How can rewards impact problem-solving?

Rewards can hinder performance in problem-solving tasks.

What motivators are effective in businesses?

Intrinsic motivators like autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Participants attach a candle to a wall without wax dripping.

Autonomy can lead to increased productivity and satisfaction.

Intrinsic motivation is crucial for fostering creativity.

Incentives like rewards can hinder performance in tasks requiring creativity, as shown in experiments by scientists Karl Duncker, Sam Glucksberg, economist Dan Ariely, and economists at the London School of Economics.
The comparison between Microsoft's Encarta and Wikipedia illustrates the effectiveness of intrinsic motivators like autonomy, mastery, and purpose over extrinsic motivators in fostering high performance and creativity, supporting the speaker's call for a shift towards intrinsic motivation in business settings.

How can rewards impact problem-solving?
Rewards can hinder performance in problem-solving tasks.
What motivators are effective in businesses?
Intrinsic motivators like autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
What is the candle problem experiment?
Participants attach a candle to a wall without wax dripping.
How does autonomy impact employee performance?
Autonomy can lead to increased productivity and satisfaction.
What is the role of intrinsic motivation in creativity?
Intrinsic motivation is crucial for fostering creativity.

00:00

Speaker confesses to attending law school over 20 years ago, despite not performing well and never practicing law.
Speaker introduces the "candle problem" experiment by Karl Duncker, where participants must attach a candle to a wall without wax dripping.
Participants initially struggle with the candle problem due to functional fixedness, but eventually find the solution by using the box as a platform for the candle.
Scientist Sam Glucksberg conducts an experiment on incentives, offering rewards for solving the candle problem quickly.
Surprisingly, the group offered rewards took longer to solve the problem, contrary to the belief that rewards enhance performance.
The experiment highlights the mismatch between extrinsic motivators like rewards and intrinsic motivation for tasks requiring creativity.
Economist Dan Ariely's study on MIT students shows that higher rewards led to poorer performance in tasks involving cognitive skills.
Similar results were found in Madurai, India, indicating that higher incentives can hinder performance.
Economists at the London School of Economics found that financial incentives can negatively impact overall performance within companies.
The speaker advocates for a new approach to motivation in businesses, focusing on intrinsic motivators like autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

15:25

In a Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE), employees have no set schedules and can work whenever and wherever they choose as long as they complete their tasks. This approach leads to increased productivity, worker engagement, satisfaction, and decreased turnover rates.
The comparison between Microsoft's Encarta encyclopedia, which used traditional incentives and paid professionals, and Wikipedia, which relied on intrinsic motivation and volunteer work, demonstrates the superiority of intrinsic motivators like autonomy, mastery, and purpose over extrinsic motivators like rewards and punishments in achieving high performance and creativity.