HISTORY OF HUMAN MOTIVATION

Imagine a puppy impatiently sitting in the middle of a basketball court. It focuses on you, wanting to engage, anticipating interaction. There is a single door entrance to this room and you want the puppy exit through it.

There are two basic ways you can accomplish this.

One, you can chase the puppy hoping to corral it to the door. You probably will expend large amounts of energy running around the court as the puppy darts, anxious to please, wondering if you’re playing or angry. Eventually after much trial and error, energy spent and possibly nerves tattered you get the puppy to exit through the door.

But another approach is to simply stand at the door entrance with the puppy’s favorite treat. Immediately, it approaches you and exits the court through the door. Minimal energy spent. Nerves calm. Both you and the puppy feeling accomplished and gratified. A “win-win” outcome.

Is this cheating? Is there some nefarious content in the second approach? Did you misrepresent yourself to the puppy?

So, what is the “treat” for human beings? Is it just the promises of increased salary, promotion, commendations? Are there motivations that apply to work being performed by an individual, while performing it?

Recall, we share 95% of are DNA structure with our canine friends. But that remaining 5% makes our “treat” much more complicated! Its basis is instead a compound of motivations making it more difficult to understand and categorize.

It has been my endeavor to understand this compound. And how it applies to what we call “Programs” and “Projects”. (These terms are used synonymously these days, as I will in my text.) I will discuss in future blogs that these team constructs have only been around about 100 years.

I started by reviewing research on the motivations of prehistoric humans, defined as those that lived before 10,000 years ago. I suspected this ancient starting point would address our most fundamental human motivations. I was surprised to find that this research focused instead on regional human development and the geographic movement of human groups with emphasis on access to favorable climate and natural resources to survive. I could not find an attempt to summarize the most basic motivations that might commonly apply to all prehistoric peoples, and I presumed us.

I was then surprised by research unveiling the subtle but profoundly important emergence of special human capabilities starting about 50,000 years ago.

Human beings are a magnificently adaptable mammal! Modern analysis indicates that in just the last 50,000 years Homo sapiens evolved major changes to expand their survivability. Mostly in increases of physical dexterity, inventiveness, communication methods, and intellect.

During this time, humans developed sheltered group dwellings, agriculture, and more defined rules of group conduct. Starting 10,000 years ago, artistic expression became apparent. In only the last 5500 years alphabet-based writing began to appear. Before this time, writing used hieroglyphics.

As will be discussed in future blogs, strict Program/Project structures have been in existence only about 100 years. Before this time, the team structure that appears to have been consistently applied throughout the world was basic top-down military like structure, starting with the Akkadian Empire, established 2334 BCE.

As a result, rigorous scientific-based study of motivations in program teams has only been recent. This became my starting point for studying what the “treat” is for us human beings in modern teams. I then compared these paradigms by observing how well they support what are widely agreed to be best leadership practices in industry.

Contemporary human motivation theories I will introduce include, the Herzberg Factor, Hawthorne Affect, Expectancy, Three-Dimensional Attribution, X and Y Leadership, Self Determination, Maslow Human Motivation Hierarchy.

I look forward to discussion of how applicable these are, what their impacts are on organization and leadership, and more.

Next post I will share what I’ve observed to be the special benefits of not just providing profitable team performance, but being the first-place performer.