Change: Punish of Reward?

Why is it so difficult to change? It's not that people do not want or like to change, but they do not like to lose. A potential loss hits 2,5 times harder than an opportunity.

What is it that an organization does when their employees do not want to change? They "punish" their people in various ways, because the organization is afraid to lose something valuable to them. Research showed that punishment is not effective in the long term. Employees will not work harder or give that extra bit when it's necessary. Besides this, punishment encourages people to change only for a short period of time when they feel threatened. Furthermore, punishement results in disturbed relationships. People will not relate punishments to their own behaviour but they will associate it to the person who is giving the punishments.

Rewarding is better. People automatically link a reward to behavior. This will result in a natural tendency to behave in a certain way. Research shows that rewarding people is positively associated with appropriate behavior. As we stop good behavior when the punishment is "gone", we will continue our good behavior when rewarded for it.