“Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel H. Pink
Reviewed by Carly M.
In 1969, a psychology graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University began an experiment designed to test the effect of rewards on motivation. Two groups of adults were asked to use puzzle blocks to form a series of structures as quickly as they could. In addition to how well the adults performed the task, the graduate student also studied how interested they were in solving the puzzles themselves. During a break in which the scientist left the room, the subjects were secretly observed to see if they would continue playing with the puzzle pieces or if they would rather browse through the popular magazines provided to them.
Nearly all of the subjects continued to play with the puzzle pieces after the scientist had left, indicating that they received some enjoyment out of solving the puzzles. When one group was rewarded with a dollar for every puzzle solved correctly, they began to spend their entire breaks working with the puzzle pieces, perhaps hoping to get a head start on the next puzzle. However these subjects actually became slower and less efficient at solving the puzzles and when the financial reward was taken away, those subjects who had previously been rewarded completely lost interest in the puzzle pieces and abandoned them as soon as the scientist left the room. In contrast, the subjects that had not ever been rewarded financially remained interested in the puzzles, became very adept at solving them, and seemed to truly enjoy the experiment.
So begins Daniel H. Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. In the book, Pink talks about how the carrot and stick system that worked for jobs in the last century is no longer effective in the workplaces of today and could, in fact, be leading to less job satisfaction and poor employee performance. As jobs have become less repetitive and more creative, Pink argues that employees have begun to gain intrinsic satisfaction from doing their jobs well, but that satisfaction is decreased when they are offered rewards such as bonuses and higher salaries.
[amazonify]1594488843[/amazonify]So is the secret to productivity to pay employees as little as possible? Daniel Pink doesn’t think so. He does, however, think that taking a more creative approach to employee rewards will allow employers to maximize their workplace potential. Pink lays out a comprehensive guide for increasing internal motivation in employees, based on scientific research and the success stories of major corporations.
I enjoyed this book, although I found the writing style to be a bit rough at times. Some of the information seemed to be buried under a mound of statistics and citations, but when I was able to get to it, it simply blew me away. I think this book is a must read for anyone responsible for motivating those under them, from employers and managers to teachers and parents. I recommend it highly.
Carly lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and their two cats. Her favorite thing to do is to curl up by a window with a library book. When she isn’t reading, she’s usually writing on her blog at www.beingcarly.com.
This book was provided free of any obligation by Riverhead Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Category: Health, Mind, & Body, Nonfiction, Self-Help
I had a year of Motivation and Drive in college. It turned out to be very boring. The lab was the only part that was interesting. The rest of it involved memorizing equations that only included a few important variables.
I learned how to get a mouse to put a tiny basketball through a hoop with intermittent variable reward schedules, that rats love sugar water and they will spin the wheel as long as they get it, and that mice are very cuddly.
When I used to work, I really liked the bonuses and worked very hard to get them. When I did the work, I never thought of them, all I wanted to do was the best job that I could do. I think that rewards based on completion dates defeat the purpose. I always fought for a nice chunk of time to get projects done and beat all of them.
There are a tremendous amount of variables with experiments that may not be taken into account therefore, I would take the experimenter’s conclusions with a grain of salt.
Carol Wong
i’m quite taken with this information. “As jobs have become less repetitive and more creative, Pink argues that employees have begun to gain intrinsic satisfaction from doing their jobs well”. this revelation would allow for the personal input of each employee to be valued and the employer seeing the benefits in productivity. totally win/win. what a great resource i’ll be happy to seek out.
thank you for your forthright review. not all perfection in the writing but enough solid writing to make it worth the reading…
FHC recently posted..weekly worship 10/9
I’m not sure about the author’s findings either, but I think my husband would lovethis.
stacybuckeye recently posted..Fave Film 24 – A Few Good Men
Sounds like an education and though provoking read, have always what does drive some of the most succesful people that I know and why others never seem to get ahead or make contibutions to their own communities etc. Although it sounds like it may be heavy on numbers and results in some areas of the book, the rest of the review definately made it sound like a book to be read slowly to truly comprehend and acquire the thought process that would make one more driven or give them the ability to motivate and drive others to better paths.
Very interesting review, thank you! I don’t know if I agree with the author’s findings are not. On the one hand, I agree that, when people do something more for enjoyment then for monetary gain, they tend to do a better job for numerous reasons (less stress to compete and meet requirements, more enjoyment in actual task, etc.) and when they are receiving compensation for it there is more pressure to succeed and hurry through a task just to get to the end results. However, I don’t think that bonuses, extra rewards and compensation, etc. necessarily brings down an employee’s job satisfaction. For me, if I am doing my job as I always have and I begin receiving extra things for it, I am happy. Now, if those extra things are tied to increased work load, faster completion dates, etc. then the stress might become higher and the rewards might not meet the new job expectations. Might be interesting to read through the studies he has conducted to get a better insight into what he means. Thanks!