Self-Solicited Feedback: Effects of Hourly Pay and Individual Monetary Incentive Pay

The frequency of feedback solicitation under hourly pay and individual monetary incentive pay conditions was examined. A between-subjects design was used with 30 college students in the two groups. Participants attended three experimental sessions and entered the cash value of simulated bank checks presented on a computer screen. Performance was higher for individuals who were paid incentives; however, participants who were paid incentives did not self-solicit feedback more than those who were paid hourly. Rather, participants in both groups solicited feedback quite frequently. Additionally, performance was not related to feedback solicitation. These results suggest that the incentives did not make feedback more reinforcing even though the incentives were functional rewards and the feedback was correlated with the amount of pay earned: the better the feedback, the more pay participants earned. The results also support the position that it may be necessary to pair objective feedback with an evaluative component to enhance performance.     

The Effects of Individual Monetary Incentives With and Without Feedback

Abstract

This study examined the effects of an individual monetary incentive system with and without feedback to determine if feedback would supplement the effects of incentives. Participants were seven college students who performed a computerized task called SYNWORK. SYNWORK presented four sub-tasks concurrently: memory, arithmetic, visual monitoring and auditory monitoring. Participants earned points for correct responses. The dependent variable was the number of points earned. An ABAC design was used with A = individual monetary incentives without feedback, B = individual monetary incentives with feedback, and C = hourly pay with feedback. Sessions were 90 minutes, and there were 5 to 10 sessions per phase. The point scores of six of the seven participants increased when feedback was added to the incentive system but stabilized or continued to increase when feedback was removed. The feedback intervention was staggered in time across participants, and performance increased when feedback was added, hence the data suggest that feedback enhanced the effects of the incentives. One possible reason for the reversal failure is that feedback evoked higher levels of performance that were then maintained by the additional incentives. Because performance did not reverse, however, the results must be viewed cautiously.     

Work Productivity as a Function of the Percentage of Monetary Incentives to Base Pay

In many individual monetary incentive systems workers receive an hourly base pay and can earn incentives when productivity exceeds a specified standard. The total amount that can be earned in incentives is often expressed as a percentage of base pay. This study examined the effects of different percentages of incentive pay to base pay on work productivity. Seventy-five college students were randomly assigned to one of five incentivebase pay conditions: 0% (no incentives), l0%, 30%. 60% or 100%. Subjects participated in 15 forty-five minute sessions during which they assem: bled parts made from bolts, nuts and washers. Subjects received a base pay amount for assembling a minimum of 50 quality parts per session and a per piece incentive for parts over 50. If subjects assernbled 120 quality parts, the production maximum, the total amount they could earn in incentives equaled 0%, l0%, 30%, 60% or 100% of their base pay. Results indicated that the productivity of subjects in the l0%, 30%, 60% and 100% groups was significantly greater than that of subjects in the 0% incentive group; however, the productivity of subjects in the l0%, 30%, 60% and 100% incentive groups did not differ.     

The Interaction Effects of Frequency and Specificity of Feedback on Work Performance

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the interaction effect between specificity (specific vs. global) and frequency of feedback (frequent vs. infrequent) on the quality of work performance. Eighty participants were recruited and randomly assigned to one of the four groups: specific and frequent feedback, global and frequent feedback, specific and infrequent feedback, and global and infrequent feedback. A 2 × 2 factorial design was adopted. Participants were asked to work on a simulated order-fulfilling task and attended 24 sessions. The dependent variable was the error rate of the completed tasks. The results showed that more frequent feedback was more effective and specific feedback was more effective than global feedback in improving the quality of performance. Furthermore, an interactive effect between feedback frequency and specificity was found. Specific feedback was more effective than global feedback when the feedback was infrequent, but global feedback was comparable to specific feedback when it was frequent.     

Effects of Hourly,Low-Incentive,and High-Incentive Pay on Simulated Work Productivity: Initial Findings With a New Laboratory Method

The failures of previous studies to demonstrate productivity differences across different percentages of incentive pay may be partially due to insufficient simulation fidelity. The present study compared the effects of different percentages of incentive pay using a more advanced simulation method. Three payment methods were tested: hourly, low-incentive, and high-incentive (0%, 10%, and 100%) pay. Four participants performed a simulated work task for 30 6-hr sessions. Productivity under the 100% incentive condition was consistently higher than under the 10% condition for all participants. Productivity under the 10% condition was higher than under the 0% condition for two participants. Results suggest that different percentages of incentive pay may in fact produce productivity differences under more realistic simulated work conditions.     

