I have had some challenges working with some staff who seems not being able to do some very basic instructions, or who cannot be counted upon.  Again and again.  Even if they are constantly reminded of it.

How do you motivate them?  They don’t seem interested in positive reinforcement or rewards ( after all, you cannot reward themfor doing something so simple).  Negative reinforcement says that people will do their jobs to avoid being reprimanded. 

Then it occured to me — what if they don’t mind being reprimanded?  What if in their scale of things important to them, there are things that are properly better to channel their efforts, and being reprimanded is not a big deal, nor an event that they don’t seem to mind?

Then I remember some studies that says some children wouldn’t mind being punished by their parents.  At least their parents pay attention to them when they are bad, and they would rather be punished than ignored.  The conventional advice is that of course, if the person wants to get attention at the risk of even being reprimanded, then what you should do is to give attention when they are bad, and just ignore the person ( not give him what he wants which is attention), when he is doing what you don’t want him to do.

Does that work also in management?  When a person exhibits that his work is no longer important, and being reprimanded is no longer a big deal, how do you motivate him?