MOTIVATING TO PEAK PERFORMANCE
What motivation is needed to obtain peak performance from the worker? The answer that is usually given today in American industry is ‘employee satisfaction’. But this is an almost meaningless concept. Even if it meant something, employee satisfaction would still not sufficient motivation to fulfill the needs of the enterprise.
A man may be satisfied with his job because he really finds fulfillment in it. He may also be satisfied because the job permits him to get by. A man may be dissatisfied because he is genuinely discontented. But he may also be satisfied because the job permits him to get by. A man may be dissatisfied because he is genuinely dissatisfied. But he may also be dissatisfied because he wants to do better job, wants to improve his own work and that of his group wants to do bigger and better things. And this dissatisfaction is the most valuable attitude any company can possess in its employees and the most valuable attitude any company possess in its employees, and the most real expression of pride in job and work and of responsibility. There is no way of telling satisfaction that is fulfillment from satisfaction that is just apathy, dissatisfaction that is discontent from dissatisfaction that is right desire to do a better job
We also have no standards to measure what degree of satisfaction is satisfactory. If 70 percent of the employees answer ‘yes’ to the question: Do you think the company is a good place to work in?—is that ‘high satisfaction’. Low satisfaction or what? and what does the question mean? Could any manager answer it with “yes” of “no”? We can measure the effectiveness of concrete company policies. It makes sense to ask: Is the scheduling system good enough to enable you to work or do you often have to wait for parts? It is meaningful to ask: Is the parking lot adequate? But satisfaction as much is a measureless and meaningful word.
And nobody knows which of the things that we are trying to measure in terms of satisfaction have any impact on behavior and performances, or how much impact they have. Is satisfaction with one’s fellow more important in motivating people to work than satisfaction with physical working conditions? Is either of them important? We do not know.
But satisfaction is, above all, inadequate as motivation. It is passive acquiescence. A man who is deeply dissatisfied may quit; or if he stays, he is likely to become bitter and move into opposition to company and management. But what does the man do who is satisfied? After all, the enterprise must demand of the worker that he do something willingly and with personal involvement. It must have performance – not just acquiescence.
The present concern with satisfaction arose out of the realizations that fear no longer supplies the motivation for the workers in industrial society. But instead of facing the problem created by the disappearance of fear as the motive, the concern with satisfaction sidesteps it. What we need is to replace the externally imposed spur of fear with an internal self motivation for performance. Responsibility and not satisfaction is the only thing that will serve.
One can be satisfied with what somebody else is doing; but to perform one has to take responsibility for one’s own actions and their impact. To perform, one has, in fact to be dissatisfied, and therefore wants to do better.
Responsibility cannot be bought for money. Financial rewards and incentives are, of course, important, but they work largely negatively. Discontent with financial rewards is a powerful disincentive, undermining and corroding responsibility for performance. But satisfaction with monetary rewards is not, the evidence indicates, a sufficient positive motivation. It motivates only where other things have made the worker ready to assume responsibility. One can see this quite clearly when studying incentive pay for increased work. The incentive pay produces better output where there is already a willingness to perform better; otherwise it is in effectual, is indeed, sabotaged. —
