Carrots and Sticks
In the book, Drive: The Surpising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink, rewards and punishments as motivators or "carrots and sticks" are discussed at length. Here are the "Seven Deadly Flaws" of Carrots and Sticks (p.57) according to Pink:
- They can extinguish intrinsic motivation
- They can diminish performance
- They can crush creativity
- They can crowd out good behavior
- They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior
- They can become addictive
- They can foster short-term thinking
In higher education, I see many of the seven deadly flaws of carrots and sticks in the tenure process for faculty. The carrot in the tenure process is a guarantee of effectively permanent employment + academic freedom. The stick is not awarding tenure, which gives a faculty member an additional year before separating from a college or university. Although I see the allure of a secure position and therefore, paycheck, however a common critique of the tenure process is that tenured faculty are not productive, have no incentive to innovate, and can bully junior faculty. Post-tenure review can occur every three-five years depending on the situation but it is often thought of as "toothless" since it is extremely difficult to fire faculty, especially those that are in unionized environments. In my new position as an interim library dean, I will be reviewing faculty and staff performance for the first time. I try to give my staff constant feedback instead of relying solely on the annual review. Pink argues that carrots can be effective for tedious tasks if they are unexpected - I'm looking forward to trying that out.
Autonomy
Some of my best work occurred in my first librarian position at CSU San Marcos where I had a great deal of autonomy with my research agenda. I accrued one day a month to devote to research and made additional time to attend and present at library conferences. Although I was required to do research as part of the tenure process, I was able to choose what I wanted to study, how to study it, and choose research partners. With my collaborators, I had the opportunity to present research on instant messaging in Sweden, publish a few peer-reviewed articles in library journals, and lead discussions at library conferences. In addition to the autonomy, I had financial support from my institution and supervisor and was given time out of the office to accomplish these tasks.
In my current environment at a community college, faculty are not required to publish and present in order to get tenure. I do not have the same extrinsic motivators but I have continued to submit conference proposals and collaborate with my CSUSM colleagues though to a lesser extent. I face new challenges as a library administrator such as allocating resources with a reduced budget, personnel, and overseeing the day-to-day overall library operations. I don't have a set schedule but I'm checking email when I wake up at 6:30am and through the evening. I deal with issues and emergencies as they emerge and squeeze in everything else around it. Although my work has completely changed, I continue to have high intrinsic motivation.
