Give you a company, see how you manage

Chapter 66 The "trap" of "money incentives" (1)
Any incentive related to "money" is a "double-edged sword": it can hurt others as well as yourself.So we must be cautious.If you ask a manager: What is the most difficult problem to deal with in business management?I believe he will answer you in all likelihood: the employee's "motivation" question.In fact, not only our managers in China will worry about this problem, managers all over the world are struggling with this problem.The reason is also very simple, "human" is the most complex creature in the world.Not to mention "motivating" people, it is almost an "impossible task" to fully understand "what's going on" with a creature like "human".But some people don’t think so—isn’t it easy to “motivate” people?
Wouldn't it be over if you pay more?And there are plenty of people who support this view.Originally, "Man dies for money, and birds die for food", even if "money is not everything", at least there will be no "negative effects", right?It’s not that I’m alarmist. If “money” is not used well, it will not “motivate” people, on the contrary, it may have a “negative effect” and make people less motivated.This is the "paradox theory" of "material incentives" in management, or we can simply call it the "trap" of "money incentives".This kind of trap mainly has the following manifestations. "Trap" one: As long as more money is paid, employees will be happy and work harder.The "Deyun Society" in Beijing had a crosstalk, saying that there was a beggar sitting on the side of the road at the entrance of a community all the year round.

Mr. Li, a resident of the community, is a "good-hearted" person, and he would generously give this beggar 10 yuan every day when he passed by after get off work.Later, because the bonus was reduced, the financial situation of the family became tight, and my wife tightened the control of the money bag, so Mr. Li changed it to give this beggar 5 yuan each time.One or two days is okay, but after a long time, this beggar quit, so he asked Mr. Li: "Why did you give 10 yuan before, but now you give 5 yuan?" Mr. Li was very puzzled at first, thinking to himself: "I give Your money is good, not only did you not thank me, why did you blame me instead?"

But after thinking about it, the "good-tempered" Mr. Li still patiently gave this beggar an explanation: "The unit bonus has been reduced, and my wife is strict with it."Unexpectedly, before the words fell, the beggar slapped Mr. Li severely, and angrily said: "You bastard, how dare you use my money to honor your daughter-in-law!" Although this cross talk is exaggerated, it is vivid. It clearly expresses a truth - for us Chinese, "money" incentives are a "double-edged sword". , or even "spend money to buy guilt".Therefore, we must be extremely careful, and we must never talk about "money" lightly.Especially for us Chinese, any "continuous" and "regular" incentive means, that is, any "institutionalized" or "suspiciously institutionalized" incentive means will lose their due incentive effect.

Because people will instinctively classify this kind of incentive as their "reasonable" income category, and will not have any "grateful" heart; It will also be jealous of you, making this method of material incentives completely "reactive".Take the previous cross talk as an example, the biggest problem with "Mr. Li" is that he doesn't give this beggar money "occasionally", but "regularly", and it is the same amount every time.This made the beggar "as it should be" to "include" the RMB given by Mr. Li every day into his "established income".

Therefore, when Mr. Li changed his salary, the beggar would not be "grateful", but would think that Mr. Li had "destroyed" his normal income system, so not only was he not his benefactor, but on the contrary he was an out-and-out benefactor. Deduction of the "sinner".Give another example.Say you are an extremely generous boss.Give your employees a big year-end bonus at the end of each year.However, even if you give a year-end bonus of 10 yuan to one cleaner at the end of the year, as long as you give another cleaner 10 yuan, the first cleaner will definitely be "angry": he (she) did a good job It's not as good as me, why is it 1 yuan more than me?Hearing this, the other cleaning staff quit: I am not as good as him, why am I not as good as him?Why can't you get a thousand more than him? —Look, you spent a total of 1 yuan, but you didn't even "motivate" the work enthusiasm of the two cleaners.What's more, if the trouble is not good, it will have the opposite effect. They will be even more "slouched" when they work in the future, and your more than 20 yuan will be wasted in vain.That is to say, what we Chinese really care about is not the amount of "money", but whether it is "fair".

As long as it is "unfair", it doesn't matter how much you give.But this is not the most difficult thing to deal with. The really scary thing is: for us Chinese, the word "fairness" is always said to ourselves "alone".Because in our Chinese dictionary, there is no such thing as objective "fairness" at all, it is all subjective.As long as you get less, it is "unfair"; as long as others get the same as you, or get more than yourself, it is "unfair".Only when you have "more" and others "less" is the real "fairness".Therefore, you want to find a "fair" method that satisfies everyone, and it will not be possible in 1 years.That being the case, as managers, we might as well try to "shift the universe" in the way of thinking.Since "fairness" is an "impossible task", why don't we simply try an "unfair" incentive method to completely "muddle the water" so that employees can't touch the "rule"? What about the clever trick of "seeking victory in the middle"?In other words, our managers can adopt a "mushroom tactic" of "pointing to the east to fight the west" and "guiding to fight the north" to achieve "relative fairness" in the minds of employees through flexible and changeable "unfairness" , to truly "maximize" the effect of "material incentives".

But in actual operation, we must pay attention to the following points: First, managers must have a certain amount of flexible "discretionary power".That is to say, they have the right to control the "bonus" according to their own will.Second, the managers must "disturb the muddy water" and distribute bonuses "as they please".Do not allow employees to see any "regularity".Any "regularity" will be regarded as "as it should be" by employees, making incentives ineffective.If the "law" cannot be grasped, employees will naturally know how to "cherish" it, and it can also play a corresponding role in motivating.At the same time, because there is no "regularity" to follow, employees will not "complain" because they are less than others in a certain time, because next time they may be higher than the other party.As long as they have this kind of psychological expectation, employees can be relatively "relaxed".Third, the basic income level of employees must be guaranteed. The "incentive part" should be based on the "minimum income" that employees can accept.

(End of this chapter)