Daniel Pink\'s ROWE theory of motivation states that people are more interested
ID: 375268 • Letter: D
Question
Daniel Pink's ROWE theory of motivation states that people are more interested in the work when the work itself has meaning. Intrinsic motivation is the highest when a person has autonomy, (about what to do) mastery (how to do it) and purpose (why to do it). Discuss in detail how you would be better motivated at school, if you had autonomy to design your own program, could determine the best way for you to learn and gain mastery, and if you could develop your own statement of purpose as to why you were pursing your particular program.
Explanation / Answer
Motivation is primarily categorised into two forms i.e. Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to an inherent interest in pursuing a job or activity. In this kind of motivation, a person is self-motivated, self driven and has a natural desire to carry on with the job or activity that he is involved in. Where as, Extrinsic motivation refers to a forced desire to pursue a job or activity. In this kind of motivation, a person is driven by the external factors and does not have a natural desire to carry on with the job or activity. In schools, intrinsic motivation is observed when the students wish to learn a subject because they themselves have a natural desire to learn the subject. They may find the subject interesting or enjoyable and therefore, the reason to study the subject is solely for learning. But, when the students are driven by external factors to study a subject like grades, parental pressure, or other rewards like good jobs in respective fields, etc., it refers to extrinsic motivation.
As per Daniel Pink’s ROWE theory, the intrinsic motivation is the highest when a person has the autonomy, mastery and purpose to pursue a job or a learning activity. As a student, it would have given me high level of intrinsic motivation if I was in-charge of my own learning. In schools, we learn what the education system wants us to learn. We have no right or say in learning the subjects of our choice or dedicating more time to our fields of interests. If I had the autonomy to design my own program and the best way to learn and gain mastery in the program of my choice, I would have given most of my productive time to master the nuances of the skill or art that I would have chosen. In the current education system, a student is not left with anytime or energy to dedicate efforts to his interest/passion.
More and more schools are now adopting the methodology of self-directed learning. Even parents have started realising the importance of self-directed learning and are therefore, encouraging their children to pursue them. Self-directed learning works on the philosophy that each individual has his own life and have the right to follow the paths that gives them happiness. Till the time the rights of other people are protected, every individual is free to learn what he wants and live the way how he wants to live. In self-directed learning methodology, students get to decide what they want to learn and how they want to learn. There are no teachers, no exams, no grades and no report cards. Children in these schools arrive every morning and decide for themselves what they want to do during the day. Although, there are adults in the school to provide emotional and pedological support but otherwise students decide their daily routine by themselves. In addition to offering Intrinsic motivation, there are several other benefits of self-directed learning. These include:
- It promotes natural development of children in an area of their choice and fields of their interests.
- It decreases the probability of dissatisfaction and unhappiness in students caused by coercive schooling.
- A student-centred classroom helps develop self-confidence, perseverance and life learnings in students.
- Students get to learn a lot more than what they would have learnt in a typical school with pre-defined curriculum, fixed timings and fixed study material.
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