Incentive control

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The goal of the incentive management ( English incentive management ) is damaging behavior through sanctions to reduce or desired behaviors through subsidies to promote. A distinction is made between material and immaterial incentives. Material incentives are mostly monetary benefits, such as B. Performance Awards. Incentives of an intangible nature are e.g. B. Awards or career opportunities. The incentive control system is used in many areas, e.g. B. in politics , environmental protection , consumer behavior or human resource management , the latter being the most important area of ​​application in an economic company.

Incentive control in personnel management

aims

Positive incentive control serves both the interests of the company or management and the employees .

Measurable success of a positive incentive control, the increase in the management company's profits , the sales growth or return on equity . Other measurable variables in connection with positive incentive control are e.g. B. the increase in the number of contracts concluded or the increase in patent applications. This promotes the performance and competitiveness of a company.

The relevance of the individual needs or interests of the employees is decisive for the orientation of the incentive control . These are shown in Maslow's hierarchy of needs .

A positive incentive control leads to a higher satisfaction of the needs of the employees.

Sufficient economic security for the employee that enables his or her basic needs to be satisfied is essential for the existence of the employee , e.g. B. the need for food and shelter. This protection is usually provided through monetary remuneration. This is where the positive incentive management in Germany comes into play the least. By introducing a minimum wage , most people can meet their basic needs through income . However, this is not easily possible in metropolitan areas with high rents. Here, positive incentive management can consist in the company making affordable housing available or making financial compensation payments. Positive incentive management ensures that companies have qualified employees at such locations.

The need for basic security follows the need for security . On the one hand, this includes the need for permanent livelihood security . Positive incentive management can consist of good work performance being rewarded with an open-ended employment contract . It also includes the need for health and wellbeing. Positive incentive control can consist in the employer offering a higher standard than statutory occupational safety and health demands. He can z. B. offer psychological care and thus contribute to maintaining health and ability to work.

This is followed by securing social needs. This means social interaction in the workplace. Through team-building measures, the employer can e.g. B. promote the social climate. This ensures that the employee feels comfortable in his or her social environment at the workplace and performs better.

The need for appreciation includes the recognition of personality and performance. Positive incentives can be a commendation, promotion, or award. These forms of rewards make the employee feel valued and respected. He is ready to perform as expected in the future in order to experience this positive feeling again.

At the top of the hierarchy of needs is the desire for self-fulfillment . Here the employer can set positive incentives by enabling the employee to develop professionally. He can offer or support in-house or external training courses, e.g. B. release the employee during their training. The employee can fully exploit his potential and benefit the company.

Success of Incentives

The value ( valence ) of a stimulus is a subjective sensation and thus has no generally valid value. It can also change in a person over time. The motivation of employees will only be maintained if the reward will meet the needs. It can be intrinsic or extrinsic . With intrinsic motivation, the activity itself creates a feeling of happiness in the person performing it. It is often used in creative activities. In this case, incentive control is not the trigger for motivation, but it can positively reinforce it. With extrinsic motivation, an external incentive causes the desired activity to be carried out, e.g. B. the assumption of a task with the aim of a promotion or reward.

criticism

The criticisms mainly relate to extrinsic incentives.

  1. Suppression of intrinsic motivation: If the actual motivation is intrinsic, incentive control can lead to demotivation and a decline in performance. In particular, this can be the case if the incentive control does not take into account the quality of the service provided. Such incentive control can lead to unrealistic expectations and presupposes motivation through reward.
  2. Pessimistic view of man: The system of incentive control gives the impression that people only act appropriately in order to pursue their own interests ( end-means-thinking ). Man is reduced to an opportunist. This view can lead to internalization and the consequence that people actually tend towards opportunistic behavior .

The following criticisms deal with specific undesirable incentive effects.

  1. Effects contrary to the actual objective: An example of this is that Chinese farmers received a bonus for finding a fossil. This caused the farmers to break up the fossils to get more rewards. This destruction resulted in a significant decrease in the value of the fossils.
  2. Maintaining Problems: A child receives e.g. B. a reward for tidying up his room. This motivates you to bring the room back to its original state in order to receive the reward again.
  3. Self-interests over interests of the company: The International Business Machines Corporation ( IBM ) paid its programmers by the number of lines of code written. This prompted the programmers to write more extensive and sometimes less user-friendly programs. This contradicts the incentive and the corporate goal.
  4. Intertemporal conflicting goals: A bank branch requires employees to acquire a certain number of new customers within a quarter. To achieve this goal, the employee also acquires new customers who are not profitable for the bank. The short-term motivated decision to achieve the key figure can pose a threat to long-term corporate success.
  5. Corporate advantages to the detriment of third parties: This is e.g. This is the case, for example, when labor and social standards differ significantly between the exporting and importing country. The commercial success of the importing country is based on the fact that the standards and thus the costs in the exporting country are much lower. This leads to unethical exploitation of workers.

environmental Protection

Diminishing resources and increasing emissions force a more ecological behavior. Incentive control has been gaining importance in environmental policy since the 1980s .

The reason for this is the recognition that the free market economy does not create enough incentives for ecological behavior. The goal of the free market economy is short-term profit . Usually this is not compatible with ecological goals, such as B. with the sustainable use of resources. Ecological behavior is also necessary for economic reasons in order to secure the market for the future. In addition, the market does not pay attention to negative effects on third parties, such as B. the health impairment due to increased exhaust emissions. Therefore, the state must intervene in the free market with economic control instruments and set appropriate incentives.

