Problematic: "Causes of the conflicts generated by the economic incentives".
Introduction
Next, I am going to make a brief allusion to a company X that, like many others, decided after 10 years to change its work culture, establishing a system of purely economic and material incentives.
This company started as a small, informal organization with just 4 employees. At that time, their uses and customs solidified in the form of fixed patterns of behavior and beliefs.
Throughout its growth, the company overcame several obstacles, undoubtedly increased its size and from four employees it grew to sixty. However, it continued to maintain its behavior patterns almost intact until solidifying them in such a way as to create its organizational culture.
After 10 years, and realizing the various difficulties that the vices of his culture cost his business, he decided, the top leadership, to change some of the organizational aspects that made his culture.
For this point, one of the strategic plans they wanted to develop was the implementation of an economic incentive that triggered various kinds of conflicts that further affected the company's operations.
The function of this research will be to investigate the causes that must generate the conflicts mentioned in the various structures of the organization. Its organizational pyramid does not seem to be complicated or structurally complex, on the contrary, it consists of a low line, a middle line and a high line which forms the top management.
Its members seem to have clear communication problems that lead to serious errors and high staff turnover. To correct these problems, the company decides to apply an incentive system.
The incentive system is divided into two: classified as white points those by which the productivity of each sector was measured in favor of the individual or group; and the so-called black spots, which penalized non-compliance with the rules or voluntary and involuntary errors as well as lack of discipline. The equation of both stages made up the economic prize to be paid every month-end, which could be positive or negative.
Under no circumstances in cases of negative balances was the basic salary of the members of the company modified. The difference between salary and the incentive itself then seemed clear. The benefit was material expressed in Argentine pesos according to their final balance for each member of the group. Although productivity was measured separately, individual punishment points also expressed a cost to the group.
The regulations were detailed through an internal procedures manual where the labor circuits and their different stages were recorded. The penalty for supervisory errors was much more severe in relation to the subordinate's penalty.
Lack of supervision was so common that the relationship between the points discounted for managerial omission was higher than those awarded by production levels.
However, the management line enjoyed an extra incentive through a percentage of the end points of all the members of the group that was supervised. This management led to greater incentives for subordinates than for middle-line managers. It had been set to pay the supervisor or manager an incentive in favor of the errors detected by his subordinates.However, very few cases were observed where the manager identified, corrected and reported the errors that were happening in his sector, the constant was to correct the errors but not reporting them.
With these differences, what both middle and low line shared was their dissatisfaction with the system, even though their final balance was positive in 95% of cases. The reward system was so promising that even the opportunity to remove any ceiling was given because of the higher the productivity and the lesser the number of errors the incentives could reach unlimited levels.
During the first three months of testing no discounts were applied, they were implemented in the fourth month and its subsequent months.
The general management on a trial basis decided to only apply the system to the company's operating sectors, the sales areas, although it had economic incentives for what was produced, they did not have obvious penalties and the administrative sectors even had incentives for production..
Therefore, the present investigation will only reflect operational conflicts and their causes, leaving aside the conflicts that could manifest in other areas outside this study.
Among the most common conflicts were: lack of discipline and compliance with regulations, lack of interest in the incentive, and general dissatisfaction with the incentive system.
Theoretical framework
- External and internal ecological aspects.
A- Degree of competence.
B- Concealment mechanisms:
Keyword: Conflict field (Macro, Micro).
- Anthropological aspects:
A- Generational definition of its members:
B- Class definition of its members
C- Degree of affiliation or kinship.
Key word: Cross reaction. Sum of experiences.
- Functional aspects:
A- Representativeness of leader.
B- Seniority of the members.
C- General education level.
D- Work Schedules.
E- Salary level.
Key word: perceptual dysfunction between primary and secondary incentive.
- Cognitive and communicational aspects.
A- Psychological profiles.
B- Communication barriers.
Key word: Role Ambiguous.
- External and internal ecological aspects.
Variable a - interpersonal competence
There are several influences that usually activate personal competence. The system of rewards and punishments among one of its functions tends to activate personal competition among the members of a group and particularly the economic incentive awakens them.
