Chapter 9 - Why isn't extrinsic motivation effective?

As we learned in class, intrinsic motivational proves to be more effective than extrinsic motivation. But what I left thinking was why. The majority of companies use extrinsic motivation with the exception of the overused example that is Google. But still, millions of employees main drive to work is reward. I realize that extrinsic motivation is effective during mundane, robot-like tasks, but it seems as though those aren't the only jobs that extrinsic motivation is used for. My question now is this; why doesn't extrinsic motivation work? Bonuses, incentives, and even a threat to ones job seems to all be an effective way to ensure superior performance.

To find out why, I turn to an article by Alfie Kohn. I found my answer in one simple sentence: "If a reward — money, awards, praise, or winning a contest — comes to be seen as the reason one is engaging in an activity, that activity will be viewed as less enjoyable in its own right." It all seems to make perfect sense now. Perhaps this is why I always hear people saying something along the lines of "Don't let your favorite thing to do become your job, or it won't be fun anymore." If you love traveling yet your job is to continuously travel for work day in and day out, it would probably hinder your enjoyment for it.

Perhaps that is why extrinsic motivation isn't so effective. People just don't get enjoyment out of it. Even the power of money as a reward doesn't counter balance out the lack of enjoyment. Enjoyment seems to always have the upper hand when it comes to productivity.

Another question in life answered.

Kohn, Alfie. "Studies Find Reward Often No Motivator." (1987): 1. Web. 14 Mar 2010.

Chapter 10 - Going against the group

Chapter 10 offered a good summary of team dynamics but what was left lingering in my mind was the real world real people example. It talked about how Ken Heebner, a very successful investor, and an experience he had in college. It detailed a psychological experiment that he participated in and the end result was that he was the only person, out of everyone surveyed, that showed "showed no evidence that other people's opinion had any effect whatsoever on what he thought."

In my opinion, that is a very admirable trait. To find someone in today's time that possess a similar quality, would be quite difficult. In my experience, the majority of people I know, will alter their initial impression or thoughts based on the social situation. Even in our class during the ethics test, this was in play. The ethics test was about hypothetical situations that we were to place themselves in, and to raise our hand when the action that we were most likely to agree with was read off. I noticed most of us would glance around looking for allies in thought during this process, before raising their own hand. And other times, people would not raise their hand for an answer, simply because no one else did. This is a core example of letting our peers affect our opinion. Whether this is beneficial or disadvantageous is debatable.

You'll hear in a lot of celebrity interviews, "I don't really care what other people think." I can't help by think that this is a trait that you must possess in order to stand out, which can ultimately affect one's business career, whether in a positive or negative way.

Burger, John. "The mad genius of mutual funds." 06 Jun 2006: 2. Web. 14 Mar 2010. .

Five Stages

The psychologist Bruce W. Tuckman came u with a four stage model for group development process. Ten years later Tuckman and a doctoral student added a fifth stage. The stages are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Today most people in the OB field follow this model as if it were a fact, however, it is still just a model. The different stages are not of the duration or intensity. Stage one, forming, is when people are still uncertain about their roles in the group and what to expect from the group. people usually hold back and don't give all their ideas or act completely themselves. Eventually, someone will step into the leadership role and get things started. Stage tow, storming, is when people test the leader and see what will be tolerable and will not be tolerable. Subgroups usually form and little rebellions take place in this stage. Most groups stall in this stage because the little rebellions become big rebellions. Stage three, norming, is when the group as a whole sits down and resolves any problems it might be having. It takes someone besides the leader to step up to begin this stage. This is the stage where group cohesiveness is gained. Stage four, performing, is when the group is working its best. people know their roles in the group and thanks to stage 2 there is now open communication among members. The final stage is adjourning. This is where the work is done and the members go back to being independent. It is also the stage that the leader tells everyone what lessons were learned while working together.
I also did some more research and found a site that went into more detail about the five stages and assesses them. It also talks of how Tuckman came u with the model.

Smith, M. K. (2005) 'Bruce W. Tuckman - forming, storming, norming and performing in groups, the encyclopaedia of informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/tuckman.htm.

Social Loafing

Social loafing is a factor that is apparent in many group projects. Social loafing is when an individual chooses to put forth less effort as the group size increases. Social loafing can affect group effectiveness and synergy. Laboratory studies show theories of why social loafing is present in group environments. The three theories is that “the task is perceived to be unimportant, simple, or not interesting, group members thought their individual output was not identifiable, and that group members expected their coworkers to loaf.” Management techniques can avoid social loafing to be present within a group. In addition, the stepladder technique can rid social loafing by increasing each individual’s personal effort and their accountability.

