Publication: SAM Advanced Management Journal
Publication Date: 22-MAR-04
Format: Online - approximately 5589 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Forbes, J. Benjamin ; Domm, Donald R.
Article Excerpt
In today's new economy, businesses must manage and motivate well-educated knowledge workers with less direct supervision. High levels of both individual productivity and creativity are required as we strive to quickly develop new products and services and continuously improve internal processes. Extrinsic, financial incentives are powerful and effective motivators of personal productivity but may not be the ideal approach when creativity and innovation are required.
An impressive stream of research by Theresa Amabile emphasizes the important roles of freedom and intrinsic motivation in fostering creativity (Amabile 1983, 1988, 1997). These factors encourage thinking outside the box and provide internal, task-related rewards for exploring new ideas and creating new products, services, processes, etc. However, a potential problem with this approach is that intrinsically motivated activity may become so rewarding that the creative person is reluctant to move on to the hard work of evaluating the ideas and putting them into practice. Highly productive creative work is challenging. In fact, highly creative individuals say the most important characteristics that set them apart are curiosity and drive (Csikszentmihalyi 1996). These are described as "the yin and the yang" of creative work. Curiosity is open and playful, while drive is serious, competitive, and achievement-oriented. "Both are required for creativity to become actualized."
Recent research and theory combined with careful reexamination of the classic account of the creation of a new computer (The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder) have led us to believe that the key to managing for both creativity and productivity lies in understanding the mental states of those engaged in creative and productive work. We believe that mental involvement and the conditions that create and sustain it are critical. In this paper, we will review relevant aspects of intrinsic motivation, the behavioral phenomenon of "flow," and the book, The Soul of a New Machine. We will also present a new exploratory survey of scientists and engineers that empirically tests some of these concepts.
Intrinsic Motivation: Achieving Creativity and Productivity
The role of intrinsic motivation in creativity and innovation was solidly supported by an interview study of 120 scientists by Amabile and Gryskiewicz (1987). They found that "the single most frequently mentioned characteristic of ... highly creative work was intrinsic motivation--being motivated primarily from within, from the scientist's own interest in the work itself and not from external pressures." In this study as in most of Amabile's research, intrinsic motivation is seen as a characteristic of the individual more than of the task. The most frequently mentioned environmental factor associated with high creativity was freedom. It was "a sense of control over one's own work and own ideas: a freedom from having to meet someone else's constraints." This is freedom within limits, however. It has long been known that complete freedom is not likely to lead to satisfactory outcomes (e.g., Andrews and Farris 1967). Effective research and development performance comes when "strategic direction" is given but there is still "operational autonomy" or the freedom to determine the means for achieving the objective (e.g., Bailyn 1985). Other environmental factors frequently mentioned in the interview study were management encouragement and enthusiasm, sufficient resources and time, recognition or appropriate feedback, and a sense of challenge.
The importance of freedom from external control is consistent with earlier research on intrinsic motivation (Deci and Ryan 1985). Although still controversial, much research has shown that external control and external rewards can undermine motivation from the task itself. External controls and pressures also tend to reduce creativity. Amabile (1988) explains that creativity requires a cognitive-perceptual style characterized by the ability to break mental set and explore new cognitive pathways during problem solving, to suspend judgment, and to keep response options open as long as possible. Under strong external pressures to complete a task, the individual is less likely to explore new pathways or suspend judgment. Rather he or she is likely to search for a solution that is adequate for the task at hand. With external pressure, productivity on tasks for which solutions are known may be enhanced, but the discovery of new solutions will be hindered. New product development is quickest if we use existing technology. The result may be expedient but not optimal.
Amabile (1988) uses the analogy of a maze to illustrate this point. The extrinsically motivated person will only follow the well-worn path to escape the maze as quickly as possible. On the other hand, the person who actually enjoys being in the maze will take the time and expend the energy to explore other, more interesting, more creative paths. Thus, creative solutions occur when 1) the task is intrinsically interesting or challenging, and 2) the environment does not stifle the intrinsic motivation. Of course, a possible problem is that exploring the maze becomes so interesting the person does not want to leave. A solution may not be forthcoming due to the reluctance to stop analyzing and testing. High creativity might be associated with low productivity.
Data related to this issue were recently reported in the Harvard Business Review. Amabile, Hadley, and Kramer (2002) examined the daily effects of time pressure on creativity...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
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