Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Dr. Gitika Dutta (Faculty Member, IIPM Hyderabad) is of the view that a carrot-and-stick policy need not always be resorted to, for building employee loyalty

Managers can, and often do, provide a range of incentivising and disincentivising KITA – bonuses, rewards, rules, work conditions, status – hygiene factors. These will have an effect, but will it be desired and long-term? A resounding ‘no’! Alfred Kohn sums it up neatly: “Do incentives work? The answer depends on what we mean by ‘work’. Rewards, like punishments, are extremely effective at producing one thing, and only one thing: temporary compliance. But carrot and sticks are strikingly ineffective at producing lasting change in attitudes or even behaviours. They do not create an enduring commitment to any value or action; they merely, and temporarily, change what we do.”

Some two dozen studies from social psychology have shown that people who expect to receive a reward for completing a task (or doing it successfully) do not perform as well as those who do not. This has been found with all sorts of rewards, people, and tasks (with the most destructive effect when the task involves creativity). This means that desired changes cannot be achieved by dangling goodies. Organisations need to learn that incentives only work for short-term movement; if you want motivation, do not start here. Can an organisation train its employees to be motivated? No! Motivation comes from within an individual. We do things, or do them well because the outcome is appealing to us. Read More..

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posted by Editorial at 4:49 PM 0 Comments

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

US POLITICS: AFRICAN AMERICANS

African Americans still struggle

Recently, Rep. Artur Davis lost his bid to be the first black governor of Alabama, which was the latest in a series of defeats for African American politicians for state wide offices this year. More shockingly, he lost by a 62% to 38% margin, that too, after being the favourite in exit polls held in the run up to the election.

It would be too simplistic to consider this as a race problem in itself. Davis in fact lost in counties with a majority of African Americans, and was criticised for not reaching out to his own community and its power brokers. Moreover, seats are less at the top and there are fewer black candidates who are in contention for the same. Also, Obama had the ability to rally a large portion of America behind him. Few politicians of his ilk seem to possess that calibre today.


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posted by Editorial at 3:58 PM