Carrot And Stick Motivation For Engaged Employees

The Carrot Principle: Using Recognition to Engage Employees

Describe about the Carrot and Stick Motivation for The Engages Employees.

The principle of using recognition to engage employees, to accelerate performance and retain talent is termed as CARROT motivation. This motivation theory asserts in motivating employees or people in getting desired behavior. The rewards can be in the form of promotion, money and non financial benefits as time off. (Gostick, & Chester, 2008), (Gostick, A R & Chester E, 2007). These managers achieve productivity, retention of their employees, engagement of the employees and customer satisfaction by following the culture of recognition. The results of the numerous studies conducted worldwide have showed that, dramatic results are obtained when employees are offered meaningful rewards and constructive praise. Purpose based recognition helps in producing exceptional results. In an organisation, the carrot motivation is the use of purpose based recognition to achieve success. There is another understanding that amounts of cash rewards are easily forgotten but recognizing employee contribution and praising them for the effort always work. (Aggarwal, & Simskins, 2001)

The stick principle of motivation is about punishments or negative reinforcement to be effective in improving performance. Some studies do support this belief, as it is found that evolution has taught humans to avoid punishments. This is derived from the traditional belief that beating the beast to carry the burden will motivate the beast to move faster as it will try to avoid the pain given by the stick. The stick motivation in an organisation is the use of fear for an instantaneous compliance to the organisation policies and desired result. The “Stick” in an organisation can be reprimanding employees, scolding them and shaming them that they can lose their job.  However fear as a motivation in an organisation can be stressful for the employees.

Carrot and stick motivation is a form of traditional theory of motivating people with rewards such as promotion, threats, fear, money, non-financial benefits and financial benefits to elicit the desired result or behavior. This type of motivation is based on the principle of reinforcement as explained by philosopher Jeremy Bentham. It is derived from the story of a donkey that moves the cart when a carrot is hung in front of him and the owner jabs him with a stick. In this story the carrot is the “REWARD” whereas the stick is the “PUNISHMENT”. It takes advantage of the basic emotions of “fear” and “desire” in humans. In an organisation an employee can be rewarded for working efficiently and can be punished for non performance. Carrot and stick motivation works well for managers who understand that their employees have different personalities and therefore they respond in a different way to the attempts to motivate them. Whereas some employees can be rewarded with a promotion, leisure time or more money while some will only respond well to threats of getting fired. Both the ways have been proven to be extremely successful in motivating the employees to get the task done. Managers should question themselves before motivating an employee; will bribe works well for him or threatening does?( Bass, 2008)

The Stick Principle: Using Punishment to Improve Performance

Carrot motivation can work well in long term for an organisation as people contribute more when they are offered incentives. Studies have showed that the managers who used recognition and incentives as carrots for their employees had lower rates of turnover as employees reported to be “feeling informed” and “appreciated” and these managers also achieved higher business results. Tangible benefits such as paid holidays, bonuses and intangible benefits such as job rotation work to harness the full potential of today’s workers. Motivation can be understood as a force that directs, energizes and sustains the efforts of a person. The question that arises frequently for organisation is what will be the best CARROT?. Managers have to ask themselves will “Money” be always being a good motivator. Well money will always be needed by employees to feed, house and clothe themselves and their families. But it is not always the best motivator for all. In today’s organisations the “CARROTS” and “STICKS” are both sophisticated (Jex, & Britt, 2008). The organisations cannot simply rely on money being a good carrot for their employees as money based motivation ends when an employee completes the target that is needed to get the extra money. Carrot motivation can also be advantageous to the organisation when it prevents employee turnover. From the survey that was conducted by Professor Etsu Inaba from the Asian Institute of Management it was learnt that many employees chose to stay with their company even when they were getting 30% to 50% higher salaries with their company’s competitors. The reasons they gave to stay with their companies were growth potential, career development plan and professionalism in their current company (Stroh, 2007). Therefore it can be denoted that money is not always a good CARROT but various other incentives and rewards can be used to retain and motivate the employees. (Munchinsky, 2012)

