>I'm very interested in the following question:
>How can management use reward and appraisal systems to stimulate,
>facilitate and encourage learning processes?
>
>At the moment I'm writing a thesis about this issue. All literature talks
>about the importance of having an appraisal and reward system that rewards
>learning. But my problem is that I never read anything practical which
>gives an answer to the question: how to do this?
My sense is that the scope of your thesis is too narrow. Reward and
appraisal systems are part of what our firm broadly calls Structure. The
elements of Structure need to align with the organization's strategic
outcomes. Any organization will have a broader set of outcomes than
simply encouraging learning.
If you think learning is about skills transfer, then perhaps you'll find
few good ideas in the literature. I happen to think that learning is
about strengthening the organization's ability to achieve its outcomes.
So, learning is very much about how people interact with each other, and
how the organization learns to become better at what it does.
There is definately thinking around about how certain kinds of incentives
-- individual commissions for example -- discourage group conversation
that leads to shared learning.
>Honestly, I doubt if an appraisal and reward system is really so important
>as a lot of authors would like us to believe. These systems are designed
>to influence behavior and attitudes, and are even trying to control this.
>I think this is not possible. Appraisal and rewards can never guarantee
>certain behavior (as needed for learning). I do think however, that
>appraisal and rewards can frustrate and discourage learning if the wrong
>incentives are given.
Structure most definately has an effect on organizational culture. I
think it is a fair assessment you make that structural elements (including
rewards) can adversly influence learning. Perhaps if you step back and
give more thought to how organizations learn (or ought to learn), then
rewards and other structural elements (decision making, organizational
structure for example) can be aligned to support how the organization
learns.
I don't think behavioural guarentees are the objective, unless
manipulation is your desired outcome. However, strong alignment between
strategy, structure, and skills has a strong effect on the behavioural
'norms' within an organization. What individuals do will always vary.
--"Jason Smith" <jsmith@quantumsolutions.on.ca>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>