In the article, “Social Loafing” provides additional ways to prevent social loafing in groups. In addition to increasing accountability, peer evaluation or writing a team contract will allow team members to put forth effort. It is important to identify who will implement these measures for the group. “A functional manager will not have sufficient authority due to the fact that team members can be from different departments.” Using a project manager or team leader will allow this approach to be efficient because they will have basic knowledge of organizational behavior. What I learned from this article is that the key to avoid social loafing is not to develop a sense of community in the group, but to define individual tasks.




Kreitner, Robert. Organizational Behavior. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010.

Organizational Behavior and Leadership E-zine. 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. .

Social Networking Too Social?

Almost everyone nowadays participates in Social Networking, whether it be through facebook, myspace, or even Blogger. In the past people would confide in their friends their true feelings about their jobs or the events of their days and were confident that their friends would keep their secrets or stories to themselves. There was such a thing as after-hours, freedom from the workplace. However, nowadays when you post your thoughts on your site, expecting that only your friends will see them, sometimes word spreads and oftentimes has negative consequences. Many people have been fired due to information that was gleaned from their choice networking site. People can no longer take 'sick days' in order to get some necessary housework done or go on a field-trip with their kid.. or at least they can, but they cannot spread the word about their actions to their friends. Everything that is posted must be carefully considered. Some complain that the negative career effects of social networking sites are a violation of their freedom of speech. They posted or commented something after office-hours, so what they say or do should have no effect on their career in a company. People have been fired for simply stating that they were bored at work that day. I find this ridiculous.

As long as people do not write slander about their company or the people they work with, they should be able to post such feelings freely. If managers were smart, they would even encourage such action because they could use the information to better their work environment and organization. If their employees are bored or feel they have no purpose, then it is the manager's duty to shake things up a bit and give purpose to their work so that they can feel pride in what they do and be motivated to do what they do well. In this way, the employees are content and business prospers. Social networking should be viewed as just that, social, not professional. Social networking can be a good part of the feedback loop if freedom of speech is encouraged. Companies need to realize that their employee's lives do not always revolve around their work. Not even the CEOs of companies are purely motivated to live because of their job. They have other interests as well. Such interests need to be taken into account and encouraged so that people will be able to function to the best of their ability everyday at work. When people are satisfied with other areas of their life, then their outlook is much more positive and their energy level increases and they are able to be top company performers.

Source:
Breslin, Tom. "When social networking enters the workplace." Massachusetts Nurse 80.8 (2009): 14. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 Mar. 2010

Chapter 10: Tuckman's Theory of Group Development

In Chapter 10 the part that resonated with me the most is Tuckman's Theory of Group Development, which is a non-sequential model that groups use when they come together and begin to work as a team. There are five main steps he speaks about which are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. These five steps seem to be essential factors in helping a team build trust and a strong relationship among each other. As a result, it becomes easier for groups to accomplish tasks and be productive in the assignments they are given.
An example is an article written by Despina Potari, which is methodologically based, and is addressing the study of mathematics group teaching in a middle school setting. It goes about using teaching activities and using in order to go about using team work in which classroom teaching is situated. Theoretical and methodological approaches are illustrated through episodes from a group study of the mathematics teaching and learning in a Year-10 class in a UK secondary school where students were considered as “lower achievers” in their year group. It show how a number of questions about mathematics teaching and learning through group work among the students helps them excel in their school work. In addition, this framework provided a way to address complexity in the activity of teaching and its development based on recognition of their work in teams in mathematics teaching–learning.

source: Jaworski, Barbara, and Despina Potari. "Bridging the macro- and micro-divide: using an activity theory model to capture sociocultural complexity in mathematics teaching and its development." Educational Studies in Mathematics 72.2 (2009): 219-236. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.

Tuckman's Theory of Group Development

Chapter 10 discusses Tuckman's 5 stage theory of group development. The five steps are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Each step is critically important in ice-breaking, integrating opinions, group cohesiveness, solving task problems, and celebrating a job well done. If all the group processes do not occur, the group may not be fully mature or effective, resulting in decreased productivity and results. Each individual member also goes through this development process, overcoming various personal issues as related to the entire group. This might include realignment of values with the group's, increasing motivation, or overcoming job challenges.

