Intrinsic Motivation at Work, 2nd Edition

15Leading for Choice

This chapter will help you build a sense of choice in your team. As we discussed in chapter 3, exercising intelligent choice is a primary way that workers add value in today’s work— adapting their behavior to the requirements of different conditions and coming up with innovative solutions to the problems they encounter. So ensuring a sense of choice is a vital part of your leadership for engagement.

Of the four intrinsic rewards, leaders have the most control over workers’ sense of choice. Leadership style is often described by the amount of choice given workers—from autocratic (little choice) to participative or delegative (much choice).¹ Likewise, advocates of job enrichment or worker empowerment have emphasized the importance ...