Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Where Economics and Sociology Meet: Motivation

Willravel · 08-23-2010, 03:14 PM

I invite you to enjoy the following video, which is an animation added to a talk given by career analyst Dan Pink (bio here)

I want you to think about the argument Mr. Pink (no relation to Reservoir Dogs) makes, because it's important. Traditionally, in basic economics, consumers and producers are treated as "rational actors", individuals who automatically balances costs against benefits to arrive at action that will maximize personal advantage, which in capitalism, is most often money. The basic, basic theory is if people have an opportunity to get more money for an amount of work that's most efficient for that pay level, they will take the opportunity. Enter Linux and Wikipedia and Apache, demonstrating at least some people are able to factor into the equation personal growth, imagination, and fun, not simply more money.

Hopefully this doesn't sound like a revolutionary idea to you, as money should be a means to an end and not an end in and of itself, but if you're like me part of you internally replied, "Holy crap!" when hard data started entering the picture. Challenge, mastery, and contributing something can all be very real, even measurable incentives just the same as money. It seems like in the scramble to understand how economics work, we can forget personal fulfillment and purpose.

What are your thoughts?

08-23-2010, 03:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	Where Economics and Sociology Meet: Motivation I invite you to enjoy the following video, which is an animation added to a talk given by career analyst Dan Pink (bio here) I want you to think about the argument Mr. Pink (no relation to Reservoir Dogs) makes, because it's important. Traditionally, in basic economics, consumers and producers are treated as "rational actors", individuals who automatically balances costs against benefits to arrive at action that will maximize personal advantage, which in capitalism, is most often money. The basic, basic theory is if people have an opportunity to get more money for an amount of work that's most efficient for that pay level, they will take the opportunity. Enter Linux and Wikipedia and Apache, demonstrating at least some people are able to factor into the equation personal growth, imagination, and fun, not simply more money. Hopefully this doesn't sound like a revolutionary idea to you, as money should be a means to an end and not an end in and of itself, but if you're like me part of you internally replied, "Holy crap!" when hard data started entering the picture. Challenge, mastery, and contributing something can all be very real, even measurable incentives just the same as money. It seems like in the scramble to understand how economics work, we can forget personal fulfillment and purpose. What are your thoughts?