Control through economic incentives

  1. Subsidies for environmental protection projects: B. Subsidies for the development of renewable energies . From an economic point of view, subsidies should also be viewed critically. It constitutes an intervention in the free market and interferes with competitiveness by favoring it , since not all economic operators benefit equally from it. In addition, subsidies are a burden on the public budget . Financial responsibility is not borne by those who cause the environmental problem, but by the general public. The fact that the general public benefits from environmentally-friendly behavior speaks in favor of subsidization.
  2. Taxation of raw materials: In order to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, which is harmful to the climate and the environment , these are taxed higher than renewable energies. This creates the financial incentive for companies to switch to more ecological alternatives.
  3. Emissions trading : In order to achieve climate protection targets , companies with a high level of CO 2 emissions receive emission rights from the state. Exceeding the emission rights is sanctioned with penalties. If the emission rights are not met, the company can sell the excess allowances.

politics

The incentive control has numerous areas of application at the political level, e. B. in the case of multilateral or bilateral agreements at the intergovernmental level and in domestic policy .

An example of incentive management at the intergovernmental level is the agreement between Iran and the leading industrialized countries. In the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action") Iran agreed to remove a large part of its uranium enrichment centrifuges, in return the sanctions previously imposed will be reduced. If the agreement is not complied with, the sanctions will be resumed. The incentive for Iran is to regain its economic competitiveness .

The incentive control in the domestic political area can affect entire economic sectors as well as the behavior of the individual. Incentive control plays a major role in the agricultural sector . The granting of subsidies has a number of objectives, e.g. B. securing the livelihood of farmers, the promotion of organic farming and compliance with environmental protection guidelines. The aim is to ensure sustainable food supply.

In the area of ​​family policy, the legislator has set incentives for starting a family through the legal right to childcare places from the age of one. A sufficient birth rate is necessary for good economic development of a state . Most families are dependent on the income of both parents and thus on the care of their children. The enforceable legal claim gives families legal and economic security and therefore encourages family planning.

Consumer behavior

Also, the consumer behavior is influenced by stimulus control of the policy.

One type of incentive control is the taxation of products which z. B. endanger health and are therefore socially and politically undesirable. This should influence the consumer's purchase decision.

An example of this is the taxation of tobacco products . For a pack of 20 cigarettes and a retail price of € 6.00, the tobacco tax is around € 3.27, which is more than half the retail price. The legal obligation of tobacco companies to print disgusting pictures on cigarette packs is also intended to encourage consumers to take a more critical stance towards their cigarette consumption.

Contrary to this is the incentive control through subsidization. The state supports z. E.g. switching to electric cars to reduce carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. A premium of € 4000 is paid for the purchase of an electric car. An electric car has a higher purchase price than a comparable car that burns diesel or gasoline. The bonus is intended to encourage people to buy an electric car.

The incentive control is not intended to restrict the consumer's options for action, but rather to encourage or inhibit certain behaviors.

In extreme cases, the state can tax a good so heavily that the price acts like a prohibition ( prohibitive price ). The consumer no longer has a choice, he has to follow the option of action preferred by the state. In practice, however, this form of incentive control is not used in the free market economy.

Companies also use the principle of incentive control to influence the purchasing behavior of consumers in their favor. They advertise with special offers ("take three, pay two") or discount campaigns. With the prospect of saving, the consumer is encouraged to buy.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Incentive control. Retrieved July 2, 2018 .
  2. ^ R. Stock-Homburg: Personnel Management / Theories - Concepts - Instruments . 3. Edition. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden 2013, p. 56 .
  3. ↑ a b c A. Suchanek, N. Lin-Hi: A consideration of incentives from a business ethical perspective . tape 55 . Controlling & Management, June 2011, p. 12-15 .
  4. ↑ E. Ulich: Industrial Psychology . 7th edition. Schäffer Poeschel, Stuttgart 2011, p. 45-46 .
  5. ↑ L. von Rosenstiel: Motivation in the company . Rosenberger Fachverlag, Leonberg 2010, p. 68 .
  6. ^ D. Holtbrügge: Personnel Management . 7th edition. Springer Gabler, Berlin 2018, p. 21-23 .
  7. ^ D. Holtbrügge: Personnel Management . 7th edition. Springer Gabler, Berlin 2018, p. 25 .
  8. ^ H. Aden: Environmental Policy / Elements of Politics . VS Verlag, 2011, p. 81-83 .
  9. ↑ Relaxation and lifting of sanctions against Iran. Retrieved July 2, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Payments from the EU funds for agriculture and fisheries. Retrieved July 2, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Daycare Center Act (KitaG) / § 1 . September 1, 2015.
  12. ↑ Tobacco Tax Protection Act (TabStg) / § 2 Tax Tariff . Salzwasser Verlag, Paderborn 2012.
  13. ↑ Lutz Reiche: SPD wants to double the purchase premium for e-cars to 8,000 euros. Retrieved July 2, 2018 .
  14. ^ J. Marschelke: Journal for culture and collective science . 2nd Edition. transcript, Bielefeld 2015, p. 58-60 .