1st Response
Hi Professor and fellow students.
I love this week’s discussion as it made me reflect on myself and not as a leader. As I have stated in the past, I got a promotional post nearly two years ago, and I decided that I quit at the end of this year.
How do you recognize and support employees with an “intrinsic drive” to high performance?
In the past different work-places that I have been at, I was fortunate enough to be intrinsically motivated. As it is said, “teaching is a labor of love”; ” a teacher’s job is twenty-four hours, seven days a week, with no rewards” I have been there, done that. However, in the past year, I came across a team that did not perform to the best of their abilities. I tried all I could but all in vain. Maybe, as the new generation, incentives seem to be the driving force, or with many changes within the education system, the teachers’ morale is so low that nothing really matters as long as people get paid at the end of the month. It is in this situation that I enrolled for an MBA at JWMI. This was a turning point in my life that, instead of focusing on people who are not prepared to learn, let me rather improve myself. From Senior Management, one cannot implement any new ideas without being told about the culture that never worked two decades ago. Although people get an annual increase every year to motivate them to work harder, many seem to have missed the mark. With the government’s new system that states that no learner should be retained, teachers have to look at other avenues to progress to the next grade. It is worse now with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is required that each child be given an increase of between 3% to 5% in any subjects that the child fails to progress to the next grade. Therefore, if one cannot recognize any intrinsic drive in any of the employees, rather be one.
In your opinion, is an intrinsic drive a natural trait, or is it something that can be created or developed?
Intrinsic drive is a natural trait and cannot be developed. Back in the days, when a teacher had to use only a piece of chalk to write on the board, nowadays, there are smartboards, but still, there are those teachers who are not willing to use such resources. In the early days of DOS (Disk Operating System), not everyone was keen to learn about computers, especially if one came across the error message “Bad Command.” Nowadays, one has access to the internet and virtual learning via zoom. These are the stepping stones to modern technology. I still have young teachers in my team with smartphones but not willing to attend a zoom session to learn new methods.
What is the difference between rewarding an employee and motivating them?
Rewarding an employee includes monetary incentives and awards, such as the best teacher for the year. It means acknowledging one’s capabilities over what is being expected of them. However, these rewards eventually wear off and can reduce motivation. Motivating an employee means trying to show a person to look at things from a different perspective to be valued for what one does.
According to Pink, “we have moved a long way from treating people like beasts of burden, who were once driven with the promise of a carrot or the threat of a stick. Pink asserts a change of mindset for one to adapt to the work needs of the 21st century. Many people are still stuck with the “carrots and sticks” mentality that hinders workplace motivation in my country. This kind of approach can have negative effects on the motivation it was intended to create. Maybe our country needs restructuring at a personal level. People need to remember who they are and not be defined by their job opportunities. If one applies the Type “I” behavior, which means to direct our own lives, create new things, learn more, and improve our work and lives. This concludes my discussion on the road that I have chosen, seeing that my team and senior management are unwilling to embrace any changes that affect us daily.
References:
1.JWI 521.Week 8 Lecture Notes
2.JWI 521. Week 8 Videos 1-5
3. J. DiBenedetto. Week 8. Video
4.HBR, Jacob Morgan. March 10, 2017. Why The Millions We Spend On Employee Engagement Buy Us So Little
5.Chris Lauer. July 2010. A Better Choice Than Carrots And Sticks
2nd Response
Laryssa Wilson RE: Week 8 DiscussionCOLLAPSE
Hello Professor and Class,
This topic is interesting to me as well. I have the drive myself, so recognizing it is a strength I have tried to master as a manager.
How do you recognize and support employees with an “intrinsic drive” to high performance?
Usually those with that have that type of drive, from my experience are energetic and typically let you know when they are not busy. They look at ways to stay busy and learn. The work ethic is evident regarding the tasks they are assigned. I support those type of employees accordingly, by granting what they wish more work to gain more knowledge. These are employees I would encourage to facilitate meetings or serve as a mentor.
In your opinion, is an “intrinsic drive” a natural trait, or is it something that can be created or developed?
I definitely feel that this drive can be developed. For myself, I starting noticing the rewards others were receiving and wanted a piece of it. At other times I didn’t want to get fired so I did my best. I needed the job to take care of my family. Others are motivated because they enjoy what they do, so it can be considered naturally developed because of that in my opinion.
Hi Professor and fellow students.
I love this week’s discussion as it made me reflect on myself and not as a leader. As I have stated in the past, I got a promotional post nearly two years ago, and I decided that I quit at the end of this year.