The word competence derives from the Latin "competeré" which means "to jointly seek meanings of agreement to respond to the context".
Competition can be individual or group and carries with it a connotation of overcoming for the individual or group. The drive to improve is closely linked to survival and the tendencies of mastery of the human being. Competition through play from an early age limits, shapes and recreates the child's fantasy.
In the game the child establishes roles linked to authority and other needs to be satisfied, this will last a lifetime. As an adult, it will be the pleasure of succeeding or reaching the goal that motivates your competition with yourself and others. We compete in every way in our lives, to survive to better ourselves and to stay on track. It will be the game between triumph or defeat that shapes the individual's self-esteem. The idea of perfection also plays an important role, since it translates as the necessary fuel to achieve profit. Without the idea of perfection in our minds, the idea of competition vanishes, loses its consistency and continuity.
Therefore, any competition is subject to two fundamental factors.
A- Degree of self-esteem, whereby the individual reacts in one way or another to failure or success and B- The idea of perfection, by means of this idea all efforts in competition will be continuously maintained. Without these two components, competition as such cannot manifest itself. If the degree of self-esteem is low or negative, the idea of perfection will be low or negative, therefore there is no desire to compete. On the contrary, if the degree of self-esteem is high and the idea of consistent perfection, the desire to compete will be much greater. Although there are numerous exceptions to this rule, these two factors will be taken as bases in this study to identify how the economic incentive works on both and allows competition to occur under certain conditions in one way and not another. In both cases,money plays a role of affirmation of status and self-esteem, but does not stimulate on the idea of perfection.
We then add a new concept which we will call EXTERNAL SCENARIO which will impose the regulations on which the competition will be developed. It is a function of the external scenario to establish the limits on which individuals must proceed in one way or another depending on the idea of perfection and self-esteem. The regulations establish what is allowed and what is not, what is correct and what is not; in other words, it will be in charge of regulating the behavior and the steps that the individual or group will take to achieve success or failure.
We will name in the study two variables of EXTERNAL SCENARIO 1- Stable: scenario by which a certain degree of continuity is established where the uncertainty before possible changes is low.
2- Unstable: Scenario with high degrees of uncertainty where discontinuity and insecurity are recurring.
We will use the following three examples as a case study:
- Unstable external scenario: Where the regulation may be typified or not and is subject to sudden changes due to material or economic incentive. In this case, the rules are subject to fluctuations due to the amount of money that must be paid for prizes.
In this scenario, self-esteem will tend to be low as a result of a psychic defense to the uncertainty generated. Since self-esteem is low, the possibility of self-exclusion to the idea of perfection will be high.
Therefore, competition under these conditions will manifest a resistance to authority and its imposed regulations, and a lesser degree of ambition for the reward.
- Stable External Scenario: in which the standardized regulation or not, will not be subject to sudden changes despite economic fluctuations.
In this case, even when the organization has temporary insufficiency of resources to meet its award obligations, there will be no sudden changes that reduce their level.
Under these conditions, self-esteem will tend to be high causing a rise in the idea of perfection and all efforts will be put on achieving the goal.
Competition will be optimal by reducing degrees of uncertainty. Compliance with authority will be optimal as well as the regulations imposed. However, a higher degree of ambition for the reward will be observed.
Variable b- concealment mechanisms
Concealment mechanisms are also called by psychology ADJUSTMENT MECHANISMS, which obey their own defenses to regulate dissociation (Festinger 1957 Cognitive Dissonance) that arises from the uncertainty that derives from having made a decision, carrying out a certain behavior or facing a adverse reality. Because they are not aware of the full truth, human beings must face various defense mechanisms to balance the tension that has arisen. The study of adjustment mechanisms has been presented by Psychology as a result of the various studies that have been carried out on personality and behavior.
After the study of numerous cases of justification that have been observed before the discounts on prizes that have been made on various groups, the following mechanisms have been observed:
Compensation adjustments: Mechanism by which the individual enhances some aspect of superiority of his personality to compensate for a deficit in another aspect of it. 70 cases observed between subordinates and managers.
