THE PURPOSE THE MANAGING THE SYSTEM OF REWARDS

Rewards

Reward System

Introduction

"If you've got to swallow a frog, don't spend a lot of time looking at it." And "if you have to swallow several frogs, don't swallow the small one first." So said J. Gary Strack testifying to Hillary Rodham Clinton's Health Care Panel. The same could be said of my approach to developing a new procedure for reviewing, rewarding, and recognizing pay system which will serve as a competitive advantage in construction industry.

We had engaged in seemingly endless debates and discussions about whether to use merit or market, sabbaticals or re-training grants, awards banquets or picnics, and ultimately decided any of those might work, but none was enough. While the current reward and recognition system worked reasonably well in some construction departments, the focus was on a relatively short time frame and the primary purpose was salary considerations.

Clearly, a more comprehensive approach was necessary to create an effective employee development plan. The regents, following statewide hearings on undergraduate employee education, called for developing a post-tenure review policy. Anticipating the controversy that might surround such a policy, we nonetheless decided to swallow the biggest frog and use post-tenure review as an all-encompassing employee development procedure. (Andrews. K.R, 2007, pp.56)

Individual Contributions: The Cornerstone Of Rewards And Recognition

The personal payoffs within the reward and recognition structures of most enterprises thus far have been based largely on individual contribution. This needs to change, as team structures become more prevalent. This is a tall order, but if nothing changes, the lack of congruity between accomplishments and rewards will continue. Teams sometimes get a bad rap from those more comfortable with traditional, hierarchical structures who view teams as too unwieldy or too slow. The real problem may lie not with the teams themselves, but with the manner in which team behaviors are reinforced, recognized, and rewarded.

Teams are not for everyone. Some Construction professionals are highly successful individual contributors but highly unsuccessful team players. By virtue of their personalities, they are more effective when given the opportunity to work independently. They are satisfied and motivated by this working environment, and any attempt to encourage, cajole, or coerce them into a collaborative team structure can be self-defeating.

Confronting the Pressures of Team Success and Failure

The realization that teams succeed or fail, and that team members share in this success and failure regardless of their individual contributions, is what many individual contributors find unsettling about team-based roles and responsibilities. For them, the idea that they may fulfill their individual accountabilities but still not be rewarded because the team failed to fulfill its responsibilities is unfair. This is the real dilemma in trying to recognize and reward team-based behaviors within hierarchical structures.

Those who manage today's Construction departments may need to partner with their human resources department colleagues to bring their recognition and reward structures in line with their team-based strategies and structures. Human resources may have an experience base they can make available to their Construction ...