78 Harvard Business Review | July–August 2008 | hbr.org
MANAGING TECHNOLOGY FINANCE & ACCOUNTING ORGANIZATION & CULTURE FINANCE & ACCOUNTING ORGAN
COMPETITION HUMAN RESOURCES MARKETING ORGANIZATION & CULTURE MANAGING TECHNOLOGY FINANCE &
ING ORGANIZATION & CULTURE MANAGING TECHNOLOGY FINANCE & ACCOUNTING MARKETING HUMAN RESOU
STRATEGY & COMPETITION MANAGING TECHNOLOGY HUMAN RESOURCES MARKETING ORGANIZATION & CULTUR
TION & CULTURE MANAGING TECHNOLOGY FINANCE & ACCOUNTING MARKETING STRATEGY & COMPETITION MA
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING MARKETING MARKETING ORGANIZATION & CULTURE MANAGING TECHNOLOGY FINANCE
Employee
Motivation
A Powerful New Model
by Nitin Nohria, Boris Groysberg,
and Linda-Eling Lee
G
GETTING PEOPLE TO DO THEIR BEST WORK, even in trying cir-
cumstances, is one of managers’ most enduring and slippery chal-
lenges. Indeed, deciphering what motivates us as human beings is
a centuries-old puzzle. Some of history’s most infl uential thinkers
about human behavior – among them Aristotle, Adam Smith, Sig-
mund Freud, and Abraham Maslow – have struggled to understand
its nuances and have taught us a tremendous amount about why
people do the things they do.
Such luminaries, however, didn’t have the advantage of knowl-
edge gleaned from modern brain science. Their theories were
based on careful and educated investigation, to be sure, but also
exclusively on direct observation. Imagine trying to infer how a car
works by examining its movements (starting, stopping, accelerating,
turning) without being able to take apart the engine.
Andy Baker
Honing Your ompetitive Edge
1320 Nohria.indd 78
6/5/08 7:39:37 PM
hbr.org | July–August 2008 | Harvard Business Review 79
GANIZATION & CULTURE MARKETING MANAGING TECHNOLOGY FINANCE & ACCOUNTING MARKETING STRATEGY &
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SOURCES MARKETING ORGANIZATION & CULTURE MANAGING TECHNOLOGY FINANCE & ACCOUNTING MARKETING
LTURE MANAGING TECHNOLOGY FINANCE & ACCOUNTING MARKETING