The better motivation...

I found last week’s class interesting because I actually never knew the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I had never heard of those concepts before, but it actually makes a lot of sense. I could never understand why people would live their lives as struggling artists or pursuing something that was never going to make them a lot of money; but it is because they are intrinsically motivated and do not care as much about external motivations. After learning the difference, I realized I am extrinsically motivated. I do consider myself a motivated person but I am always pushing myself for some outside reward. I’m always just focused on what the end result will bring: a promotion, a raise, recognition. I suppose that is a shallow way to be, I guess because I don’t feel like what I do really makes a difference.

I think the better motivation is intrinsic motivation. When people are intrinsically motivated the results and rewards are greater. People want to feel like they are making a difference, that their work is important and has some meaning. It is a terrible feeling to feel like your work means nothing to an organization and you never see results of your hard work. But how do you create intrinsic motivation in a corporate, non-creative setting when ideas are constantly ignored or shot-down by management? It is easier for companies like Google or Apple to create intrinsic motivation in their employees, but what about other businesses that do not necessarily need or want ideas from employees? These situations are hard to create motivation.

I think as a manager it is essential to create intrinsic motivation: people are happier, they do better quality work, and have higher morale. People need to understand what they are contributing and why. If someone just feels like they are in a grind and doesn’t care about their work, they could be motivated by having a clear understanding on how and why their job is important. I would say the majority of people don’t understand what impact they personally have on the company, and they are unable to see the big picture. Although I suppose some people just don’t really care either way; I don’t think you can motivate those who do not want to be motivated…..any ideas?

Blog Topic 10: Motivation

In retrospect, our discussion of motivation in class went in two directions: how to motivate others and how to motivate oneself. The two aren't necessarily unrelated, but it is helpful to consider them separately before combining them. The videos below concern self-motivation, but could also be applied to understanding your followers.

What do you think motivates you? Are there times when you are just trying to get by and are there times when you are striving something really great? When do you experience each kind of feeling? Which feeling are your more comfortable with?

Having considered what motivates you, think about how you might motivate others. Can you shift gears between different styles and types of motivation when working with your followers? Can you use fear? Can you use anger? Can you use inspiration? How can you improve your motivational repertoire?

Cutural Misconceptions

One point I'd like to mention is that the culture of a certain country is sometimes perceived mistakenly by the outside world due to confusion with the religious rituals of the dominant minority or the imposing belief system of the country’s government. For example, in the short questionnaire that we had last Wednesday, I was surprised to see the claim that in Iran, it’s offensive to eat with your left hand. I was born and raised in Iran for 16 years and had never heard of this. I asked some Iranian friends and families, and it turned out I’m not the only one who was suprised by this news. I later discovered not eating with your left hand is an Islamic practice which is observed in some Arabic countries.

I experience this kind of misperception about my countrymen almost every day. Iran is run by a group of Islamist extremists and is known to be an Islamic country. So although Iranians have distinct Persian traditions and a rich culture, it’s natural for the outside world to perceive Iranians as strict Muslems who strictly follow Islamic laws, although for the large number of the population this is not true.

Cultural Miscommunication

There are many things that will stymie our communication with people who has different backgrounds, cultures, and values from us. I am a foreign student, and I have suffered through really tough time to overcome the culture barrier since the first day I came to the States. As a matter of fact, for people who come from Asia usually found their culture shocks while interacting with people who speak different languages. I used to work with an Indian classmate, and we sometimes had some contradictions in minds and communications. I always try to take a soft way to accommodate things and provide him with big frame to accomplish projects. However, my partner is more like an aggressive and detail oriented person. He likes to make things complicated with elaborated labored work to make the project look nice regardless of the deadline of the project. We do have some hard time in negotiating on the issue of whether to finish the project on time or spend extra time to make the late turned in project look nice. I think my logical reasoning is not communicated efficiently enough for him to understand my purpose. I should improve my communication skill by repeating and explaining my concepts and purposes to him and reaching agreements that will do us both good.

