Saturday, September 12, 2009
Financial incentives can result in a negative impact on overall performances
Well, someone has come around to questioning the elephant in the living room. What motivates people to do productive work? According to Dan Pink at the TED conference, higher (financial) incentives actually result in poor(er) results. He brings up an interesting study by the U.S. Federal Reserve, and it's an apropos analogy for the current Wall Street Gordon Geckos.
Dan goes on to explain that "Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose" are the 21st century incentives for knowledge workers. Although I have to argue with the minor detail that "Mastery + Purpose" are the true carrots, with "Autonomy" as a basic necessity for today's generation. Millionaire philanthropic Robin Hoods and progressive businesses that also do good (e.g. - Salesforce.com, Google.org) are "in". Those are the types of leadership that business schools can foster for a new future.
// posted by Saki @ 9:32 PM 
