Self-Determination: What Motivates You To Work
Larry G. Maguire
Work & Business Psychologist specialising in the performance & wellbeing of people at work
Self-determination is an important concept when considering the human motivation to work and perform. Self-determination theory (SDT)?attempts to explain human motivation, and according to Edward Deci, it is “the energy for action. It gets us up in the morning and moves us through the day.” Motivation allows us to make personal choices based on survival, integration, and work with others and allows us to feel we have control over the direction of our lives. In this article, we explore motivation to work from the perspective of self-determination theory and look at how internally generated motivation is healthier and more sustainable than externally generated motivation. In this sense, commanding our own work, which is the central aim of most Sunday Letters writing, seems consistent with self-determination theory.
Self-Determination and Working For Yourself
Many adult working people feel at odds with their work. I know this not only because I hear it anecdotally in people's everyday descriptions of how they feel about work, but because many of you reported it directly in a piece of research I had published this year with Dr John Hyland in the DBS Business Review . A large portion of respondents to the question, "how do you feel about work?" reported a negative relationship with their work. In fact, of all of the groups examined, none were satisfied with work. Of course, many individuals reported loving their work. They apparently wouldn't do anything else, some even for no pay.
However, in spite of the "best efforts" of corporations, HR departments, unions, government policy etc., many people remain at odds with their work. In the mildest of cases, work fails to deliver satisfaction and meaning. At worst, work is violence against the person. Studs Terkel, in his 1974 book Working put it best.
This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence - to the spirit as well as to the body. It is about ulcers as well as accidents, about shouting matches as well as fistfights, about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. It is, above all (or beneath all), about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us.
Sunday Letters exists to promote the idea that every one of us can find and perform work that engages and fulfils us rather than it being a means to an end. We can become the active agent in command of our own work. We don't have to do work we hate. After all, life is meant to provide us with meaning and purpose, and anything less than that is an insult to our very existence. You and I were not made to be cogs in the machine of commercial enterprise. We were not made to clock in and clock out and merely press widgets in the space between. But we do, and the contemporary workplace, despite free coffee, haircuts, foosball tables and colourful decor, treats us as though we are.
Introduction to Self-Determination Theory
In pretty much every area of our lives, motivation is a key component. It is the feeling and intention to move and act on something or not. Parents, bosses, managers, teachers and so on wonder how they can influence our behaviour towards ends they believe are valuable. We, in turn, struggle to find the energy and effort to persist in many of these tasks. Those who would wish to command our behaviour sugar the medicine and salt the oats, so to speak. They offer rewards or punishments and impose grades and evaluations to direct our actions. And through a lifetime of reward and punishment, our behaviour is influenced less by internal aspects and more by external.
As external demands impose themselves on us, we are often more concerned with how others value us than how we value ourselves. But all the while, we are motivated internally, too, by interests, curiosity, and personal values. These intrinsic motivations are not always rewarded externally. Nevertheless, given the right environment, they can sustain our creativity and effort for years. Self-Determination Theory attempts to explain the dynamics of the interaction between these intrinsic and extrinsic forces at?play?within us.
Edward Deci, one of the original authors of self-determination theory,?suggests?that psychologists, economists, and ordinary people have traditionally considered motivation a unitary concept. That is to say, they see motivation as something that differs only in the amount we have or do not have. Like coins in your pocket, you can have more or less motivation at your disposal and how much you have determines your results. The people who would command our behaviour forward a simplistic idea of motivation that suggests performing a task sufficiently merely requires us to muster the quantity of motivation necessary. And if we can't, as the behaviourist idea goes, we can be persuaded through influence and stimulation.
This quantitative idea of motivation is somewhat flawed, Deci suggests. It is not the quantity behaviour that is most important, he says; it is the quality. And we can't get to that by looking at motivation in quantitative terms.
What is this thing called motivation? It's the energy for action. It's what gets you up in the morning and what moves you through the day - Edward Deci
Self-Determination and The Human Organism
Self-Determination Theory assumes that human beings are active organisms with evolved tendencies toward growth, mastery, and integration of new experiences into a coherent sense of self. These natural tendencies toward growth and development are automatic, however. The social context is an essential factor, and it can either support or thwart our development. And so, there exists a dialectic relationship between the organism and its social context. This is the basis for SDT’s predictions about human behaviour, experience, and development.
