Principle-centered motivation

Deming and Covey want people to act out of the knowledge that it is the right thing to do. Covey (1989) refers to this motivation as "principle-centered." 1 certainly agree with the need for inner-direcfed, self-motivated behavior. When people consistently go out of their way for the safety of themselves and others, they are principle centered. They have reached the ultimate in safety. They hold safety as a value. 

Most people do not consistently avoid at-risk behavior. This calls for behavior-based safety (including the use of consequences) to bring people to the principle-centered, self-motivated stage. Recall the principle 1 have emphasized several times—people act themselves into new ways of fhinking. In other words, people become principle-centered and self-directed through their routine actions. As discussed in Chapter 9, behavior-based intervention (instruction, support, or motivation) is needed to make safe behavior the routine. Then principle-centered or value-based safety eventually follows. 

A second theme in Schmitt and Wharton s emphasis on principles focused on the consideration of particular principles in themselves. Blackwelder s many retellings of the SSZ launch place conflict over principles at the very center of Schmitt and Wharton s motives. In his founding narrative, these three lined up on one side of the conflict. On the other side were evolutionists of the SSE with their phylogenetic approach, especially Mayr and Simpson. ... 

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