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OWL BOOK REVIEW
AVIARY
Thomas, Kenneth W.
Intrinsic Motivation at Work, Building Energy & Commitment. San
Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2000.
ISBN: 1-57675-087-6
For a long time management
experts have known that money is a poor long-term motivator for most people.
An increased salary initially get someone's attention, but after a
short period of time, money loses its lure. In brief, money is a better
motivator when we don't have it, than when we do.
Dr. Thomas, professor
of management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California,
suggests that today's work role, "is more psychologically demanding in
terms of its complexity and judgment, and requires a deeper level of commitment."
Thomas makes the argument that intrinsic (internally generated) motivation
is the bedrock for getting the most out of today's knowledge workers.
In his terms, intrinsic
motivation is "feeling energized by one's work" ... by having "the experience
of getting rewards directly from work." At TMI, we put it in slightly different
terms. We suggest that the best work is the kind that when you finish it,
you can honestly remark to yourself, "Wow. That was wonderful. And I got
paid for it as well!"
Thomas makes a number
of meaningful points, but they all stem from his concept of commitment
to a meaningful purpose. He writes,
Much decision
making is activity-centered rather than purpose-centered. In activity-centered
decision making, we decide to perform behaviors with the hope that they
will accomplish a purpose. The purpose is in the background as a desire,
intention, or aim. We perform the activities and see what happens....
In purpose-centered
decision making, in contrast, we commit to a purpose, and the activities
are in the background. That is, we're not entirely sure how we will accomplish
the purpose. The decision is basically to find the activities needed to
deal with the uncertainties involved.
We have long stressed
this point at TMI. We invite our seminar participants to write a Customer
Impact Job Description which looks at the purpose of our work from the
customer's point of view. We also ask our seminar participants to write
a Positive Job Description, which is one that would make them wake up in
the money excited about work.
This book is definitely
worth its purchase price and time involved in reading it. Thomas has pulled
together a number of ideas to give a fresh slant on commitment at work.
Janelle Barlow, President
TMI, USA
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