The Role of Effort in Shifting Preference for Feedback Stimuli

ABSTRACT

Researchers have examined preference for the format of delivery of feedback, however little research has examined strategies to increase feedback and praise desirability. The current study aimed to evaluate whether preference shifted for stimuli that signaled work and for manager-praise stimuli that were delivered after work. Moreover, we sought to understand if these preference shifts were greater when the work was higher-effort compared to lower-effort work tasks (a phenomenon described in the basic literature as within-trial contrast). The study took place in a simulated work environment. Sixteen university students clicked on a shape that produced the work task, completed a mock medical data-entry task, and received manager-praise on an FR1 and FR20 schedule. At the start of the study and following each contingency exposure trials, they completed a preference assessment for both the shapes and the manager-feedback stimuli. The primary dependent variable was the percentage of preference change for two categories of stimuli – shapes presented at the beginning of trials that signaled which condition participants were in and manager-praise stimuli presented at the end of trials. Preference for the shape stimuli for both high- and low-effort stimuli decreased indicating that stimuli that signal work may become less preferred. Preference for the manager-praise stimuli for both high- and low-effort stimuli increased suggesting that stimuli that follow work may become more preferred. Overall, these data suggest that the conditions under which managers deliver feedback and praise may influence preference for those stimuli.     

Evaluating Preference for Graphic Feedback on Correct Versus Incorrect Performance

The current study evaluated preferences of undergraduate students for graphic feedback on percentage of incorrect performance versus feedback on percentage of correct performance. A total of 108 participants were enrolled in the study and received graphic feedback on performance on 12 online quizzes. One half of participants received graphic feedback on percentage of correct performance on the first four online quizzes and then received feedback on percentage of incorrect performance on the following four quizzes. The order was reversed for the other half of participants. Participants were then asked whether their feedback on the final four quizzes should depict percentage of correct or incorrect performance. Participants who completed the study overwhelmingly preferred feedback on correct performance. The type of feedback students received for the first four quizzes did not affect subsequent quiz performance, and feedback preference was not related to performance on quizzes.     

The Effects of Social Comparison and Objective Feedback on Work Performance Across Different Performance Levels

This study investigated the interaction effects of feedback content type (social comparison feedback vs. objective feedback) and two different performance levels (high vs. low) on work performance. One hundred fifty participants were recruited and asked to perform a simulated work task in a preliminary session. Based on their performance, the upper 40% (high performance) and lower 40% (low performance) groups were selected for the main experiment. Participants in each group were randomly assigned to the two different experimental conditions: objective feedback and social comparison feedback. For the participants in the objective feedback condition, information on the number of correctly completed work tasks was provided. For the participants in the social comparison feedback condition, rank information on their performance was provided. The results indicated that social comparison feedback was more effective than objective feedback for the high performers, but was less effective for the low performers.     

Should You Order the Feedback Sandwich? Efficacy of Feedback Sequence and Timing

This study sought to investigate the efficacy of feedback sequence—namely, the feedback sandwich—and timing on performance. Undergraduate participants performed simulated office tasks, each associated with a feedback sequence (positive–corrective–positive, positive–positive–corrective, corrective–positive–positive, and no feedback), presented in a counterbalanced fashion. Half of the participants received individual verbal feedback delivered privately by the researcher immediately after each session, and the remaining participants received the same type of feedback immediately before each session. The aggregate data suggested no feedback was the most efficacious for participants who experienced feedback prior to performance, and the corrective–positive–positive sequence was the most efficacious for participants who received feedback following performance. Differences in feedback timing were not significant except for the no feedback condition. These results document that the feedback sandwich was not the most efficacious sequence, despite claims to the contrary.     

Effects of Accurate and Inaccurate Feedback on Work Performance: The Role of the Awareness of Inaccuracy

ABSTRACT

This study compared the effects of accurate (i.e., contingent) and inaccurate (i.e., non-contingent) feedback on work performance under two different work conditions. Under one work condition, participants could clearly see the outcome of their performance (i.e., visible condition). Under the other condition, they could not clearly see the outcome of their performance (i.e., non-visible condition). One hundred and twenty participants were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions (i.e., accurate/visible, inaccurate/visible, accurate/non-visible, and inaccurate/non-visible) and asked to perform a simulated work task. The results indicated that inaccurate feedback was as effective as accurate feedback under the non-visible condition, but inaccurate feedback was less effective than accurate feedback under the visible condition.     

