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By Entitlement OR By Adding Value Mutually |
| The traditional employee-employer unwritten contract was based on quid pro quo - loyalty for job security and vice versa. In the contemporary business climate, however, we see employees changing jobs more frequently, working independently of a single employer, and increasing turnover. We can still build a relationship built on loyalty and job security, but we must carefully choose our means. Employers can choose to command loyalty through fear, or earn loyalty by acting trustworthy and respectworthy. Employees can choose to demand job security through entitlement systems (i.e., seniority or rank) or earn job security by becoming irreplaceable through constant learning. Both employers and employees can both achieve desirable results by focusing on adding value to an organization instead of trying to extract value from an organization. |
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entitlement > adding value mutually |
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Robert Kunreuther, Stepping through the appraisal looking glass, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION, (Oct/Nov. 1994) at 28. How to reform performance appraisals through process focused measurement (STEP) |
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Stephen R. Covey, The New Contract, EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE (Jan. 1996) at 3. The preface sums it all, "The new employment contract between people and the organizations they work for requires all stakeholders to add value mutally." Covey surveys key techniques for implementing and maintaining a value-based system. Neil Poulson, Finding harmony in the workplace: contribution versus competition, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Oct/Nov. 1995). We should replace the ethic of competition with an ethic of contribution because the latter increases the pie for everyone and thus results in models of behavior that provide what the author terms security for the future, which in context equates to sustainable living. Firms that value workers reap rewards, SACRAMENTO BEE (June 25, 1995). Study shows that businesses that invest in people by giving them resources and responsibility earn higher profits. Julie Amparano Lopez, Firms build ‘human capital’, PHOENIX GAZETTE (July 15, 1996) at A11. Clinton’s White House Office on Corporate Citizenship - building human capital for a healthy economy. Del Jones, Open-book management can motivate employees, USA TODAY (Dec. 14, 1995) at B1, 2B. Survey shows that 86% of workers queried says they would be motivated by access to company information and responsibility for profits. Neela Banerjee, Rebounding Earnings Stir Old Debate On Productivity’s Tie to Profit-Sharing, WALL STREET JOURNAL (April 12, 1994) at A2. Rutgers University economist Douglas L. Kruse finds that businesses with profit-sharing have higher productivity level, a study he explores in his book PROFIT SHARING: DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?; others argue that incentive plans do not work. Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz, THE 100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN AMERICA (first published 1984; look for revised edition). Brian O’Reilly, The New Deal: What Companies and Employees Owe One Another, FORTUNE (June 13, 1994) at 44. In the past, companies offered job security in return for loyalty from employees. Today, employers are asking employees to live through redesigned work, do more with less, be innovative, take risks and remain committed to company goals . . . often without the quid pro quo. Lauren Jones, Cocooned and cynical employees, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Sept. 1995) at 52. How to recognize and deal with them. Thomas A. Stewart, Company Values that Add Value, FORTUNE (July 8, 1996) at 145. The title’s explanatory clause says it all, "Too many corporate value statements are little more than feel-good blather, to find values that work, look at the work people do." Pay For Performance Robert Crow, You cannot improve my performance by measuring it!, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Jan./Feb. 1996) at 62. A close look at Deming’s Third Deadly Sin; the problem with performance evaluations. Why companies must move beyond motivating their employees and look for ways to encourage employees to motivate themselves. Kathryn M. Bartol and David C. Martin, When Politics Pays: Factors Influencing Managerial Compensation Decisions, PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY (1990) at 599. ABSTRACT: In this study, "[p]ay allocation decisions of 123 industrial uniform industry managers were investigated. Results showed that the managers were awarded higher pay raises to a subordinate when they were dependent on the subordinate’s expertise. Political connections led to a higher raise for the subordinate only when the subordinate made a dependency threat. Robert D. Behn, Measuring Performance Against The 80-30 Syndrome, GOVERNING (June 1993) at 70. The 80-30 syndrome - "Surveys consistently reveal...that 70 percent of us think we are in the top 25 percent as leaders." The author argues that traditional performance appraisals are wrongly structured because they "tell too many people they are losers," and that successful leaders will focus on creating winners by giving "everyone a chance to be above average." Edward E. Lawler, III, Allan M. Mohrman and Susan M. Resnick, PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL REVISITED, Center for Effective Organizations, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Southern California (March 1983). ABSTRACT: A scholarly discussion of studies on the effectiveness of performance appraisal systems, conditions associated with effective appraisals and the relationship between pay discussions and effective performance appraisals. Joseph Ohren and Laura Reese, Collective Bargaining and Merit Pay: A Case Study, PAQ (Summer 1990) at 230. Case study of a troubled pay for performance program - authors analyze which elements must be critically addressed in pay for performance efforts and emphasize that the decisions to adopt and implement these plans are not politically neutral. Roger J. Plachy and Sandra J. Plachy, Focus on Results, Not Behavior, PERSONNEL JOURNAL (March 1993) at 28. Authors translate psychology’s lessons about changing individual behaviors to the organizational level, and argue that performance management systems should avoid problematic issues of personality, personal behavior, behavioral criteria, competencies, traits or attitudes by focusing on the outcome of the work and not on behavior. Carol Sanford, Leadership of Motivation: The Ethics and Practicality of Incentives, LEADERSHIP IN A NEW ERA. MANAGEMENT: SPECIAL SYMPOSIUM PART I--EMERGING ROLE OF THE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER (Winter 1993) at 649. Author criticizes incentive cultures for creating dependency on external influences, repetition, and emulation instead of creative, forward thinking. Business leaders should design systems that develop the workforce’s critical thinking skills that enable higher values such as uniqueness and contribution. |