| Comment Number: | OL-10511232 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 2:38:29 PM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Alfie Kohn, one of America's leading thinkers and writers on the subject of money as motivator, and author of Punished by Rewards (Houghton Mifflin, 1993). He believes rewards programs can't work because they're based on an inadequate understanding of human motivation. One of the most thoroughly replicated findings in social psychology, he points out, is that the more you reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they did to get the reward. And when interest declines, so does quality. "You can get people to do more of something or faster for a little while if you provide them an appealing reward," says Kohn. "But no scientific study has ever found a long-term enhancement of the quality of work as a result of any reward system. Bribes and threats can get you a short-term effect, but that's it." Kohn says rewards may actually damage quality and productivity, and cause employees to lose interest in their jobs. Why? • Rewards control behavior through seduction. They're a way for people in power to manipulate those with less power. • Rewards ruin relationships. They emphasize the difference in power between the person handing out the reward and the person receiving it. • Rewards create competitiveness among employees, undermining collaboration and teamwork. • Rewards reduce risk taking, creativity and innovation. People will be less likely to pursue hunches, fearing such out-of-the-box thinking may jeopardize their chances for a reward. • Rewards ignore reasons. A commission system, for example, may lead a manager to blame the salesmen when they don't meet quotas, when the real problem may be packaging or pricing. "Managers typically use a rewards system because it's easy," adds Kohn. "It doesn't take effort, skill or courage to dangle a doggie biscuit in front of an employee and say, 'Jump through this hoop and this will be yours.'"