Rewards and Recognition in Employee Motivation

Abstract

Reward and recognition are usually regarded as synonyms. They are, however, quite distinct and represent a fundamental duality in human motivation. Despite the overwhelming theoretical and research support for this duality, it continues to be ignored in the actual practice of designing and implementing employee motivation initiatives. Consequently, motivation programs are ineffective and may even erode employees’ ability to engage with their work. More important is the adverse impact on the ability to understand and learn about human motivation. Only when recognition and reward are treated as two distinct phenomena will the effectiveness of employee motivation initiatives be improved. This article clarifies the differences between the two distinct subsystems of human motivation and describes the different strategic role played by each subsystem. Specific recommendations for the design and implementation of employee motivation programs, given the recognition-reward distinction, are discussed.

The Effects of Extrinsic Motivation on Scientific and Artistic Creativity among Middle School Students

“…Material rewards (e.g., money, food) and social rewards (e.g., a smiling face, positive feedback; Demurie, Roeyers, Baeyens & Sonuga-Barke, 2012;Ethridge et al, 2017;Foulkes, Viding, Mccrory & Neumann, 2014) may inspire two different forms of extrinsic motivation. They represent two fundamentally different mechanisms of human motivation (Hansen, Smith & Hansen, 2002;Hussain, Shah & Raza, 2012) and have different effects on human behaviors (Alfandi & Alkahsawneh, 2014;Erbasi & Arat, 2012;Kohls, Peltzer, Herpertz-Dahlmann & Konrad, 2009;Saqib, Abrar, Sabir, Bashir & Baig, 2015;Waqas & Saleem, 2014).…”

Multi-criteria assessment of the benefits of a supply chain management training considering green issues

“…1 presents some benefits and their descriptions. The first four are Individual Benefits related to participants or trained people such as the individual recognition to maintain and motivate behaviors, and to improve and validate knowledge that can result in a sustainable competitive advantage to a company (Hansen et al, 2002;Van Zyl, 2003;Lummus, 2007;Treem, 2013;Gammelgaard and Larson, 2001). The last four benefits are Organizational Benefits such as the common understanding of vocabulary and concepts that would be consistent in the company; the use of best practices, and the improvement of the company's performance by sharing explicit and tacit knowledge (Gilbert, 2014;Bulkeley, 2006;Schoenherr et al, 2014;Khadivar et al, 2007).…”

Justice organisationnelle, reconnaissance au travail et motivation intrinsèque : résultats d’une étude empirique

“…Ainsi, dans la présente recherche, la justice organisationnelle et la reconnaissance seront évaluées. Elles sont considérées comme d'importants leviers de la motivation (Bourcier et Palobart, 1997;Stajkovic et Luthans, 1997, 2001Tremblay, Sire et Balkin, 2000;Hansen et al, 2002) mais elles n'ont jamais été testées simultanément dans une même étude.…”

“…En effet, certains travaux ont déjà établi l'existence d'une relation entre la reconnaissance et la motivation au travail (Bourcier et Palobart, 1997;Hansen et al, 2002;St-Onge et al, 2005;Tremblay et Simard, 2005). On peut rappeler par exemple, ceux de Tremblay et Simard (2005) sur la mobilisation des ressources humaines qui soulignent qu'un climat organisationnel fondé la confiance, la reconnaissance, le soutien, la justice et le pouvoir d'agir renforcerait la motivation au travail.…”