Taking a Look at Negative Incentives

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Negative incentives are any actions that discourage behavior or provide a resolution for unwanted behavior. One of the most common types of negative incentives is financial punishment. At one of my past jobs, Ace Hardware, the company engaged in profit sharing. Profit sharing is the distribution of profit among employees. Profit sharing is a positive incentive; however, I was more inclined to thrive in the workplace whenever my job was threatened. On one occasion, while I was working at Ace Hardware, I gave the wrong price on a piece of sheet metal resulting in a loss of profit for the company. I was punished by having a decrease of working hours that week. Since that incident I was careful not to give incorrect prices. I always double-checked the prices before I shared them with the customers.
Studies have been done to show that negative incentives are more effective in monetary situations. For example, a random pool of all people of all ages partook in an experiment involving solving anagrams. Half of the participants started off with money and were told that they would lose that money if they were incapable to solve the anagrams. The other half of the participants on the other hand, had to earn their money. The study concluded with the participants who were threatened to lose their initial money being more effective than their counterpart participants. A website, Stickk.com, allows people to make commitment contracts in order people to reach any personal goals. The individuals filling out the commitment contracts place a monetary wager on the website, bound by a contract, and if that person fails to complete his or her goal, they lose the money that was originally wagered.
According to Kelly Goldsmith, an as...

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...e operational goals, an action plan must be made to help employees follow a course of action needed to achieve that goal.
In coherence with a possible decrease in work output, continuous negative incentives can result in employees separating themselves from their co-workers. Separation can lead to a low morale and dissatisfaction in the work place resulting in poor team working skills and inhibiting any possible growth of ideas and innovations for the company. It is important for first-line management to be continuously monitoring their employees to ensure high morale and fulfillment in the work place. The human relations movement theory suggests that better human relations can increase worker productivity, so it is important that middle management implements the proper policies and plans for first-line management can follow and direct it to the employees.

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