Monday, October 31, 2016

blog 5 - One man's life



“Get up! You are always very lazy!” said by his mother. “you are 30 years old, but still living with us! No money, no house, no girlfriend, and even no boyfriend!!!”
          Every day’s morning, he woke up with his mother’s hoots. He was a good motor mechanic, and actually he was not lazy. He could use various tools such as pliers, spanner, and screwdriver to fix any brand of car. However, due to the bad economy, fewer people own the cars, especially mid-range and premium cars. His salary has fallen by more than 75 percent in these years. He had to move out his apartment and lived with his parents again.
          One day, when he was waiting the customers in his boss’s garage with depressed emotion as before, a mysterious man who wore sunglasses, baseball cap, and scarf came to the garage. He drove a cheap and old car, and the car couldn’t move any more. He was excited, because no car has been to here three days. Though it is a cheap car, one car is better than nothing. He fixed 4 hours. After he finished, the car’s owner gave him a note when he checked out. Then the man left.
          He opened the note, and the note said that “I can help you to change your life two times, but you can’t go back. If you want, you can read imprecations that is written on the note.” He was very happy, because he didn’t want to tolerate this life any more. He read the imprecations immediately…
          On a wide and golden plain, he rode a horse with his wife, and they smiled very happy. Yes, his life has already changed. he had a large farm and a big agriculture company. He married a beautiful woman, and he was the richest man in this state. However, good times did not last long, he was kidnapped. The kidnappers killed his wife and robbed his property. Moreover, the kidnappers decided to kill him. When the gun aimed his head, he remembered the imprecations. He didn’t have any other choice, he read the imprecations…
          “Where am I? Who am I?” he asked himself. He took sword and shield and wore the helmet, and he heard horse's hoofs and slogans. “I am a general! I am in the ancient Rome” he was excited. Nevertheless, he realized a serious problem that he didn’t have the horse and soldiers, and the dead bodies that dressed same armors lay around him. In addition, the worst of all, he was surrounded by the enemy. Suddenly, one arrow past through his body…
          Regretting, regretting, and regretting. “I want to go back. I just want to be a common mechanic…” he thought with tears…

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Blog #4: "TED Talks" Listen & Respond

          The summaries of ted 8 (Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation)

Karl Duncker used an experiment that called the candle problem to try to find the best motivation in the business and some other area in 1945. The candle problem experiment is that using a candle, some thumbtacks, and some matches to attach the candle to the wall, and the wax doesn't drip onto the table. The people were divided into two groups. He told to the first group he just wanted to know the average time of solution progress. Furthermore, he told to the second group he would give 20 dollars to the first one and 5 dollars to the top 25% people. However, the second group was slower than the first group 3.5 minutes. In addition, Karl had done this experiment for many times, the results were same.

In conclusion, only when the people do the mechanical skill or bonuses work, the higher pay can show the better performance. However, when requiring the cognitive skills, a large reward led to poorer performance. Because the large reward narrows the people’s focus and possibility, the financial incentives can result a negative impact on overall performance.

Due to this result, the company’s managers need to rethink about their reward system. The tradition “carrot and sticks” (reward and punishment) management maybe is not the best solution. Nonetheless, some companies have tried a new way to encourage their staff, such as spending 20% of working time on anything the staff want, and they received some good effects.