Meaningful Play: Getting Gamification Right

Motivation and Cultural Diversity

Motivation

Human beings, as individuals, are very complex in their psychological make-up. When they interact with one another in groups and in large organizations, the complexities are multiplied. In this effort to guide and direct others, the manager must first of all acquire an understanding of why people act as they do. Why is one employee sparkling and cheerful, whereas another is downcast and sullen? Initially it’s important to know that all human behavior has a cause. There is a reason for a person behaving as he does. The successful leader is a one who can uncover these causes and take steps to correct them. Bawling out an uncooperative worker doesn’t get at the cause. This constitutes treating the symptom only.

Motives are the mainsprings of action in people. The term “motive” implies action to satisfy a need. Motivation is an inner strivings of individuals that direct behavior; it’s a willingness to expand energy to achieve a goal or a reward.

The motivation process centers on needs, which produce motives that lead to the accomplishment of objectives. Needs are caused by deficiencies or imbalances. Motives, or stimuli, produce an action taken to satisfy the need. In the motivation process, the achievement of the objective satisfies the need and reduces the motive. When the objective is reached, balance is restored; of course, other needs then arise. The motivation process then must satisfy these new needs.

The types of rewards that an organization offers its employees play a critical role in determining the level of motivation. In addition, rewards have an impact on the quality and quantity of personnel that the organization is able to recruit, hire, and retain. Organizational rewards include both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

Traditional theory of motivation is based on the assumption that money is a primary motivator – employees will produce more for greater financial gain. It evolves from the work of Frederick W. Taylor and others in the scientific management movement.

In “The human Side of Enterprise” Douglas McGregor outlined two opposing theories of work and motivation. Theory X is the traditional approach to workers and working which assumes that people are lazy and dislike work, and they have to be both threatened and rewarded. It assumes that most people are incapable of taking responsibility for them and have to be looked after. Theory Y, on the contrary, assumes that people have a psychological need to work and want achievement and responsibility.

Later theorists argued that Theory Y makes such greater demands on both workers and managers than McGregor realized. Abraham Maslow, for example, spent a year studying a Californian company that used Theory Y and concluded that its demands for responsibility and achievement are excessive for many people. Even strong and healthy people need the security in order and discretion. Managers can’t simply substitute Theory Y for Theory X. They have to replace the security provided by Theory X with a different structure of security and certainty.

Abraham Maslow (in his book entitled “Motivation and personality) put forward the need hierarchy theory. In his theory, h identified certain basic human needs and classified them in an ascending order of importance. The needs of an individual are said to exist in a hierarchy as follows:

• Physiological needs (these were things required to sustain life like food, water, air, sleep etc…)
• Security needs (these are the needs to be from danger, physical pain and loss of job, they include the needs for clothing and shelter)
• Social needs (a human being need to belong to a group, to be liked and loved)
• Esteem needs (people want to have self-respect and to be esteemed by others. They have a need for power, status, respect and self-confidence)
• Self-actualisation needs (these are the highest needs, according to Maslow. They are the desire to develop, to maximize potential and to achieve one’s goals).

Maslow said that people satisfied their needs in a systematic way. When a need had been met, it stopped being a motivating factor. Research into Maslow’s theory hasn’t been very conclusive. Studies have tended to show that needs vary greatly among individuals. At the higher levels in a company, self-actualisation needs may be very strong whereas at lower levels, social and security needs may be dominant.

It’s logical to suppose that things like good labour relations, good working conditions, good wages and benefits, and job security motivate workers. But in Work and the Nature of Man, Frederick Herzberg argued that such conditions don’t motivate workers. His hypothesis is referred to by several names: motivation-maintenance, dual factor, or motivation hygiene theory. The conditions aforesaid are merely “satisfiers” or, more importantly, “dissatisfiers” where they don’t exist. “Motivators”, on the contrary, include things such as having a challenging and interesting job, recognition and responsibility, promotion and so on. It’s worth nothing that the hygiene factors refer to the context of the job and the condition of work while the motivators refer to job content. By the hygiene factors Herzberg meant company policy and administration, salary and fringe benefits, quality and supervision, relationship with colleagues, job security, status and work conditions. Herzberg maintains that motivation comes from within the individual, not from the manager. Herzberg’s motivation-maintenance theory is closely related to the need hierarchy theory of motivation; thus, it is subject for many of the same criticisms. If his theory is true, it means that managers must pay great attention to job content. They must find ways of making jobs more challenging and interesting.

As a result managers in the USA and elsewhere have recently been showing great interest in job enrichment programs.  The increasing the content of individual jobs is proposed to increase worker satisfaction and the meaningfulness of work. Job enlargement, job enrichment and job rotation are three basic approaches to defining job content.

Job enlargement is an attempt to reduce boredom and increase the meaning of work by increasing the number of operations in a process performed by a single worker. The theory behind job enlargement is that combining tasks reduce boredom, increasing task variety and strengthening the worker’s identification with his or her job.

Job enrichment is an attempt to give workers more control over their tasks and more responsibility for design, execution, and output. The worker assumes some of the functions previously carried out by his or her immediate supervisor or by other staff.

Job rotation is a practice whereby each employee learns several operations in manufacturing process and rotates through each in a set period.

The idea of such programs is to make jobs more challenging and to give the worker a sense of achievement.

The preference-expectancy theory implies that motivation depends on the preferences and expectations of an individual. This theory emphasized the need for organizations to relate rewards directly to performance and to be sure that recipients desire the rewards.

The reinforcement theory of motivation by B. F. Skinner is based on the idea that reinforced behavior will be repeated and behavior that is not reinforced ill not be repeated. The theory assumes that the consequences of an individual’s behavior determine his or her level of motivation.

Equity theory is based on the belief that employees will take whatever actions are necessary to produce feelings of equity with respect to their jobs. An important point regarding equity theory is that an individual’s feelings of equity are based on his or her perceptions of inputs versus outcomes.

However, even with the development of computers and robotics, there are and always will be plenty of boring and repetitive and mechanical jobs in all three sectors of the economy, and lots of unskilled workers who have to do them.

So how do managers motivate people in such jobs? One solution is to give them some responsibilities, not as individuals but as part of the team. Other employers ensure that people in repetitive jobs change them every couple of hours, as doing four different repetitive jobs a day is better than doing only one. Many people now talk about the importance of a company’s shared values or corporate culture, with which all the staff can identify: for example, being the best hotel chain, or hamburger restaurant chain, or airline, or making the best, the safest, the most user-friendly, the most ecological or the most reliable products in a particular field. Such values are more likely to motivate workers than financial targets, which ultimately only concern a few people. Unfortunately, there is only a limited number of such goals to go round, and by definition, not all the competing companies in an industry can seriously claim to be the best.

Cultural diversity

Managing a truly global multinational company would obviously be much simpler if it required only one set of corporate objectives, goals, policies, practices, products and services. But local differences often make this impossible. To be true multinational an organization should operate in at least 6 countries and have no less than 20% of its sales or assets in those countries. And it also should think internationally/ It means that management should have a global perspective. It should see the world as inter-related and inter-depended.

A fairly obvious cultural divide that has been much studied is the one between, on the one hand, the countries of North America and North-West Europe, where management is largely based on analysis, rationality, logic and systems, and, on the other, the Latin cultures of southern Europe and South America, where personal relations, intuition, emotion and sensitivity are of much greater importance. There are some examples of what happens when manages do not take foreign conditions into account in a book entitled International Business Blunders.

Managers working abroad need various skills. Of cause, it is a great advantage if they know the language of the country they are working in. But this is not the most important requirement. They need above all human relations skills, an understanding of the other culture and the ability to adapt.

In some countries such as Canada, the USA, Britain, Germany and other are essentially individualist. In such countries status has to be achieved. A young , dynamic, aggressive manager can quickly rise in the hierarchy. While in most Latin and Asian cultures status is automatically accorded to the boss, who is more likely to be in his 50s or 60s than in his 30s.

In northern cultures, the principle of pay-for-performance often successfully motivates sales people. The more you sale, the more you get paid. But the principle might well be resisted in more collectivist cultures, and in countries where rewards and promotion are expected to come with age and experience.

So, differences in cultures are very important when a manager is negotiating in a foreign country. Those who working abroad  must remember that a deal is not always a deal. In some countries, a person may say yes to proposal simply to be polite.

About the Author

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Student Engagement & Motivation Strategies & Tips.wmv

P e a c e f u l Productivity ® – Success Strategy to Unleash Motivation for Inspired Performance, Extraordinary Performance and Peace of Mind

To succeed in the years to come, we need to rethink business strategy.  Many organizations have reworked processes and systems to the limit.  It seems that all too often human factors are only considered when competitive pressures, resistance to major change, low productivity, absenteeism and other attitudinal symptoms have already taken hold and are notably impacting the bottom line.  Yet optimism and employee mindset are critical to long-term organizational success.

Incumbent on business leaders is the need to ensure teams deliver on their promises.  But leaders cannot deliver the results alone.  Teams are needed to deliver consistently.  In order for teams to deliver they must collaborate and work well together to be truly productive!  Are your teams delivering all they can?

Recent surveys indicate the average employee brings only 5 to 10% of his/her capacity to work.  What is your organization missing out on?  What is the effect on your bottom line?

Ample evidence confirms the present system is not functioning optimally.  Business as usual is not likely to deliver extraordinary and positive results with any regularity.  Television and front pages of the globe’s news and business journals report corruption and missed forecasts, downsizing, mergers, fraud, failed businesses and layoffs — all indicators of the system’s malfunction.  The current situation is not sustainable.

Our ever-changing business world requires a new working model to thrive.

We need a more effective way to create and maintain great organizations able to operate at optimum productivity, to retain and grow top people and to flourish in our dynamic multi-faceted world.  Peaceful Productivity is the solution.

The time is NOW.  This is a Call to Action!

P e a c e f u l   Productivity®

a Business Success Strategy to Unleash Motivation for Inspired Performance, Extraordinary Results and Peace of Mind

I. The Challenge
II. Current Situation & Trends - Why NOW?

III. Strategy to Unleash Motivation for Inspired Performance, Extraordinary Results and Peace of Mind

IV. The Three Building Blocks of P e a c e f u l   Productivity®

V. Benefits & Return on Investment (ROI)

VI. Business Model for Success – peace @work
VII.  Summary and Call to Action

I. The Challenge

As a leader you are in a privileged position to inspire and activate people to commit themselves to a common context.  You are expected to stand up as a role model for others to follow.  Clarity of vision, choice of personal strategies, confidence in decision-making and follow-through nurture the trust people have in you.  Personal power and mastery are required to meet these important challenges.  Consistency, commitment and concentrated focus are essential.

Yet change is everywhere. It is hitting us from every angle — social change, financial change, legislative change, political change, and above all technological change.  This leaves most of us in a state of recurring uncertainty.  How can an individual leader maintain balance in such a sea of change?  Are you prepared for the challenge?  Will your current management philosophy thrive in tomorrow’s climate?  And how can you do all of this with ease, grace and a sense of inner peace?

“The most sought-after treasure in the world — even more than wealth and power — is peace of mind,” Salzman1 writes. “This state of peace is something that is naturally ours.” So why do so many of us seek what is already ours? “People take the small, mechanical aspect of their mind to be the real mind when it is just a small part of the infinite space of the naturally peaceful mind.”

