Organisational Behaviour

Reward systems as the basis of management systems : inherent conflict of interest

Since the manager is by definition the person in charge of other people 's activities , his or her primary goal when working with employees , is to delegate duties and subsequently to ensure the successful completion of those duties . This assignment can only be accomplished if the manager succeeds in motivating the people working under his /her supervision . In today 's world , motivation is usually achieved through various reward systems that provide benefits , whether imaginary or real to the people

that attain the expected results

Reward systems are primarily relied upon since they are relatively straightforward setups that are supposed to stimulate workers for desired actions . Human beings are treated somewhat like animals trained for a specific trick : they are led towards certain kind of behavior through a thing or action that satisfies their personal goals . It seems that there is an inherent conflict of interest in this type of system since it is assumed that the individual is doing his /her job with the sole purpose of satisfying his or her goals while the organization is trying to lure the individual into achieving its own goals . Thus , the difference between the aspirations of the organization and the individual is perceived as unavoidable . If the person aims at providing sustenance for him /herself and the family , he or she may at times take a course of action that will contribute to his or her enrichment , but is detrimental for the company as a whole . An example can be employees that engage in activities their working hours , or officials accepting bribes as a reward for making the right ' decision on regulatory issues . In such a situation it is difficult to curb wrongful practices , as the remuneration offered by the employer may turn out to be lower than the earnings from wrong-doing . This problem lies at the heart of almost any instance of corruption and accounts for the fact that this phenomenon is mostly the plague of less affluent nations where governments cannot afford to reward officials with an attractive pay (Perception of Corruption in Kazakhstan . Even if the organization can offer a salary that is competitive with unethically ' earned money , a few problems arise First

it is difficult to assess how much is enough to prevent bribing , and second , even with a decent wage , the person may still fall victim to the temptation to supplement the income . Thus , incentives other than monetary stimuli should be applied by management in such cases

Even though a lot of people realize the monetary compensation as a single source of motivation has failed many tests , the reward systems continue to rely primarily on financial issues . And reward systems are crucial for today 's management . It has been observed that living creatures seek information concerning what activities are rewarded and then seek to do (or at least pretend to do ) those things , often to the virtual exclusion of activities not rewarded (Kerr 1995 . Few researchers...