Money Grubbing Idealists

I am amazed at some of the ego-boosting measures that go on in even supposedly hard-headed organizations. I signed up for an organization and a few weeks later, and admin specialist handed me an "award" for signing up.

Apparently, some people still haven't heard of motivation crowding. That is the phenomenon that people can only operate on so many motives before one has to disregard some. Even if all motives draw one in favor of one action, some motives will be forgotten.

If you try to recruit people based on honor, that is one motivation. If you try to recruit them bases on self-improvement, that is another. If you try to recruit them based on financial benefits, that is yet another motive. At some point, constant iterations of all of these will crowd another out.

If you try to motivate with a nice salary, college tuition, bonuses, service, adventure, and self-improvement, the theme most iterated will be viewed as the focus for participating. Even if one motive is very strong, its relative weight will decline with every instance that another motive is focused upon. The result is that if you try to motivate people based on money, you will will have people primarily focused on money even if they joined for other reasons.

In some professions that may not be such a bad thing but in others, the psychological side is much more important as one faces extreme situations. The problem is reduced if the benefits are given but not frequently mentioned.

Sadly, this escapes even the more professional organizations and the variety of effects this creates is interesting to watch but not to work in.