One reason you may be having trouble is that all rewards work to cause
behavior especially please, thank you and well done. The reward itself is
a smaller part of the issue of rewards. The more important part is
rewarding the right behavior and results. Most of the rewards systems Kahn
talks about reward the wrong behavior, wrong results for the wrong reasons
and were therefore detrimental to the organization and the individual. But
they do cause behavior.
The trick is to spend enough time to know what results and behavior are in
the best interest of the organization and the individual. The next
difficult part is know when they have occurred as opposed to anecdotes.
People are constantly trying to look and sound good as oppose to being
good just to obtain a thank you. Just think how squirrelly they would
behave for 25% of their pay check..
Once it has been decided what is in the best interest of the company and
how tell when it has been done then rewarding is easy. Until then rewards
can be harmful to the organization and the person.
Kahn stopped short in his work. He condemned rewards but he did not study
what behavior was being rewarded. You can find in Kahn's data companies
that rewarded profit with systems tied directly to profit with out
management manipulation actually improved.
Companies that do a good job of measuring improvement in processes that
improve service quality or cost and simply allow those people who have
participated to be recognized have more concerned work forces and more
stable places to work. an example is Milwaukee Electric Tool and another
is West Bend. Both compete in intensely price competitive fields.
Praise is not destructive when the improvement is real and measured and
the improvement is in the best interest of the organization.
The more clever the managers become in trying to manipulate specific
behavior the more like the praise or recognition is likely to back fire.
Gene
At 02:09 PM 2/12/98 PST, you wrote:
>I'v just finished reading "Punished by Rewards" and I've just watched the
>four video tapes. I am still unclear about how to use 'praise' in a
>specific manner such that it is not destructive to the learning process.
>I teach grades 8-12 and I would appreciate some examples of how to give
>effective feedback to these students in a manner that minimizes the need
>to use grades or some other evaluative words. Pleasse help me out.
>
>Bob Friend
--Eugene Taurman <ilx@execpc.com>
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