Motivation - What it means for us in education and training - Herzberg

Stimulating intrinsic motivation (Frederick Herzberg and Daniel Pink) and related management theory used in education:
Text book and author’s background available at: tinyurl.com/yc...
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Addressing the affective domain, the ‘heart’ (social situations - through pair/group work and student-centred ‘discovery’ learning). In education, as tutors, we are attempting to create a relevant, challenging, interesting and engaging learning environment based on respect for our learners (acknowledging their existing knowledge and experience). Hopefully, under an atmosphere of mutual respect, they will not only want to be working in our environment but enjoy doing so and look forward to it.
Intrinsic motivation comes from within and is a person’s own personal way that they like to interact with the world. This is opposite to extrinsic motivation where other people and the environment are trying to compel you to act in a certain way which you may not really believe in.
Children at school can become rebellious, resentful and dysfunctional in the ‘extrinsic environment’, which may harm their potential life chances.
This can also happen to adults with different outcomes in the training room, such as arguing with the tutor. A review of the British car industry in the 1970’s, especially at the motor car manufacturer British Leyland, can exemplify this dysfunctional behaviour and the eventual downfall of the company.
So, we can say that intrinsic motivation is what we want to do, whereas extrinsic motivation is done to us, whether we want to comply or not.
What does Daniel Pink (proponent of intrinsic motivation) have to say? “Based on studies done at MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities, they found that higher pay and bonuses resulted in better performance ONLY if the task consisted of basic, mechanical skills. I.e. basic, lower order thinking.
If the task involved cognitive skills, decision-making, creativity, or higher-order thinking, higher pay resulted in lower performance. Managers should pay employees enough so that they are being paid fairly and pay is not an issue with the employee.”
Daniel Pink suggests that to motivate employees (or our learners/trainees), who do now or will work beyond basic tasks, give them these three factors to increase performance and satisfaction:
• Autonomy - Our desire to be self-directed. It increases engagement over compliance.
• Mastery - The urge to improve our skills and feel proud in achieving them.
• Purpose - The desire to do something that has meaning and is important to people on an individual basis. Businesses that only focus on profits without valuing purpose will end up with poor customer service and unhappy employees.
Source: Pink, Daniel H. Drive: (2009) The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books, New York, New York.