Cultural Communication Styles

I have definitely had experiences with those of other cultures that maybe didn’t go as well as they should, and I think it can attributed to different backgrounds, cultures, and family of origins. My family heritage is European but I am third generation so basically consider myself just “American”. I don’t really have a culture of origin that I identify with, so I think when I meet people that do, some I don’t really understand them or I can see areas that we differ.

I think communication can be a challenge also, not just a language barrier but also the ways in which people communicate. For example, I had a neighbor who was from India, and he always needed to come over to borrow something or tell us something. But when he would be at the door, before saying why he was really there he would always start with small talk and chit-chat asking questions about how we were. [I have been told by another person from India that this is a cultural thing, that is it polite to start off this way and take time to get to the point, but I could be wrong, this is just my experience.] So to me I saw him as being annoying and wasting my time, he didn’t seem to notice or care that he was taking a long time to get the point. I personally didn’t care if he asked me how I was, I just wanted him to tell me what he needed! So he probably thought I was being rude by being impatient, and I thought he was being rude. In America we value our time, and although both cultures may have shared “neighbor” values, the approach is much different.

I’ve never lived anywhere else to be able to compare other cultures. So I think travel is very important, especially for Americans because yo have the opportunity to live differently for a few days or weeks, and see what other lifestyles can be like, and learn about other cultures.

Mis-meetings of the minds

My parents are Scottish... like real kilt wearing, hard to understand, my cousin and godfather play the bagpipes kind of Scottish. My mother raised my brothers and I as she was raised, and it wasn't really until college, when I met people from all different walks of life, that I realized how differently people acted in situations.

The first ever realization that my up-bringing might be different than another persons was at a dinner party. I was taught the "proper" way to use a knife and fork, and that is what I thought everyone did. However, the person sitting directly across from me ate VERY differently than I did. He stabbed his meat with his fork in full-fist grip and proceeded to saw the meat, scratching his knife repeatedly on the plate. Then, once the piece was cut, he *gasp* changed his fork from his left hand to his right hand, and ate the piece. My first thought: heathen. It was at that point that I began to notice things that I was taught to do in social situations that not everyone did.. at first I was put off by the lack of "manners" that people had, but eventually I realized that some people did not act the same way I did because of their up bringing, not because they were rude.

I still do the things that my mother taught me.... if no one is talking in a social circle, one must find something... ANYTHING to start a conversation about.. one must sit with her ankles crossed under the table, not legs crossed, in polite circles... one must always have biscuits (cookies) and some form of refreshment when a guest comes to call.. etc etc... however my version of things is tamer than hers (don't tell my mom that though!)

When I do have cultural clashes with people, I still get put off.. however since the realization at the dinner party, I do not hold it against people. I find other cultures interesting, and try my best to take note of customs and try to appropriately incorporate them into interactions. However, I am sure that somewhere along the road, someone has thought my constant talking through silences was pretty annoying..

Misscommunicating

In many of my group projects I feel like there is always a "mismeeting" of minds. Recently, I had a project in one of my classes where my assumptions clashed with one of my group members. I always try to do my best in group projects to get an A, because other than learning that is my ultimate goal. It was very apparent that in this case, he had a different route he wanted to take to get there. He had this preconceived notion that if we did whatever we wanted, as long as we thought it was what we should do, the teacher would be pleased. I, however, believed that we should use the teachers guidelines to give us the best chance of getting an A.

I felt like he was making things too complicated, he felt that I was simplifying things too much. I'm not sure what I can say about the geography of my mind that made this interaction go sour, but I can say a lot about his. Sometimes the answer isn't always something that takes a lot of brain power and thinking. The problem we had was what to use as our mission statement for our marketing plan. There is all sorts of mission statements out there. Some are really specific, some are complex and long. I truly felt that we needed to make ours simple and easy to understand (like the teacher said). He wanted to elaborate and make it catchy and funny.

I think the critical disagreement we had was about what the teacher would think. I thought logically, do what the teacher says and do it well and we will get an A. He thought more than that, do kind of what the teacher says but attempt to go above and beyond and see what happens.

.....we made a simple one and got an A