(1 Bertram W. Salzman, academy-award winning director and author)

II. Current Situation & Trends - Why NOW?

Today’s fast-paced ever-changing business environment is stretching resources ever thinner.  More and more people are suffering from burn out and stress related diseases.  Absenteeism, heart attack, stroke, depression and diminished concentration are on the rise.

These all too common causes of stress and consequent employee “check outs” are prevalent in many workplaces…

• organizational change
• poor communication
• lack of training
• inadequate supervision
• monotonous work
• lack of promotion prospects
• bullying & harassment
• unclear roles
• excessive hours
• conflict of work and home demands

The resulting loss of productivity is significant.  This enormous loss within organizations can be measured in terms of:

• increasing client complaints
• more accidents
• increased staff turnover
• lost sales / lost customers
• poor morale & absenteeism
• deteriorating product quality
• and direct costs…

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing business leaders today is management of the structure of costs. Human resource costs are significant, not only in terms of salaries and social charges but also in “hidden” costs.

Certain direct and indirect costs can totally escape usual accounting practices. Absenteeism is a case in point, where direct costs of salaries and social benefits and indirect costs relative to overtime and replacement are not attributed.  In the category “absenteeism” alone, sums are considerable. Industry analysts estimate the annual costs to be $30 billion in the United States and $14 billion in Canada, or $80 000 a year per capita.

The message is clear.  If it’s a crisis in the business world, then clearly stress at work does not end at the office. As noted by Harvard Business Review, “When an executive experiences worry, tension, fear, doubt or stress intensely, he is not able to shake these feelings when he gets home, and they render him psychologically unavailable for a rich private life.

We can summarize our findings this way: for an ambitious person, a well functioning professional life is a necessary though not sufficient condition for a well functioning private one.  Executives need intense physical activity not further mental strain and fatigue.  Managers who are burning out need support from others who can offer psychological sustenance.” ~ Harvard Business Review.

With growing pressures today, many people attempt to balance work/life by dividing time between personal and professional activities.  We have all heard, “I leave my ‘personal self’ at home when I go to work.”  This creates disengagement and loss of personal power.  The resulting productivity drops dramatically.  Where the “average” employee brings only 5 – 10% capacity to the workplace, “checking out” is rampant.  No wonder businesses are struggling and the number of individuals suffering from stress is rising.

Remarkably, companies such as Xerox Corp. estimate costs $1.5 million to replace a top executive who dies prematurely from heart disease.   Heart disease is often linked to stress.  In addition to the negative impact of stress-related issues in management, it is clear that poor management practices also kill productivity.

“Poor management” practices are lowering productivity rates and costing global economies billions, according to Proudfoot Consulting’s international labor productivity study. The study, Managing for Mediocrity2, names the six barriers to optimum productivity—

• insufficient planning and control
• inadequate supervision
• ineffective communication
• poor working morale
• inappropriately qualified workforce
• IT-related issues

(2 “New study finds poor management practices cost economies billions.”  Compiled by Lauren Nypaver, Proudfoot Consulting, UK)

So what are the implications? Peace of mind in the workplace has been eroded by spiraling stress related-issues and poor management practices.   It’s time for a catalytic change in the way we engage with others at work!  The Way to P e a c e f u l   Productivity® is to adopt a Business Success Strategy for peace of mind and extraordinary results.

III. Business Success Strategy to Unleash Motivation for Inspired Performance, Extraordinary Results and Peace of Mind

A healthy life/work balance enriches peace of mind. Starting from a place of inner harmony, we gain the perspective of the “big picture.”  Without this holistic viewpoint, we have little chance to recognize our contribution and meaning in the overall organization.  We remain isolated and not connected to the whole.  Planned results are not guaranteed in this isolated and unbalanced state.

From personal experience, we know we are most productive and motivated when we are doing something we enjoy – producing or creating something meaningful and in alignment with our personal values.

Connecting with others in a consequential way, authentically aligned with our personal values and organization goals, allows us to create and operate at maximum levels. The secret to personal performance lies in the ability to unlock motivation.  Motivated employees are able to sustain significant increases in productivity.

What can tomorrow’s business leaders do to increase productivity for both the long and short term and bring more peace and satisfaction to the office?  What could you do if you tripled the capacity & productivity of your people?  And what if were sustainable? Peaceful Productivity™ offers a viable solution.

P e a c e f u l   Productivity® is about engaging individuals and teams around a common goal while supporting peaceful activities and increasing productivity.  P e a c e f u l   Productivity® works for the betterment of all relationships – the relationship with our inner self, our relationships with other and our relationship with the world we live in.

IV. The Three Building Blocks of P e a c e f u l   Productivity®

1. 1. PERSONAL PEACE  PLAN

“P e a c e f u l   Productivity®” begins with and nourishes our peace of mind – our inner harmony.  Attaining peace of mind is the first building block of Peaceful Productivity™.  This is the INDIVIDUAL or personal element.  This is your Personal Peace Plan.

Philosophers, spiritual leaders and writers over the ages have prescribed a myriad of methods and suggestions for attaining peace of mind.  Peace of mind is the integration of one’s true self in harmony with the reality of the outside world – an alignment of personal values with actions – a personal alignment with one’s basic nature.

As philosopher Socrates said, “Know yourself.”   Know your values, your goals and your purpose.  Clearly define your vision.  This is the starting point.

For an organization this Personal Peace Plan becomes a framework within which the team operates.  As the environment changes, the Plan provides the basis to make decisions and define appropriate future actions.  It is a governance plan within which teams can innovate and act while remaining consistent with the group’s Personal Peace Plan.

Inner peace calms the torrent of thoughts that borage us each moment of each day.  Plain and simple, yet rare!  We all recognize this peaceful feeling when we are “in the zone” or “in the flow.”  With inner peace, we are optimistic.  We approach situations in terms of how to find solutions rather than to worry what can go wrong.  Self-efficacy rises and productivity improves.  P e a c e f u l   Productivity® helps more people bring peace of mind to work.

Yet peace of mind seems to be a state we rarely seek at work.  I believe this must change.  Without peace of mind at work, we risk everything.

“I must first be the change I want to see in the world.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

2.  PURPOSEFUL ACTION – CONNECTING WITH OTHERS

The second element of P e a c e f u l   Productivity® is Purposeful Action and Connecting with Others.  With your Personal Peace Plan in mind, define an action plan with purpose.  This element is CO-ACTIVE.  With purposeful action we can transform the workplace into a source of immense satisfaction and fulfillment and at the same time deliver sustainable results.  With a spirit of cooperation we are more productive and creative.

Develop a six- to twelve-month plan to deliver your vision and a 100-day action plan to kickstart the process. Both long-term and short-term aspects are essential.  Initiating action is important to set the process in motion.  And not just any action – P e a c e f u l   Productivity® prescribes Action with Purpose, aligned with your Personal Peace Plan.

Not indeed as the product, but as the producing power, the productivity. - Coleridge.

1. 3. COLLABORATING for SUSTAINABLE RESULTS

This third step is manifested by the combination of the first two steps – Collaborating for Sustainable Results.   To yield sustainable results, commit to your plan, build your self-confidence, review and modify your action plan as you learn along the way, be committed to consistency in your words and actions and – very important – enjoy the process.  Through strong relationship with others, more is possible with less effort and less stress.

Living in and acting from a state of balance and inner peace we become “grounded,” self-confident and consistent.  Consistent in that we live according to the same values in all aspects of life – whether at home or work, alone or with friends, family, community or with nature.  Integrity-of-self emerges when we operate from this state of balance. And productivity improves because stress is reduced.  In this way both the individual and the organization benefit.   A strong collaborative partnership is created.

Your reward is enriching work that “fits” your unique talents and skills, which brings increased self-confidence and the ultimate: peace of mind.

P e a c e f u l   Productivity® creates a richly rewarding system generating greater peace of mind for individuals while producing planned and sustainable results.

V. Benefits & Return on Investment (ROI)

Raising productivity improves economic performance – a widely accepted fact among businesses, organizations and governments.  Again referencing Proudfoot Consulting’s article Managing for Medocrity2, the main causes of reduced productivity are 1) insufficient management planning and control, and 2) inadequate employee supervision.  Poor management, defined as a combination of these two barriers to productivity, continues to be the largest single reason for productivity loss.

The evidence is clear.  Companies with the highest management scores outperform their peers – in both short-term and long-term financial results.  The correlation between good management practices and economic performance is confirmed.  People are any organization’s greatest asset.  Peaceful Productivity™  shows how to tap into this valuable human resource in a productive and sustainable way.

In Bradford Smart’s “Topgrading” 3, he notes that “average” total costs associated with “typical” mis-hires was…about 24 times the person’s base compensation.  The economic loss of mis-hiring can reach negative ROI’s of over 500%.  Organizations simply cannot afford such losses.   (3 Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People” Bradford D. Smart, Ph.D.)

Sustainable results derive more naturally from purposeful actions and enhance peace of mind.  It is that simple!

Leading with P e a c e f u l   Productivity® provides practical, insightful ways to lead happier and more productive lives – as individuals and together in teams.  A number of measures are influenced by peaceful working conditions.  Dignity, meaning and community are key motivators for workers, rather than time cards, piecework measures, Six Sigma, and the like.

While efficiency might benefit from Six Sigma, Lean or other process-driven methods, the employee is not motivated by such measures or pressures when applied in isolation.  Understanding the overall significance of one’s work and why each individual’s work is important to the whole makes the dominant difference in quality and output. Motivation is key to engage employees and to enhance their productivity.  It is engaging the imagination of individuals that engages one’s emotion.  And it is emotion rather than logic that moves the will.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein

VI. Business Model for Success – peace @work

One objective of P e a c e f u l   Productivity® is to integrate the personal and professional lives of workers for greater personal and organizational success.
P e a c e f u l   Productivity® builds the best match between social and technical systems. Purposeful Collaboration creates and enhances peace @work.

Attitude makes the difference.  With peace of mind, personal productivity has a profound basis upon which to flourish.  We gain balance and perspective.   We act with compassion and integrity, kindness and generosity.  We trust life and those around us.  We are optimistic.  Meaningful collaboration becomes a way of life.  Things just seem to work better!  We maintain peace of mind. And financial results improve.  We experience a better life and a better world.

VII. Summary and Call to Action

P e a c e f u l   Productivity® can help you and your organization build the bridge to greater fulfillment and satisfaction both personally and professionally.  When individuals come to work with greater peace of mind, productivity improves and immediate and enduring results are enormously enhanced.  Imagine the positive differences for you and for your teams — a more peaceful and productive future.

If you believepeace @workis possible, please contact me to learn more about the P e a c e f u l    Productivity® Series and how you might employ

P e a c e f u l   Productivity® in your workplace.  Lasting improvement begins within each individual.  You are invited to take the first step.

Written  by Virginia Williams, Ventures Worldwide Ltd – 2004

About the Author

Virginia Williams, Executive Coach, Business Coach & Leadership Catalyst

Managing Director of Ventures Worldwide Ltd. –

your catalyst to sustainable results

5 chemin du Canal, 1260 Nyon, Switzerland

http://www.ventures-worldwide.com

http://www.peaceful-productivity.com

Can you guess which star sign I am?

