Question

This question is related to the book Drive by Daniel Pink. Three motivation drivers that he brought up in the book are: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.

Do you believe Pink’s “three elements” may at times conflict with one another when applied to the context of people working in organizations? For example, could an environment in which employees are given significant autonomy threaten levels of mastery or an organization building a collective sense of purpose? Or, could an emphasis on building a collective sense of purpose threaten individual mastery? Please explain your thoughts.

Answer 1

Let us first understand the 3 motivations drivers ie Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose:

Autonomy- Autonomy is the need or desire to be self-directed. According to Pink, one can be highly motivated if he or she is self-directed. He also states that one is motivated to think creatively if self-directed. Examples can be IT or technology companies. To innovate or to create a new product, they need to give autonomy to their employees to think creatively, be on their own ie self-directed, have the freedom to generate and try new ideas. It is very true that one can innovate only if he or she has the freedom to think independently and on his or her own.

Mastery- It is the desire to keep improving or getting better skills. One who is motivated by mastery will seek continuous improvement. He or she will see limitless potential in himself or herself. He or she will always want to keep on adding new skills, keep performing better and better. For example, a cyclist who is motivated by mastery will keep on trying to improve his stamina and speed. He or she will keep practising so that keeps on improving.

Purpose- It is the desire to see the bigger picture, to understand what meaning and importance does the work done have. When employees see a strong purpose or meaning or importance in the work they are doing, they will feel more encouraged and motivated to do the work. For achieving this, many organizations link an employees' goals to organization goals. With this, the employees feel that there is a big importance of their work.

The 3 motivation drivers should generally not conflict with each other, as they are very distinct in nature. When autonomy is given, employees would be self-directed. They would now want to do better which would further create the second motivational driver ie Mastery. Also if the employees see the purpose or importance of their work, the third motivational driver ie Purpose shall also come into the picture. Employees would be now very highly motivated as they can do work on their own, they can keep getting better and they are also making big contributions to the organization.

Thus, it can be understood that the three motivational drivers actually complement each other, and not conflict with each other. One driver may lead to another and so on. However, organizations need to thoughtful while implementing the three drivers. The process should be a carefully crafted one that not just promotes motivation but also employee harmony. This is important because the same level of autonomy cannot be given to an employee doing research work versus another one doing routine work. Hence, organizations should carefully and thoughtfully plan to implement the 3 drivers as per the organizational and employee needs. A good implementation of the plan would result in great employee performance, organizational performance as well as employee harmony.