Punished by Rewards: A Unique Look at Employee Motivation and Incentives

Our basic strategy for managing workers can be summarized in six words: Do this and you'll get that.

Join us February 11 for a video presentation by career analyst Dan Pink examining the puzzle of employee motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Author Pink's discussion is based in part on the book Punished by Rewards, that argues while manipulating people with incentives seems to work in the short run, it is a strategy that ultimately fails and can even do lasting harm.  The author contends that rewards and punishments are both ways of manipulating behavior and our workplaces will continue to decline until we begin to question our reliance on a theory of motivation derived from laboratory animals.  Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that people actually do inferior work when they are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives.

The video will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Austin HR Consultant Alice Dendinger and featuring two call centers sharing their approach to employee motivation and incentives.