Topic 1: Motivation
We think we know how to motivate people, if you chop the wood faster. An incentive
right? Offer them a reward. Do this and works then. But if we want someone to do
you'll get this. Do this faster, earn more something complex, something creative,
money. Do this better than everyone else, something where they have to think, rewards
here's a promotion. We offer incentives don't work. They might even have the
when we want people to do things. We do it opposite result, and make people perform
at work, at school, even at home with our worse. Another study, by Dan Ariely,
kids. Tidy your room and you can watch showed that the bigger the reward, the worse
TV. the subjects performed on a complex task.
The reward made them focus so hard on the
But when social psychologists test whether
result that they couldn't think creatively any
incentives work, they get surprising results.
more.
Sam Glucksberg, from Princeton University,
America, set people a problem to solve and And this all matters because more and more
told them he was going to time them to see simple jobs will become automated. We'll be
how long they took. Then he put them in left with creative, problem-solving jobs that
two groups. He offered one group a reward computers will never do. And we need to
for finishing fast. Five dollars for anyone find a way to motivate people to do those
finishing in the top 25 per cent and 20 jobs when we've proved the traditional
dollars for the person who finished the incentives don't work.
fastest of all. To the other group he offered
So what does work? Giving your workers
no incentive, but he told them he was going
freedom; freedom to work on the things they
to use their times to calculate an average
want to work on, freedom to choose when,
time.
where and how they work. Want to work
The first group, the ones with the reward, from home three days a week, get up late
solved the problem faster, you'd think, right? and work into the night instead? Fine. Just
Well, no, they actually took three and a half do the job well. And evidence shows people
minutes longer than the group who just who choose the way they work get results.
thought they were being timed. Incentive Companies that give employees time during
didn't work. In fact, it made them slower. the week to work on things that interest
This experiment has been repeated, with the them and are not part of their regular job
same results, many times. But in business achieve amazing things. Some of the big
we still offer bonuses, promotions and tech companies are good examples of this,
rewards to staff. with ping-pong tables and areas to relax in
…
That's fine if we want them to do something
simple, like chop wood. We'll pay you more
Task 1: True or False
1. We try to motivate workers in the same way that we try to motivate our children.
2. In the Glucksberg experiment, the people who were offered a reward finished faster than
people who were not offered one.
3. The people who were offered smaller rewards in Ariely's experiment performed better than
those offered bigger rewards.
4. In Ariely's experiment, people were more creative when they were concentrating on achieving
a goal.
5. In the future, jobs will require workers to be more creative.
6. People always work better when they start the day later and work into the night.
Task 2: Complete the sentences.
they can make choices about their work. they are offered a bigger reward.
the experiment is repeated they are doing the jobs of the future.
they are not given incentive. they are doing a simple task.
Glucksberg's experiment shows that people solve a problem faster
when
Ariely's experiment shows that people are less creative
when
The same results as Glucksberg's experiment have been found
when
An incentive works for people
when
Incentives will no longer work for motivating people at work when
The example of the big tech companies shows that people work better
when
Task 3: Writing
Write a small report explaining what motivation is and give 2 examples.
