Intrinsic Vs Extrinsic Motivation

This is my first ever blog and that too on a subject which I was always scared of. But, now this perception has been changed by Dr. Mandi, who with his insightful and thought-provoking concepts has made the sessions interesting as well as enthralling.

So, here I begin with Reward Management- one of the four pillars of Motivation.

There is no doubt that motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the actions required to achieve a goal, without relying on external rewards or pressures. Extrinsic motivation is the opposite and requires external rewards such as money or external consequences such as demotion.

Extrinsically motivating the team:

In order to extrinsically motivate the team, group and individual goals are set and outcomes are then measured. One need to reward people that achieved their goals and have to have consequences for underachiever which can be in the form of more training. Goal setting, getting people/employees motivated to achieve objectives, and recognizing them for their achievement is a proven method that pushes business forward and is one of the best examples of extrinsic motivation in a company.

Concrete rewards that employee receive:-

•          Bonuses

•          Salary raise

•          Gifts

•          Promotion

•          Other kinds of tangible rewards

Intrinsically motivating the team:

In order to intrinsically motivate the team, one has to create the conditions where employees get turned on by doing the work they do. It’s the rush they get when they perform the task and the internal satisfaction they get when they get the job done. Developing an intrinsically motivated team is not easy though. According to many HR experts, employees are more likely to be intrinsically motivated if the company has a compelling vision, clear objectives, and a supportive culture. It’s also important that employees are a good fit for their position, ie they love using the skills needed to perform their duties and they have values in alignment with company core values.

Intrinsic rewards that tend to give personal satisfaction to individual:-

•          Information / feedback

•          Recognition

•          Trust

•          Relationship

•          Empowerment

•          Monogrammed name plaque

Having an intrinsically motivated team is ideal, however, it is really hard to just rely on the team to be internally motivated. Without extrinsic drives such as goals and recognition, it is hard to turn the wheels of a business. Imagine a sales team without any sales goals or external recognition!

Intrinsic rewards makes the employee feel better in the organization, while extrinsic rewards focus on the performance and activities of the employee in order to attain a certain outcome. The principal difficulty is to find a balance between employees' performance (extrinsic) and happiness (intrinsic).

Combining intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is the solution:

The most effective way to motivate a team is by enhancing both intrinsic and extrinsic motivating forces.

These are some examples of how one can achieve this:-

·         Create a compelling vision and set clear goals (extrinsic) and enhance the culture and working conditions so that people love what they do and set their own goals (intrinsic).

·         Recognize people based on their outputs and achievements (extrinsic) and also on their inputs and behaviour such as collaboration that are in alignment with core values (intrinsic).

Happy Reading.....