Tuckman's theory as discussed in Exploring Leadership: For College students who want to make a difference," is described in terms of the relationship leadership model. The Relational leadership model defines leadership as dependent on the relationships we have with others. The book displays aspects of the model that might help the group successfully deal with each stage of its development. For example, in forming the group leaders must "be inclusive and empowering. Make sure all the shareholders and stakeholders are involved. Seek diverse members to bring talent to the group. Model the processes of inclusion and shared leadership. Identify common purposes and targets of change" (Komives, 221). Although the OB text goes into leadership in later chapters, Exploring Leadership provides insight into group development's and Tuckman's relationship with one style of leadership.

Komives, Susan R. Et al. Exploring Leadership. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. San Francisco: 2007.

Kreitner, Robert. Organizational Behavior. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010.

Chapter 10

In this chapter, the book talks about roles and the different sections. These sections include: role episodes, role overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity. The section that stood out the most to me is role overload. Role overload seems to be something that a lot of students seem to be feeling these days, especially college students. Role overload is defined as ‘the total sum of what role senders expect of the focal person far exceeds what he or she is able to do.’ I’ve noticed that this tends to happen a lot to us, especially during midterms and finals week. We, as students, are overwhelmed with having to study, hold a job, and commit to a club or sports team. The expected roles of us to be students, employees, and active participants in sports or a club sometimes exceed our limits of handling those responsibilities. On top of those roles, we also have a social life role to fill as well. In order to overcome or avoid role overload, students should better manage their time by weighing which roles are more important for that particular situation and time. It sounds easier said than done, but things like this take lots of practice and mistakes in order to manage it.

On a website titled, Problems at the Work-Life Interface: Role Overload, it gathered information about Canadians feelings of role overload in 1991 and 2001. In 1991, 42% of Canadians reported to feeling role overload. However, in 2001, that percentage jumped to 56%, showing a 6% increase. The sources of role overload were divided into two categories: emotional/physical fatigue, and feeling time-crunched. Emotional/physical fatigue creates role overload because the people are trying to hard to balance all the roles in their life. Feeling time-crunched occurs because people feel that they have too many things to do in such a short amount of time. This website pointed out an important idea because I’ve noticed that our society and culture has turned into one where time is so important that it feels like we never have enough of it. Because we feel like we don’t have enough of time, we spend more time working than resting which leads to emotional/physical fatigue. A lot of people want to get out of this time-crunched feeling but they’re too busy keeping up with everyone else. If this cycle were to change, it would have to start with individuals.

Works Cited
Problems at the Work-Life Interface: Role Overload. 24 December 2004. 5 March 2010 (http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/lp/spila/wlb/vcswlb/25role_overload.shtml).

Goals

Although many people did their post on goals, I feel that it is important enough to elaborate further on. Goals are what drive people to do better and keep reaching. Many people think of goal-setting as an effective way to reach their aspirations and stay on track. Some people however, just think of goals as the destination you are driving to and not also the white lines guiding you there.

When setting a goal, it is best to make sure that they are actually obtainable. Although when setting an unobtainable goal, you may still strive to reach it, thus keeping you one track to bettering yourself in one way or another. The most effective way to succeed and reach your goals is to first set the goal, then it is important to plan out how you can reach your goal and to follow the steps laid out in the plan.

In the reading, there were two types of goal-setting discussed, these were performance-outcome goals, and learning goals. After some further research, I have come to the conclusion that both methods were good, and neither was a better method than the other. I do think that its important to use both though when making goals in the workplace.

Source: "Why Are Goals Important?." ToolKit.com. N.p., Jan. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.

Chapter 9: Goals

In chapter 9, goal setting is discussed, and two methods of goal setting is introduced: performance outcome goals and learning goals. Goal setting is definitely important in the work world due to meeting deadlines, getting assignments/ projects done, and improving/ moving up on your position. Goal setting helps workers focus on certain tasks and subjects making it easier to achieve and work harder; goal setting helps prioritize. When workers have a goal to reach, it gives them motivation to work towards that goal, and workers tend to work more persistent and harder. Also, through goals, workers may learn to apply knowledge and learn new aspects and work factors. Goal setting is seen as a motivational technique.