Keeping an Uphill Edge

Abstract

Several behaviors in a ski shop were identified as being deficient using Austin's Performance Diagnostic Checklist (2000) and Daniels and Daniels' PIC/NIC Analysis (2004). During a 4-week baseline, 7 cleaning behaviors were monitored and 5 were subsequently targeted in an intervention package using an ABC design. The intervention included: a task clarification session, a posted behavioral checklist, graphic feedback of the group's performance for the previous week, and daily task-specific feedback. Immediately after the checklist was posted, the frequency of employee cleaning behaviors increased 52%. Cleaning behaviors increased an additional 12% after the implementation of daily task-specific feedback. Results suggest the interventions generalized to the 2 cleaning behaviors not mentioned in the task-clarification session.     

The Effects of Verbal and Written Supervisory Feedback on Staff Compliance with Assigned Prompted Voiding in a Nursing Home

We examined the effects of staff performance feedback delivered by a supervisor verbally, and combined with written feedback on geriatric nursing assistants' (GNAs) completion of assigned prompted voiding. The goal of the staff management procedures was to increase the frequency of prompted voiding which would consequently maintain improvements in continence brought about on a specialized continence unit. The basic staff management system included GNA self-monitoring of their performance of prompted voiding, periodic supervisory monitoring, and verbal and graphic feedback provided to all GNAs on their performance. At a later time, the staff management program was modified to include letters of praise or disapproval sent bi-weekly to all GNAs based on their performance of the prompted voiding procedure. Also, a letter was sent to all GNAs every three months summarizing their performance during this period. These summary letters were placed in the GNAs' personnel file and used as part of their annual performance evaluation. Results suggest that, although individual verbal feedback alone resulted in acceptable maintenance of prompted voiding, the addition of written feedback produced significant improvements in the number of assigned prompted voiding completed. This study displays the utility and practicality of employing formalized staff management procedures in nursing homes.     

A Comparison of the Effects of a Linear and an Exponential Performance Pay Function on Work Productivity

This study examined how work productivity was affected by the way in which individual monetary incentives were related to performance. Two types of relationships, or performance pay functions, were compared: a linear function in which a specific per piece incentive was provided for each piece completed in excess of a performance standard and an exponential function in which the amount of the per piece incentive accelerated as productivity increased. Forty college subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two pay conditions. Each subject participated in 15 forty-five minute sessions. Subjects performed a computerized work task that simulated the job of a proof operator at a bank, entering the cash values of simulated bank checks using a computer keyboard. The dependent variable was the number of correctly complcted checks. Productivity was comparable for subjects exposed to the linear and exponential performance pay functions, even though subjects exposed to the exponential function earned significantly more money than the subjects exposed to the linear function. The results suggest that, within certain parameters that have yet to be determined, differences in the way in which monetary incentives are related to performance may not differentially affect performance.     

Charismatic leadership and task feedback: A laboratory study of their effects on self-efficacy and task performance

This article examines the interactive effects of two different leadership styles (charismatic and noncharismatic) and three types of task feedback (internal, external, and no feedback) on individuals' self-efficacy and performance quality over four trials of a manufacturing task. Ninety-nine graduate students manufactured electrical wiring harnesses under the direction of either a charismatic or noncharismatic leader (an experimental confederate). Participants exposed to the charismatic leader had similar task performance regardless of task feedback condition, while participants exposed to the noncharismatic leader differed in their task performance depending on whether or not they received task feedback. Self-efficacy mediated the effect of task feedback and its interaction with charismatic leadership on performance. Explanations and implications of the results are discussed.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Education,Feedback, & Task Clarification to Increase Workplace Physical Activity

ABSTRACT

Modern office workers spend the majority of their work days in sedentary positions. The risk of preventable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and various cancers increase with increased sedentary time. Thus, targeting office worker health by increasing physical activity is imperative to improve long-term risk factors. This study measured physical activity in the workplace using a commercially-available accelerometer and evaluated the extent to which feedback, and feedback and task clarification increased workplace physical activity relative to a recommended guideline to move every 30-minutes. Results indicated that feedback increased workplace physical activity to varying degrees for 4/8 participants. A social validity questionnaire indicated that workplace variables (e.g., type of task, meetings, deadlines) prevented physical activity. These variables will need to be addressed in future studies.     

