An illustrative story

Deming told us he felt so bad about his attempt to reward Debbie. Later, he tried to find Debbie s last name so he could contact her and apologize for his terrible mistake. He was so sure he had depreciated Debbie s intrinsic motivation by his attempt to give her an extrinsic reward. Deming used this story to explain the wide-spread pop psychology notion that motivation only comes from within a person, and that any attempts to increase it with extrinsic rewards will only decrease a person s intrinsic motivation. 

I was disappointed in Deming s explanation of motivation and was distressed that an audience of 600 or more might believe that any attempt to show appreciation for another person s performance with praise, some material reward, or award ceremony would be done in vain, probably causing more harm than good. 1 ventured timidly to a microphone to state a behavior-based perspective.  

I said that I was a behavioral scientist and a university professor and would like to offer another perspective on his airline story. 1 began with the basic principle that behavior is motivated by consequences. Some consequences are natural or intrinsic to the task and others are sometimes added to the situation, like words of approval or money. Debbie s behaviors were motivated by intrinsic consequences occurring while she wheeled him to his destination, from observing sites along the way to enjoying conversation with a prominent scholar, teacher, and consultant. The five dollars was an extrinsic consequence which could add to or subtract from self-motivation depending upon personal interpretation. 

Deming nodded his head, saying, Yes, thank you. My experiences at Deming s workshops led me to believe that such a reply from him represent sincere appreciation. Talk about consequences. I interpreted his extrinsic response as a reward and I felt good about my behavior—approaching the microphone. Plus, my self-motivation was increased further by kind words and approval I received from other workshop participants as I returned to my seat. 

The bottom line is this. Our behavior is motivated by extrinsic or extra, as well as natural or intrinsic consequences our self-motivation is influenced by how these external consequences (intrinsic and extrinsic) are interpreted. Self-motivation can decrease if a motivational program is seen as an attempt to control behavior. Thus, it is important that praise, recognition, and other rewards are genuine expressions of appreciation. Individuals or groups being recognized must believe they truly earned this consequence through their 

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The content of this book is arranged in three layers. The top layer is an illustrated story. As a writer about technology and its use, I strive to communicate as a storyteller. 

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