I’m a sensitive guy, who hates confrontation. I much prefer to sort out my problems by discussing them. However over smaller matters I can be very argumentative, especially around people I know well. I’m often confident that my opinion is right, and though if someone tries to prove me wrong I can get a little ticked off I often think it over and admit I’m wrong, though it may sometimes take a while. I love my friends and family but often prefer solitary pursuits, preferring the company of my iPod whilst gardening to all out social engagement. Whilst no alcoholic I drink often. I’m intelligent but I will sometimes get bursts of motivation and achieve things I often feel surprised about. I enjoy being single when I’m single, and being with someone when I’m with someone, but think little of the other while I’m in the other state. Whilst I dream of being rich I have no real love of material possessions.

Afther reading your profile i think you
need to have a dink & cut loose a little buddy!

Fundamentals of Supervision and Motivation for the New Super

What Employees Want

Most people spend the majority of their time at work. Consequently, how the employees feel and behave, inside and outside work, is at times driven by the dynamics of the work environment. When managers understand and apply motivational techniques they can increase employee productivity, employee creativity, and employee loyalty and satisfaction.

It is necessary for managers to understand and practice basic motivational techniques in order to effectively manage their staff. The best known motivational theory is likely Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (see figure of pyramid below)

Motivation Theory Fundamentals
Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” and in his subsequent book, Motivation and Personality. His model suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other needs. Using common sense in a logical and methodical model, Maslow depicted the driving forces behind human motivation.

At the lowest levels of the pyramid are the most basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at the top of the pyramid.  Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, and sleep. Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security. As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social.

Soon, the need for love, friendship and intimacy become important. Further up the pyramid, the need for personal self-esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority.

Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person to achieve individual potential.

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow categorized human needs into 5 areas:

1. Survival: Need for food, water, and shelter. This includes medical services, electricity, transportation and phones, all of which can be jeopardized by natural disasters.
2. Safety/Security: Need for protection (military, police, fire-department and insurance), employment, health, property.
3. Social/Belonging: Need of family, friends, co-workers and associations.
4. Self-Esteem: Need for appreciation, recognition, respect of others, and respect by others.
5. Self-Actualization: Need for self fulfillment and happiness, which is mostly met through career, marriage and parenthood.

Maslow did more than just categorization. He stated that these needs do not have equal force all the time. For example, when a hurricane threatens our need for survival and safety/security, that becomes our number one priority

However, for most people in America most of the time, the survival and safety/security needs are met with the help of local police, fire department, local governments, hospitals, employers, the military, and other public utility companies. These needs become merely basic expectations that people pay little attention to. What people care about and are motivated by are the three highest level needs in the pyramid.

Employers satisfy Maslow’s fundamental survival and safety/security needs primarily through a paycheck and benefits plan: Earnings and Benefits are used to buy groceries, get shelter and insure against other life’s necessities.

In the workplace, the highest-level need of self-actualization and much of the employee self-esteem are met through the work itself: Job Quality: employee recognition, employee contributions, reward systems,  and company culture. Managers can  contribute to an employee’s need for self-actualization by creating workplace and learning opportunities for the employee career advancement.

Managers can also address the social/belonging, and self-esteem needs with workplace support (supervision, teamwork, and recognition). The following  section lists 12 simple but proven techniques that managers can use to motivate employees. Each technique can be easily categorized into an area within the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs model.

Management Tips to increase Employee Motivation

1. Pay employees fairly and well and they will forget about money.
   • Once this basic need is met, it becomes a lower priority in the employee’s mind. The employee will be satisfied with the fair wages and will focus his/her attention on contributing to the team and being recognized for his/her efforts (job quality). When employees are not compensated fairly they continue to struggle financially to make ends meet. This becomes an obstacle for the employee’s motivation. The employee may have to find additional part-time work, may have to requesting over-time work or eventually seek employment elsewhere. It costs money when organizations need to take the time to find, interview, hire, and train new employees. There are also hidden costs when an employee leaves the organization. The vacant position responsibilities may need to be picked up by the available staff , overall staff productivity may be affected, and the staff stress level increases. This in turn adds the risk to lose other valuable employees.
2. Treat every employee with respect. Show the employees that the organization cares about each employee as a person and not just as a worker.
   • Employees are more productive when they feel good about themselves. When employees do not feel respected or appreciated for their work contribution, their work has no meaning and the employees become discouraged and eventually leave the company.
3. Communicate clear goals, responsibilities, and expectations.
   • Write each goal down on a page. Each goal should be clearly stated in 250 words or less. Prioritize goals and only assign reasonable but achievable goals within a timeline. Ensure that the staff clearly understands goal completion timelines and what is expected of them. Assign employee accountability and ensure the employee understands how important his/her contribution is.
4. Praise staff accomplishments and any attempts made towards the achievement of goals. 
   • Be on the lookout to praise accomplishments soon after they occur. Praise any efforts used to accomplish any goals. Sometimes trying alone provides invaluable lessons. Be Careful!  Do Not be on the lookout to punish mistakes. This is a behavior of bad managers. Set a good example, be a leader and do not imitate bad behavior.
5. Make reprimands as needed but in a cautious way.
   • Never criticize the person but the behavior. Everyone makes mistakes. Turn the mistake into an opportunity for the employee to learn how to do it better next time. Never reprimand in public – redirect in private. Let the staff hear that they are important to the organization and have the needed management support and tools to do a better job next time.
6. Recognize performance appropriately and consistently.
   • Praising does not need to take up more than one minute. The mere gesture of praising tells the staff that their contribution matters. Avoid delayed praising. Capture the moment. Praise the staff in public. Employees need meaning in the work they do or they will do a mediocre job. People have the need for continuous feedback.
7. Involve employees in plans and decisions, especially those that affect them.
   • Solicit employees’ ideas and opinions. Get them involved and make them feel part of the team. Encourage initiative. By doing this, employees will feel that their opinion matters to the team and the organization and will feel the urge to make a contribution.
8. Create opportunities for employees to learn and grow.
   • Link organizational goals with the goals assigned to each individual. Ensure the staff understands the value they bring to the company. Make them feel they are an important part of the team. One of the greatest accomplishments of a manager is to prepare his staff to step up to greater responsibilities within the organization. Effective managers encourage their subordinates interests in other areas of the company. Companies prefer to grant career growth opportunities to existing employees. This promotes good employee morale and usually results in the selection of capable candidates that will hit the ground running. Bad managers stifle employee creativity and limit employee opportunity in fear of losing their own job. This behavior negatively affects managers in the long run.
9. Actively listen to staff concerns – both work related and personal.
   • Make the staff feel that they have a manager they can talk to about anything that may interfere with their work or personal life. By being sensitive to a staff personal concern (example: divorce, death in the family), and by making any necessary accommodations to help the staff feel less stress, managers help to increase staff loyalty.
10. Share information promptly, openly, and clearly.
    • Tell the truth and with compassion. The rumor mill exists and employees use it to hear some version of the disseminated information. Trying to keep information hidden from employees, especially if the information affects them, only projects a management image of deception that diminishes trust. By telling employees information they need to hear, a manager can defuse any misunderstanding that creates unnecessary stress and that reduces employee productivity.
11. Celebrate successes and milestones reached – both organizational and personal.
    • Create an organizational culture that is open, trusting, and fun. Be on the lookout to praise successes, not on the lookout to punish mistakes.
12. Never say anything negative about the company or other employees.
    • Employees get discouraged if they hear their manager venting negatively about other employees or the company. Managers represent the organization and have access to information that the staff does not. When managers speak  negatively about the organization, the staff hears that is time to seek employment elsewhere; When managers speak negatively about other employees, the staff begins to question the manager’s trust. Never talk negatively about anyone or the organization. The rumor mill will ensure that everyone hears a grave version of what was said.

In conclusion, by continually applying these simple motivational techniques managers will develop employee trust, will increase employee productivity, will increase employee satisfaction and employee loyalty. The final outcome will be a team of very productive and satisfied employees.

Written by Michael Grace

About the Author

Michael Grace has 15 years experience in management and holds a Master Degree in Management Science from the Stevens Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. He is the founder of a Management Leadership Online community.

I work for a grocery chain in Texas and we employ many teens and I need help with motivation, focus and energy

This a first job for 98% of these kids and they all go to the same HS etc. Our focus as managers is Customer Service. Which is a broad and vague concept for them. We need help making them understand that they are there to work not play. But working should be fun (right?). There 150+/- empoyees and we need some ideas to get/keep them motivated, focused, interested, responsible, etc!
I have a team building meeting with my team of employees. There are 16+/- kids on my team and I want to get these employees up to speed and start the trend to better CS for our customers who are what keep us growing. Also, want this to help the other managers with their teams so that we can be #1 in customer service throughout our Region.

I think the guy above me makes a ton of great points. I just wanted to also recommend contests. Kids respond well to contests and prizes. There might be a way for you o encompass a monthly prize for doing something great or the most of something….good luck

Employee Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Job Performance

Linking Career Advancement to Job Performance – a Performance Improvement Strategy

While all your employees may not crave a promotion, some will.  For those employees, upward mobility is the key motivator.  They are willing to cooperate and contribute, but they want to advance in their careers. Unfortunately, promotions do not always happen fast enough for some employees.

There are two “good news” points to this situation.  First, career advancement does not have to be only about getting promoted.  Rather, it can be about activities, projects, or assignments that contribute to opportunities for promotion.  Second, employees know that promotions are not always possible.  So they are willing to consider opportunities that contribute to advancement.  Employees want to feel that they are working on their careers, even if they are not receiving a promotion.

To make the link between career advancement and job performance, do two things.  One, look for career related opportunities in every assignment.  Two, explain “how” every assignment offers a career related opportunity and a chance for employees to work on their careers.  Consider theses examples:

1. You want your employee to participate in a task force. This task force will be led by an influential department manager (career related opportunity).

2. You want your employee to make a presentation at a conference.  There will be several high profile managers at this conference (career related opportunity).

3. You want your employee to take a class on Effective Presentations.  This class will help the employee enhance skills that will be useful during job interviews (career related opportunity).

4. You want your employee to train other employees.  This assignment will enhance her or his credibility as a Subject Matter Expert (career related opportunity).

5. You want your employee to participate in a charity event for the organization.  One of the major event activities will involve interviewing key leaders in the organization (career related opportunity).

This approach is about explaining to employees how their performance or participation can lead to greater visibility, more recognition, or additional career related skills.  And while you are not saying to the employee, “This assignment or activity will lead to a promotion.” You are saying, “This assignment or activity will offer you a valuable career related experience.”

Believe it or not, employees will appreciate the fact that you are focusing on their career interests.  Too many times managers remain silent when promotions are not possible.  In those instances, employees become frustrated and stop doing their best work.  The most talented employees leave for greener pastures. 

By using this approach, you at least let employees know that you care about their careers.  You also move the focus away from “getting a promotion” as the only solution to career advancement.  Instead, you help employees see that they can still have some valuable career related experiences.  This way, they are working on their careers and working toward a promotion.  Try it and see what happens.

About the Author

Dr. Barbara Brown trains, writes, and consults on strategies to enhance and improve workplace performance.

