Reward systems

[Spangehl]

Do you have a merit system where some people get increases and some do not, in competition with each other for the same pot of money? Does it improve individual performance, overall performance, employee morale, or cooperation and teamwork? How do you measure these variables?

[Gloria Dohman]

I would also like to hear from any organizations who are using a reward system. We have struggled even to find ways to reward faculty for outstanding assessment work. Should it be a team/Dept award or individuals? If it is individuals, does that prove devisive? What works in the real world?

[Spangehl]

The university I last worked for had a dog-eat-dog merit system: the only raises were merit raises, and they came out of a single pot for each department. The result was that you had to compete against your closest colleagues to get any raise at all, and what you got your best friends lost. Chairs were not allowed to split up the money in equal percentages to all, and were encouraged to give no raise to some people in order to create the money to give others significant increases. As you might expect, the effect on teamwork was disasterous, but the policy did encourage publication, which was really the sole evidence for a merit raise.

No wonder Deming and others are so negative about "merit" systems.