Management Musings

During a course on Gamification that I have been attending recently, the professor talks about different kinds of motivation - extrinsic and intrinsic. I found the classification of the motivation to be very insightful and structured. Extrinsic motivation is when we are motivated by external factors, such as rewards, a feeling of social obligation, if you will or even when you are forced to do something although you don't quite believe in the task. Intrinsic motivation is when one feels good doing a task by himself/ herself only because he/ she likes it. Of course, the best kind of motivation is intrinsic. If we were to have a team that is full of folks like Anil Kumble in cricket or Lebron James in basketball, then it is safe to assume that that team would be the most efficient and excellent team in whatever task they do. Both the stars in their respective sports are known to be very hard working and appear to be intrinsically motivated to be the best that they can be in their ...

  An oft repeated remark amongst siblings - "Behave your age!" or "Behave yourself!". What exactly does one mean when they say something like that? I have heard that often enough from my sister (when I was little, of course ;) ). At the time it would draw a retort from me which would be along the lines of the very original "YOU behave yourself!" Oh well! Times have changed now.   It gets me thinking on some of the behavioral traits that we carry forward from our childhood. One such example is with possessiveness. As a child, invariably, either we were possessive or have encountered other children who were extremely possessive about their things. It may have been about a toy, their notebooks, tiffin boxes and in many cases, about their family. How often do we see kids clinging on to a toy or a video game - refusing to let others play even if they are not interested in the toy any more? Personally, I had a thing about toy cars, had a huge collection of th...

There are many facets to good public speaking that are applicable to a good Manager's abilities. One of the basic tenets of public speaking is that no matter how much you read about it, the only way to make it work is to get your hands dirty by actually indulging in the activity. We often hear the reasoning - no good in reading about swimming unless one actually gets into the water! The same theory would apply to Management. No matter how much we read about it, plan for the way that one would want to implement their strategy and read numerous books on it, it is only when one is thrown into the pool of Management does one learn how to ride the tide! Public speaking calls for the speaker to focus on what he/ she is talking about and not bother too much about the impression that looks or the surroundings are having on the listeners' mind. Stage fright is best conquered when the mind focusses on the subject rather than on worries about whether the self is attired as per "ex...