Get the iPhone and iPad APP Manage Employee Performance: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/manage-employee-performance/id388649089?mt=8

no motivation or passion in my job…how can i improve the situation?

i’ve been working only 8 months and it’s just so hard to be motivated or passionate about my job. i’m a financial anlyst reporting business performance and stuff..but i just don’t feel that im doing anything useful or that makes a difference in real life but all i do is number crunching and power point etc.. i just feel that im only using 10% of my ability.. the rest of ability is spent on my personal life such as traveling and networking with people. it’s not too bad but i believe that i can be really successful if i do something i love .. or at least something that gives me clear motivation.. like money. what should i do???
but thing is i don’t know what i really wanna do for my career.. i try to do as many things as possible and studied business but it still doesn’t show me any sign yet.

If you like working with and networking with people why don’t you at least take a look at network marketing, if you do not know anything about the industry, and it is one of the fastest growing industries in the world today then take a look at the web site I have listed. It does not refer to any particular company but it is a video where you can at least get an idea of the industry.
If after that you would like any more information then get back to me by email.

Theory X vs. Theory X managers

Taxonomy of Theories

Running head: TAXONOMY OF MANAGEMENT THEORIES Taxonomy of Management Theories Omentus Alan N’debe Korlison 

   Great care ideas noise and bustle was noticed in the twentieth century, which help created the classical school of management. The school first and foremost issue was how to make managers effective in running an organization (Hartman, Unknown).It is very important that people who are interested in becoming a manager or leader should learn the history and understanding of the control system, so that they will not make a lot of mistakes (Filmore, 2010).

 When the factory system started having problems, during the Industrial Revolution and managers were thinking about how to resolve it, out came the classical control thought. Managers were doubtful of how to train employees or deal with augmented labor unrest, so they began to experiment solutions. As a result, the traditional control concept developed. It focused on the efficiency of the specific work activity, and has being divided into three schools of thought. These include Bureaucratic control, which focuses on rules and procedures, Scientific management, which concentrates on the “best” way in which a project can be done and Administrative management, which has emphasized how information is passed within the firm (Hartman, Unknown).

Classical School of Management:  Bureaucratic Management One of the branches of the classical school was lead by Max Weber, because he proposed the idea of “legality”, which focuses on the rules and power of authority. He postulated that members should be protected by the rules and regulation of their organization (Hartman, Unknown). Weber listed six characteristics that he believed all bureaucracies have: 1. “A well defined hierarchy”: The higher person within the organization controls and monitors the lower people within the organization, which allow an easy way to manage the organization. 2. “Division of labor and specialization”: This allows all employees to perform their duties in accordance with their job title. 3. “Rules and Regulations”: This allow for a single way of doing things within the organization. 4. “Impersonal relationship between managers and employees”: This encourages manager to create a safe working environment for employees, by allowing them to make decisions on their own. 5. “Competence”: This allows manger to employ people base on their qualifications, which will promote a better working environment. 6. “Records”: This allow for an organization to maintain all documents about its work and decisions (Hartman, Unknown). The acknowledgement of power is the primary focus of Weber’s theory; because of this employees are unresponsive to it (Hartman, Unknown).

Scientific Management: The second branch of the classical school of management in this paper is the technical management approach. The primary focus of this approach is to evaluate and prepare organization for developing an all-embracing managing solution. An elemental implication for this approach is that managers are responsible for making sure that their organization is efficient and effective, by applying the technical management principles (Hartman, Unknown).

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) is known as the “father of scientific management”. He postulated that in order for an organization to achieve efficiency and effectiveness, they should applied scientific approach to managing, which depended on the employer’s better-quality power and responsibility to implement practical capability to the work in the environment.

He advanced some principles to methodical management. 1. “A systematic management methodology be developed” 2. “Managers should bear the responsibility for selecting, training and developing the employee” 3. “Managers should fully cooperate with employees to secure the proper application of the technical management system”. 4. “Management should get involved with the work of their employees as much as possible” (Hartman, Unknown). The price rate system was advanced by Taylor as the only way to motivate employees to improve their work, and improve their method, however, some of this way has demonstrated to be blemished. In fastidious, his firmness on direct monitoring fails in the light of all modern research, demonstrating close monitoring is not good. The price rate system is not good in today economy, because of the changes in the working environment on a constant basis (Hartman, Unknown).While organizational learning and motivation are innovative reason of Taylor’s hypothesis, the reasons was altered to current approaches. For example, Taylor argued that people in authority had knowledge, and therefore they should be the ones to train and educate employees, but he forgot to realize that employees had some self-improvement motivation (Phelps, Parayitam, & Olson, 2008).

Frank (1868-1924) and Lillian (1878-1972) Gilbreth Stalwart campaigners of the scienticfic management were the Gilbreths; they were anxious to find the better way of doing work, so they designed a system called “speed service” which was accomplish by stopping work that was done over and over again. The Gilbreth made their initial scientific management study on bricklayers, by studying bricklaying; he help reduce the motion of bricklaying, but at the same time increasing production (Hartman, Unknown). He and his wife became involved in life and motion studies. They isolated seventeen basic services motions that they termed therblings, Gilbreth spelled backwards (Hartman, Unknown).

Administrative Management Henri Fayol (1841-1925): The belief that management principles should be explained and urbanized to others was the feelings of Henri Fayol; therefore he suggested some principles based on his life experiences: 1. “Division of labor”: Employees should be train in particular areas for maximum production. 2. “Authority and responsibility”: The senior manager should call the shots. 3. “Disciple”: Senior manager should reprimand whenever necessary. 4. “Unity of instruction”: All instruction should come from the senior manager. 5. “Unity of command”: All work should come through the senior manager. 6. “Subordination of personal interest to the public interest”: The organizational value should be taken into consideration more than the individual value. 7. “Remuneration of personnel”: All employees should be paid in accordance with their qualification. 8. “Centralization”: All employees should be effective and efficient 9. “Scalar chain”: The power within the organization comes from senior managers to the least employees. 10. “Order”: All work should be done by the right employees. 11. “Equity”: Work should be fair and equal with the pay of employees. 12. “Stability of tenure of employees”: Retention has to be high in order to maximum productivity. 13. “Initiative”: Employees and employers should all be motivated to work. 14. “Esprit de Corps”: Everyone should work together as one for the betterment of the organization. The principles that Fayol postulated are still in use today, although some other theorist disagree with them (Hartman, Unknown).

Chester Barnard (1886-1961): According to Barnard, trust is very important within an organization. He furthered argued that managers need to trust their subordinates in order to have an effective and efficient working environment. He furthered stated that for an employee to have trust for an employer, they have to be indifference (Hartman, Unknown). Barnard and Weber had two different approaches to how communication should be carried out within an organization, Barnards believe that it should start from the least employee to the top employee, while Weber believe that it should start from the top manager to the least employee. Barnards suggested some reasons that affect the way employees adhere to authority: 1. “The employees must understand the communication”. 2. “The employees receive the conversation as being consistent with the organization’s purposes”. 3. “The employees feel their actions will be consistent with the needs and desires of the other employees”. 4. “The employees feel they are mentally and physically able to carry out the order from the higher authority” (Hartman, Unknown). Barnard stated that management primary activity is communication and keeping the organization sound and balance. Due to his appreciation for employees’ action and behavior, he was put between the behavioral school of management and the administrative school of management (Hartman, Unknown).

References

Filmore, C. (2010, 8 23). Why are Classical Management Theories Developed by Frederick Taylor in the 19th Century still Revelant Today? Retrieved 3 25, 2011, from WWW.heloum.com: http://www.helium.com/items/1931220-management-theories-history-of-management-analysis-of-management-theory Hartman, D. S. (Unknown). Management Theory. New York Institute of Technology , 1-15. Phelps, L., Parayitam, S., & Olson. B. (2008). Edwards Deming, Mary P. Follett and Federick W.Taylor: Reconciliation of Difference in Organizational and Strategic Leadership. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 6(1) , 1-14.

About the Author

Extended Essay Help!?

Hey.

If possible, try to include a few case studies, some proposed resolutions, suggestions for future improvements, and a short bibliography or reference list.

Dynamic Motivation Center Company Profile

Valuable Self Motivation Tips for Home Business Entrepreneurs

Creating a home business suggests freedom. Freedom from punching a time clock, freedom from an overbearing boss, freedom from irritating co-workers, making a living from working from home means freedom; right? Yes, a home business provides liberation from the rules and demands of a regular job. No one is going to yell at you with regards to coming in tardy or even leaving ahead of time. No one is going to tell you that you can not wear your favorite hat or shorts into the office and no one is going to be tapping his or her wrist watch suggesting you have taken a long lunch break.

Remaining motivated is probably the most common issues facing small business owners. It can be rather frustrating when no immediate, good results are seen after spending a lot of time during the early phases of the business. Some individuals end up so aggravated, they quit. Remaining motivated facing no or limited small business success is crucial to make the business work. Business owners need to have an intense desire to be successful, utilizing beneficial time management skills to improve their productivity. Listed here are three strategies to keep small Business Motivation high:

1. Remain Next to Your Reason Why.

Remembering the reasons for setting up your small business usually proves to be motivational. The freedoms owning a business gives you, the infinite possibilities for income along with the chance to accomplish some unmet goals with that money are common reasons for starting a small business. Many think it is beneficial to make these motives visible and examine them daily through the use of a list or perhaps snapshot collage

2. Praise Your Advances.

Constructive encouragement is an effective motivational approach. Meaningful incentives for the achievement of major milestones serve as constructive reinforcements. A weekend retreat is usually fantastic motivation and serves a dual function. It really is a type of positive reinforcement and also a way to refresh and reenergize. Operating a home business can be more mentally and physically demanding compared to working in a conventional job. A brief trip provides a much needed rest and allows you to definitely come back invigorated and able to tackle the next small business challenge.

3. Arrange Frequent Breaks.

To hold your edge it is important to layout your work schedule with frequent breaks. You’ll be amazed just how rejuvenating a fifteen or thirty minute break can be to re-energize you and keep your motivation high. Taking a brief walk around the block, doing some stretching movements, or even quickly weeding a garden on a breezy afternoon are actually great methods to “get the creative juices flowing.” Lots of desk work, composing, or working online makes many sleepy and ready for a nap. Taking a break will assist you to restore focus and concentration at mid-day or later in the day (also perfect for night time work).

Home business owners commonly struggle to stay motivated in an environment that necessitates much more of them than those working a regular job. Continuing to keep their reasons behind starting a home business close, rewarding them for the advancement they make and reserving frequent breaks in their work day are excellent approaches to keep motivation high.

About the Author

Interested in advice to build your home business? Check out joining the Society of Home Business Owners to get cost-effective <a href=”http://www.sohbo.org/” target=”_blank”>small business advice</a> from their online <a href=”http://www.sohbo.org/” target=”_blank”>small business consultants</a>.

Need business Motivational Quotes!! ?

Working on a weekly newsletter my office sends out. I’m all out of motivational quotes to put in there. Do you have any ideas?
Topics: real estate, success, and being friendly.

Success is a journey, not a destination.

Success comes in cans; failure in can’ts.

Success humbles the great man, astonishes the common man, and puffs up the little man.

Coming together is a start; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

Remember that overnight success usually takes about fifteen years.

There’’s no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.

Never discuss your success with people less successful than you.

Judge your success by the degree that you’re enjoying peace, health and love.