Carrot motivation works, as in the age of relentless market management and change “control and command” does not work for long. People are more productive when they are motivated with incentives. Incentives and rewards have benefits for employers and employees both. When the employees are recognized for their performance they experience a boost in their morale. This gives rise to job satisfaction and their involvement in organisation work. Incentives can be non monetary, employee recognition, employee assistance and monetary benefits (Turner, Barling,  Epitropaki, Butcher& Milner, 2002). Employees are the most vital resource of the organisational competitiveness and retaining employees from competitions can be intense. Rewards if used effectively can retain employees that will save the talent and skills in the organisation. This increases their satisfaction with the work and their commitment towards the organisation. Carrot motivation is about rewards and incentives which in turn increase loyalty and performance of the employees towards the organisational goals. This is the primary cause why carrot motivation is being supported and practiced by many companies. According to Armstrong the reward management deals with processes, policies and strategies that are required to ensure that people’s contributions and people’s value are used to develop the organisation. Armstrong also adds that rewards provide the means to recognize merit, achievement and competence. This notion cements the belief that rewards contribute in creation of a high performance culture. (Norton,  2010)  

Literature Review

“Quick fix” approach may work for a short period in an organisation but not in the long run. This practice pits employees against each other in competition rather than promoting teamwork. In an attempt to motivate and energize employees towards extraordinary performance, managers can get too strict. This ominously named “STICK” approach does not always work well in an organisation, as this type of motivation is extrinsic motivation which means it only occurs when the motivator is present. The organisation will be successful when people work hard to make it successful not due to the fear of punishment. (Soo Jung Jang, 2010).  Sanctions and formal reprimands for shortfalls in work and performance will act as bullying tactic and will demoralize people. Companies hire employees for their strengths but in this approach they manage them through their weaknesses. This leads to indiscrimination and sap the positivity out of the job. Employees feel stressful and unvalued in their work environment which is just the opposite of the desired results. This type of motivation leads to “I have to” mentality rather than “I want to” mentality that are needed by an organisation. (Pierce, Cameron, Banko,& So, 2003). The negative stimulus in the case of stick motivation will drive an employee to make a decision from a more narrow business driven framework rather than opting for a ethical decision making process. The long term affects of “STICK” motivation is, resentment in employees which causes decrease in their job satisfaction.

Conclusion

Modern management is all about techniques that motivate the employees by carrot and stick motivation. Either it is advertising the reward systems to hire and recruit fresh talent or to retain the skillful employees. Happy employees can identify themselves with the organisation (Pinder, 2008). These motivational techniques make the use of the most basic human desires of “fear” and “desire”. The carrot hits the score for “desire” whereas the stick is doing the same for “fear”. Managers and organisations have to learn the skills to motivate the employees as this will keep them a step ahead from their competitors. These employees will be happy and motivated which will add to their productivity and to the success of the company (Schultz, 2010). Both ways of motivation are extremely successful in motivating the employees but the stick approach is fraught with danger. This approach can give opposite of the desired effect, if the employees rebel against the management. A strong well structured, well managed and well planned strategy to motivate employees is needed by the organisation which results in committed and enthusiastic employees. Managers have to realize that they do not work in a vacuum but should ensure that employees around them are praised and recognized for their efforts. Creating a carrot culture is crucial for an organisation as in this environment the employees feel appreciated and valued which helps them to contribute to their growing organisation. This passion to contribute for the organisation depends on the right award and the right reward should be tailored according to the needs of the employees of the organisation.

References

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Jex, S.M. & Britt, T.W, 2008, Organizational Psychology, Hoboke, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

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Munchinsky, P M, 2012, Psychology Applied to Work,  Summerfield, North Carolina: Hypergraph Press, Inc

Turner, N.; Barling, J.; Epitropaki, O.; Butcher, V.; Milner, C, 2002 ,  Transformational leadership and moral reasoning, Journal of Applied Psychology, 87 (2): 304–311. 

Pierce, W.D.; Cameron, J.; Banko, K.M.; So, S, 2003,  Positive effects of rewards and performance standards on intrinsic motivation, The Psychology Record. pp. 561–579

Pinder, C. C, 2008, Work motivation in organizational behavior, 2nd edition, New York: Psychology Press

Schultz D, 2010,  Psychology and work today. New York: Prentice Hall. pp. 164

Schultz, D P. & Sydney E, 2010, Psychology and work today : an introduction to industrial and organizational psychology, 10th ed, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall

Soo Jung Jang, R.P, 2010, “The interaction effects of scheduling control and work-life balance programs on job satisfaction and mental health”, International Journal of Social Welfare, pp. 135–143

Stroh, K.S, 2007, “Flexible schedules make powerful perks”, Flextime: Myth or Reality?, pp. 12–14