Why money isn’t the answer

A huge controversy in the United States that has been largely ignored in the Philippines is the on-going drama between Alex Rodriguez and Major League Baseball. A-Rod has become a lightning rod for being slapped with the largest suspension in the history of the sport for alleged use of banned substances. The investigation also brought to light substance abuse of many other MLB players, and recalled the recent scandal that decimated professional cycling. Though Rodriguez is still battling the suspension through legal representation, he has become a symbol for what is wrong in professional sports. When Rodriguez was hit by a pitch during a road game between New York and Boston last week, home fans erupted into cheers.

What galls many fans is how any athlete can bring himself to cheat or find an easy way ahead considering the large salary he is paid. Particularly in baseball where some contracts run to well over a hundred million dollars, how can anyone bring himself to taking a shortcut, or risk getting caught and having not only his name smeared, but his entire career questioned. A betting scandal hounded legend Pete Rose for years, and put into doubt his elevation into baseball’s Hall of Fame, even though the accusations cropped up when he was already a manager and no longer a player.

But the fact of the matter is, research has revealed that money is not the guarantee of success or good behavior, not just in professional sports, but in almost every profession.

Unfortunately, the misunderstanding about reward is that it is meant to acknowledge past performance, not control future behavior. In a way, many pro contracts are a way of enforcing conformity, especially if the player in question is employed by a team run by a large corporation. Also, when a player starts out enjoying the game and receives little by way of material benefit, when he finally gets his first big contract, gradually the responsibility to perform transforms play into work. What was once thoroughly enjoyable and free becomes a burden in some respects.

“Rules reduce freedom and responsibility. Enforcement of rules is coercive and manipulative, which diminishes spontaneity and absorbs group energy,” explains John Heider in The Tao of Leadership. The more coercive you are, the more resistant the group will become. The wise leader is of service: receptive, yielding, following. The group member’s vibration dominates and leads, while the leader follows. But soon it is the member’s consciousness which is transformed, the member’s vibration which is transformed.”

In studies done in the US, UK, Germany, India and other countries, the law of expected reward only creates a temporary spike in performance, but is counter-productive in the long-term. In some of my classes on rewards, I compare it to being exempted from your final exams in college. Translated to the real world, what it signifies is your output dropping to zero, since you no longer need to work. That’s why quotas and similar incentives rarely work.

Whenever financial remuneration comes into play, it trespasses over what are called the three psychological needs of a person. In forty years of research, Richard Ryan and Edward Deci revealed how the past principles of performing to avoid punishment or gain reward do not really work. Their findings were updated and refined by sales guru Daniel Pink in his book Drive three years ago. Primarily, human beings have three psychological needs which must be met if they are to give sustained peak performance.

The first psychological need is the need for competence, or being recognized as being good at something. Perhaps this is the main benefit of having a big contract: it acknowledges that you are valuable. It may not necessarily be the amount of money, which has practical value in relieving the stress of providing for yourself and your family. Many PBA contracts, for example, release a certain percentage of a player’s annual salary up front. Research would show that this actually may diminish an athlete’s performance, since he reaches a level of comfort without having done anything yet. If it is perceived as recognition of past performance, then that is positive. But it may end up subconsciously controlling future behavior.

The second psychological need is belonging, being part of something greater. Again, this is where expected rewards become divisive. When star players in team sports like Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and others start gaining explosive fame and all sorts of perks, it creates a competitive atmosphere within the team. Teams with these players even end up structuring rules barring having friends and family members at practice, requesting for autographs and photos, and the like. Stronger safeguards are instituted against the outside world intruding on the sacredness of the team’s inner circle and practices.

After the 1990 season, one of the PBA’s all-time greatest players received an unprecedented large contract renewal, one which helped define future contracts of star players. He deserved it for having kept his team at the highest level of competition and perennially making the finals, particularly in the All-Filipino. But, after that highly publicized contract, the attitude of some of his teammates changed. Once the two-minute warning came along, they would just dump the ball into him and leave him alone to tackle the other team’s defenses. Needless to say, after awhile some of those players started demanding megabuck deals of their own, or were traded.

The third psychological need is autonomy, a certain freedom within established boundaries. This is one of the main philosophies behind the triangle offense and many modern coaching techniques. When Phil Jackson and Tex Winter instituted the triangle, they had a set of plays called “automatics”, wherein the players were free to respond to an opponent’s defense and create their openings. It proved effective for the Chicago Bulls, and proved effective for the Los Angeles Lakers. Most important of all, the players loved them.