Motivation, Recognition, Rewards

According to Ryan and Deci, there are two types of motivation.

1. Extrinsic motivation is the motivation that comes from a desire to obtain an external outcome or reward. The reinforcement for extrinsic motivation comes from the satisfaction of psychological or material needs by others through incentives or rewards. For example, external reinforcement might come from public recognition, a raise, a promotion, or a bigger office.
2. Intrinsic motivation is a self-motivating process in which the individual seeks out new things, experiences, or knowledge, or takes on tasks because that individual enjoys or is interested in the activity itself. The individual obtains internal reinforcement through personally valuing the characteristics of the situation itself. In intrinsic motivation, the internal reinforcement might come from gaining a sense of achievement or power, feeling creative, feeling a sense of belonging, having the satisfaction of making a contribution, or from self-actualization.

Westcott discusses three motivational theories specifically related to rewards:

• Equity theory: For rewards to be motivational, people have to believe that rewards (and punishments) are being equally distributed as deserved. People seek equity between the amount of effort (input) they put into a task and the rewards (output) they receive for doing it. For example, if everyone on the team gets the same reward no matter how much or little they contributed, then those rewards can actually de-motivate team members.
• Expectancy theory: A person will be motivated to perform an activity based on his/her belief that:
  • Putting in the effort will actually lead to better results
  • The extra effort will be noticed, and those better results will actually lead to personal rewards
  • Those personal rewards are valuable
• Reinforcement theory: People will be motivated to perform an activity based on their perception of a trigger (a signal) to initiate the behavior and the historic consequences of that behavior.

Different types of extrinsic and intrinsic forces motivate different people. Therefore, “one size does not fit all” when it comes to using recognition and rewards as reinforcement.

Examples of different types of recognition and rewards include:

• Public praise and appreciation
• Thank-you letters or notes
• Compliments from important people while receiving the undivided attention of those people
• Gifts and other tokens of appreciation
• Conference or training opportunities
• Teaching or mentoring opportunities
• Special projects, or time for pet projects
• Time away from work
• More independence or autonomy
• Money, promotions, better office

As illustrated in Figure 1, Maslow defines a hierarchy of needs that prioritizes the types of rewards that motivate people. For example, if basic physiological needs for food, water, air, and shelter are not met, people will be motivated to fulfill those needs first. People will put themselves in danger or leave their social groups, if necessary, to meet those basic physiological needs. At the next level, people need to feel physically and economically safe. Once physiological and safety needs are met, people will be motivated by the need to belong, to be accepted by family and friends. Higher-level needs include self-esteem and self-actualization (the need to perform at one’s best and self-improve).