Millennials. Corporate rewards systems. Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. This week’s readings hit home with me in various ways. I work with and supervise Millennials and in fact, my two children (at ages 20 and 18) are Millennials. My organization has a less-than-effective system of rewards (the money is great, but the communication is not so hot). For me, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards have been a hot topic of discussion recently, both at home and at the office.
After reading Ryan and Deci’s article on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions (2000), I decided to interview the working Millennial who happens to live in my house, my 18-year-old daughter, Erin, to explore what motivates her. A high school senior who also takes college classes and has been accepted into a combined BS/MBA program in business management at a university in Michigan, Erin also works 30 hours per week as a crew trainer and cashier at McDonald’s. I was curious about what motivates Erin to work and attend school for more than 60 hours each week.
“It’s the money, Mom,” Erin told me. After a bit more prodding, Erin added, “Sure, it’s a good feeling knowing that I do a good job. But the bottom line is that if I do a good job and my managers see that I work harder than everyone else, I will be scheduled to work more hours and therefore, make more money. So, I guess my motivation is more extrinsic.”
Like many Millennials, Erin often feels disconnected from the corporate structure and tends to see higher education as less than a “life experience” and more of a means to an end. She also tends to view work as “life.” “No one is going to protect my job except me, Mom, and I do that by showing up and working hard every day. I don’t trust that my managers are going to schedule me for my hours because it’s the fair thing to do. They’ll schedule me because they know I won’t stand around or need to be told what to do. I do my job,” Erin says, echoing comments in Meister and Willyerd’s article, Mentoring Millennials. “And then I get paid. That’s what it’s all about.”
As for school, Erin also attaches her motivation to study hard and get good grades – and to move on to an accelerated program in college – to the extrinsic values education possesses for her. “If I get my degree, I will get a good job with a great salary, or be able to open my own business and make money. That’s why I am going to college,” Erin says.
As a Baby Boomer (and as a good Mom), I feel it’s my job to gently guide Erin toward understanding that work is only part of life, not all of it. And that even if she doesn’t believe it, she is motivated by the many intrinsic values that are inherent in both education and employment. As presented in Deci and Ryan’s Cognitive Evaluation Theory (1985), “interpersonal events and structures (e.g., rewards, communications, feedback) that conduce toward feelings of competency during action, can enhance intrinsic motivation for that action because they allow satisfaction of the basic psychological need for competence.”
So even while Erin asserts that the bottom line for her is accomplished worker = more hours = more money, I remind her that she derives a certain amount of personal, non-monetary satisfaction (and continued motivation, I think) from a manager who praises her hard work (intrinsic reward) and follows with increasing Erin’s hours (extrinsic). I read back this interview to her in which she started the discussion by stating, “it’s a good feeling knowing that I do a good job.” She smiles, “I guess you are right. But the better reward is the check at the end of two weeks!”
I suppose that for Erin, old habits are hard to break. As a third-grader, she won a pencil from the teacher each time she mastered a new level of the multiplication tables. Erin is good at math, so she finished the tables well ahead of her classmates. At that semester’s parent-teacher conferences, the teacher pointed out that Erin’s progress in class had slowed a bit when the pencil rewards stopped. “She needs to learn to work for the intrinsic value of learning,” the teacher said, with Erin sitting right there. “Erin, do you know what ‘intrinsic’ means?” the teacher asked, somewhat condescendingly.
“Yeah,” Erin said with a frown. “It means I’m not going to win any more pencils.”
References
Ryan, R., and Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology. No. 25, pp. 54-67 (full article)
Meister, J., and Willyerd, K. (2010). Mentoring Millenials. Harvard Business Review, pp. 17-20 (full article)
Your daughter sounds like quite a high achiever. You must be very proud!
ReplyDeleteYou talk about Erin's experience as a Millenial, and how she feels more disconnected from the corporate structure and views education as a means to an end. Do you feel her perspective is truly due to a generational difference (as argued in some of the readings this week), or do you think that the differences may just be attributed to age and experience (a point Megan S. touched on in her application assignment)?
What a great interview, Peggy, thank you for sharing. It hadn't occurred to me, as I went through this week’s reading that my younger brother is also a millennial. Looking at his progress from Junior High on through college and career wise, I see a lot of what you spoke about with Erin.
ReplyDeleteMy kid brother, Manny, is a drummer (he started playing in elementary school) and signed up for the recording engineering program at the local community college. It was interesting to see that he also was motivated largely by the great salaries experienced engineers can draw. After a couple years though his focus changed, he was no longer enthusiastic about the program and the salary range was no longer a strong enough motivator.
It was at about this time that he began getting interested in pick-up trucks as a hobby. He began reading on his own about the performance aspects of trucks and downloading images of "fixed-up" show trucks. Next thing I know he changed majors to automotive technologies, is having a blast at it, and is not the slightest bit concerned about the salary. I’ve never seen him as self motivated as he is now.
I’m inclined to say that, as exemplified by both Erin and Manny, people are a combination of different traits. In this case both started off being extrinsically motivated.
It may also happen for Erin that she finds something she enjoys that she can make a successful career out of and thereby, as the saying goes, “never has to work a day in her life”.
Hi, Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYes, I am pretty proud. Actually, I think that because Erin comes from a large family, has two hard-working parents (for much of her life, Erin's father or I worked multiple jobs as free-lancers plus our regular jobs), and has been surrounded by examples of hard-work (mostly Boomers). However, I think that Erin's perspective has indeed come in large part from age and experience. Since this is her first job and suddenly, life is looming large in front of her, she realizes that she needs to work hard to get ahead. I am hopeful that once she is in college and sees higher ed as a choice, she'll see it also as a part of overall growth and not merely a means to an end. Here's hoping!
Felipe,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story about Manny - sounds like he found that doing something he loves is the most important thing (so intrinsic!). It's kind of what I hope Erin will discover as a college student. I agree, let's hope she'll "never have to work a day in her life" once she finds that place! Thanks!