Adjustments by rationalization: Mechanism by which the individual justifies his conduct by reasons compatible with social morality but that do not obey the true reasons for the conduct. 15 cases observed only on top and middle management when confronting or giving the reasons for the relevant discounts.
Withdrawal Adjustments: Mechanisms by which, given the impossibility of responding adequately to a stimulus, they choose to flee from said stimulus. Equivalent to retiring before defeat. 50 cases observed in middle and junior managers using the expression "the system does not matter to me, it does not reach me, I do not live for the points".
Adjustments for deviation: it consists of transferring the axis to another object to divert attention to one's behavior. 120 cases have been observed about managers and subordinates shifting the blame towards the partner when applying the penalty.
The economic incentive without limits or without ceilings, at a micro level activates its own adjustment mechanisms to justify actions or attitudes that should be punished by the regulations.
At the macro level, it establishes a greater risk of generating an unstable external scenario when the capacity of its own allocated resources is not consistent with the incentive to pay for the task but inversely decreases the degree of ambition. The forces unleashed at the micro level are ascending while the macro are descending, which converges in A FIELD OF CONFLICT in which the adjustment mechanisms (micro) and the conditions of the external scenario (macro) caused by the economic incentive are settled. This is due to the need for the structure to adjust its deviations.
Balance, ambition and disinterest find their common point. When the chaos does not coincide in its magnitude with the balance, there is imbalance.
- Anthropological aspects
Variable a - generational definition
Generations within a society are small watertight compartments brought together by common characteristics that unite and differentiate them from the rest.
Likewise, each generational stratum acquires characteristics that are unique to them due to their experiences and processing times, this type of distinctive are those that when given a certain stimulus makes them react in a certain way, sometimes similar or totally contrary to what members of other generations might react..
The purpose of this variable is to analyze generational behaviors and how they influence the conflict that manifests the application of economic incentives.
The sector on which the system of rewards and punishments is applied consists of 27 members who range in age from 20 to 35 years considered as a young stratum.
Managers, supervisors and subordinates enter this stratum. Within the strip we can make a small division on which we will put certain distinctive characters that allow us to analyze the differences and similarities between each substratum. Substratum 1 is made up of members from 20 to 25 years old, the second is made up of members from 25 to 30 years old, while a third one is from 30 to 35 years old.
Finally, we will analyze how each substratum has responded to a different set of negative and positive stimuli, taking functional factors such as aggressiveness, gratitude, acceptance and indifference.
Given the stimulus A- Congratulation for the task without economic incentive, the results were:
First layer: indifference
Second layer: indifference
Third layer: indifference
Before the stimulus B- Granting of the economic incentive without congratulations.
First layer: thanks
Second layer: thanks.
Third stratum: thanks.
Before the stimulus C- Call for attention without application of punishment.
First layer: acceptance.
Second layer: acceptance.
Third stratum: acceptance.
Faced with the stimulus D- Application of punishment without attention call.
First layer: aggressiveness.
Second layer: aggressiveness.
Third stratum: aggressiveness.
Variable b- definition by class
95% of the members come from an Argentine middle-class family, while 5% come from a lower-middle-class family.
Variable c - degree of affiliation or relationship
This variable shows the degree of affiliation among its members and whether they have dependent families. There are no high levels of close kinship (parents, children, siblings).
However the recommendation by other ties like friends or distant cousins is important.
42.31% are married and have children from 1 to 2, while 57.69% are single and without dependent children.
Although there are certain predetermined characters in their conception towards the material incentive, being a young generation, it can be established that when the punishment does not imply economic penalty, the results are acceptable in the three substrates. When the punishment implies economic penalty, aggressive behavior is observed in the three sub-strata. But when a positive stimulus is perceived without an economic incentive, the results are indifferent. Appreciation is only given in cases where an economic incentive is granted without penalty.
Beyond that each generation has different responses to different stimuli, it was observed that when value exists and the penalty is applied in a group way, individualism is exacerbated, when it is applied individually, the group spirit is exacerbated. Cross reaction. Individual penalties promote social cohesion, while group penalties increase individualism when the economic incentive is present.