There are two methods of goal setting like I mentioned. I researched and found an article arguing that performing outcome goals are better than learning goals in the work world. In the article, it says that learning goals mainly focus on the individual and their use of knowledge and gaining new information and techniques. The article argues that in the work world, if someone is focused on learning goals, the company may deal with lagging of that employee due to their need for learning. On the other hand, the article then says that without learning goals, people involved in performance outcome goals may disregard the learning aspects involved in the job activity.

I think that in order to work efficiently and meaningfully, one must definitely set goals for themselves. Through goal setting, workers must learn in the process in order to reach their goals. I don't think one method is better than the other, and I do think that the methods must intertwine in order to work hard and grow in the work world.

source: http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/view_article.asp?intArticle_ID=634

Chapter 9: Thorndike's Law of Effect-Favorable Consequences are Repeated

In chapter nine the concept that resonated with me the most was Thorndike’s Law of Effect. In the early 1900’s a psychologist named Edward E. Thorndike created an experiment in his psychology laboratory. The authors of the book which are Kreitner and Knicki explained how Throndiek observed that a cat behaved wildly when placed inside a box (Kreitner and Knicki 263). This box had a secret trip lever which the cat accidently found out about; when placed back into the box the cat would go directly to the lever (Kreitner and Knicki 263). As a result, Thorndike came up with a law which says “behavior with favorable consequences tens to be repeated, while behavior with unfavorable consequences tends to disappear. In many cases this theory is correct because many of us don’t go complete a task unless there is something in it for us. We do not accomplish things unless we are sure we will encounter positive or expected results.

In the TED video, Dan Pink talks about the motivation and excitement that occurs within an individual when they are given rewards. The incentives that individuals are presented with are what move him or her, including a large group of individuals such as companies. An example is an article by Peter F. Eder which talks about the new competitive strategy of businesses to help increase their profit. It explains how companies are using sustainable wealth, “going green”, to help increase their sales. With this strategy companies are able to manipulate consumers into buying their products. As a result, many more companies are beginning to use this method.

Source: Eder, Peter F. "Profit Power Economics: A New Competitive Strategy for Creating Sustainable Wealth." World Future Review 1.5 (2009): 91-93. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

What role have goals played in your life?

I think that you can do nothing if you have no goal in your life. It is important for me to have goals, objectives; they enable me to go ahead. 

There are many ways to reach one goal. But if you decide to do well, you do not have that many options. My main goal is to act fairly and honestly. Therefore, all the objectives I have in my life will have to be fulfilled in fair and honest ways.

This main goal helps me to reach the smaller ones. I know what to do. 

For instance, before entering a business school in France, I did two years of preparatory school, which is very hard, because you hv-ave to study a lot. But I wanted to do that, and to succeed, because my goal was to pass the final exams, and I did not want to fail. I wanted to be fair with myself, not to be disappointed by myself. That's why I worked hard, and I succeeded in my exams. 

This goal I had to manage my studies helped me to work hard without losing hope. Though it was often difficult, I kept tis idea in my mind. The main point when you decide something is not to forge it. It helps you to go ahead.

360 Degree Feedback

In chapter 9, the concept of 360 degree feedback was introduced. 360 degree feedback is made up of anonymous, goal oriented reviews of fellow employees. Trust is the key behind this type of feedback because the work environment must be supportive in writing these types of reviews. The goal of 360 feedback is to review the performance rather than the personality of a person, and having this type of constructive feedback is very effective in any work environment. Another goal is to motivate employees to improve their performance by using the suggestions provided. Sometimes directly telling somebody what you think them or their performance is difficult, especially in a corporate environment and many organizations. 360 degree feedback provides a method of providing feedback which is not only based off of constructive criticism, but also applauding successes.

In another article I found on EBSCO, discussed whether or not 360 degree feedback, or really any type of employee feedback, should be simply used for development of employees, or whether it should be tied to administrative decisions such as compensation or work hours. Recently, the amount of firms which use employee feedback tied to these types of decisions has been increasing. It is questionable whether standard feedback systems are even good; that is, managers who review employees below them, a top down approach, rather than having every mixed level employee revies. One idea is combining the feedback outcomes, making them develop employee performance levels, as well as tying the feedback to salary and other job design factors.

Kreitner, Robert. Organizational Behavior. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010.