Employees' perceptions of organizational restructuring: The role of social support

Organizational change and restructuring is often perceived as leading to increased occupational stress, impacting negatively on the psychological well-being of employees. This pragmatic study investigates the role of social support and dispositional affect as moderators of role stress post-restructuring for employees in a public utility company. A total of 176 employees, including 37 managers, 60 graded staff and 78 industrial staff completed a self-report questionnaire, approximately 1 year postrestructuring, retrospectively assessing role conflict, ambiguity, overload and positive and negative feedback pre- and post-restructuring. Results suggested that overall role stress increased for managers/ senior officers and graded staff, but not for industrial staff. Social support was linked with lower role stress, more positive feedback and less negative feedback at post-restructuring. For certain role stressors this impact was moderated by dispositional affect, but the effect was not consistent across occupational groups. Positive affect enhanced the effect of manager support in reducing role conflict for graded staff, and the effect of co-worker support in increasing positive feedback and reducing negative feedback for industrial staff. Findings suggest that managers should pay particular attention to support and feedback for employees during periods of chronic occupational stress following organizational restructuring.     

Effective Leadership in Superior-Subordinate Dyads

Abstract

This paper describes and experimentally demonstrates the main tenets of an operant theory of leadership. Leadership is characterized in the current paper as involving problem solving operant behavior (Cerutti, 1989; Skinner, 1969) in a social context (Skinner, 1953). The theory was assessed under two experimental analogs modeled from generic formal organizational bureaucratic leader-follower role relations. Under a minimal leadership contingency (MLC) leaders and followers in N = 4 dyads interacted via button pressing and trigger pulling responses, respectively, and they received feedback on counters located on response panels in their separate rooms. Under the MLC every leader button press added a point worth money to one of the follower's counters but the leader received no points worth money based on follower responses. A leadership contingency (LC) was identical to the MLC except that for every 19th follower trigger pull the leader received a point worth money. As anticipated, high rates of leader-follower interaction evolved in all dyads under the LC and appreciably lower rates occurred under the MLC as leader button pressing extinguished under the MLC with repeated exposures to the two contingencies presented in ABABAB fashion. Results were discussed in terms of the theory and data as they may be related to assessment and maintenance of leader-follower interactions and performance in OBM lab and field experiments.     

正面反馈的盛名综合症效应：正向激励何以加剧绩效报酬对创造力的抑制？

正面反馈通常被认为是一种低成本且行之有效的正向激励手段,但结果如何不甚明了。根植于本土"面子"文化,基于反馈加工过程模型,从反馈效价、反馈情境以及反馈接收者特质三方面出发,构建了一个嵌套被中介调节效应的三项交互模型,通过设计3项研究,旨在探讨绩效激励下的正面反馈反应机制。研究1结果显示,正面反馈调节绩效报酬对创造力的倒"U"型影响,且调节效应因员工胜任感知不同而存在差异,即在高激励强度下提供高的正面反馈反而加剧绩效报酬对个体尤其是低胜任感知个体创造力的抑制。研究2探索了上述负效应的成因,揭示了盛名综合症的中介作用。研究3进一步揭示,由于低胜任感知诱发的盛名综合症,强化了正面反馈对表现目标导向的引导作用,从而加剧绩效报酬对创造力的抑制。     

Decreasing Delivery Drivers' Departure Times

Abstract

A performance feedback and goal setting procedure was used to improve the morning departure times for delivery drivers in a social services agency that provided meals to elderly clients. Daily group feedback with changing-criterion goal setting was delivered using charts in a publicly accessible area. Upon the onset of the intervention, performance improved significantly and accordingly reversed during the first withdrawal phase. These improvements were replicated in a second feedback phase but did not reverse in a second withdrawal phase. Individuals who were relatively low performers during the baseline phase saw their performance improve to equal that of relatively high performers during the intervention phases. This demonstration project replicates and extends a well-established OBM intervention to a transitional work environment.     

Living to Work and Working to Live: Income as a Driver of Organizational Behavior

Abstract

Income as a relatively stable aspect of a job (e.g. annual salary, non-incentive wages, or weekly or hourly pay) has received relatively little consideration in organizational theorizing and research, despite its critical importance to workers, organizations, and society at large. Income inequality has similarly received scant attention, although it is a topic of great intellectual and practical importance. In this paper we describe the ways in which income and income inequality affect how people behave in both their professional and personal lives, and suggest ways in which organizations may influence, and be influenced by, these effects. We integrate research from a number of disciplines, highlight leading findings across them, and suggest ways in which organizational scholarship can inform research and practice in this domain. Our goal is to facilitate the development of income-related research programs in organizational science.