How “Size of a reward/ punishment” affects cooperation at IT companies.
Recap …
Achieving cooperation and delivering is a priority for IT companies.
As part of this blog series, we look at “systematic” concepts that help achieve cooperation. We’ve looked at …
Today we talk about …
Size
The size of a reward/ penalty should be proportional to the size of the contribution ( or lack thereof ).
Let a thief go, and he steals again. ( If a punishment is too small, it isn’t effective. )
Kill a thief and other thieves start killing. ( If a punishment is too big, it triggers worse behaviour.)
A general rule is – Keep it conservative.
And small enough to avoid Greed and Pride.
And small enough to keep the players in the game.
Too Big rewards
Big rewards have blindspots – Greed and Ego; for starters.
Handling success requires humility. The feeling of “I have arrived” can ruin careers, projects, and more.
Fall from grace has been common among Kings, Presidents, Bureaucrats, Politicians, Film Stars etc. While talent and hard work do take them to the top. Many aren’t able to handle success.
He was convicted of murder.
Aneesh Grover ( co-founder of Bharat pe ) seems to have been unable to handle his success. (read news for details)
It takes a special someone to keep working with the same humility despite the rewards. ( not because of them )
Double salary :
Priyanka joined as a Business Analyst with a product-based organization. Bright and energetic, she did good work and was noticed.
Next appraisal – she was promoted to a PM role and her salary was doubled.
Priyanka had arrived !
Everyone noticed that – suddenly she became ‘edgy’. Her requests turned into orders and remarks. Certain tasks suddenly became ‘beneath her’.
The gaps became someone else’s faults. Statements like “Why should I” and “Not my responsibility” were thrown around. Her projects started lagging.
A few more months and the blue-eyed PM quit the organization. ( or was asked to )
The size of the reward was too big and too soon for Priyanka. She could not handle her salary and stature. Since the organization rewarded her disproportionately. So, The organization was as much responsible for her failure, as was Priyanka herself.
Too Big penalties
Why are terrorists and murders arrested ? and not just shot dead ?
Think about it … even when the guilt is clear, why are convicts arrested and taken to court ?
To answer this question … let’s think about what happens with the other protocol. What if all terrorists are to be shot dead ?
Example… IS chief ‘Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi’ blew himself up instead of being captured. Why ?
He knew that the penalty would be the biggest, so why not create the biggest damage.
When people have nothing to lose they go all-out crazy. In the process, creating much more destruction.
Point being : Too big penalties damage more than they help.
The same goes for software engineers. If an engineer is threatened to be fired at the first production bug, then:
If you understand the above, it is because you know that bugs are always possible. That being the case, there should be practical sized punishments for successful deterrence.
Imagine a guy working on back-to-back production issues. Would it make sense to punish him for being late to office ?
Ofcourse not !!
Someone fighting for survival should be cut slack on hygiene practices.
I would get pissed at such a reprimand. And might plan to leave the organization altogether.
Reminder on the general rule : Keep it conservative. Meaning – Penalties need to be of the smallest effective size.
Right size ??
How do we know the right size of a reward or penalty ? To be honest, I am not fully sure. But, I know a working analogy.
When eating, how do I know when I am full ? Well, my stomach tells me !
All I have to do is Listen !
In the same way, all I have to do to get the right-sized reward for a techie is – See/ Listen/ Perceive.
Wrap up
The Size of a reward or penalty is the next piece of the puzzle.
Like eating, too many rewards lead to obesity, and too little to anorexia.
Both conditions cause detriment to health. Not only of the techie but also of the organization.
Proportionate rewards and penalties are the next pillars in an IT organization.
Excerpts from: The Art of Strategy
Finally, we look at the Repetition of a reward/ penalty.