SEB Bulletin January 2007 - In this issue
Motivation
SEB members in the UK may recall a TV programme in which two teams competed over three weeks in a number rigorous physical challenges and were subjected to divergent methods of motivation to discover which to be the most effective: The Carrot Team could only be rewarded whilst the Stick Team could only be punished. And guess what? The Stick Team won! The teams' results were relatively close to begin with but as the weeks progressed the Stick Team's determination and sheer will to win gave them the edge and they pulled ahead.
If this seems to go against all the values you held to be true and discredit all the incentive schemes you ever thought up for staff and colleagues then relax in the knowledge that years of academic theory seems to suggest that people are motivated by reward but not the kind of indiscriminate praise which was poured onto the team members in the TV show. What does motivate people are factors such as a sense of achievement, recognition, doing interesting work, having responsibility, the opportunity for advancement and the opportunity for growth. I mention this because a recent survey of Principle Investigators has shown that PIs have identified 'motivating people' and 'managing performance' as two of the key areas for development of their leadership and management skills. The Leadership and Development for Principle Investigators consortium reports on their survey and the progress of their project to develop resources for PIs. It may be worth noting that a previous survey of posdocs echoed the results of the PI survey demonstrating that labs with the highest productivity seemed to correlate positively with structured oversight and training from supervisors (SEB Bulletin, October 2006).
Motivation is rather more transparent when it comes to the government persuading scientists to train into teaching. The carrot is most definitely money, in the form of enhanced bursaries and salaries for scientists, but a more creative development recently has perhaps offered a bigger incentive for Biologists to consider teaching. Pre-training Chemistry and Physics Enhancement courses aim to increase Biologists' knowledge of these subjects as more and more they find themselves having to teach the physical sciences in schools. In turn it is hoped that motivated science teachers will inspire school children to opt for the sciences at school and then at degree level to help off-set the down-turn in throughput of young scientists. Incidentally, if any members are feeling a bit ignorant of the UK's ever-changing curriculum our regular teacher contributor, Pauline Lowrie, has been doing a stirling job of providing information on each of the Key Stages. So far she has covered A-levels and Key Stages 1 and 2 (SEB Bulletin March, July, October 2006, respectively). In this issue she informs us on Key Stage 3 but with a job like this it's a bit like painting the Forth Road Bridge so we can almost assume Pauline’s articles will be a permanent fixture for a few years to come!
At the SEB we aim to organise excellent scientific meetings for our members to give them the opportunity to present their work and to network with each other. We reckon on this being one of the key motivators to experimental biologists joining the SEB and so to give you a real flavour of our forthcoming Annual Main Meeting we have published further information to motivate you to join us in Glasgow. The sessions are split into Animal, Plant, Cell, Cross-Sectional and Education so delegates will have the opportunity to sample a variety of lectures, posters and workshops. Members will, of course, be able to register at a discounted rate (with further savings if you book before 9 February). We are holding a pre-conference event for postgraduate and early-career scientists too to provide a 'leg-up' to meeting a few contemporaries before the proceedings begin on Saturday. Other events we are running next year also include the SEB's Animal Symposium 2007, two Career Management Workshops for postgraduates and postdoctorals, and we are also organising the prestigious Photosynthesis Congress 2007.
We look forward to seeing you in Glasgow when 'neeps and tatties' will replace carrots as your reward for a hard day's work (note: for those unfamiliar with Scottish cuisine I suggest you google that last bit).
Sarah Blackford
Editor