On the other hand, the sum of negative individual reactions to economic penalties generates that even having a positive incentive, the group response to the incentive is negative. (Contagion effect)
Variables B and C do not seem to influence the reactions. On the contrary, the stratum of 30 to 35 years seems to react with more caution than those who have no other obligations.
- Functional aspects
Variable a - representative of the leader
Many authors in social psychology have been noted for their writings and definitions of groups and their dynamics.
Different classifications have contributed countless theories about them. The relationship of the group with the leader will be one of the aspects to be studied in this variable. Starting from the postulate, that due to various individual characteristics, it is the group itself that places the responsibility of leadership on an individual, we can define said function “as the ability to exercise power over a group so that they voluntarily perform a certain task or achieve a certain objective " Starting from this principle we will establish 3 classes of leaders according to their groups. The democratic leader, the one who allows opinion and seeks consensus; the authoritarian leader is the one who seeks to centralize decisions and the laisser faire leader, the one where cohesive barriers are almost non-existent. (Lewin Kurt)
The name representativeness alludes to the legitimacy of the leader. Whether the leader is forced or natural will influence his legitimacy. Starting from the base that the scope of study is the workplace and that consequently all the leaders studied will be leaders of forced groups, it was determined that legitimacy in leadership occurs when two functions are fulfilled: EFFECTIVENESS AND LICENSE. (Legitimacy and License Lipset 1981).
Efficiency will fulfill the function of regulating the steps necessary to achieve the objective by which the group places the coordination power on the leader, when the objective is reached it will be the leader who dynamically returns power to the group fulfilling the license function.
A practical case that demonstrates this is the economic benefits that the different members of the group can enjoy (license) after having reached the objective (effectiveness).
Both functions play in balance on the legitimacy of the leader, when some aspect that breaks the balance between both is presented, it will establish a critical scenario for legitimacy. The economic ALITIENT seems to also support the stock of these functions. However, our study in question reveals the following results after being monitored through the reward and punishment system:
- Proportionally, the greater the volume of work, the greater the number of errors. Proportionally, the greater the perceived incentive, the greater the disagreement. Managers receive a lesser incentive than their subordinates due to supervisory errors. The conflicts detected in representativeness are related to insecurities inherent to leaders. The work environment is optimal in those departments. Where the incentive is homogeneous to all the members including the leader.
Variable b - seniority of the members
In general, the seniority of an individual within an organization will involve a number of unique and unrepeatable experiences that occurred in the past.
Those experiences will give rise to certain patterns of behavior within the organization. History plays in many cases a dual function; Paradoxically, on the one hand, resistance to change increases, but on the other, it functions as a container for various conflicts.
Being a little more explicit, given the possible uncertainty that any change in their closest work environment brings, the individual follows different forms of behavior that have served him in the past.
It is for this reason that resistance to change in many organizations is greater the older their members are, although this is not always the case, it is generally a cause to consider when analyzing the problem of resistance to change. change.
Usually you hear phrases like "I've been doing it the same for 10 years and I never had a problem, why do I have to change now?" Another aspect that plays an important role within resistance is fear of failure.
The idea of "this is something new for me, maybe it won't work out as well as what I've been doing" is a very present idea in most cases where this phenomenon is registered.
Paradoxically, the older the member is, the greater his degree of membership in the organization.
In fact, many people consider the idea of "but what am I going to do if I leave" or "better known bad than good to know". Belonging plays a role of containment, preventing the individual from undertaking a withdrawal and disengaging from the organization in certain conflicts.
Paradoxically, antiquity plays an ambiguous role where on the one hand it acts as a containment and on the other it acts as a limiting factor in the face of change.
Using these concepts in order to apply them specifically to our study, we have established some interesting data. Three measurements were used as parameters, which are listed below:
Age of 1 to 2 years, age of 2 to 4 years and age of more than 4 years. Of all the members of the study group, 40% are from 1 to 2 years old, 16.66% have been from 2 to 4 years old, while 43.34% are over 4 years old. It is also noted that the structure under study tends to present a polarization of its majority where it is relatively new or relatively old. The middle age range does not appear to be gravitating.
