Nov 06 2012
A not so rewarding reward system
When it comes to class readings, I have to say that the articles for class 18, Performance Management, were definitely my favourite. They were both interesting and thought provoking. One section that stood out was the issue of “fouled up systems”, specifically the university example, as discussed in On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B. A quick summary: professors are rewarded almost entirely for their research and publications, therefore making the hope that they will not neglect their teaching in the process a dying cause. The punishments for failure to obtain rewards for research and publications far outweigh the rare punishment for poor teaching. As a result, it should come as no surprise if a professor chooses to focus on their research even at the expense of their students learning. This is just one of many examples where there is almost a ‘reward’ for choosing one option over the other, even though neither is ideal. It really gets one to thinking about the effect these skewed reward systems have and if there is a way to fix them once already implemented.