Bill Harris wrote:

> Reinhard Sprenger wrote (in _Mythos Motivation_) something to the effect
> that “All motivation (actions designed to get people to do that which they
> don’t want to do) is demotivating (leads towards decreasing their desire
> to do what you want them to do because they see through the efforts at
> control).”

Good point. Actually it’s not quite accurate. Motivational actions (whether they be rewards or exortations, etc) will demotivate to the extent that employees see the attempts as manipulative.

The catch here is that different people will have different perceptions on this issue, due to large individual differences, so Sprenger’s comment as cited is a bit over stated.

Actually, despite the fact that much of Alfie Kohn’s work on punishment by rewards is a steaming pile of dung, THIS particular point on perception of manipulation is actually an excellent one and included in his work.