I just read two fairly lengthy articles – each coming to nearly opposite conclusions about the motivational power of pay. One by Herman Aguinis, Harry Joo and Ryan K Gottfredson essentially argued that the research on how well pay motivates hasn’t yet made it to the business world. Or to quote the authors directly …. “There is an important body of scholarly research ….. this research does not seem to have reached many managers and organizational decision-makers.” Since I consider myself a practitioner that is current with the research and still not fond of pay as a motivator, this statement got my dander up a bit.  (more…)