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Small signals of appreciation have a decisive influence on the output and quality of the work of employees. A field experiment of KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) economist Petra Nieken and two colleagues revealed that a combination of performance-oriented piece wage and motivating words increases the performance by 20% and reduces the error rate by 40%.
"Our results are relevant to entrepreneurial practice," Nieken emphasizes. She holds the Chair for Human Resources Management of KIT's Institute of Management. How can staff members be motivated? Theory lists two instruments: Financial incentives, such as bonuses or piece wages, and the capability of executives to motivate their staff members. The question whether and how these two instruments complement, strengthen or weaken each other, however, is not clearly answered by theory. That is why this question was in the focus of the study performed at Bonn University.
(Score: 3, Informative) by turgid on Thursday October 22 2015, @07:35PM
Indeed, and it never works like that. I've worked for three very large "big name" companies now, and when the down-sizing starts as a one-off for the first time, the do it just once more, and just once more again, and then again...
Eventually critical mass is lost (loyalty, senior staff, institutional knowledge) and the whole thing gets wound up. Maybe not the whole company closes, but the department or office might.
They only stop the madness when the wheels finally fall off the wagon, but then it's too late because everyone's either gone, going or worked themselves sick.
If they introduce stack ranking, where everyone is ranked in order against their peers, run for the hills. It never ends well. Morale plummets, team work goes out the window, good people get fired just because they need someone to fit the arbitrary bell cure.
The investors demand a return on their investment, and we've got to keep paying our investors, they say. Well, fine. But if slowly starving the goose that's laying the golden eggs is the only trick they have left, run.
It's hard work in terms of time, effort and stress finding a new job, and these days it happens far too frequently. But don't be too despondent, it is possible, it just takes time. Start looking early and get some practice in. And never take a pay cut.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].