Are Carrots and Sticks Obsolete?

Most of us studied Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (right) in college.  It was either in management class or psychology class or both. As applied to Business Management, humans have higher level needs that go beyond simply getting paid.  We achieve higher levels of performance when we are fulfilling higher level needs. As we understand the higher levels, we are more likely to tap into our people’s intrinsic motives.

We gained this book knowledge. Then we got into the workplace neglected to apply this knowledge in favor of more capitalistic principles and to serve impatient bosses and unrealistic goals. American managers assume that money and fear are the quickest path to meeting the goals for the next month or quarter.  Managers invest far more time devising extrinsic financial incentives than they do addressing intrinsic.  Who has time for that touchy-feely stuff anyway?  With the use of that adjective, managers discard scientific fact in favor of machismo.