C- General education level
The level of instruction usually denotes the level of knowledge that a certain individual / s possesses and can be divided in two, towards the specific job task or career instruction.
As career instruction we will make mention of titles, honorable mentions or academic activities outside the workplace. Teaching plays in many cases a fundamental role in measuring some of the most representative behavior patterns. For example, an engineer will behave differently than a philosopher in certain contexts, and an architect will behave differently than an unskilled worker.
The qualification in the task not only demonstrates the degree of knowledge of the employee towards a certain form of work, but also molds the relationship of the employee with the environment that surrounds him and consequently with his peers or bosses in the workplace.
On the other hand, on many occasions the knowledge in the task can be greater than the academic knowledge, for such cases the empirical or practical knowledge effectively solves many practical situations.
When the knowledge of its employees is not homogeneous in the workplace, it is more likely to manifest a greater degree of conflict compared to those areas where the level of knowledge is more or less uniform. This may be due to different causes, the idea of "BOSS IS THE ONE WHO KNOWS MOST" or "I learned this from seeing him every day, I don't need to attend a university" seems to demonstrate this kind of introduction.
Having explained the variable A. Age of its members and having previously collected data in our case, we can establish according to what:
- 100% of the members do not have tertiary or university studies. (Homogeneous) As managers are older, they have a much higher level of practical problem solving than their subordinates. Leadership is based on practical rather than academic knowledge. Control processes are unstructured and methodical. Problem solving is centralized in the leader.
D- Working hours
From the social point of view, the workplace fulfills several functions, one of them being socialization. Work, as Marx said so well, not only dignifies man but gives him guidelines on how to get along and relate to others. It is common to see that behaviors in the private sphere are very different from those in the workplace, since the individual is subject to a set of rules as much as his peers who condition him to behave in a certain way.
The time dedicated to the work will have a significant influence on its quality. If a student must present a work to which she devoted 2 hours, her quality will be much lower than that which I dedicate 5 hours to. Sometimes the dedication time given to a certain job greatly influences its quality. Conversely, when the time dedicated to work is excessive, its quality tends to decrease due to concentration problems.
The ideal in the workplace, always depending on the work to be done, will be 8 to 9 hours a day. In many areas of work, especially in Argentina, these hours are not met by establishing true records of labor requirements, which greatly affects the quality expected of them.
The organization under study for being directly linked to services will have a schedule level of 10 to 12 hours a day from Monday to Friday, reducing to 6 one of the holidays, Saturday or Sunday at choice. Generally, the service company requires a special dedication and almost extra full time to the various tasks that are carried out in these areas.
E- Salary level
One does not work for the love of the task in modern societies but for an economic incentive resulting from the effort made. In itself the salary constitutes an economic incentive.
Although the salary is an economic incentive, it does not carry with it the connotation that may have an extra premium to the basic salary that each member of the organization receives. In this case, we would be talking about a primary economic incentive which would obey the basic salary and a secondary economic incentive which will be subject to the possible economic rewards related to the accomplishment of a task.
In Argentina today, the minimum living and mobile salary according to INDEC figures ranges from $ 600. In our study object, the level of basic salaries rises from $ 750 for first-line operators, going from $ 1,200 to $ 1500 in middle line managers.
This obeys a special pattern of behavior in that both the front line and the middle line can cover their basic needs with the primary incentive they perceive.
Many times, the salary received is subjected to various aspects of judgment by the individual that leads to continue or discontinue the assigned task. The clearest example are job changes or resignations due to disputes in wages with employers.
Even when basic needs are met, the perceived salary works for or against the individual or group to continue with the assigned task. The individual's rationality allows him to assess whether the perceived incentive is consistent with the effort made. In cases where the effort is greater than the incentive there will be conflict, if the effort is less than the incentive there will be comfort, when both are equal there will be balance.
For many theorists in administration the function is ideal where effort and incentive match their slopes.
