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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: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @03:23PM
This isn't necessarily old news.
At one end of the spectrum, if I'm making a half-million a year as a test subject for an ongoing experiment on the psychological effects of extreme torture, I'd say the money wasn't worth it.
At the other end, if I'm making next to nothing but I'm relaxing in a nice air-conditioned office with free television/internet/coffee, I'd say the intangibles weren't worth it.
Somewhere in between there's a balance between money and "job lifestyle," and by isolating money, the experimenters ignore the fact that people who pay well tend to also include some measure of intangible benefits--they can be artificially divorced from one another, but not entirely.
HR cost cutters take this and run with it in a cynical direction: lower salaries that can partially offset the cost of free donuts in the break room, hoping that we'll be distracted by the sugar and ignore the fact we're not getting raises (again) this year.
No thanks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @03:39PM
edit: This isn't necessarily new news.
(Score: 3, Informative) by srobert on Thursday October 22 2015, @05:04PM
"HR cost cutters take this and run with it in a cynical direction"
It reminds me of the way that Stephen Covey's book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" struck me as incisive before human resources people discovered it and turned it into a workplace cult.
(Score: 1) by turgid on Thursday October 22 2015, @07:23PM
I tried to read that book once. It was so sweet, sickly and conceited that I didn't make it past the introduction. I've had the misfortune to work for "successful" managers that were impressed by such books.
Can you summarise it in a sentence or two?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].