Intrinsic or Extrinsic?

Managers and business owners have to be concerned with motivation. Succesful businesses depend on a motivated work force and managers must figure out how best to motivate their employees. Ironically, many of these leaders are intrisically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is the drive we get from inside. The desire from within to accomplish without any external reward. This is a form of fulfillment gained from pursuing and accomplishing a goal that has little to do with a paycheck. Many leaders are intrisically motivated.

Extrinsic motivation on the other hand is doing something in exchange for a reward. Our society is drenched with extrinsic motivation. From a young age, we are given rewards and punishments for wanted and unwanted behavior respectively. Unfortunately, research is showing us that extrinsic motivation does not necessarily produce the results that we would expect. Research shows that intrinsic or self-motivation is more effective for long term results.

However, if planned and handled appropriately, rewards programs can produce intrinsic motivation. Research has found that rewards create the most enduring benefits when they make an emotional connection, and that such intrinsic factors are mostly addressed by the choice of the reward and the way it’s presented. In other words, when carefully selected and personally presented, noncash rewards actually are a form of intrinsic, not extrinsic, motivation, and therefore provide the ideal complement to cash compensation as an overall motivation strategy.

Not all rewards programs are built to get the best results, but it seems that well-designed programs can work for the long term.