How do you recognize and support employees with an “intrinsic drive” to high performance?
In the past different work-places that I have been at, I was fortunate enough to be intrinsically motivated. As it is said, “teaching is a labor of love”; ” a teacher’s job is twenty-four hours, seven days a week, with no rewards” I have been there, done that. However, in the past year, I came across a team that did not perform to the best of their abilities. I tried all I could but all in vain. Maybe, as the new generation, incentives seem to be the driving force, or with many changes within the education system, the teachers’ morale is so low that nothing really matters as long as people get paid at the end of the month. It is in this situation that I enrolled for an MBA at JWMI. This was a turning point in my life that, instead of focusing on people who are not prepared to learn, let me rather improve myself. From Senior Management, one cannot implement any new ideas without being told about the culture that never worked two decades ago. Although people get an annual increase every year to motivate them to work harder, many seem to have missed the mark. With the government’s new system that states that no learner should be retained, teachers have to look at other avenues to progress to the next grade. It is worse now with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is required that each child be given an increase of between 3% to 5% in any subjects that the child fails to progress to the next grade. Therefore, if one cannot recognize any intrinsic drive in any of the employees, rather be one.
In your opinion, is an intrinsic drive a natural trait, or is it something that can be created or developed?
Intrinsic drive is a natural trait and cannot be developed. Back in the days, when a teacher had to use only a piece of chalk to write on the board, nowadays, there are smartboards, but still, there are those teachers who are not willing to use such resources. In the early days of DOS (Disk Operating System), not everyone was keen to learn about computers, especially if one came across the error message “Bad Command.” Nowadays, one has access to the internet and virtual learning via zoom. These are the stepping stones to modern technology. I still have young teachers in my team with smartphones but not willing to attend a zoom session to learn new methods.
What is the difference between rewarding an employee and motivating them?
Rewarding an employee includes monetary incentives and awards, such as the best teacher for the year. It means acknowledging one’s capabilities over what is being expected of them. However, these rewards eventually wear off and can reduce motivation. Motivating an employee means trying to show a person to look at things from a different perspective to be valued for what one does.
According to Pink, “we have moved a long way from treating people like beasts of burden, who were once driven with the promise of a carrot or the threat of a stick. Pink asserts a change of mindset for one to adapt to the work needs of the 21st century. Many people are still stuck with the “carrots and sticks” mentality that hinders workplace motivation in my country. This kind of approach can have negative effects on the motivation it was intended to create. Maybe our country needs restructuring at a personal level. People need to remember who they are and not be defined by their job opportunities. If one applies the Type “I” behavior, which means to direct our own lives, create new things, learn more, and improve our work and lives. This concludes my discussion on the road that I have chosen, seeing that my team and senior management are unwilling to embrace any changes that affect us daily.
References:
1.JWI 521.Week 8 Lecture Notes
2.JWI 521. Week 8 Videos 1-5
3. J. DiBenedetto. Week 8. Video
4.HBR, Jacob Morgan. March 10, 2017. Why The Millions We Spend On Employee Engagement Buy Us So Little
5.Chris Lauer. July 2010. A Better Choice Than Carrots And Sticks
2nd Response
Laryssa Wilson RE: Week 8 DiscussionCOLLAPSE
Hello Professor and Class,
This topic is interesting to me as well. I have the drive myself, so recognizing it is a strength I have tried to master as a manager.
How do you recognize and support employees with an “intrinsic drive” to high performance?
Usually those with that have that type of drive, from my experience are energetic and typically let you know when they are not busy. They look at ways to stay busy and learn. The work ethic is evident regarding the tasks they are assigned. I support those type of employees accordingly, by granting what they wish more work to gain more knowledge. These are employees I would encourage to facilitate meetings or serve as a mentor.
In your opinion, is an “intrinsic drive” a natural trait, or is it something that can be created or developed?
I definitely feel that this drive can be developed. For myself, I starting noticing the rewards others were receiving and wanted a piece of it. At other times I didn’t want to get fired so I did my best. I needed the job to take care of my family. Others are motivated because they enjoy what they do, so it can be considered naturally developed because of that in my opinion.
- What is the difference between rewarding an employee and motivating them?
Usually rewarding requires an exchange of something for something well done. Motivating someone is getting them to do something they are not doing or something they need to keep doing to acheive an outcome.
Week 8 Lecture: Motivating People
Bock, Work Rules