SDT speaks of psychological “nutriments” for healthy human development and functioning, and we realise these through the fulfilment of basic psychological needs for Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness. To the extent that these psychological needs are satisfied on an ongoing basis, people develop and function along healthy lines. However, if these psychological needs are thwarted, people will more likely experience the absence of well-being and sub-optimal functioning.
The darker aspects of human behaviour, such as psychopathology, prejudice, and aggression, are understood as reactions to thwarting of basic psychological needs. In other words, where our basic psychological needs are not supported, we develop compensatory or defensive strategies. We literally have to fight for psychological survival. In overly controlling, rejecting, critical, and negative situations, we are more likely to become self-protecting, self-focused, defensive, aggressive, and antisocial.
Ryan and Deci's theory of self-determination refers to these basic psychological needs as proximal satisfactions and says that they are, in the most profound sense, the essence of human thriving. The research suggests that in all social contexts, be that work or?play, where there is support for our satisfactions, we express our curiosity, creativity, productivity, and compassion for others to the highest levels.
Autonomy
We describe Autonomy as the human need to self-regulate our experiences and actions. Autonomy is human functioning associated with volition, congruence, and integration. However, it is not the same as independence or self-reliance. Instead, the hallmark of autonomy is that our behaviour is self-endorsed according to our genuine interests and values. It is in effect that we are moved internally, and we are in control of our own lives.
Competence
Albert Bandura suggested that competence is a core aspect of human motivation?4 . From Self Determination Theory's perspective, competence refers to our basic need to feel effective and masterful in a given discipline or field of work. However, competence is open to thwarting. Where we lack the skills for a given task, criticism is heavy, or our abilities are undermined, competence can easily wane.
Relatedness
Relatedness or Connection refers to our feelings of social connection. We find relatedness in communion with others in work, sport, community, religion or other social contexts. It is a feeling of being cared for and caring for others and is found in making a contribution towards an initiative that we consider larger than us.
SDT suggests that these three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are essential, not only for optimal motivation but for well-being also. Deci and Ryan argue that many forms of psychopathology have their roots in childhood deprivation of basic psychological needs. The authors argue that perfectionism in adulthood can be a compensatory mechanism for the absence of love through competence. Antisocial behaviour can be a reflection of a controlling and cold childhood starved of the need for relatedness.
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Controlled Versus Autonomous Motivation
Controlled Motivation
A central teaching of Self Determination Theory is the difference between controlled motivation and autonomous motivation. Controlled motivation is a carrot-and-stick approach involving seduction, coercion, and manipulation of conditions and factors. You feel pressure to perform and act, which is usually accompanied by adverse stress and anxiety. No surprise then that these experiences have negative consequences for your performance and well-being. Ok, you might endure these conditions for a certain period, expecting the pressure to go away once you just get this thing done. But in this scenario, we create expectations and set a precedent, so the cycle of reward and punishment persists. The results are usually chronic effects on our well-being.
Additionally, with controlled motivation, we tend to want to get the job done quickly, either to get away from it or towards the reward. So we cut corners. For certain aspects of personality, this situation is gratifying. People who are materially motivated and value applause over effort usually thrive in a results-driven environment but often at the expense of others. There are countless examples of this from the corporate world;?Lee Iacocca and the Ford Pinto ,?Lord Browne and BP ,?3M and the Teflon scandal , or?Boeing's 737 Max . Our over-reliance on behaviourist reward and punishment methods of motivation has delivered us short-term material gains but at the expense of the long term.
Autonomous Motivation
When we are autonomously motivated, we experience complete volition, willingness and choice about what we are doing. Deci says that in the doing of the task or performance, we are endorsing the doing of it. There are two particular aspects to autonomous motivation. The first reflects our interest and enjoyment in the task and suggests that if we are interested in something and enjoy it, the motivation to do it is already present. In its purest form and in the absence of other influencing factors, there is no need for an external push. Children give us every example we need to demonstrate this. We don't need to motivate a three-year-old to play; they just do it. Driven by interest and curiosity and sustained by their enjoyment, they are self-motivated.
The second form of autonomous motivation concerns our deeply ingrained values and beliefs. For example, if there is something to which we hold great importance, being environmentally responsible, we will be more than willing to engage in behaviour that aligns with that. The motivation to act is already there, waiting to exercise itself. Both forms of autonomous motivation have an intrinsic source – they come from us easily without the need for external prompting. Hobbies fall into this bracket. We generally engage in these things for their own sake: gardening, writing, storytelling, dancing, and singing. Deci says that hundreds of research studies have shown that we are more innovative and creative when we are autonomously motivated. You'll be better at solving problems and making decisions, and you will perform better at work. Additionally, your emotional state will be more positively oriented.
