Does Fear Motivate Employees?
July 6, 2010I recently read this article in Entrepreneur by George Cloutier. Cloutier is Harvard Business Graduate and is widely known as a small business expert. He argues that companies should be run like a dictatorship, using fear as a motivator in order to be successful. I agree with some of his points, such as owners giving clear directives. Employees need to know and understand the goals that the company is trying to reach. I also agree with his stance on firing incompetent employees immediately. They will only slow down your progress and I have seen all too many times an employee staying with a company when it was clear he/she was not doing the job properly.
A major point that Cloutier makes is that fear is the “best” motivator. Sure, a lot of people fear losing their job, but to quote the movie Office Space, “it will only make someone work hard enough not to get fired”. In my opinion, fear only works as a motivator if you do not care about the quality of the people working under you. Companies that employ this tactic have a high turnover rate and often cannot hang on to quality employees even in this harsh economy. Smart and self-respecting individuals will not stand for working for a company that sees him or her as a mere cog in the machine. You will not get quality work out of fearful employee. Fearful, unhappy employees are also likely to air their complaints to friends, family, potential customers and even potentially talented employees. This could cast your brand in a poor light and it could be difficult to overcome.
There is a great counter-point post in response to Cloutier’s article on the Lead Change Group’s website. You can read it here.