– Sorin Feroiu
Each time I ask participants at the “Team Management” seminar “What are the biggest challenges you face in the role of sales manager?”, the answers are invariably found in the following areas:
- Motivating people to make extra efforts in conditions where they cannot increase their wages;
- Reaching goals (with people);
- Planning and organizing their own activities (but also those of the team members) in order to reach the objectives
- Creating the commitment of the team members for the transmitted objectives (targets);
- Increasing the level of competence of people;
- Finding new tactics to overcome current problems.
One of the topics long debated in one of the recently held sessions was related to the first point, and the following question arose:
“To what extent can people who are in a certain job get better results not because of pleasure, but because they have no other option?”
Although diverse, the participants’ opinions led to the direction that, under certain conditions, in which the extrinsic motivation systems – such as bonuses, prizes, various incentives or punishments (classic carrot and stick theory) – are developed and implemented, certain results may occur.
What is not yet well known in the Romanian business environment (especially the entrepreneurial one) is the fact that an important role in achieving remarkable results is often played by the intrinsic motivation (see an interesting research by Edward So and Richard Ryan entitled SDT, Self Determination Theory. According to this theory, the factors that determine people’s commitment, and therefore high performance, are autonomy, competence and purpose).
From this perspective (of the intrinsic motivation), the answer to the above question is that, most likely, the performance sustained in the case of these people is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.
And then, what is to be done?
What do you think?