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

Success is more attitude than aptitude.

Baudville Premium Cheers Kit Say Yes to Awesomeness

Amway, Is it the greatest con game since the shell game?

MLM; ( Multi-Level Marketing) What is It?
It Is Fatally Flawed from Inception!

Like the world of Muslims, illegal immigrants and Gay Marriages, few things engage readers more than a discussion of MLM: Multi-level marketing.

This author has studied MLM both face to face and from the side lines, for 38 yrs. Our firm has spent over 100,000 hours examining interviews, newspaper reports, legal decisions and the like and we now present this data to you. Further, this author admits a bias. Now that we both realize that I am not a totally neutral party, let the exam begin.

It is possible that MLM was started before 1969, but the most public announcement of its existence was when the two founders of Amway successfully recruited “Independent Representatives and thus, the world of pure IRs began. Further, this business model, as researchers would say One of the introduced benefits to the prospective Independent Representative was that this was an ideal way of earning money for the stuck at home housewife or unemployed person since “NO selling was needed.” After all, everyone needed soap and most people liked the idea of earning extra cash-so, why not have a party with good snacks, music, and chatting and the opportunity to have people representing a company that was mature, had other Representatives around the city and very good soap to sell. At most of these parties, relatives would be introduced to this system since the idea was, that relatives would not think they were being sold and relatives needed soap. And why not help relatives earn spare money too. It never seemed odd that each person that “Signed up” was asked to buy a “Kit” that sold at a cost from $25 to $100, depending on where one lived and when one joined. While the attorney general of each state was inevitably called into the picture to review the size of the “Levels”, there were often 12. We had the two founders and their first officers who branched out from their homes. The company needed a home office and distribution, so those individuals were at the top level, or, seen clearer, at the bottom of the “Pyramid.”

All companies that sell products, have to either make the products [requiring raw materials and packaging materials] or buy them from wholesalers.

These products thus have a cost to make and the Amway Company needs a specific margin to pay for their operating expenses and to provide a profit. This is what all companies need to stay in business.

Presuming for sake of discussion, that a box of soap [this author met a "middle level" Representative when he was asked to audit her records] cost the Representative, $5.00, that cost would provide Amway with its needed profit. Anything above that then began to provide a profit for the new field Representative.

So, the VP, operations, for example, would then “Recruit” 6 people at his or his good friend’s home. Perhaps 12 people came to this “Hello party.” Those 6 people would buy one kit each and from that, the VP would pocket perhaps $10.00. Amway would net over $35, since the soap cost $5.00 to provide Amway its profit. It is presumed the business cards and brochures costs less than .10 total, to provide.

Now we have two partners, a crew of employees to get the soap out the door and the VP with 6 new Representatives.

Next month or so, these 6 new Representatives would have, in their respective neighborhoods, parties to recruit new/more Independent Representatives. Soon, the box of soap costing $5.00 actually cost Amway .50 because a ton of it was being made at the same time. Years later, this same soap might cost less than .01 when hundreds of tons of it was made at the same time. Since the soap would retail almost the same all the time, its $4.99 gross margin could support a lot of Representatives.

Within ten years of Amway bringing out their Independent Agents/Representative approach and Recruiting, Princess House, Mary Kay Cosmetics. Tupper Ware and others began to adopt this method of growing their companies.

As is obvious to the reader, this method of “Selling” is called multi-level marketing. From the minute its system was put to use, attorney generals of each state began receiving complaints about Agents/Representatives misleading people or conning them with promises of profits that never materialized.

This author has met Independent Representatives from different MLMs and he was amazed that those from highly regarded professions seemed to be agents in this as well. And insurance companies, real estate offices and others have begun to adopt this system-much to this author’s amazement.

Also, since this world has lots of travelers, this system has begun to spread around the world.

The law, while stating many things, includes a provision where no company may state they are in one business and yet, their actual business is primarily that of recruiting others. This recruiting can be confused with the employment agency business. In the licensed or professional field of employee recruiting, a company is paid a fee to seek and help a company hire, employees for one or more employers. In MLM, the Independent Representative never pays anyone anything from his pocket. The Representative also seeks no one for anyone else-the Representative only seeks more Representatives for his own distribution system which the MLM world calls a “Down line.”

This Representative earns money three ways; he sells kits to new Representatives. He earns money from soap sales to his own customers [of which there are rarely many] and he earns money from the soap sales that HIS Representatives and his Representatives and their Reps sell. And on and on and on. This organizational structure is also called a pyramid. Most pyramids are illegal. It has been shown in court that most pyramids require more people than exist on earth to provide profits to 12th level Representatives. It is for that reason that the Attorney General of most states winds up suing MLM Representatives for violating at the least the law about being in a business whose main business is in recruiting for MLM.

Within MLM, the founders also often sell “Motivation” tapes which are supposed to provoke Independent Agents to “Hang in there” and keep knocking on doors or having more parties to keep the cash flow up.

What are the fallacies, faults and problems within MLM:

First; they are a violation of the recruiting law [one cannot recruit for no one and the Independent Agent is not a business].

Second; the party plan or recruiting program system supposes that one’s friends and relatives will be pleased to earn money in this manner and will of course, support the family agent by buying this soap that is priced two to five times what other retailers charge for equal quality and quantity of soap.

Third; the Independent Representative is obligated to buy a “Kit” that “Normal” business representatives are given free.

Forth; When the energetic Agent prepares to open a retail store, to facilitate sales, the supplying Representative [Up-line Representative, if you will] will inform the Agent that store site sales are not permitted “As it will bring unfair advantage to those Agents who cannot afford to pay for a retail site.” [This occurred to this report's writer as he experimented and informed a purported Representative that he was going to buy fifty cases of product and sell them from a fixed site [store] to which the Representative said “I will stop supplying you and make sure Amway does not supply you either if you have a retail outlet.”

This author challenged a 6th level Amway Representative twelve years ago, to a sales duel. I claimed that if I could sell his firm’s product my way vs his, and we had only one week to earn our revenue and profits, that I would out sell him two to one. In front of 25 people he was training, he chose not to accept my bet-dual. He would have lost.

Any “college business school taught “method of distribution/sales will outperform an MLM.

He is why:

First, the MLM person “By habit”, will seek out Representatives. He will take two weeks to prepare a presentation at a home, hotel or elsewhere and hope to “Hook” five to ten percent of his audience to become Agents for him and Amway.

Thus, in this example, I would have begun finding retail sites to carry my product for their customers and I would have visited laundry-mats to see if I could sell products and I would have removed the label and introduced this product to local grocery chains at near my cost-just to move it-with retail prices being required after the first month’s sales.

I would keep my profit margin low -15 to 20 % instead of the several hundred percent required the Amway.

I would be able to sell perhaps 1,000 boxes of soap by the end of my second week and my competitor using the party or seminar approach, will have sold perhaps 10 boxes-just those boxes that are in the “Kits” that MLM companies have and require their Agents to sell to new Representatives.

Also, when I talk to Agents who gloat about their down-lines-having perhaps 15 to 25 Agents below them [they can only earn money from their own recruited Agents, not from those above them as in profit sharing that other firms use who are not in MLM] how their actual sales are doing, I find that the average Agent’s down-line is selling perhaps 1 to 2 boxes of product per week. That amount of product would give the Agent a gross of perhaps $35-50 dollars.

[The profit margin of each box to the Agent who did the recruiting]. Next, I ask the agent “Are you allocating operating costs to your business? When I ask that, they either have no idea what I am talking about or they say “We don’t have operating expenses since we are not a full-time business or, “We don’t operate that way!” Since these Agents have party expenses, transportation to Agents seminars and homes, etc., they have Transportation costs. When I ask about Liability, they claim “No.” When I ask about Advertising expenses, “No.” And the list goes on. No expenses.

My opportunity to conduct an audit of a 6th level Amway Agent came at a unique time. I was in the dating game. It just so happened that on her way to recruit a new Agent, this lady in AZ found me “Desirable” and visa-versa. During our third week dating, I offered to audit her books after listening to her stories and visiting he home and seeing her Amway assets, and methods. She was bothered that her net cash in the bank was much less than she felt it should have been.

I examined her paperwork, compared it to her stated answers and compared that to her history with the company and deduced, ANALYTICALLY, that instead of her netting $35.00 an hour [1982], she was instead netting $5.62. She was horror stricken. While she was proud of her wall of cassettes that her up-line Agent had sold her and was assured was recoverable-that the up-line agent would buy them all back at her original cost-she called him and he said “You have misunderstood, we don not buy back cassettes. She could have made a big deal out of his previous lies to her but she decided not too.

She lost her house two months later and filed for bankruptcy.

This author has never found one person who was ANY level Agent for any MLM that netted more than $5.70 an hour. These agents were, unfortunately, not only not previous or current business students in college, but had never taken one course or read one book in accounting, so they had no idea about how to examine an income statement or balance sheet.

I will agree that, with one trip to any public library, that literature or education could have been surmounted.

Next, the proliferation/invasion of MLM into internet newsgroups world-wide.

This author “Owns” several Yahoo Groups, also known as newsgroups. Mine deal with real estate and business. I have a FAQ [Frequently Asked Questions] that state “No MLM invitations or ‘business’ may be conducted on this group.” I have 25 groups. Each time I create a group, immediately, 25% of the new subscribers are MLM Agents. And they have the audacity to admit it. “Wanted, Agents to open down-lines in A, B and C cities and nations.”

When I ask my peers who have newsgroups on similar or different subjects, we all find that 25% or more of new subscribers are doing the same thing; promoting their MLM group in spite of a prohibition of same. Polite requests to refrain from doing so, are ignored.

Next; new Agents I met.

In the past 12 years, I have met on the phone or in person, many new and mid-level Agents

with Amway, Excel [phone service] and real estate companies. Each and every one is excited when I initially talk to them. “I love it”, “We are making so much money”, etc.

The Excel lady even told me about the long distance phone service MLM she was with. I had not heard of that one. I had a few minutes to spare and asked her the normal questions

I have asked others and that are above in this report “Have you had your finances audited?” How long have you been with them? And so on. If I have the time, by my 3rd question, the armor that they have had to create to “Protect their time and financial investment” begins to wither. By question number 4, I get this “You know, we have been wondering why some of the down-line Agents who were doing so well three months ago, are not answering their phones anymore or are at home when we call to visit them.” OR, “You know, it’s funny, but when we went to buy a new house/car/boat, we found that our income was not as high as we had thought and so, we did not have sufficient discretionary funds to pay for this new toy/house.”

And, almost always “How did you know?” [Regarding their presumed net profit vs what their up-line Agent said it was after their forth month]. The idea that a product or service has to be priced high enough to allow many levels of staff/agents to profit rarely is understood by MLM Agents.

Sometimes, I get a newly wed person who is so excited by her new marriage and almost more excited by the new income she is expecting with her new Amway business. She is also perplexed when her family would not finance the purchase of the “Kit”, so the newly weds had to take the cash out of rent or food money, easily expecting to earn enough to replace that cash. None of them ever do. So, I suggest that they take the soap and sell it to a neighbor who she knows is going to the laundry next Saturday and write off the rest.

What an expensive lesson and what a loss of presumed income. Even a few marriages suffered when the ego of the newly weds was hurt by family members refusing to finance the “Kit” and the newly weds “Divorced” their parents because of it.

