The secret to motivating employees is to combine compliments and pizza: feed the hungry, and then tell them nice things while they chew. Usually people work more diligently when they understand that their work is valued, which fully explains the compliments. But what about pizza? Pizza is a tangible form of compliments, which is also very tasty.
Should I praise the employees?
However, according to a recent study, compliments are not just a motivation for those who receive them. They can also have a strong impact on witnesses, that is, on those who see how their colleagues receive praise from their superiors, but they themselves remain aloof.
The essence of the study
The authors of the study conducted an experiment. It was attended by about 300 students, who broke into groups of 15 people. Each of them visited her own subject. On eight subjects professors publicly praised those who showed themselves best in the exam, while on the other subjects the professors returned the results of the exams without commenting. When the time of the next exam came, those students who did not show the best result, but saw others praised for good grades (in particular, those that did not have enough to get the maximum score), significantly improved their results in While students who were in control groups did not change their indicators in any way. It is also worth noting that the same result was observed in those students who received praise from the professors. This situation did not make them work better, so the results of the second exam did not differ from the results of the first one.
What is the reason?
Researchers believe: the reason is that praise can be considered as setting certain standards. The effectiveness of students depends not only on personal gain, such as high scores or passing an exam, but also on existing performance standards. In other words, students who received compliments from professors already achieved this rate of performance, so they did not have a particular motivation to improve their work, while those students who were close to the maximum result considered compliments as a push that Would allow them to reach the required level. Unfortunately, it is not yet known whether this pizza would have such an impact on those who did not receive their piece.