Maylett, Tracy. "360-Degree Feedback Revisited: The Transition From Development to Appraisal." Compensation & Benefits Review 41.5 (2009): 52-59. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

Chpater 9

Chapter 9 talked a bit about goals and motivation like in chapter 8, but went more in depth and talked about positive reinforcement. Being able to work in a friendly/ family environment give an employee excellent motivation to do well for the company. The book said if the company takes care of the employee, then the employee is going to take care of the company which is very true. I believe that it helps employees be more productive when having that trust with their company.Chapter 9 also talked about positive and negative reinforcement. Everyone has a different way of doing well, and sometimes if you give negative reinforcement to a person who needs a positive way of doing better it’s only going to weaken his or hers performance, especially at a young age. This article talked about coaches singling out a player and other teammates also do the same to the same kid, but the kid who’s getting singled out is more often worried what his peers think rather than the coach. The father then helps the son by using the negative feedback and turning it around to make the kid feel better about himself and to use the feedback to make himself work harder. http://www.youthsportspsychology.com/youth_sports_psychology_blog/?p=33

Chapter 9

One of the concepts discussed in this chapter was the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are those that we can get from others, such as money or social recognition. Intrinsic rewards, on the other hand, are rewards that we feel inside of us. Examples of this include sense of accomplishment or a feeling of competence. To be honest, it always seemed to me that extrinsic rewards were the ones that motivated us to work harder. After watching that 18 minute video a week ago, though, I realized that intrinsic rewards may play a bigger role than we think.
According to a research study done by Judy Cameron and W. David Pierce, rewards immensely helped motivate teams and people to work harder. In their study, they decided to test how it would be if a team never got a compliment nor rewards for the task they have done. The results showed that the quality of work decreased over time. At the same time, both Cameron and Pierce pointed out, rewards (moreso extrinsic than anything else) could be seen as something else rather than positive. “Promises linked to noncontingent reward may function as bribes rather than positive incentives.” (Cameron and Pierce) In a way, they were basically saying that extrinsic rewards, especially promising them to workers, did not really help bring about more positive energy to the group.
In my opinion, though most extrinsic rewards sound very enticing, it is that feeling of accomplishment that I feel when we finish a job that truly motivates me to work harder.

Source: Cameron, Judy and W. David Pierce. "Reinforcement, Reward, and Intrinsic Motivation: A Meta-Analysis." Review of Educational Research (1994): pp. 362-423.

Chapter 9 Goal Setting

One of the most intriguing sections of chapter 9 was the section about goal setting. I was shocked to learn that 56% of working don't understand what their organizations goal is and 81% don't have clearly defined goals. How on earth are you supposed do work hard and do a job correctly if you're not sure what you are working towards? Employees who clearly understand what their organizations goals are know what strategic actions they need to take in order to be more productive and efficient. I also learned that there are two types of goal-setting methods, performance outcome goals and learning goals. Performance outcome goals target a specific outcome goal i.e. "we need to sell 10,000 reams of paper this quarter." Where as learning goals focus on learning and creativity, i.e. "Lets come up with new ideas on how to sell more paper." In doing more research on the two, I learned that both types of goal setting are used, just in different scenarios. "Outcome goals are used more when confronting a simple task, where as the learning goals are used to face complex tasks." This is mainly because when faced with a complex task, we don't always know what the outcome will be, so we try our best to learn from it.


http://gom.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/2/236. Latham, Gary

The Check-In, Check-Out Process

Chapter 9 explores how the feedback loop increases positive communication and promotes betterment in the way a business is run. By listening to employees' concerns and ideas, management can alter the way the business is run in order to increase employee satisfaction and overall job performance. This idea is used in our class as well. John Stayton takes our advice into account and revises the syllabus accordingly. Feedback should not just be a once-in-awhile occurance. It needs to be an ongoing process so that there can be ongoing change and improvement within a firm, or classroom.

An article titled "The Check, Connect, and Expect Program: A Targeted, Tier 2 Intervention in the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Model", the effects of a type of feedback loop are explored. Students who are having difficulty functioning within a school environment or just need some help were introduced to a system called 'Basic' where they met daily with 'coaches' who helped identify the areas they needed and wanted to improve in, supplied feedback and advice, and helped track their progress. One component of the feedback loop they used was: "[students] then rate their own performance on expectations and compare their selfscores with their teacher’s scores. The goal is for students to accurately evaluate their own behavior by scoring themselves within one point of their teacher" (Cheney 4). At the conclusion of the study, they found that students performed better and were more socially and academically responsible. By identifying their own goals and receiving support they needed or by listening to constructive criticsm, students became driven to perform better. Such ongoing, constant communication about what is working, what is not, what other issues need to be addressed, what new goals are being set, etc. lead to positive outcomes in not only schools and classrooms, but in firms as well.

