Compensation

That got your attention.  Many have read Daniel Pink's interesting popularization of some research studies that claim money can sometimes be a de-motivator. (Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.)  Here is Pink in a TEDTalk presenting his experience writing the book:

Recently, Russ Roberts had an extended discussion with Daniel Pink over at EconTalk.org.  I found it to be engaging.   The conversation provides a richer exploration of the ideas in Drive than just reading the book itself.  I admire Roberts' ability to question and challenge in a way that promotes learning and discovery in conversations - something we should all strive to emulate. 

If you manage an organization, large or small, for profit or non-profit, I encourage you to consider the following questions as you read, watch, or listen to all (or any) of the above:

• What is the purpose of compensation?
• What is the role of vision, decision rights, knowledge processes, and virtue and talents in the determination of compensation?
• Remember that whatever the "game" being played, there is always a bigger game being played around it.  Consider the larger questions: what is the role of business in society?  What does it mean to have a job?

I hope some of these questions help you dive even deeper into the material to make it more useful.  Feel welcome to comment and start a discussion around any of the above.

Comments

[Ann Zerkle]

This link came through email, but I wanted to share it with everyone. Thanks to Patrick for the comment:
So if we think about how Daniel Pink defined Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose and compare those with how some of us tend to think about our terms and definitions, particularly decision rights and fulfillment, the I think MBM gets us what he is talking about. Autonomy defined as being given greater and greater latitude to direct our lives sounds an awful lot like decision rights and how they are earned and/or lost. Said Daniel pinks way, if one is effective at directing his own work life, by making good decisions, then one will get rewarded with greater latitude to direct ones own work life via greater decision rights.
The way DP defined Mastery and Purpose; getting better and better at something that matters and yearning to be in the service of something larger than us, respectively, I have to think about decision rights and fulfillment kind of working together hand in hand. If the mastery in question is something like growing your personal leadership skills while running a business that has a profound effect on the lives and wealth of a whole county across several generations, leading to running larger businesses with greater impacts, etc. Then this starts to sound quite fulfilling to me and as though I am gaining more and more decision rights. I can't say that making paper board for someone else to turn into a throw-away plate, cup or bowl is what anyone would at first blush say was "something larger than us." But being part of a team that directly affects the wealth of a 1000 people and indirectly affects the wealth of a few thousand more, plus having the opportunity to develop yourself as an effective leader of your work team in a manner that influences the personal development of dozens of people and maybe more...while I make that paper board...then I can call that "something larger than us." I can call it increased decision rights. I can call it very fulfilling. Yes I have to go out and aquire the knowledge of how to best run a business by applying (over and over till I get better and better)MBM holistically. I will have to seek out those who have mastered leadership and learn from them as I go as well.