What Motivates People? You Might Be Surprised

The research, conducted by Stanford University associate professor Chip Heath, found that managers are not as good at judging what motivates their employees as they think they are. In one test, Heath asked 25 managers of a Citibank call center to rate what motivated the center's 25 customer service reps, all of whom they knew well. The managers consistently overestimated how important extrinsic rewards (such as pay and benefits) were to these people. Meanwhile, the employees included only one