Streetwise Motivating & Rewarding Employees (Paperback)

~ (Author) "You want to motivate your employees..." (more)
Key Phrases: motivation curve, motivation path, job motivation level, Sum of Set, Chevron Chemical, Ken Blanchard (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Streetwise Motivating & Rewarding Employees teaches you that giving someone a jar of candy with their name on it is not what true motivation is all about. It's about making sure employees know what they're doing, why they're doing it, and then giving them some control. It's about giving employees appropriate challenges. And it's about creating a positive, informative feedback network that lets employees judge for themselves how well they're doing.

About the Author

Alexander Hiam, a trainer and consultant, developed the Commitment-Based Leadership course, the Creativity by Design course, and other popular management trainings. He has served in management roles in Fortune 100 organizations, and has run his own firm for more than a decade. Educated at Harvard and U.C. Berkeley (MBA) his recent clients include Kellogg's, Coca-Cola, and General Motors. Hiam also authored Marketing for Dummies, The Vest-Pocket CEO, and The Portable MBA.

Product Details

• Paperback: 319 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media Corporation; 1 edition (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580621309
• ISBN-13: 978-1580621304
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #325,982 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A practical and inspiring collection of methods and ideas., May 26, 1999

By	Philip T. DiPeri (North Haven, CT USA) - See all my reviews

I recommend this book as a problem-solver if you have a difficult employee, or for boning up on how to be a more effective manager and supervisor in general. Lots of useful methods and guidelines, covering everything from how to give good feedback to how to design effective incentives and boost performance. Hiam goes much farther than other authors to articulate the core elements of employee attitude and motivation. A user-friendly framework for time-pressured managers to help their people become the best they can be. Just paste a Post-It note on this book saying: 'No smoke 'n' mirrors here...only solid content.!'

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best motivation books ever written., June 8, 1999

By A Customer

Streetwise Motivating and Rewarding Employees is one of the best books about motivating that I have ever read. It is full of so many great ideas for motivating employees. I highly recommend it!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Motivation does in deed relate to productivity, April 22, 2006

By	Jeff Lippincott "www.Jlippin.com" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I recently picked this book up on the discount rack at one of my local bookstores. It only cost me $3 plus tax. I'm glad I bought it because it does a nice job explaining the important role an employee's motivation in doing his or her work can have on his or her productivity. Leaders and managers should not underestimate his or her employee's motivation level to perform and be productive while at work. Most of this book explains ways that leaders and managers can raise employee motivation levels.

I highly recommend leaders and managers give this book a quick read. Unfortunately, the book is kind of wordy and uses the first person way too much. What took 319 pages could easily have been done well in about 150. And I don't think the title is entirely accurate when it claims that the book will provide "New and Better Ways to Inspire Your People." There is nothing "new and better" included in this book.

When a person is not motivated much to do something, then that something usually does not get done very quickly. And the slower something is done translates into lower productivity. Workers can be motivated to do their work by encouragement, praise, rewards, and other positive means, or they can be motivated by negative means, i.e. punished, threatened, yelled at, or intimidated. The author suggests that positive means are better than negative means, but he fails to acknowledge that it is not always practical.

When positive means are used to inspire, then both employees and managers benefit. When negative means are employed to enforce compliance, then managers benefit more than employees. The author seems to make a judgment call in his book that positive means should be used exclusively. But the author does not mention that not all jobs are created equal and motivation of employees at jobs cannot always be increased by positive means. Some jobs are lousy by definition, and nobody can be motivated positively to do them. One such job that comes to mind is a crew job at a fast-food restaurant. I think the author should have avoided making a judgment call that positive means of increasing employee motivation is better than negative means. That topic was really beyond the scope of the book.

Leaders with subordinates who are just putting in their time at work will learn a lot about how to motivate their subordinates to higher productivity levels by reading this book. Leaders with subordinates who are working hard, but not smart, will benefit from reading this book. But managers with subordinates who are working hard and smart probably will not. And it doesn't matter if this last group of subordinates is motivated by positive or negative means. However, it they are being motivated by negative means, then you may be able to figure out how to motivate them through positive means by reading this book.