Why we do what we do
Edward Deci, one of the country's outstanding social psychologists, writing with former New York Times science and health editor Richard Flaste, offers some bad news and some good news: Rewards and punishments do not make workers perform more effectively, or students learn better, or families function more smoothly - that's the bad news. Indeed, it is the deadening of interest and commitment, from too much control, from overreliance on rewards and threats, that keeps people from peak performance. But the good news is that people have an innate energy, interest, and excitement about the world that can be encouraged, and when they find greater satisfaction in what they do, they are more effective. Deci shows us how people work more efficiently, learn more intelligently, and treat each other better when their sense of autonomy is encouraged. Give students the reasons why they need to learn something boring, bring workers into the decision process whenever possible, avoid the use of threats, and amazing results will ensue, because people are inherently interested in the world, and they perform optimally when their autonomy is supported. While this good news is a call for autonomy, it is not a call for anarchy. People need limits and structure, but the way these are provided makes all the difference. Reading this book will revolutionize the way we think about motivation - and will give readers insight into what makes us tick.
Stats for nerds
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What Hacker News says
- You might want to read up on "Self-Determination Theory" on how Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivations works in Humans - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory
For a nice introduction, see Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation by Edward Deci - https://thorprojects.com/2020/05/04/book-review-why-we-do-wh...
- Relevant:
Self-Determination Theory - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory
Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation by Edward Deci - https://thorprojects.com/2020/05/04/book-review-why-we-do-wh...
Over-Justification Effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overjustification_effect
Companies by emphasizing only on "extrinsic motivation" without understanding what drives a person, effectively kill "intrinsic motivation" and hence transform what was once enjoyable into a detestable chore.
- Yeah, PG's essays are rather simplistic and not that insightful.
A far better approach is to start with theories from Psychology and Sociology and use them effectively.
One relevant theory is Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory) which is about the intrinsic needs of an individual viz. 1) Autonomy 2) Competence 3) Relatedness. As long as an organization provides the individual with a position in which to express and exercise those needs, it does not matter whether it is a large/medium/small one. Since each individual has different combinations and intensities of the above three needs, their preferred environment will vary accordingly.
For an introduction to SDT see; Why we do What we do: Understanding Self-Motivation by Edward Deci. Highly recommended reading for everybody (especially managers/leaders). A review can be found at - https://thorprojects.com/2020/05/04/book-review-why-we-do-wh...
- > It's also engineers not understanding the purpose and goals of the business.
This is a oft-repeated canard which is untrue 99% of the time. By the very decision to join a company, the Engineer has signaled that he understands the business' purpose and goals. Only after joining a company does he come to see that the process of execution towards the said objectives is untenable.
The problem is almost always the enduring fiction in Management teaching that one can manage a business without knowing much about the domain in which the business operates. This false belief becomes fatal the more technical the domain is since the non-linearity of the effects due to events in the domain is what makes or breaks a business.
Relevant Reading:
1) A radical article from HBR, First, Let’s Fire All the Managers : https://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers
2) Speech by Dave Packard to HP Managers (1960) - https://gizmodo.com/the-hp-way-how-bill-hewlett-and-i-built-... (this is one of my favourites)
3) Also see the book Why we do what we do: Understanding Self-motivation by Edward Deci and his Self-Determination Theory(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory) for insights.
- I am not buying the oft-quoted statistics in HR/Recruiting which like most popular adages is mostly made up from a few anecdotes and widely disseminated which people then accept because "everybody says so". The key is to hook in the reader from the summary/qualifications on the first page.
The "tell me about yourself" question is one of the worst to ask and i never do this. It is so open ended that people start rambling. Instead get them to focus (this also calms their nerves) by asking about notable jobs picked from their resume "what did you do as ... at ..." and dig more as needed. Do this for a couple more jobs if available and you will get to see how confident the candidate is, how he communicates, the depth of his knowledge and his modes of thinking. From here, you generalize to what the job actually needs and give the candidate some idea of the job and its environment and ask how he hopes to fit in and contribute. This makes things clear to both interviewer and interviewee.
I also do not place much weight on personality/psychology tests/questions. People generally cannot be truthful in their answers to questions like "how do you deal with conflict with your co-worker?" etc. Here i trust to "gut feeling" based on non-verbal impressions, verbal communication and pointed questions (challenge the candidate by taking a contrarian stance and see how he responds).
Finally, i make sure that the interviewee at the very outset understands that though i am the interviewer it does not mean that i am more knowledgeable than him in his areas of expertise. This works great by boosting his confidence which then leads to a more natural interaction.
Recruiting/HR is a complex art where you have to consider various factors to build a picture of a person (suited to a role) from factual data and psychology. IMO a good way is to start with an understanding of Self-Determination Theory of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory For a nice overview, see the book Why we do What we do: Understanding Self-Motivation by Edward Deci.
- You might find Edward Deci's book Why we do What we do : Understanding Self-Motivation interesting.
A review : https://thorprojects.com/2020/05/04/book-review-why-we-do-wh...