Keller-Williams straddles the line when they offer new Agents a fee to recruit other new agents.

This real estate office claims it is purely profit sharing which does not make much sense. With profit sharing, the more Agents there are, the fewer the profits are per Agent.

In some European and Middle East nations, the ethics of MLM makes their operation prohibitive.

The main law that is broken in the US by MLM is the federal law of Deceptive Practices. Plus the law where recruiting is the main objective without having any employers seeking employees.

While I have never seen one, this is of interest:

“A legitimate multi-level marketing opportunity is the value of some business purpose. Ask yourself, “What does the company sell?” An illegal pyramid scheme has no business purpose—rather its emphasis is on getting other people to enlist.

More references;

Multilevel marketing (MLM) schemes

[Indiana University Information Services-http://kb.iu.edu/data/afvn.html]

More references;

Amway is a multilevel marketing (MLM, also known as network marketing) company founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos. The company’s name is an abbreviation of “American Way.” [1] Based in Ada, Michigan; personal care products, jewelry, dietary supplements, water purifiers, air purifiers and cosmetics. Wikipedia.

Ja-Ri Corporation was the original multi-level marketing distributorship for Nutrilite nutritional products, founded by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos in 1949.[3] Ja-Ri’s name comes from the founders’ first names, Jay and Richard. Friends since childhood, Van Andel and DeVos became business partners in endeavors such as a hamburger stand, air charter service, and a sailing business.

Ja-Ri was incorporated in 1959, and changed its name to “Amway” in 1963.

Regarding legal actions:

In the 1979 In re. Amway Corp. (93 F.T.C. 618) ruling,[7] the Federal Trade Commission found that Amway does not qualify as an illegal pyramid scheme since the main aim of the enterprise is the sale of product and money is paid only for business volume, personal and group. It did, however, order Amway to change several business practices and prohibited the company from misrepresenting the amount of profit, earnings or sales its distributors are likely to achieve. Amway was ordered to accompany any such statements with the actual averages per distributor, pointing out that more than half of the distributors do not make any money, with the average distributor making less than $100 per month. The order was violated with a 1986 ad campaign, resulting in a $100,000 fine

In 1983, Amway pleaded guilty to criminal tax evasion and customs fraud in Canada, resulting in a fine of $25 million CAD, the largest fine ever imposed in that country. The company was fined another $45 million CAD in 1989 to settle a suit brought by Canada’s trade office.[10][11][12]. In an 1994 interview, Amway co-founder Rich DeVos stated that this incident had been his greatest “moral or spiritual challenge”, first in “soul searching as to whether they had done anything wrong” and then for pleading guilty for technical reasons, despite believing they were innocent of the charges. DeVos stated he believed that the case had been motivated by “political reasons”.[13]

[To stave off further negative publicity, for now]

In 1999 the founders of the Amway corporation launched a sister (and separate) Internet-based company named Quixtar. The Alticor corporation owns both Amway and Quixtar, plus several other concerns. Quixtar replaced the North American business of Amway in 2001, with Amway operating in the rest of the world. Amway’s internet sales in Europe are conducted via their Amivo website. The Access Business Group was split off to handle manufacturing.

http://www.mlmsurvivor.com/melaleuca.htm

March, 2000

Fourteen Melaleuca distributors have sued their upline and the company on charges that have become all too familiar to followers of MLM lawsuits. The crux of this case rests on claims that the company and its representatives knowingly, fraudulently and persistently misrepresented their distributor retention rate.

Distributor retention is vital to the success of any MLM endeavor, because you have to be able to sponsor new people faster than the old ones quit. In the landmark FTC decision of 1979, Amway testified to a 50% retention rate, which was excellent for the direct sales industry. This means that, in any given year, 50% of the distributor force quits. Anyone wanting to succeed at sponsoring would have to sponsor two for every one they want to keep.

So (according to the complaint), instead of an average attrition rate of only 5.5% per year, as they had been led to believe, the Holtons discovered that the annual dropout rate was really 66% per year — an enormous difference. Kim Holton, who had sponsored people she cared about, was thrown into a serious depression and eventually committed suicide, leaving her husband and son.

PROSTEP LEAD MLM DEAD AFTER 12 YEARS

26 August 2005 — ProStep the lead generation company, dies at hands of the Law. After a recent defeat with the state of Texas over a disputed multi-year franchise tax and sales and use tax payments Prostep is shutting down. Here at the MLM WatchDog we can pretty well determine that means filing bankruptcy to escape the Texas bills due… Ed. Note: We always hate to see MLM Companies die, however there will be some humor if the Name List Brokers are selling the “Experienced Networkers! – Prostep Name List” next week!

THE WORLD’S DUMBEST PYRAMIDERS ARE HANGING THEMSELVES!

22 July 2005- You have to read about these guys standing in front of a judge telling him that Elite Activity is not a pyramid ponzi… In person! Wow, all they had to do was shut down the website and run. Now, there’s a shootout between them and the AG. Good luck!

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/12155218.htm

MORE LAWSUITS EVERY TIME WE LOOK!

21 July 2005- Wow, this is one of the most sue happy couple of years I have seen in the MLM Industry!

MLM Lawsuits

http://www.mlm-thewholetruth.com/scams.shtml

Attorney General Warns of Marketing, Pyramid Schemes 11/22/06 4:15 AM … and Charles Counties Attorney General Warns Consumers of Multi-Level Marketing Schemes, Pyramid Cons Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., warns Maryland residents to …

Better Business Bureau expels 2 firms Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 6/30/06 12:57 AM … which include the plan’s parent company, American Family Prepaid Legal Corp. of Irvine, Calif., to immediately halt their “illegal” conduct regarding current or future marketing …

Lee’s Summit business owners indicted for false tax returns BizJournals.com 6/30/06 3:48 AM … information. The Aldridges co-own and operate a multimillion-dollar multi-level marketing firm called , which sells American Silver Eagle coins. The company employed about 5,000 sales … Concept Marketing International

UK’s Times Online reports crack down on scams and “matrix” schemes…”FINANCIAL fraudsters prey on the gullible and the vulnerable. But one scam has plumbed new depths” 10/19/2005

Norwich Evening News in the UK lists the top 10 scams in Europe – Click here 10/4/2005

New payment processor that will replace PayPal? Maybe not. See comments on GreenZap.

Buyer Beware on Australian 2-Ups like Liberty League and Coastal Vacations! – see Rod Cook article.

Government Cracks Down On Internet Mall Pyramid Promoters WFMY-TV CBS 2 Greensboro (NC) 5/13/05 10:35 PM … NexGen3000.com, Inc.; Globion, Inc.; Robert J. Charette, Jr.; David A. Charette; Stephen M. Diamond; Christine Wasser; Infinity2, Inc.; and Edward G. Hoyt are barred from participating in any multi-level marketing businesses in the future. All are barred from making false or misleading earnings or income …

USATODAY.com – U.S. cracks down on 200 scam operations 2/22/2005

Federal agencies announced a crackdown Tuesday on about 200 operations that falsely offered lucrative work-at-home and other questionable business opportunities. … U.S. cracks down on 200 scam operations. WASHINGTON (AP) – Make big bucks at home stuffing envelopes …

http://attitudeadjustment.tripod.com/Essays/MLM.htm
by Luke Setzer

Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies like Amway and Nu Skin are notorious for hyping their “business opportunities” and promising riches to those who “work hard” at “building the business”. However, a closer look reveals a very dark side to the MLM industry, as the following testimonial from a seasoned MLMer will demonstrate:

My wife and I have been involved with the MLM industry for 20 years. We have built many large downlines and have come to the following well-reasoned conclusions.

We’re tired of building big downlines only to see them fade away, companies go out of business, regulatory action, lawsuits, bad press, etc. Distributors are along for a ride in a cart driven by someone else.

Selling a product-based deal is fine, but the idea of marketing a business opportunity to prospects when we know the numbers is not ethical for us. In its purest form, MLM is a viable method of marketing if its focus is on products and not primarily the business. Selling the dream of financial independence with MLM is a mirage for 90+% of distributors. The MLM industry statistics are that on average only 10% of distributors get a commission check each month. Of that 10%, 80% do not make enough to sustain themselves as a full-time income. Industry-wide company statistics show that 90% of distributors drop out of each company within a 1-2 year period. The distributor churn rate is terrible.

Any way you cut it, MLM statistically does not work for 90+% of those involved. And those who make the big bucks are in a more elite group–usually 1/10 of 1% of all distributors.

We found that we could not ethically sell the MLM dream of financial independence for all. It is impossible. For me to get $10,000+ a month, I have to build this on the backs of all the users, consumers, and little people–the ones who buy their $100 a month of whatever and don’t get a check. This money flows upline to distributors and back to the company from people who don’t make their monthly qualifications.

In MLMs, you do not own your own business, you do not own the product, and you are not in control of your destiny. The company holds all the strings–product supply, computer tracking, commissions, collections, customer service, order fulfillment, publicity, compliance, public relations, comp plan, everything. All you own is a position in a long line of distributors. You do not control the product you sell, the comp plan, what the company does or does not do, the money that is paid . . . distributors own nothing other than the opportunity to sign more distributors and manage the existing downline. You are at the mercy of the company, upline, downline, media, and government.

This is why we’re doing our own thing–developing our own products (books, information products), marketing, and selling. We started this four years ago. We’ve got no one to answer to except us. We’ve got control. We direct market to customers, find more new customers, nurture that relationship, and make more sales. The most important thing we’ve got is our customer list and that relationship and goodwill.

I would like to recommend that you check out the following links. These pages will explain more:

What’s Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing

What’s Wrong With MLM–FAQs

The Zero Sum Theory
MLMer Tom “Big Al” Schreiter on MLM

MLM Watch: A Skeptical Guide to Multilevel Marketing

The Network Marketing Game
Dr. Jon Taylor, who did the Network Marketing Payout Distribution Study

Worldwide Scam

MLM or Pyramid Scheme?

Cagey Consumer MLM and Financial Scams Exposed

False Profits Analysis of Network and Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)

How do MLMs manage to recruit and retain enthusiastic distributors, even when those distributors lose money year after year? A close examination of the mind control systems of cults reveals disturbing similarities between MLMs and cults.

