Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.
Preparation
Transcript
So, we think we know how to motivate people, right? Offer them a reward. Do this and you'll get this. Do this faster, earn more money. Do this better than everyone else, here's a promotion. We offer incentives when we want people to do things. We do it at work, at school, even at home with our kids. Tidy your room and you can watch TV.
But when social psychologists test whether incentives work, they get surprising results. Sam Glucksberg, from Princeton University, America, set people a problem to solve and told them he was going to time them to see how long they took. Then he put them in two groups. He offered one group a reward for finishing fast. Five dollars for anyone finishing in the top 25 per cent and 20 dollars for the person who finished the fastest of all. To the other group he offered no incentive, but he told them he was going to use their times to calculate an average time.
The first group, the ones with the reward, solved the problem faster, you'd think, right? Well, no, they actually took three and a half minutes longer than the group who just thought they were being timed. Incentive didn't work. In fact, it made them slower. This experiment has been repeated, with the same results, many times. But in business we still offer bonuses, promotions and rewards to staff.
That's fine if we want them to do something simple, like chop wood. We'll pay you more if you chop the wood faster. An incentive works then. But if we want someone to do something complex, something creative, something where they have to think, rewards don't work. They might even have the opposite result, and make people perform worse. Another study, by Dan Ariely, showed that the bigger the reward, the worse the subjects performed on a complex task. The reward made them focus so hard on the result that they couldn't think creatively any more.
And this all matters because more and more simple jobs will become automated. We'll be left with creative, problem-solving jobs that computers will never do. And we need to find a way to motivate people to do those jobs when we've proved the traditional incentives don't work.
So what does work? Giving your workers freedom; freedom to work on the things they want to work on, freedom to choose when, where and how they work. Want to work from home three days a week, get up late and work into the night instead? Fine. Just do the job well. And evidence shows people who choose the way they work get results. Companies that give employees time during the week to work on things that interest them and are not part of their regular job achieve amazing things. Some of the big tech companies are good examples of this, with ping-pong tables and areas to relax in …
What motivates you in your job or studies?
When it is a simple job bonus can be a good motivation but when it is studding or a complex job or process giving freedom in how to do it can be a great motivation by itself. Work or tusks that needs creative thinking need to concentrate on the work itself and that needs freedom and flexibility.
People perform their jobs best when they enjoy the process of doing it, they are happier, busier and more engaged in achieving a satisfactory result. The effort and challenge makes people proud and self confident; and thus, they will be more motivated to improve or start new challenges.
We’re often given incentives for services or work that other people do for us, or sometimes even for themselves — including our kids and students, to whom we give rewards or tips to help them do their duties better and on time.
I used to think it was a good way to motivate their work. But this talk surprised me, because it suggests that it’s not necessarily the right approach. Now I think that for certain activities, we need to think more carefully about whether giving incentives is truly helpful or motivating for improving their tasks.
Actually i am having problems with the motivation for some things i would like to do. I believe the most important is to be conscious about what we are and what we want to be and to do then with small achievements, step by step whatever goal can be reached. Obviously, believe in themselves represents the starting point.
I agree with that incentive doesn't work any more. Because, simple works are replace by robot and computer. Only complex work are left with us. In the presentation, it said that company should give to staff freedom and let them to choose where, when, how they work. But, it is difficult to manage the staff. Moreover, all of simple things are not replace by robot. Particular place in the world, there are people who work simple jobs.
That was interesting task and text! I did it. What I did is, first, I listened it once and I didn't understand some words like " incentive " ;This was a new word for me, then I listened the record again, next I started doing the exercises. I found this recording very clear and quite simple and I could understand concept about 80%. I answered all questions. I only had one mistake. Finally, I read the transcript of the recording twice and got it completely.
I believe that motivation is a good factor in achieving the targets on time and doing a great team work. I do not completely agree , when the job is done faster and better because a reward is offered . I think everyone should do a good and correct job all the time , bot only when a reward is offered . A good employe should show result all the time, bot only when a reward is offered .
I found it interesting how not giving an incentive meant people worked faster. I initially found the wording of the questions a bit confusing but by listening to the task again it made sense! I believe motivation definitely increases with choice and creativity as I enjoy being able to make my own choices when working, reward also does motivate me.
Well, motivation is an essential factor that enhances my learning. Occasionally, I rewarded myself by shopping or travelling as an incentive to achieve high scores at university.
What motivates you in your job or studies
well, as a traditional job what motivates me is reward, promotions, those things give good results at work