Week 7 DiscussionCOLLAPSE

Rewarding Top Talent

Bock states: “Fairness is when pay is commensurate with contribution.” How does your organization recognize and reward top talent? Based on this week’s readings, what would you recommend your organization to do differently? In your response to classmates, comment on similarities and differences between the challenges in your organization and in theirs.

Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your timezone, and reply indicating whether you agree or disagree and why to at least 2 of your classmates’ initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your timezone.​

1st response

 RE: Week 7 Discussion COLLAPSE

Hello class and professor!

I am very interested in this discussion board this week because my office just had this discussion in the office. We have just had performance evaluations which means we get money! So, it was confusion on why there were pop up awards, which are awards that are financial through out the year for various things. I have received quiet a few in the past. They are very random because the person does not know when they are coming, just one day you pay is more than normal and you have to find out why. Then, the other financial reward we get is after the performance. You can choose financial award or days off or a promotion increase if available. 

I feel like the pop up rewards are all depending on the manager and what they deem good. Some managers it is harder than others to receive. The only thing I do not like is they are not announced to the team. If they were announced to the team, people would work along those lines to get rewards. Jack Welch explains in Winning, managers need to put their money where their mouth is and reward the characteristics they like and announce it so others will follow (1). I do not feel like it is announced often enough in my office. I also believe there should be a clear list of what managers believe are characteristics are praise worthy, so it is not a guessing game. 

I also believe that there should be more opportunities to be promoted in government. I feel like too often in government in these days people get trapped and most offices lose great potential because they do not want to promote. My office is going through a reorganization now and the subordinates brought up that they will promote the job outside of the office before the people in the office get a chance to apply for the job.  Now, they decided to try to promote internally before going externally. I believe there is less tension now because of the decision, but my coworkers were mad before they decided to promote internally. Bill explains it best, when people learn from ground up, which are most people in my office, they believe they deserve that respect above new people that have the slightest idea of what we do (2). 

Tiara Collins

1. Jack Welch. (2009). Winning. 

2. https://blackboard.strayer.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/JWMI/HR/521/TheTalentMasters_CH5.pdf 

2nd Response

 RE: Week 7 DiscussionCOLLAPSE

Hi Professor and Fellow students!

This week’s discussion is fascinating, as Bock states, “Fairness is when pay is commensurate with a contribution.” I have worked under different organizations within the education sector, and each one has a different way concerning how management is supposed to be rewarded. The government had a plan where everyone across the board would have an annual increase regardless of any performance appraisals. However, this was later changed to implement performance appraisals for one to qualify for an increase. This is based on several class visits that I have to conduct with each teacher in my department. It has some criteria such as creating a positive learning environment, knowledge of the curriculum, lesson planning and presentation, and learner assessment. Once this is done, I will have a feedback session with a particular teacher before the next session to check if there has been an improvement. The crux of the matter is that one cannot give a low score or a very high score, as in each case, one has to motivate. If a teacher neglects his class, does not complete the assessment report in time, does he not qualify for a reward? If another teacher is doing his best, on a scale of 1-4, 1 being poor and 4 being exceptionally well. Is there an exceptionally outstanding teacher? In either case, one completes the appraisals to get a score that warrants an increase, no questions asked, meaning people have to assess themselves, be assessed by their peers, compare the scores and get an average score. However, the School Governing Body has reserve funds, in which an outstanding teacher or the principal qualifies for such, based on their own observations. Should people work to be rewarded for having gone the extra mile? Welch (1) states that; “people need to get differentiated rewards and recognition to be motivated.”  In the past, if the grade twelve pass rate is higher, all the grade twelve teachers were rewarded in monetary terms, as a once-off payment. Nevertheless, the question is, how about the other teachers, including those in Kindergarten? At what stage would they be rewarded?

I believe our organization should do differently because educational institutions and the business world operate on a totally different mindset regarding rewards and incentives. Much as it is remarkably easy to spot real leaders, as they stand out because of how they do their jobs. Therefore, those at the senior level must spend time with the juniors to build trust, connect authentically with others, and own up to problems, should they arise. This would close the gap between management at the remote level; in this case, the department of education officials and each school management level. In this way, they need to come to the schools, experience what teachers and management go through daily. With that in mind, will they then bring a system that would be different from the business world but can develop their intuitions through lengthy, intimate, and repeated involvements with the teachers and the management team?

References:

1.Jack Welch, 2005, Winning

2.JWI521. Week 7. Lecture Notes. Compensation and incentives

3.Laezlo, Bock, 2015. Work Rules

4. Harvard Business Review, November 28, 2019.How to Recruit More Women to Your Company.