What is sticks and carrots

From the Editors at Merriam-Webster. Statistics for carrot-and-stick Look-up Popularity. Style: MLA. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? Love words? The carrot and stick theory can be applied effectively in the workplace with a reward and consequence system as motivational tools for staff members.

Using the carrot and stick approach in the workplace can be an effective form of extrinsic motivation. Set the goal you would like your employees to achieve, then create a carrot and a stick related to that goal. Your reward could be an increased commission on those five sales, and the consequence could be taking a percentage off of the commission of the employee with the lowest number of new clients that month. The carrot and stick approach can work very well to modify the behavior of your employees, guiding them to avoid the actions that are punishable and engage in the actions that will earn rewards.

As long as your reward is attractive enough and your consequence is undesirable, this method can help motivate employees to achieve your preferred outcomes.

Related: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation. Use these steps to begin a carrot and stick motivational policy for your team:. When you first implement a carrot and stick policy, you need to set a goal for your employees. It should be measurable and achievable within a deadline. You need to be specific about what you want your staff to accomplish and have a date by which you expect the goal to be achieved.

By beginning with a series of small, attainable goals, your employees are more likely to reach your desired objectives and earn their rewards. It is important to begin with small goals that you are confident your staff will be able to achieve.

This will make it easier to implement your carrot and stick policy. Your objective should be a goal that can be measured, such as a certain production output, a sales total or another common metric used by your employees.

The key to the carrot and stick approach is using an incentive that interests or appeals to employees. Decide on a reward you can offer for reaching the goal. There are four general types of rewards you could give your staff members:. Choose a reward that you believe your employees would want to receive. Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans. Sign up now or Log in. Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Click on the arrows to change the translation direction.

Follow us. Choose a dictionary. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English. Grammar Thesaurus. Definition: The Carrot and Stick Approach of Motivation is a traditional motivation theory that asserts, in motivating people to elicit desired behaviors, sometimes the rewards are given in the form of money, promotion, and any other financial or non-financial benefits and sometimes the punishments are exerted to push an individual towards the desired behavior.

The Carrot and Stick approach of motivation is based on the principles of reinforcement and is given by a philosopher Jeremy Bentham, during the industrial revolution. This theory is derived from the old story of a donkey, the best way to move him is to put a carrot in front of him and jab him with a stick from behind. The carrot is a reward for moving while the stick is the punishment for not moving and hence making him move forcefully.

Thus, an individual is given carrot i.