It's difficult
to do things differently as the following story illustrates.
A lead hardware engineer, a lead software
engineer, and their project manager are taking a walk outdoors
during their lunch break when they come upon an old brass
lamp. They pick it up and dust it off. Poof--out pops a
genie.
"Thank you for releasing me from my lamp-prison.
I can grant you 3 wishes. Since there are 3 of you I will
grant one wish to each of you."
The hardware engineer thinks a moment and
says, "I'd like to be sailing a yacht across the Pacific,
racing before the wind, with an all-girl crew."
"It is done," said the Genie, and poof, the
hardware engineer disappears.
The software engineer thinks a moment and
says, "I'd like to be riding my Harley with a gang of beautiful
women throughout the American Southwest."
"It is done," said the Genie, and poof, the
software engineer disappears.
The project manager looks at where the other
two had been standing and rubs his chin in thought. Then
he tells the Genie, "I'd like those two back in the office
after lunch."
Harnessing
human motivation is a core competency of the transformational leader.
Unlike managers who tend to rely on authority to make things happen
inside organizations, the transformational leader harnesses
the power inherent in human motivation.
I remember
a few years ago sitting in a class on human motivation with a professor
who forced us to read about every published theory
on motivation
published in the scholarly journals over the past 70 years. Finally,
toward the end of the class one courageous (and desperate) student
went
ahead and asked
him, "Of the many theories we have covered, which two or three
are the most important to learn and to apply?"
The
professor gave an ambiguously ambiguous answer which went, "They
are all important
since each one has been thoroughly researched." While
a correct answer, it was also completely useless. This led to my
search for a set of theories that one can learn and apply in the
real world.
Within
the world of psychology, there are two general schools of thought regarding
motivation. The first school is called the behaviorist
school.
Those who hold this philosophy are not interested in black box
of the human mind--they focus on observable behavior.
The
contrasting school of thought are the motivational theories within
the field of cognitive psychology. In this area there
are many, many
theories that take into account factors such as needs, beliefs,
scripts, schemas,
volition, attitudes, values etc.
On
the cognitive side of things, three models are worth knowing: needs,
equity, and expectancy theories. Many have run
across Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but one especially
important need theory is known McClelland's Learned Needs.
Need For Power, Need For Affiliation, Need For Achievement
McClelland felt that certain needs are not preprogrammed
into the body via the genes, but learned from
the environment.
We learn to affiliate (or not affiliate) with people, how
to exercise power,
and how to be achievement oriented. Because these needs
are learned, McClelland
would teach need for achievement, something associated
with success in various fields of endeavor. It’s believed,
for example, that need for achievement is one of the primary motive
forces driving entrepreneurs to start a
business.
Equity Theory
Adam’s lays the groundwork to understand why people
perceive something as fair or unfair. This is a most serious issue for
management, not to appear to have favorites and treat people the way
they want to be treated.
Expectancy Theory
This approach focuses on the beliefs that
influence effort and performance. For example, when if one
believes that
one's efforts result in a certain level of performance associated
with
a desired reward,
likely one will take action. Of course, the exact opposite
is also true. A low correlation between effort, performance
and
reward
breeds inaction.
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