I think most of us really want to offer the world something of quality, something that the world will consider good or important. And, that's really the enemy, because it's not up to us whether what we do is any good. And if history has taught us anything, it is that the world is an extremely unreliable critic. The time of our life is so short, are we spending it doing what's important to us?
Ethan Hawke, Actor
How To Support Autonomy
Now that we understand the results for individuals and organisations are enhanced when people are autonomously motivated, it brings us to ask, how can we be more so? Edward Deci says that we must begin by considering their perspective. When we understand the internal framework of understanding of another, we can move forward in a mutually beneficial direction. Without that understanding, we are fighting for control, and motivation relies on the inferior carrot-and-stick approach. We might achieve short-term results; however, trust and respect suffer.
Understanding the other's perspective offers them a sense of choice, of being involved in the decision-making process. It supports their freedom to explore possible solutions and become self-starting. Instead of people being a means to an end, there become part of the process. Altogether, it is a human-to-human relationship rather than a human-to-machine one. When we respect other people's autonomy and provide them with a meaningful rationale for action?5 , there is the opportunity for them to internalise it and make it part of their value system.
What Happens When Our Autonomy Is Supported?
When teachers are autonomously motivated, their students learn more profoundly and conceptually. Their students enjoy learning more than they do otherwise, and they are more confident in themselves.
When doctors and medical staff support their patients' autonomy, those patients recover better and live healthier lives. Feeling responsible for their health, patients take their medications more reliably and eat healthier diets. They exercise regularly too.
When sports coaches are more autonomy-supportive of their athletes, research shows their athletes are more inclined to increase their efforts and feel better about themselves. Research also found that athletes worked better together as a team.
In workplace settings, research shows that when bosses support staff autonomy, performance results improve, and absenteeism and staff turnover reduce. There is very little SDT research in self-employment; however, it may be reasonable to suggest that intrinsic motivation is high amongst people working for themselves. Their need for Autonomy and Competency may be satisfied, but perhaps Relatedness suffers given the isolated nature of self-employment.
Deci says that although implicit hierarchical relationships exist in many of these situations, we also have peer relationships that operate on the same level. Unless our relationships serve our need for autonomy, Deci says, we won't have a relationship. His take-home message from thirty years of self-determination theory research is that we must not ask, “how do we motivate others”. Instead, we must ask, “how do we create the conditions where other people will motivate themselves”.
Deci's answer is Autonomy Support.
If other people do not understand our behaviour-so what? Their request that we must only do what they understand is an attempt to dictate to us. If this is being ‘asocial’ or ‘irrational’ in their eyes, so be it. Mostly they resent our freedom and our courage to be ourselves. We owe nobody an explanation or an accounting, as long as our acts do not hurt or infringe on them. - Eric Fromm
Controlling Your Own Work
Although we can't guarantee it, working for oneself can be a route to becoming an active agent in our own life and work. But before that can happen, there are certain aspects of being that must be formed in us. We must adopt a certain concept of self and relationship to the world around us that allows us to function fully. Controlling one's own work does not mean that life will be finally rosy, and all the things that cause you grief will disappear. Instead, working for yourself will bring challenges that you have likely never experienced before.
Working for oneself, life will not suddenly be filled with satisfied desires and positive feelings. Hedonism is a one-sided idea of life, and to pursue well-being in this form is, according to Aristotle, “a vulgar ideal,” making us slaves to our own desires. Instead, Aristotle suggested that we can find true happiness only in our expression of excellence and virtue – in the doing well of things worth doing.
So, you might ask, what's the point of going headlong into the challenge of self-employment? Why take on more discomfort than what I feel in my current job? Well, it is a case of pursuing autonomy – the feeling of being in control and having the power to decide the direction of your life regardless of the short-term challenges. Self-determination Theory takes the view that we can best understand well-being through thriving or being fully functioning. This means understanding that no matter what work looks like, and no matter whom we work for, we must embrace the challenge of it regardless.
To do work that engages our full self and provides fulfilment rather than material gain is the first step in that process.
This article is from the Sunday Letters archive and is republished here with minor edits for readers on LinkedIn.?Subscribe here ?to support The Sunday Letters Journal and receive each new edition fresh out of the packet every weekend.
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