsic rewards are what drive the old economy and still influence management techniques within organizations today. These rewards have many benefits but are becoming more and more obsolete in the twenty-first century workforce. The textbook defines intrinsic rewards as the “satisfaction, such as a feeling of accomplishment, a person receives from performing the particular task itself.” Offering only extrinsic rewards is what Pink refers to as “carrots and sticks.” These rewards work well for routine tasks. However, these rewards often stifle creativity (as seen in the candlestick experiment). Modern jobs are increasingly relying on creativity and innovation. Managers can use this knowledge by acknowledging the importance of intrinsic rewards when dealing with employees engaged in more complex

Job Design is one of the structural variables in organization management and a rich source of intrinsic rewards, which is the reward that comes from job content as opposed to job context. Intrinsic rewards from Job content motivates and produces behaviours that

Dan Pink in Ted Talks gives insight on motivation in the workplace today. Mr. Pink speaks of motivation driven by intrinsic rewards. Intrinsic is an outcome that gives personal satisfaction or fulfillment when the task is done well. Autonomy, mastery and purpose are examples of intrinsic rewards that Mr. Pink states are the driving focus of motivation. His talk was focused on autonomy, the urge to direct our own lives. Mr. Pink reviewed companies that has implemented autonomy and it showed that job satisfaction as well as job retention was high. Studies showed that extrinsic rewards only worked when little cognitive ability is required to solve a task. Extrinsic is an award that is based on something tangible, physical or monetary. Since the

According to Bateman & Snell (2009), Motivators to employee job performance are centered on extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are characteristics of the workplace that attract and retain people. They revolve around organization and management policies, working conditions, pay, benefits, and other so-called “hygiene” factors. Intrinsic rewards are motivators that provide employees personal satisfaction in the performance of their jobs such as opportunities for personal and career growth, recognition and the feeling of achievement in the successful completion of a task. (p. 486). Herzberg’s two-factor theory suggests

The success of any business depends on the productivity and satisfaction of its employees. Employees need to be motivated to work. Motivation can be defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals. Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. For an individual to be motivated in a work situation there must be a need, which the individual would have to perceive a possibility of satisfying through some reward. Intrinsic motivation stems from motivations that are inherent and arise from performing the task of the job itself, which the individual gets a feeling of either positive or negative motivation as a result of

In the workforce, employees turns to be more involved in the successful results when they know that they will share in the rewards (Wilkinson, 1992). There have to be a well established incentives for better creation of ideas and efforts which would lead to increased business. Rewards allows employees to see themselves being valued and recognize their involvement in the business. Employees' morale and motivation is boosted and the staff progress on with higher level of creativity and

In “Understanding Management”, there is a chapter on motivation that covers both extrinsic and intrinsic reward. The material does highlight the increasing trend of motivating people through appealing to those intrinsic needs and how it

Ryan and Deci (2000) state that if an individual is extrinsically motivated it can reflect a form of external control, such as finances, or stakeholders. Amabile (1993) further supports this definition by acknowledging that extrinsic motivation can be the intent to control where there is a known reward. Managers are generally associated with being extrinsically motivated. The divide that is generalised to be present between managers and creatives through different motivations is supported by the assumption that can be made by management that creatives are kept in their area so they do not stray too far from their competence zone (Bilton, 2007). This divide unfortunately contributes to a system that is counterproductive by trying to manage the creative process, rather than manage for the

Eisenberg, R., Armeli, S., & Pretz, J. (1998). Can the promise of reward increase creativity? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(3), 704-714

that employees remain motivated if they are rewarded to achieve goals of a company. And when they are

Being rewarded and recognised for their work or contribution is what keeps an employee motivated to work towards achieving the organisational as well as personal goals. When the employees is motivated by rewards, they will have job satisfaction consequently increasing the productivity of the organisation. It necessitates the need of managers to pay more attention in understanding their employees and come up with suitable types of reward systems for the organisation so that the employees are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated all the time. The hypotheses that I put forward here is to support this statement that effective reward management is critical to