In our corporate careers it is not very new to be in a situation where we might be in a role that demands important decisions to be made on a daily basis and so feeling acknowledged makes or breaks the motivation to work.

Dan Ariely, a world-famous behavioural decision scientist, conducted a very unique experiment as below with slight changes made by us to make it relevant to this topic.

Participants in the experiment were handed a sheet of paper filled with typed letters and paid $10 for finding ten instances of two consecutive ones. They will be paid $9 for analysing a second page, $8 for a third page, and so on. Participants perform the task under one of three conditions.

Now, we sure you are guessing under which condition would maximum output occurred? While you are at it, let us digress a bit.

You might conclude that in conditions 2 and 3, the subjects could have simply submitted additional sheets without real attempt and made a lot of money. Right? Now, let us get back to the experiment and actual results.

Here are the results:

In condition 1, subjects stopped after they attempted about 8 sheets. In condition 3, it stopped at around 5 sheets.

Clearly, condition 1 had some acknowledgement of the work. There is a name on the work, the experimenter is examining the work carefully, nodding, smiling and so on. Therefore, subjects attempt almost 8 sheets before giving up (possibly the payoff was not worth another fresh attempt).

In condition 3, there is no examination. On the other hand, the paper was immediately put in a shredder with a smile and nod. Recall, subjects could have cheated rampantly. Yet subjects quit after about attempt of 5 sheets. I am sure you know that “Shredding” at workplace equates to Demeaning an employee, giving less importance to accomplishments etc…

Now, you may ask what happened to condition 2? That should be in between 1 and 3? It turns out no. Note that in condition 2, there is no examination, nod, smile and so on. But neither is there shredding. The experimenter just ignored the subjects. Turns out ignoring is more dangerous than shredding. The subjects stopped after they attempted no more than 4 sheets.

I am sure many of us have faces Condition 2 where ourimmediate superiors had seldom looked at their work; even if they did, the mind was not in it – it was very short, and cursory. Possibly he/she was busy. Possibly he did it on purpose?? Wenever know.

I am sure this comes as a shocker to many of us who think the modern millennials would hardly bother about such things and continue to work so long as pay is market beater, incentives are world class, work place is jazzy, and there is flowing coffee, games, and eats. These are important. No doubt. But not sufficient.

Ignoring an employee can lead to some clear tell-tale behaviourof the employee. So how to destroy motivation? Ignore. It is the best way to drive employees out. Or kill a partnership.

Be aware and be a good leader!