Daniel Pink. Drivers of Motivators. The Value of Money

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December 16, 2018
Drivers of Motivators
It is a commonly held belief that one of the greatest motivator for excellence is the financial and material reward associated with a task. This idea of positive reinforcement has then guided the decisions of both individuals (and institutions) in their desire to achieve excellence in every aspect of their lives. However, while this might be true, both the discussions made by Pink and Thoreau show that material rewards are not the only thing that are important to achieve these goals. In the succeeding sections of this paper, Pink’s three factors for motivation (autonomy, mastery, and purpose) would be discussed in greater detail. Specifically, it would show how this relates to philosophical and scientific works done in the past. All in all, I believe that while material rewards are good motivators for achieving excellence, a balance between materialism and Pink’s three factors would generate the strongest source of motivation for everyone.
The Value of Money
Hearing that money is the greatest motivator is not surprising for anyone. This resource allows us to afford the basic services of life and enjoy the luxuries that it provides. Without it, people who are working would either be alienated or lack the motivation to perform the tasks that are incumbent upon them. In fact, studies prove that the higher the reward, the better the performance of an individual is, particularly when it comes to tasks that requires repetition and the ability to follow specific instructions CITATION Big12 \l 1033 (BigThink.com). Indeed, this is true even when observing our day to day work. However, does this mean that financial rewards alone could provide motivation and self-satisfaction for everyone?
In the discussion presented by Pink, he stated that when it comes to tasks that require higher levels of creativity and uniqueness, financial rewards and performance are almost inversely correlated with each other. What is even more surprising is that a lot of people, during their free times, opt to work for others for free CITATION Dan10 \l 1033 (RSA). In line with Thoreau’s work, this shows that self-satisfaction do not only hinge on the pursuit of material wealt...