Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

Intrinsic motivated activities are defined as ones for which there is no apparent reward except the activity itself. People with intrinsic motivation engage in activities for their own sake and not for getting rewarded extrinsically. [1] Though it is not always possible to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. When a person goes for a run for pleasure, he does it for the physical training or the peer group recognition and therefore also with extrinsic motivation. It can be said that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation go hand in hand. The way how to differentiate the two is whether a goal being pursued just to achieve another, where the first goal loses inherent value. [2] One of the key principles for effective leadership of a project or program manager is the motivation of his stakeholders. Successful program managers have the ability to create an environment where people are satisfied by successfully fulfilling important tasks instead of earning a reward. [3]

The following article describes the three forms of intrinsic motivation, how it can be created and why intrinsic motivated people within the project, program or portfolio management are key strategic resources when it comes to competitiveness [2].

Three forms of intrinsic motivation

The activity itself

In the first form of intrinsic motivation, the activity itself is a source of satisfaction [2]. An example for that is when key stakeholders want to be part of a certain project team because they derive pleasure from fulfilling their deliverables for this project. Fulfilling the assigned tasks and the project goals are equally important to intrinsic motivated stakeholders.

Meeting standards for their own sake

Another example of people with intrinsic motivation is the matter of meeting standards for their own sake. Employees can extract great productivity from being member of a highly organized and fair project team (team spirit). When project leaders fail to meet standards of material and procedural fairness, the productivity of stakeholders will fall. [2]

Achieving a goal which one has set for oneself

The third form of intrinsic motivation comes nonetheless from achieving a goal which one has set to oneself. An intrinsically motivated member of a project team is going to want to deliver his tasks successfully even though it might not be enjoyable. A comparison to sports would be a mountain climber who set his goal to climb a mountain, nevertheless how painful it might get. The goal of reaching the mountain peak will keep the climber motivated along his journey because the pain will be worth it once reaching the top of the mountain. [2]

How to create Intrinsic Motivation

The ultimate goal of a project leader is to create an environment with intrinsically motivated people. But creating this motivation can be a very difficult job since a project leader has to deal with many different and complex personalities. There is no formula for creating intrinsic motivation for your stakeholders. Key to arising intrinsic motivation within a project is the combination of a project leaders’ self-determination, competence, fairness and transparent way of working. For a project leader it is difficult to satisfy everyone individually with his way of managing and leading. And over time some persons are going to need more attention in order to foster new intrinsic motivation. It is easier to destroy the stakeholders working spirit than to encourage it. An intelligent way to foster new intrinsic motivation if needed are extrinsic ad-hoc rewards. Project leaders can use the instrument of short-term extrinsic rewards in order to lift up the team spirit again. Setting up new unknown goals to motivate the stakeholders to fulfil deliverables on time can be key to keeping the moral high. An example for that can be a project team after-work activity on the projects’ costs if certain expected deliverables are met on time. The project leader is willing to pay a price for its team to be extrinsically motivated to fulfil their deliverables. But the reward is much bigger than a high probability of on-time deliverables. A team gathering can lift up the team spirit and make stakeholders realize that being part of the team is bigger than the pain in fulfilling tasks on time. That leads back to part 2.3 in this article.

The Crowding-Out Effect

The crowding-out effect or motivation crowding theory is the theory from psychology and microeconomics suggesting that providing extrinsic incentives for certain kinds of behaviour - such as promising monetary rewards for accomplishing some tasks - can sometimes undermine intrinsic motivation for performing that behaviour. The result of lowered motivation can be an overall decrease in the total performance.

The typical study of crowding out asks subjects to complete some task either for payment or no payment. Researchers then look to self-reported measures of motivation for completing the task, willingness to complete additional rounds of the task for no additional compensation, or both. Removing the payment incentive, compared to those who were never paid at all, typically lowers overall interest in and willingness to complete the task. This process is known as "crowding out" since whatever motivation for the task that previously existed—as estimated by the control condition that was not offered compensation for the task—has been crowded out by motivation merely based on the payment.

A 2020 study which reviewed more than a 100 tests of motivation crowding theory and conducted its own field experiments found that paying individuals for intrinsically enjoyable tasks boosts their performance, but that taking payment away after it is expected may lead individuals to perform worse than if they were not paid at first. [4]

Limitations

Still in progress

References

[1] E. L. Deci, Intrinsic Motivation, New York: Springer US, 1975.

[2] B. S. O. M. (. Frey, Successful Management by Motivation: Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Incentives, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg , 2002.

[3] I. Project Management Institute, Project Management: A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK guide) (6th Edition), Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI), 2017.

[4] C. Esteves-Sorenson and R. Broce, Interviewees, Do Monetary Incentives Undermine Performance on Intrinsically Enjoyable Tasks? A Field Test". The Review of Economics and Statistics:. [Interview]. 10 08 2020.