This web site supplies a generic checklist for identifying cults:

Let’s go through the list and comment:

Based on this analysis, I think the notion that MLMs have cultish tendencies has merit. I’ll be the first to admit that excellence in any endeavor requires a passionate dedication. But that dedication is usually internal rather than external. When external “authorities” begin overwriting people’s identities with their own scripting, to the detriment of the people getting scripted, that’s when the problems begin. I think that happens most of the time with MLMs given the dismal statistics of MLM failures. When rigorous studies reveal gambling to be less risky than MLM, it is time to bail out of MLM.

http://dmoz.org/Business/Opportunities/Opposing_Views/

Anti-MLM and Anti-Amway Webring – Sites containing informational material regarding the MLM industry, especially Amway. Cagey Consumer: Multi-level marketing – Analysis and debunking of Multi-Level Marketing as an industry as well as scrutiny of a number of specific MLMs and complaints generated about them. An Employment Scam in the Financial Services Industry – Describes an employment scam that finance grads and those considering financial, insurance and securities sales should be aware of. What to do if you’ve been scammed; links to similar sites. False Profits – About the book, an exposé and analysis of the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry FTC Sues Nationwide Internet Scam – Press release about FTC lawsuit against StreamLine business opportunity. The God of the Bible versus the god of Multi-Level Marketing – Christian site calling the teachings of Amway Motivational Organizations “a Satanic distortion of Biblical truth.” The Hype of It – True story of a PartyLite Gifts consultant’s trek to the top followed by the use of the 10 day clause by the company to terminate her contract. The Mirage of Multilevel Marketing – Article by Stephen Barrett, M.D., on bogus health products. MLM Survivor – News, lawsuits, personal experiences, and information. MLM Survivors Club – A discussion group for people who’ve survived MLM. Multilevel Marketing Plans – Tips from the Federal Trade Commission regarding MLMs. Personal Experience: Mary Kay Cosmetics – Associate recounts her negative experience with the company. PinkLightHouse.com – Ex-Mary Kay consultants offers news, stories, testimonials and forum on negative experiences with the company. ield – Exposes, studies and aims to prevent illegal pyramid schemes. Site includes news, alerts, resources, legal information, updates and consumer information about a number of companies and MLMs operating suspected pyramid schemes. Skeptic’s Dictionary: multi-level marketing – Encyclopedia-type article about multi-level marketing. The Truth About Marketing Plans – Information on evaluating network marketing plans. What’s Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing? – Business analysis of 4 major systemic problems with MLM: 1) Market Saturation, 2) Pyramid Structure, 3) Morality and Ethics, and 4) Relationship Costs WorldWide Scam Network, The – Parodies of and information about the multi-level marketing scams, frauds, and rip-offs.

Metabolife probe launched – Metabolife International, the leading seller of the controversial weight-loss supplement ephedra, is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. (August 15, 2002) Bigsmart Pyramid Promoters Settle FTC Charges – Federal Trade Commission press release announces that Darrin Epps and Edward Lamont are barred for life from participating in multi-level marketing schemes. (August 9, 2001) MetroActive: Shaking the Money Tree – by Amy Chen Mills- “From Amway to Equinox, multilevel marketing schemes have won 7 million devotees on the promise of unlimited wealth and freedom. But when the numbers don’t add up, distributors lose more than their dreams.” (October 3, 1996)

Conclusion

AS there are people who are passionate about most every field of endeavor, this paper has shown that there are people. While this paper’s author liked creativity, he abhors unethical behavior. He feels both mad and sad when the corporation takes advantage of the employee.

While I do agree with a few quoted responders, that “While some MLM people are honest, it is unfortunate that the many have made it impossible for the few”. Your author must go beyond this and return to the beginning or introduction to this paper.

We have syllogisms we can use here:

a; If a legal body had unlimited resources, it could examine all the workings of every company and idea to seek out illegal behavior and then, see what percent of the entire workings of MLM were illegal vs illegal. Unfortunately, such 24/7 review sources do not exist. Our protective bodies must do the best they can with what they have.

B; IT was a hypothesis of this paper that the founders of MLM made assumptions; that people would love the party system or the “Just do these simple things” and earn lots of money while others perform for you. The fact is, no business ever has, can or will work that way.

That does not mean that money cannot be invested PASSIVELY and earn for oneself but MLM is not an investment-[if it was, it would be worse], it is a shady world created to look like a business but not have the ethical characteristics of a business.

C: MLM’ers must lie, cheat and steal to earn money. In most cases, it must sell worthless kits to earn any money at all. It harms families, loved ones and acts worse than illegal drugs;

it offers PRODUCTS that are likely of value in and of themselves but such products are offered in a “heinous”, illogical, immoral and distasteful manner.

D; As reviewed earlier, I can take any product or service that MLM has, and outperform

the MLM model! Thus, the marketing model of Multi-level is flawed from the get go.

E. While a human still-born is a very sad event, MLM should have been still-born.

The only unfortunate way to keep such an accident of business creativity alive, is to try to act like it is a business [care about customer's needs] while in fact, it is only caring about itself.

Finally; more than one previous member of the MLM family in this report said it well:

And I paraphrase: “When you are offered loads of money and the best you can earn DOING ALL YOU ARE told to do, is earn minimum wage OR LESS, the system is terminally flawed.

Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members. “You must surround yourself with positive people! Negative people say, ‘Be realistic’! Positive people ask, ‘What is possible?’ Most people die from the neck up by the time they’re adults! Stay away from them! They’re dream stealers!”

Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group. Spend every waking moment “working the business” regardless of whether it ever makes you any money.

Members’ subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group. Listen to some Amway tapes and learn how people have lost valuable relationships with families and friends because Amway became their all-consuming passion. Very sad. It’s as if the MLM company “overwrites” the recruit’s personality with its own scripting regardless of the damage such scripting may cause.

The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them. Example: “What? You didn’t make any phone calls today for your business? How are you ever going to get that new Mercedes (or big house, or quitting your job, or whatever other ‘hot button’ you might have).”

The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities). Unethical MLM practices include (1) outrageous income claims not achievable by “just anyone” despite their arguments to the contrary, (2) telling people to “fake it till you make it” (heard this one from a Nu Skin Blue Diamond distributor tape), (3) encouraging retail customers to use excessive amounts of product to boost resales (heard this one from another Nu Skin distributor tape).

The group’s leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations). MLMers dislike well-educated critical thinkers who can see through their smoke and mirrors, and FTC regulators who expect MLM companies to substantiate their outrageous claims.

The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society. See above comments on MLMs vs JOBs in corporate America.

The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity). MLMers “save humanity” with their product or their business opportunity. The “bad guys” are corporate America and their foisting of JOBs (Just Over Broke) onto the American “sheep”. Never mind that it’s much easier to manage life on a steady JOB income than on a nonexistent or even negative MLM income.

The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth). For MLMers, the dictates are that “thou shalt market thy product every waking moment when one is not listening to one of thy company tapes or contacting thy friends and family to recruit them into the cause. Should thy fail to do this, thou art the gravest of sinners.”

Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s). Ever been to an MLM “motivational seminar”? It’s not so much “mind numbing” as it is “mind distracting”. Good feelings are whipped up and lifelong dreams stimulated and then linked to the “business opportunity”, as if the latter could materialise the former. Logical flows of cause and effect based on rigorous research are replaced with highly emotional but intellectually flawed mental linkages to keep the MLM recruit hooked.

Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished. In MLM, the answer is YES! YES! YES!

The group is preoccupied with making money. In MLM, the answer is YES! YES! YES!

The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members. In MLM, the answer is YES! YES! YES!

The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment. In MLM, sometimes it’s a leader, sometimes it’s the company itself. More often it’s a charismatic individual, whether that’s the company founder or an upline.8/19/04 11:59 AM … “Gifting Club” – “Elite Activities” through recruitment of participants, as opposed to a multilevel marketing scheme, where money is made through the sale of a product or service. Staci Schneider, …Multilevel marketing plans, also known as network or matrix marketing, are a way of selling goods or services through distributors. These plans typically promise that if you sign up as a distributor, you will receive commissions for both your own sales and those of other people you recruit to join the distributors. Multilevel marketing plans usually promise to pay commissions through two or more levels of recruits, known as the distributor’s downline. While some MLM schemes are supposedly legitimate, if a plan offers to pay commissions for recruiting new distributors, it likely is illegal. Most states outlaw this practice, which is known as pyramiding. State laws against pyramiding say that a multilevel marketing plan should pay commissions only for retail sales of goods or services, not for recruiting new distributors. Pyramiding is prohibited because plans that pay commissions for recruiting new distributors inevitably collapse when no new distributors can be recruited. When a plan collapses, most people, except perhaps those at the very top of the pyramid, lose their money.Original Source: Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1999.”

About the Author

Your Home Business with Self Help Books TheSelfImprovementPro.com

Enhancing Self Trust and Confidence Through Personal Growth and Self Improvement

Simple Success Facts

Successful people from all over that world have always been those who have the confidence and trust in themselves and not all of us have this character within ourselves but it all can be improved and enhanced in different ways. We’ve come to know that this can only be done through leadership trainings, seminars and usually, those that we have to pay money only to realize that we all have what it takes to become successful and happy in life. These characters that sometimes require awakening and realization and knowing thyself is an important step that we all have to take in order to succeed in all aspects of life.

Role of Internet to Self Improvement

Today, with the availability of the internet, everything has changed for people who have become successful in their ordeals and investments and have become happier with what life has to offer for them in return. While others have to pay for self improvement exercises to be undertaken and guides through books and reading materials, there are a lot of resources that are just actually waiting for you to take a bite in. Numerous and countless information that actually exist but we do not realize we already know. This article is a guide and a resource for people who are looking for answers and guides for their path. A free resource on personal growth and development.

Personal Growth

there are free self improvement tutorials that could actually lead to career development and confidence, eventually we must all realize that this is the same path to a bountiful life physically, mentally and spiritually. There really is no exception, just your will and power to understand things that are already there but were sometimes just being taken for granted because we lack this simple guide to understand it all.

Business and Career Development

Business, career, life, love, physicality, mentality and spirituality, they all come into one place which is to begin with yourself and realize that the one and only essential major factor for all of your life’s contentment actually starts within you. If you develop yourself to overflow and eventually give back all the blessings that you are getting from your success, then that is the time that you will see that everything in life is not free (not in terms of monetary form). You have to focus and pay yourself the attention and develop that you within you in terms of business and career development to understand that you cannot give what is lacking in you. You have to overflow in order to give and be happy along the way all throughout in all aspects including your heart willingly and without prejudice or resentment.

All these can only start for you to see if you develop self trust and confidence within you through self improvement and personal growth resources. This is the key and this is the path not necessarily the perfect road to take but will be a good start. We want you to make that head start that everybody else is looking for all their life and ordeals. We are offering them all for free and for you to use and share to others if you feel we have what it takes. Visit us at U-Teach.Info for more free resources on self improvement, personal growth and career development.

About the Author

Sam Casuncad wrote this article for U-Teach Info

Contact U-Teach: admin@u-teach.info

For more Free Information Personal Growth Development visit them here.

Question on new business, sending 1099’s etc…HELP!?

We just started a home improvement business. My husband goes out and sells windows, doors, siding, room additions etc…We pay someone to install all these things, in some cases we have to pay an electrician or roofer or ac person etc…Do I have to have an EIN number? DO I have to send out 1099’s? I just planned on filing my taxes like I do my avon business as self employed (I know there are taxes involved) and using my deductions and everything. I just am unsure what to do about the people I pay for there services. Any advice would be helpful!
DO I need to get my own ein or will my ss number work when sending the1099’s?

Here is some information from the IRS. Please feel free to contact me for any additional help.

It is critical that you, the employer, correctly determine whether the individuals providing services are employees or independent contractors. Generally, you must withhold income taxes, withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, and pay unemployment tax on wages paid to an employee. You do not generally have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors.

Form 1099-MISC is most commonly used by payers to report payments made in the course of a trade or business to others for services.

If you paid someone who is not your employee, such as a subcontractor, attorney or accountant $600 or more for services provided during the year, a Form 1099-MISC needs to be completed, and a copy of 1099-MISC must be provided to the independent contractor by January 31of the year following payment. You must also send a copy of this form to the IRS by February 28 (although the form does not have to be sent to the IRS until March 31 if the business files the 1099s electronically, using the FIRE system).

