Masters Research Proposal Assignment Dissertation

Masters Research Proposal Assignment - Dissertation Example Some empirical research provides evidence in support of such an assumption (Jenkins, Mitra, Gupta & Shaw, 1998; Brown and Heywood, 2002), others however, within the realms of psychology indicate that incentives can in fact have adverse effects on performance (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Deci & Ryan 2003). A growing and more substantial body of research and studies provide evidence of conflict between intrinsic motivation (a person’s own motivation for undertaking a task) and extrinsic motivation (external and conditionally imposed motivation for undertaking a task) (Benabou & Tirole, 2003; Holmstrom & Milgrom, 1991; Kreps 1997). Motivational theorists consider that for each and every thing we do (behavior and actions) there is a fundamental reason or cause; in other words it influences our behaviour’, our choice of behaviour and its permanence, and the amount of effort put into it (Delmar & Wiklund, 2008). They also believe that ap preciation of the causes will enable prediction and thus allow for influence on those behaviors or actions (Franken, 2002). Current research and theories have evolved and advanced since those of Skinner (1938) who considered performance based on motivations from a behavioral viewpoint, while Maslow (1943; 1954) extended his needs hierarchy to accommodate motivation in terms of people seeking to satisfy needs within a systematic order that progresses from physiological, to safety, to social, to esteem and finally self-actualization. His needs hierarchy accounted for the significance of satisfying the needs of employees if motivation was to be induced and fostered (Nelson, 2009). Motivational research today focuses mainly on the determination of what spurs motivation - what stimulus is required to increase motivation - and takes both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation into consideration. Intrinsic motivation according to Oudeyer & Kaplon (2007) is best understood when contrasted with extrinsic motivation, which relates to any activity that is undertaken because of some of kind of reward or discrete outcome. Intrinsic motivation by contrastive definition refers to activities that are undertaken solely for pleasure with no price or value imposed on it (Ryan & Deci, 2000). An important distinction however, is that intrinsic and extrinsic do not mean the same as internal and external and are not synonymous. Internal motivations receive internal rewards, whereas external motivation receives external rewards; intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation however is not determined by where the reward comes from but on the type of reward that is given (Oudeyer & Kaplon, 2007). The theory of incentives has traditionally assumed that concrete or intangible -money, power or investments- (Hoy & Miskel, 1991) rewards given for specific activities with the intent of their re-occurrence will manifest motivation and in turn output; to some, this translates as the more money giv en by the employer the more effort there will be from the employee (Festre & Garrouste, n.d.). Researchers such as Benabou & Tirole (2003) have shown that monetary or tangible rewards are not always the best means for obtaining employee effort; they claim that intrinsic incentives can be ‘crowded out’ by extrinsic incentives (p.490). They further explain how incentives based on performance can have adverse effects on the perceptions of the activity or of a