Performance Not for Sale

As stated earlier, we support the parenting mentality through the connection we make between money and behavior. Even though we know that pay is not a “motivator,” we still believe that we can barter for behavior and that managers can evoke the actions they desire by manipulating pay to employees. The conventional wisdom is that by specifying the desired behavior and outcomes and then connecting them to the appraisal and pay system, we can create a culture that will give us the behavior that we want. In simple terms, we have bought the idea that what gets rewarded is what gets done. It is the marriage of economics and engineering. It is through this basic belief that we rationalize our current pay systems. Change this ...

Get Stewardship, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.