One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way

by Robert Maurer

Japanese executives love small rewards not because they’re stingy (although kaizen does encourage us to value cost savings), but because they utilize a basic tenet of human nature: The larger the external rewards, the greater the risk of inhibiting or stunting the native drive for excellence. Big, fancy prizes remove what Dr. W. Edwards Deming, one of kaizen’s most passionate advocates, called “intrinsic motivation.” Dr. Deming understood that most people want to be proud of their work and want to offer useful contributions. But big cash prizes in the corporate world can send the message that an employee is a cog in the machine who must be whipped into a frenzy by the possibility of personal gain. Large rewards can become the goal in and of themselves, usurping an employee’s natural desire to find stimulation and creativity in the work alone.