MOTIVATION: ENCYCLOPEDIA PROBLEM Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivate

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MOTIVATION: ENCYCLOPEDIA PROBLEM

Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

PROBLEM: Imagine its 1995 and you sit down with a Professor of Business.

You tell the Professor ,”I’m going to describe two encyclopedias—one just out and the other to be launched in a few years. You have to predict which one will be more successful .

   The first encyclopedia comes from Microsoft, a large, profitable company with a reputation for quality and track record for achieving its business objectives. Microsoft will fund this encyclopedia. It will hire and pay big salaries to the top experts in all areas to make the encyclopedia the most comprehensive and up to date. Highly paid managers will oversee the project to make sure its completed on budget and on time. Then Microsoft will sell it on CD-Roms.”

“ The second encyclopedia won’t come from a company. It will be created by tens of thousands of people who write and edit articles for fun. These hobbyists won’t need any special qualifications to participate and nobody will be paid a dollar to write or edit any of the articles. Participants will have to contribute their labor 20 to 30 hours a week for free. The encyclopedia itself, which will exist online, will also be free. No charge for anyone who wants to use it. “

ASSIGNMENT: Make believe you are the Professor. What is your answer? Which encyclopedia will be the largest and most popular in the world and which one will be a failure. E mail your answer--give the basis --the reason for your answer.

Explanation / Answer

After going through the whole scienerio, in my opinion if I were the Professor of Business in 1995 and I had to predict about which of the two encyclopedia will be successful, largest and most popular in the world I would have chosen the second encyclopedia that wont come from a company.

Explanation: Being an expert professor of business I would be aware of the fact that although at that time money was the driving factor but visualizing the success of encyclopedia in long run there were other factors to be considered.

In first encyclopedia that is sponsored by Microsoft. Such a big brand name, will heir top experts from different areas in order to accumulate the knowledge and make it comprehensive and up to date. Managers will be paid in abundance for ensuring that the completion of project is on time and within budget. In this whole process everybody associated with encyclopedia is paid for their prescribed job. There is no motivation for team to go extra mile for the success of their encyclopedia.

However, in case of the second encyclopedia,contributors will not be paid for their jobs. Instead working for 20-30 hours a week might cost them. But their are huge motivating factors that will ensure the best output from these tens of thousands of people who will write and edit articles for fun. These motivating factors are Autonomy, Purpose and Mastery. These factors act as more effective tools of motivation in comparison to monitory benefits. These writers will go extra mile to give the best output.

Therefore, second encyclopedia will be a huge success in long run. Although it was hard to believe for economist at that time, but these motivating factors have proved to be the strongest factors in success of many organizations today.

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