Business
Business As Usual
By Christopher Duff
A lot of people do not realize that the entire landscape of the business world is shifting.
Most of us only hear about breakthroughs in physical science, but there are some incredible things being discovered in the realm of social science. There is a new movement of businesses that intrinsically motivates their employees rather than extrinsically motivating them only with a paycheck or bonus.
Before there were two types of businesses: the “for profit and not for profit”. Now there is a new spectrum of businesses flourishing.
The new types of businesses include: the “low-profit limited liability corporations or L3Cs”; the “social businesses” and the “B Corporations”. All these new forms of businesses appeal to an intrinsic value or a cause. The motivation isn’t just to maximize monetary profit, it’s more importantly about maximizing social profits. The focus has shifted to something extrinsic to something intrinsic.
Social scientists are beginning to really challenge the old school way of motivation which involves rewarding “desired” behavior, and punishing “undesirable” behavior. Or as re-known writer Dan Pink puts it in his book “Drive”, human motivation is not reduced to “carrots and sticks”, where you put a carrot in front of me to make me move, and you use a stick to “correct” my behavior.
They are beginning to see that humans are most productive not when they have someone of authority breathing down their backs or when you attach a bonus or reward to work. They are beginning to see that people are most productive when they are intrinsically motivated.
****Side note: This begins to explain why many of people we consider “successful” have a work ethic that some of us will never see. Many of them are quoted saying “it’s not about the money, I just love what I do”.
