Internal competition can often be the most dangerous kind

Re:Internal competition can often be the most dangerous kind by tovej on Friday June 18, 2021 @07:59AM (#27549449)

It seems I have to qualify "recent", this was already studied in the 70's [1]. But recent material is available as well [2],[3],[4],[6]. [3] provides a view from an economists perspective (incentives), [6] looks at motivation of employees and compares to performance and well-being outcomes. The psychological question is about intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, and has been studied for a long time now, for an overview, see [5] or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation

1. "The Effects of Contingent and Noncontingent Rewards and Controls on Intrinsic Motivation", 1972, Edward L.Deci, [Available online] http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/1972_Deci_O...

2. Punished by Rewards, Alfie Kohn, 1999, https://www.alfiekohn.org/punished-rewards/

3. "Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation ", Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2003, https://academic.oup.com/restud/article-abstract/70/3/489/15...

4. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation - The Search for Optimal Motivation and Performance, Carol Sansone & Judith Harackiewicz, 2000 https://www.amazon.com/Intrinsic-Extrinsic-Motivation-Perfor...

5. "Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation", Lisa Legault, 2016, [Available online] http://www.lcwu.edu.pk/ocd/cfiles/Professional%20Studies/FC/...

6. "Do intrinsic and extrinsic motivation relate differently to employee outcomes?", Kuvaas et al., 2017, [Available online] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bard_Kuvaas/publication...

EDIT: added more recent sources

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Re:Internal competition can often be the most dangerous kind by buran77 on Friday June 18, 2021 @10:00AM (#27550388)

But you're ignoring the "demotivating" factors. Getting a pay bump might not be a (good) motivator in itself but it may remove a demotivator. So sometime these moves are to release the handbrake rather than make the engine more powerful.

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Re:Internal competition can often be the most dangerous kind by tovej on Friday June 18, 2021 @12:26PM (#27552022)

That's correct, that's why I said financial motivators don't matter _after_ you already have a comfortable life (your needs are satisfied). [1] and [6] both argue that rewards that aren't conditioned on performance (e.g. salary) don't detract from intrinsic motivation and that a competitive salary is a good motivator.

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Re:Internal competition can often be the most dangerous kind by buran77 on Friday June 18, 2021 @02:48PM (#27553548)

> financial motivators don't matter _after_ you already have a comfortable life

Oh, this is a slightly different topic. Of course if your belly is growling money will motivate you a lot, and that motivation tends to go down the more you go past your comfort baseline.

But think of pay disparity for example. Maybe your belly is full but your slacker colleague is making more money than you. That has a good chance of demotivating you, making you ask "why should I try harder?". Reducing this disparity and (perceived) inequity, eliminating the demotivating factor, goes a long way and has a far longer lasting effect than just the same extra money would bring otherwise.

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Re:Internal competition can often be the most dangerous kind by tovej on Friday June 18, 2021 @05:25PM (#27555206)

I totally agree, salaries aren't bad, bonuses are.

And pay disparity can be a problem, especially if salary data is hidden. I think most of the time the problem is a lack of openness about salaries and why they are as they are.

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