Use Alec's story on pages 143-144 in the Hoffman textbook and write a similar scenario that combines intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

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Home >Human Resource Management homework help >Use Alec's story on pages 143-144 in the Hoffman textbook and write a similar scenario that combines intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

You say to-may-toe, I say to-mah-toe 143

Before illuminating the etiology and consequences of motivational orientation, I would like to introduce you to the motivational enigma known as Alec Torelli, who is profiled in detail in Chapter 9 (p. 251). Before I met Alec, his wife Ambra informed me that “Alec regularly travels the world following high-stakes poker action” (A. Meda, personal communication, November 20, 2013). On any given day, Alec can be found in one of the many opulent casinos throughout the world, playing in lucrative tournaments in exotic locales, such as Macau, China, or Monaco (in Monte Carlo’s Grand Casino of James Bond fame). As a professional gambler, you might quickly surmise that Alec is highly extrinsically motivated, especially considering that he has twice played at the finals table in the famed Las Vegas World Series of Poker, where the payout to the winner is over $10,000,000! As emphasized in Chapter 1, however, snap judgments and quick inferences concerning the meaning of behaviors should always be tempered. In this case, the extrinsic inference concerning Alec is only marginally true.

I described Alec as “enigmatic” because contrary to intuition, he does not play in high-risk, high-reward poker tournaments for money alone. When asked why he participated, Alec emphasized the opportunity for perfect play and the potentially boosting feelings of efficacy as strong motivators of his behavior. Alec stated,

When I am at the table, I feel I am in control of my own destiny. Win or lose, nothing or no one gets in my head. I am totally focused on the outcome. I decide if I should fold, raise, or pass; it’s my choice. I use my advanced knowledge of mathematics and assess the probability of winning; what decision should be made is usually crystal clear. Obviously, winning is important for my career, but being right is more important for my state of mind.

A. Torelli, personal communication, May 13, 2014

He added, “Losing is part of the game. Over time, everyone gets dealt the same hands; knowing when to fold is the difference between the ultimate winners and losers.”

Analyzing Alec’s motives for immersing himself in the risky career of a tourna- ment poker player shows an obvious connection to extrinsic factors. Would Alec play if there were no promise of economic gain? Probably not. Does he engage in the behavior for extrinsic reasons alone? Also unlikely. While the monetary gains from winning tournaments are immense, Alec realizes his quest for control by consciously regulating his willingness to engage in playing and by making in-game tactical decisions. Alec’s behavior can be best understood through the broad theo- retical lens of self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000) introduced in Chapter 2 (p. 36). SDT contends that individuals strive to create a unified view of the self that integrates with their perceptions of their conceptual and social world. Individuals elect to immerse themselves in environments that may either impede or accelerate integration. The foundation of organismic integration (one compo- nent of SDT) suggests that reciprocal and harmonious relationships between the psychic self and the external world are based upon the satisfaction of three basic

Hoffman, Bobby. Motivation for Learning and Performance, Elsevier Science & Technology, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=2074776. Created from amridge on 2021-02-17 13:16:12.

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Motivation for Learning and Performance144

psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2002; also see Principle #11, p. 35). For Alec, the needs for autonomy and competence are revealed in his answer to the “why do you play” question. When Alec plays, he pre- sumes to be in control of his environment. His choice of vocation provides the social context that allows him the opportunity to fulfill his needs while concurrently allow- ing him to develop more positive views of the self as he meets his playing objec- tives (aka, winning). Alec feels competent when his choices are correct; he feels autonomous because he believes it is his own volition, not the cards, that ultimately determines his seemingly extrinsically-focused destiny. Alec’s orientation, although perhaps statistically infrequent, is supported by neurological evidence indicating that individuals exhibit similar biopsychological reactions to materialistic reward as they do when having the perception of making a correct choice (Satterthwaite et al., 2012).

While Alec’s behavior may seem circumstantially logical, according to SDT, motives are not fixed but, instead, operate under a continuum that predicts a range of behaviors. Knowing under what circumstances innately intrinsic motivation shifts to an extrinsic focus is of great value to the practitioner. Knowledge of the motive source can influence not only what goals individuals will set but also what strategies they will choose as the mechanism to attain their goals. Although some ambiguity exists, an abundance of research supports the view that when it comes to cultivating superior learning and performance outcomes, intrinsic motives are highly coveted and beneficial (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Ryan & Deci, 2000). What remains elusive are the specific cognitive triggers that influence motivational orientation and how orienta- tion can be used as a reliable predictor to determine which goal attainment strategies individuals will use.

Principle #32—The source of motives determines goal emphasis and strategy choice

When individuals set targets, they undergo a series of largely implicit cognitive evalu- ations ascribing a degree of relative importance, value, interest, and utility to the tasks under consideration. Goal setting criteria vary among individuals and are contingent upon a variety of task-related beliefs, contextual circumstances, and the perceived social climate of application. The factors individuals consider during task appraisal will vary according to the nature of the task, the individual’s ability perceptions, and the perceived benefits derived, if and when the task is completed. In other words, individual differences in the perception and evaluation of task goals influence the type of goals set, the degree of challenge one is willing to accept, the level of commitment or effort devoted toward reaching a goal, including which strategies will be employed during goal pursuit.

Perhaps the best example of the variety of factors individuals consider when set- ting goals is the classic case of a learner studying for an examination. Some learners exhibit organized and methodical approaches when planning and executing study