Also note that independent contractors may have their own employees or may hire other independent contractors (subcontractors). In either case, they should be aware of their tax responsibilities, including filing and reporting requirements, for these workers.

The IRS has a great site with lots of information on the 1099

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=179114,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq4-3.html

Good luck and I hope this information helped you. Contact me if you need more help.

What is Self Motivation (www.unnati.co.in)

How to Recognize the Self-Sabotage Behavior of Self-Doubt

Self-doubt is the ultimate self-betrayal because YOU are the one telling yourself that you CAN’T or SHOULDN’T do what you WANT to do! Self-doubt is the most damaging and self-defeating behavior there is because it is criticism that comes from within.

Unfortunately, we mask this criticizing self-saboteur by telling ourselves that it is really our friends, family, coworkers and/or community members who will disapprove of us if we set out to accomplish our desired goals, but the sad truth is… YOU are the one telling yourself you can’t or shouldn’t do what you want to do.

In your defense, you should know that you were PROGRAMMED to doubt yourself. When we were children, well-meaning parents, teachers, minister, and other adults taught us to question what others would think of our behaviors. These well-meaning adults taught us that their opinion mattered more than our own.

And they were right to do that because as children we need the guidance of adults who understand the consequences of our behaviors. The unfortunate part is that many of these adults controlled our behaviors using self-esteem damaging tactics because they didn’t know how to be more nurturing and caring. We carry our damaged self-esteem into our adulthood because there seems to never be a point at which these adults say, “OK, you’re ready! NOW it is OK for you to value your own opinion about yourself above the opinions of others!” So we are left with the constant need and desire for validation from those around us. What’s worse is that many of us spend our lives NOT doing what we really want to do because we inwardly fear what others will think of us.
 
Self-doubt is defined in the dictionary as, “a lack of faith or confidence in oneself.” It sounds so simple, but unfortunately, one who is plagued with self-doubt has a carefully structured web of thoughts and feelings about him or herself that creates sound justification for this “lack of faith or confidence.”

You don’t have to live with self-doubt! It is SELF-manufactured and it can be SELF-extracted. You should always question your inner doubts. If you have a desire to do something, you must assume that – somewhere inside yourself – is a part of you that knows you could and should accomplish your desired goal.

What happens when we experience self-doubt?

Self-doubt creates an inner tug-of-war between wanting to do something and then, almost simultaneously, feeling like you can’t or shouldn’t do it. You feel excited and motivated and then suddenly you feel immobilized and defeated. It causes YOU to stop YOURSELF from doing something you actually WANT to do.

Self-doubt is the act of criticizing yourself before anyone else has the chance. It is the ultimate betrayal! YOU are telling yourself you are not worthy of the success you seek. It is bad enough when the people you love and respect tell you that you are not worthy or capable of the success you seek, but it is the ultimate show-stopper when you say those things to yourself.

If you grew up being “programmed” to doubt yourself you most likely are so very skilled at sabotaging yourself before you even get started, that you aren’t even aware that you are the one stopping yourself. You may mask it by telling yourself that “other” people would disapprove of your behavior, but the fact is… YOU are the one who stopped you from moving toward your success before they ever even had a chance to try to stop you!

To Break Free from the Self-Sabotage Behavior of Self-Doubt, you must become aware of the inner tug-of-war! This is an unmistakable signal that you have a desire to do something that is in conflict with your inner programming. (It is NOT a signal that you should NOT do what you want to do. It is merely a signal that you have old programming that is out of alignment with your adult goals and behaviors.)

If you experience the self-sabotage behavior of self-doubt and it prevents, stalls or delays your journey toward the success and happiness you desire you can begin making changes by using the basic rules of “Stop, Look and Listen.”

STOP: Stop fighting the inner battle. It’s a fact that “What you resist will persist.” So stop resisting the struggle and stay present to what’s going on inside. Pay close attention to what is going on inside of you that triggers, inflates, and prolongs your inner feelings of self-doubt.

LOOK: Look for the common threads. Perhaps you feel self-doubt when you are in certain situations or with certain people. Make a list of the times when you have felt self-doubt and try to recall what was going on just before you began feeling self-doubt.  Did you see yourself failing? Did you feel like someone else would disapprove? Remember, YOU are the consistent denominator in each situation, so you must be prepared to take responsibility for the role you and your inner beliefs played in creating self-doubt. Consider that self-doubt is merely a programmed response that – once you uncover the triggers – you can change it into a healthier, more effective response.

LISTEN: Listen to the inner dialog associated with the inner conflict. What is it trying to tell you? What does it want you to know? What is it afraid of? Whose voice is it? Is it you telling yourself something negative or is it someone else’s words and voice that are running as a recording in your head?

Use the information you gather to begin locating the true intentions of your feelings of self-doubt. As you uncover the intentions, you can begin shifting your inner beliefs to create new, positive beliefs that direct you toward confidence in yourself.  You CAN live the life you dream of living!

If you feel that you need help getting to the old programming and shifting to more supportive beliefs you should consider my SuccessEsteem™ Coaching program and the step-by-step processes in the Break Free From Self-Sabotage Behavior Self-Guided Workshop. We can help you to uncover the inner programming that is creating your self-doubt and help you to transition the underlying positive intentions into healthier, more effective programming. And WOW… what a great experience it is when you Break Free from the Self-Sabotage Behavior of Self-Doubt!!! Check us out at www.SelfSabotageBehavior.com.

Power on!
Troyann 

About the Author

Troyann Williams is a highly renowned SuccessEsteem™ Coach. She has devoted her life to developing a coaching program that helps people shift self-sabotage behaviors into SuccessEsteem™ for reaching greater levels of happiness and prosperity. Troyann has been conducting coaching, and educational programs on a national level since 1985. Her work has pioneered new skills, techniques, and paradigms in the areas of breaking free from self-sabotage behaviors. Her 27+ years of business experience and her 10+ years of coaching experience, combined with her lifelong study of Breaking Free from Self-Sabotage Behavior, makes Troyann a “been-there, done-that, knows what she’s talking about” coach! You can contact Troyann through her website, www.selfsabotagebehavior.com.

How do you create a workshop?

I have to create a workshop on motivation and self-confidence for people with disabilities. I work for an employment counselling and placement agency. Any tips would be helpful. I never designed a workshop before.

The following are a few points to ensure that learners get the most from an in-service or workshop session. To review the remainder or the paper go to:

http://www.After-School-Care.com

The page is under the Tips and Article Heading. It is written for the field of school-age care, but pertains to ANY type of training or workshop. Training… is training …is training…

• Be prepared for the meeting! Plan with the end in mind.
Is this meeting to create awareness of a topic, or for specific skill-building?

• Create safety. Attendees should feel comfortable connecting with each other.

• Always connect the learning material and activities to the participant. At the beginning of the meeting, answer the un-asked question of “What’s in this for me? Being here is worth it to me because …”

• Frame the meeting in a positive way. Make the trainings and meetings a celebration of learning experiences! What is learned with pleasure is remembered.

• An hour learning session should consist of one major topic with a few discussion points. It’s better to cover one topic thoroughly then several subjects lightly.
Remember: Too much- too fast- won’t last…or…Too much-too quick-won’t stick!

• Be sure to periodically check for understanding of new materials and directions.
Example: Use thumbs up /thumbs down or head nodding.

• When one person is talking, lecturing, or teaching, keep it UNDER twenty minutes of continuous lecture at a time.
Because the brain craves novelty, mix talking with quick “brain breaks”. Continue with lecture after learners have been given a minute or two to re-focus their energy and attention. Intersperse lengthy lectures with small or large group-talk, peer- sharing ideas, or a review of what was just discussed. Theme-related videos/DVDs, analogies, metaphors, real-life examples, humor and stories are tools to mix with lectures. Physical movement renews energy. Just getting up and moving seats will provide a needed break.

• Begin and end with high energy. We remember most what is presented first and last.

• Along the way-discuss what has been presented. Group dialogue cements learning! To start a discussion, make the questions “open-ended”. Frame discussion questions to
avoid “yes” and “no” answers.

• Individually, or as a group, make a commitment to something taken from the day’s learning experience.

To start:
1. Get resources together on your topic of Building Confidence.
2. Decide on the material you want to present.
3. Organize the material in a way to make the workshop enjoyable…
4. As well as reading the suggested paper… order good books on training with the brain in mind! (Erik Jensen and Sharon Bowman are two) The reading is fast and will give you a lot of ideas!
5. Relax and have a good time. If you’re nervous–Fake it till you make it!

Good Luck! Barb Shelby

Leadership training on motivating employees

Job of Motivational Keynote Speaker

The main aim of hiring the services of motivational keynote speaker in organization is to pass on new viewpoints to the employees. It is a speech which is delivered at the beginning of an event or when it has scheduled to be given. Speech which is delivered in group is required to be in good tone so that it enhances the spirits of the crowd.
A motivational keynote speaker is a person who will ensure you to make the event as a memorable one. Speech that is been delivered will make the event to move in a smooth way and at last it will end up in a successful event. Management of organization organizes such events so as to raise the level of spirits in its employees and this will improve the performance of team. Almost every industry and business enterprises will hire their service so as to achieve the set goals in a stated manner and in a much energetic way. Whether it is a sales, management, education, technology, health, info-tech, entertainment, food and beverage, housing organization everyone would require their service directly or indirectly.
A person who performs the job of motivational keynote speaker is required to be as an expertise person in his field of presentation. Their job is to motivate workers of a particular organization so that they are able to perform well and in a much innovative way. The design of the speech will be drawn in such a way so that it is able to increase the productivity and profitability of the workers and management persons too. They will start their proceedings in a function, meeting, convocation or a political propaganda.
It is very essential for the speaker to know the necessities and standards of that particular organization. They must ensure that their speech gets in touch with the audience that is present in the event and they must also assure that they are able to hold up the key of audience for the rest of the event. In majority of the cases it has been observed that due to their hard work and efforts events turn out to be in a grand success. Hence for this reason motivational keynote speaker(s) are considered to be as a most important person in a particular event that is been organized.
Organizations that hire the services of motivational keynote speaker must clearly state out their goals and what an organization is expecting from them. Their speech will include inspirational quotes, motivational terms, games, puzzles, query solving section, authoritative speech, question and answers section and doubts clearance section. Apart from this a section for hearing of personal problems and what difficulties an employee is facing to complete the given task and what all he/she needs to complete the work successfully. Guidance is offered and various tips are also shared by the spoke person for the benefits of audience. These tips will help employees in future to boost up their spirits when they feel that they are being de-motivated.

About the Author

Sabrina Jose is a Copywriter of Lindaedgecombe.She has written many articles in various topics related to Team Engagement.For more information on Team Empowermentand any other queries visit keynote speaker

How were subordinates motivated under the Nazi regime?

During a lecture on motivation, I came to thinking about how the third Reich Regime managed to motivate the workers as well as the public in such an unprecedented fashion?
Are the methods intrinsic to a fascist regime or are they applyable to modern societies and organization without the obvious drawbacks linked to nazisme and fascisme in general?
If you’ve got any imput or suggestive readings, i’m interested in reading about it.

It’s called “FEAR”. A huge motivator.