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Why Rewards Cause Problems #2: Rewards Can Punish

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: It seems wrong to say it, but rewards actually sometimes feel like punishment. Managers need to be very careful how rewards are administered in order to avoid an entitlement mentality. Here is an article that explains the paradox.

Why Rewards Cause Problems #2: Rewards Can Punish

Rewards can Punish

Wow, this takes a bit of swallowing. How could anybody propose such a ridiculous statement. According to Herzberg, "Punishment and reward are two sides of the same coin. Rewards have a punitive effect because they, like out-right punishment, are manipulative. ‘Do this and you'll get that' is not really very different from ‘Do this or here's what will happen to you.'

In the case of incentives, the reward itself may be highly desired; but by making that bonus contingent on certain behaviors, managers manipulate their subordinates, and that experience of being controlled is likely to assume a punitive quality over time." (Herzberg 1968)There is also the negative impact if a reward is expected and, for some reason it doesn't work out. In this case the withholding of an expected reward feels very much like punishment. I know we have all experienced that frustration at some point.

Many of my students complain about when their company did away with the annual bonus because of hard times. The bonus was generated originally as a perk to reward employees for a job well done. The size of the bonus was determined by the success of the company over the past year. So far so good. All employees appreciate the little extra cash at the end of the year, and the top managers pat themselves on the back because they are incenting all employees to work harder to achieve company goals. All is well - right? Well, no -all is not well.

What happens is that the bonus becomes an expected event, and employees are only interested in the size of the check. The existence of a bonus does little to actually reward the employees. Inevitably, the company will fall on some challenging times. They are forced to cut back on the bonus to conserve cash. There may be a year or two when there is no bonus at all. Now the employees feel literally punished. Management has taken away something that they counted on.

The moral is to not use bonuses or other forms of rewards as a bribe for future performance. It is OK to give out rewards as thank you actions, but do not get locked into a constant pattern of rewards because when they need to be adjusted it actually feels more like punishment.

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Article Tags: motivation entitlement, pay, Punishment, rewards



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