The carrot and stick method: how to use it in different areas of life?

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The carrot and stick method is often used in various areas of life. Personnel management, education, relationships - all these are areas where it is relevant to apply methods of reward and punishment. However, if we talk about the stick and the carrot, then everything is somewhat more complicated than just rewarding and punishing. What is this complexity and how to correctly apply this method in practice, we will consider in the publication.

A trip to history

The carrot and stick method (more common as the praise and punishment method) is a special technique that helps to achieve the desired actions from others through influence. This method is often used in pedagogical education, politics and personnel management.

The phrase "carrot and stick" exists even in foreign vocabulary, albeit in a modified form. In Russian journalistic publications, this expression appeared at the end of the 19th century, and its first formulation sounded like"lash and gingerbread". That is, it was a literal translation of a proverb from German.

In English, the expression will sound like "carrot and stick." They are associated with the only ways that affect a stubborn donkey and make it move.

This method of motivation is the oldest, one has only to remember the period of slavery, when the whip (in its most direct manifestation) was the driving force that made a person work. Much later, Frederick Taylor, the founder of the scientific organization of labor, put forward a proposal to improve performance through incentives. Although this method is not as effective now.

Why doesn't the method work?

The carrot and stick method has been studied in various fields. It has acquired special significance in the eyes of sociologists and social psychologists. The impact of this method could not be called stable and reliable. Under some conditions, "carrot and stick" give the expected results, while in others - just the opposite.

Psychologist and sociologist Douglas McGregor explained this by saying that when a person is not provided with food and security, which are basic needs, the carrot and stick method manifests itself perfectly. But in the case when the basic needs are fully provided, desires of a higher level begin to appear, which is completely incompatible with this method of motivation. As a result, it becomes ineffective.

In each area, the carrot and stick method works and manifests itself differently, and in order to understand how it should be used, and how notnecessary, consider separately each of the spheres of human life.

Relationships

Carrot and stick in a relationship often manifests itself in the form of manipulation, especially if one of the partners is not self-confident enough. It often looks like a game on the senses. Inept conduct of such a "game" often threatens to break. If you constantly “give a gingerbread”, then the partner will become too sweet, and this monotony will destroy him. And when a partner sees nothing but a whip, it's simply unbearable.

And before applying this method, you need to think again for what purposes it will be used and whether such behavior is acceptable.

Methods of manipulating relationships

The carrot-and-stick method with a man is basically approaching and moving away from him. Since men are hunters and conquerors by nature, it is much more interesting for them to be in a state of light intrigue. It is from this thesis that one should proceed in the application of the carrot and the stick in relationships:

• There should be a little bit of everything, and the ratio of stick and carrot should be 1:7. That is, from time to time a young man needs to do a little shake-up in a relationship.
• The punishment can also be the absence of the usual reward.
• Good behavior or positive change is rewarded consistently and systematically.

But the main thing is to remember: before throwing a whip at a partner, you need to think about the situation and try to build a dialogue, and it's best to start with yourself.

Company work

This method of motivation is simple and complex at the same time. It is especially difficult to use it in a work team, where each employee should have his own approach. Now a person is more focused on self-realization and self-development, so if something is wrong, then no carrot will hold him back. Basically, employees are divided into 4 main types:

• Money lovers. Employees get a job only because the company pays salaries "transparently".
• Enthusiast. A person goes to work simply because he likes a certain thing.
• Ideological patron. Such an employee prefers to work in a well-coordinated, friendly team and "for the idea." And if they also pay for it, then he is generally in seventh heaven with happiness (such people also occur).
• People. They do only what is written in the contract of employment: no more and no less. Work for them is comparable to serving a duty.

Gingerbread for every employee

In connection with these features, the carrot and stick method of the head should be different for everyone. For example, representatives of the first group will leave the company with a light heart on the same day when their salary is delayed or the payment is not made transparently enough. Enthusiasts will do the job 100%, they are professionals in their field, not only the salary is important to them, but respect and acceptance of them properly. They do not tolerate authoritarian leadership in any form, the "whip" in relation to such employees should hang in a distant and dark closet.

Ideological patrons go to work. For the sake of work, it will not be difficult for them to borrow money if their salary is delayed, and continue to work without slowing down. But in order not to lose such valuable employees, they need to be praised as often as possible, then they will work harder. "People" are mostly people who know the process of doing business from the inside, therefore, such employees negotiate with the main management, and if they manage to agree, then they become good employees, and if not, then the company may have a serious competitor.

The carrot and stick method of parenting

And the most difficult thing is to use such a method in the educational process. A person is not a computer program that must perform a certain action under specified conditions. The method of education with a stick and a carrot is unacceptable in modern society, in other words, it is considered non-pedagogical. After all, if a child is punished for actions that do not correspond to the norm, he will cease to trust others, and if he is encouraged too much, he will grow up to be an egoist. In addition, the carrot and stick is one of the ways to impose your standards, and if used without certain knowledge, then it turns into a simple manipulation.

As for education, the carrot and stick method is used by nature itself in the process of personality development. If a child touches a hot stove, he will certainly get burned and next time he will be more careful. And if a parent, trying to prevent a burn, yells atchild (whip), he is only postponing the inevitable. In the process of education, it is important to explain what and why the child is praised and punished for. The carrot and stick method in this segment is based on reasoned adult explanation.

Conclusions

Thus, we can conclude that the carrot and stick method will always take place in different areas of human activity. Depending on human needs, new techniques will be created to influence the performance and motivation of the individual. The carrot and stick method is not only a targeted system of rewards and punishments set by someone, but a technology that needs to be approached wisely and applied according to the current situation. The effectiveness of the whip and the sweetness of the gingerbread depend on this alone.