Att motivera med belöning
En studie av attityder och beteenden på ett företag i hemelektronikbranschen
The underlying question addressed in this paper is whether or not it is possible to influence the way a company?s employees behave using monetary incentives. How efficient is money as a means to enhance work motivation? Today, the assumption that employees perform better when bribed with rewards is questioned by scholars. The previous confidence in monetary reward systems is increasingly being replaced with hope for more effective programs, where employees to a greater extent can be motivated by non-monetary incentives. The study of the reward system at El-giganten in Upplands Väsby has aimed to account for the salesmen?s attitudes towards the company?s incentive system, as well as to investigate to what extent their attitudes correlate with their actual behaviours. To accomplish this, we have conducted a focus group interview followed by a participative observation of the salesmen?s behaviours. The result of the interview leads us to believe that the respondents have a positive attitude to the reward system in general, and that the system may be a carrot for improved performance. However, as can be seen from the answers, the respondents do not consider the reward system when interacting with customers. Following the observation, the salesmen have adapted those behaviours rewarded. Among other behaviours, the salesmen tended to lead customers over to products with a high marginal. We conclude that the attitudes of the focus group largely correlate with the behaviours of the salesmen observed. However, we have not been able to determine whether these behaviours exist as a result of the reward system, or if they would have been demonstrated just the same without a similar system.