Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Personnel and Organisation, grade: A, The University of Surrey, course: Human Resource Management, language: English, abstract: This paper critically evaluates whether incentives really help to motivate employees. For this purpose it provides a clear definition of motivation, points out why existing theories are partly outmoded and introduces a new model in order to gain a holistic view of the motivation concept. As the paper progresses it will be dealt with appropriate theories and practical examples of Apple in order to promote understanding of the key aspects of incentives.