Source:
Cheney, Douglas, et al. "The Check, Connect, and Expect Program: A Targeted, Tier 2 Intervention in the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Model." Preventing School Failure 54.3 (2010): 152-158. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.

Building Blocks of Intrinsic Rewards & Motivation

In the TED video, Dan Pink talks about the ineffectiveness of extrinsic motivators in comparison to intrinsic motivators. While he gives us reasons as to why we are usually less prone to exceed expectations with an extrinsic motivator being offered, he doesn't touch base as to why intrinsic motivators serve us better. In Chapter 9, the book partially focuses on this by using Thomas's Building Blocks for Intrinsic Rewards and Motivation.

In "The Effects of Self-Esteem, Task Label, and Performance Feedback on Task Liking and Intrinsic Motivation," Tang and Linda create a study that observes the effects of Self-Esteem on American undergraduates. Results showed that the more positive feedback the students got, the higher their self esteems were, thus leading them to enjoy and complete the task on a higher level.

When looking at the four building blocks (choice, competence, meaningfulness, and progress), it seems as if intrinsic motivators are the only factors in how well you perform in the workplace. What we often forget to take into account, however, is those who control the workplace environment. If managers do not understand this concept, they may stifle the possibility of intrinsic motivation in the workplace. A lot of people believe that extrinsic motivators are the most effective in getting ahead. They may not be able to realize that they have the choice to find something more meaningful in what they do if managers don't realize the meaningfulness in what they, themselves, do.

Source: Thomas Li-ping, Tang, and Linda Sarsfield-Baldwin. "The Effects of Self-Esteem, Task Label, and Performance Feedback on Task Liking and Intrinsic Motivation." Journal of Social Psychology 131.4 (1991): 567-572. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.

Chapter 9

In the chapter, feedback serves the function of being instructional and motivational. Instructional feedback clarifies a role or teaches a new behavior. An example of this would be that my boss instructs me to make the counselors’ projects a priority over Admission’s projects. Therefore, when I check into work, I should ask for projects from the admissions counselors before taking up any jobs or projects from the other Admission’s staff. Motivational feedback gives or promises a reward for work done by pairing specific challenging goals with specific feedback results. A good example would be when I was given a project to arrange IQ cards from hundreds of different students into same-school groups. I was rewarded a week later with praise from the counselor and a treat for completing the task in a short amount of time.

In an online blog, ‘Motivation Booster Shots: 2 Tips on Motivational Feedback,’ it provides two important tips on motivational feedback. First tip is that if you’re giving positive feedback to someone, your feedback should only be positive. If you include something negative in it as well, the negative feedback will stick more than the positive one. Tip number two is to give feedback using descriptive language to avoid sounding patronizing. These two tips are good advice for all us when we’re giving motivational feedback to our peers in school and in our future jobs. By knowing what to do and not to do, we will become more effective people when providing this type of feedback.

Works Cited
Fairweather, Alan. Motivation Booster Shots. 9 October 2009. 26 February 2010 .

"SMART" Goals

“SMART” goals will allow an individual to reach their set goals. “SMART” is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, results oriented, and time bound. Goals should be stated precisely, not vague. A measuring device will allow an individual to assess the extent to which the goal is accomplished. Make sure to set attainable goals that are realistic, yet challenging. End-results should support the accomplishment of your goals. In order to make your goals results orientated, start with the word to, followed by a verb such as complete, acquire, or produce. Time bound allows an individual to set a date for completion.

In the article, “Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals”, by Paul J. Meyer, it explores a similar tactic and approach to setting your goals. In order to set specific goals, an individual must answer the six W questions: who, what, when, where, why, and which. The ability to measure your goals allows people to stay on track and reach a sense of exhilaration for being on your way to achieving your goal. When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true, which become attainable for you. In this article, R represents realistic, not results orientated. A realistic goal is one where an individual believe they can achieve it through willingness and work. Lastly, the article says that T stands for both time and tangible. Time frames are important to get your goals accomplished faster and tangibility lets you experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. The importance of setting SMART goals will allow you to advance when you are setting personal goals, job orientated goals, or learning goals.

Meyer, Paul J. "Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals." Top Achievement Articles. Goal Setting Articles. Web. 26 Feb. 2010. .