When some of the variables of representativeness, seniority, education, work hours, salaries are not in balance, the secondary economic incentive fulfills a compensatory function, then a perceptual dysfunction occurs between primary economic incentive and secondary incentive in the individual where any external aspect The inmate who attacks the complementary incentive will be interpreted as a modification to the primary incentive. Both incentives are perceived as an organic whole and the alteration of one of the two is considered a personal aggression.
In the cases studied, long working hours and seniority are rewarded by secondary incentives, while representativeness and instruction are rewarded by primary incentives.
Penalties on secondary incentives without reduction in working hours and increase in basic salary due to seniority create conflict.
- Cognitive and communicational aspects
variable a - psychological profiles
Although psychological profiles do not determine behavior, they attribute a certain predisposition to react to a given context and stimulus in one way or another.
Several works have been presented in the field of psychology on psychological profiles, the Mayer Briggs model establishes analogous profiles topologies in three categories: extrovert vs. Introverted, sensory vs. Intuitive, rational vs. Emotionals and qualifiers vs. Perceptive.
It also establishes that an individual can have common characteristics to be extroverted, sensory and rational at the same time, while another can be introverted, intuitive and emotional.
In cases where the different types are totally opposite there will be a much greater possibility of conflict than between those who share even one of the fundamental characteristics of each personality type.
Although each individual is a unique and unrepeatable being, our study shows that due to the functionality of the task, certain profiles common to most of the members of the sector under study are used. A specific task requires a certain profile.
"As it is an activity aimed at service and personal sales" the most common types among its members are:
Extroverts: they openly express their ideas and are ideal for establishing interpersonal relationships.
Intuitive: they conceive the image as the one that inspires them, they emphasize the group soul. They find it difficult to interpret to the letter.
Emotional: group spirit is your highest goal; They are not very rigid and change their thinking regularly, they find it difficult to focus on logical steps.
Perceptive: it costs them perseverance, they are self-critical, they find it difficult to establish control over their tasks, they are creative and very flexible. They are very dynamic.
These personality profiles unite them with each other and distinguish them in relation to other departments of the company. In many cases it is the task that filters the profiles of the applicants, in others it is the task that shapes it.
That is, on the one hand, fulfilling a face-to-face care task establishes certain recruitment requirements, on the other, once inside, the distinctive characteristics of this task will shape the psychological profiles of the people who are committed to it.
B- Communication barriers
To talk about communication barriers, we must first raise some concepts about language. We could define it as the functional set of basic expressions for the communication of the individual with the environment that surrounds him. The language can be divided into oral or written.
Both planes of language require a different formality and a predetermined direction. In general, written language requires a much greater formality in time and space than oral language. Language is related to thought, although sometimes there are limitations that intervene in the communication process. We refer to these limitations as communication barriers. Although the origin of these barriers are multiple, we can classify them into 4 different types:
- Physiological, which denote physical disabilities in both emitter and receiver, the most illustrative cases are disorders in speech or hearing, such as deafness or dumbness. Psychological: which point to the degree of interpretation and the differences in personalities that both receiver as sender present. Shyness is a clear example. Semantics: It is the one that occurs when the environments of the receiver and emitter vary in the meaning that the language is given. An example is the different languages and even within the same language the meanings that certain words are given in one environment and not in another. The technicalities or technical words fall within this typology. Philosophical: It is one which, depending on tradition, belief or ideology, means something different from what we believe.
The psychology of communication has been in charge of presenting several studies on the origins of communication barriers and their consequences. However, I do not want to depart from the problems under study.
According to previous studies done on the company in question, it has been determined that in times of season, or a lot of work, the most common mistakes are linked to communication barriers or, as they call it, "lack of communication". There seems to be a clear cause between workload with increased communication barriers.
The psychological and semantic barriers were among the most common in the communication process that was studied during the months of October, November, December and January 2003/2004.
The origins of semantic barriers were related to the unevenness of knowledge presented by the various areas, while the psychological ones were due to interpersonal conflicts, and the lack of a physical place where the heads of each sector intercommunicated with each other.
Rightly, the general management agreed to create a common space for all the heads of the sector to promote communication and faced a homogeneous training process for all the operating sectors.
Although communication in 2005, compared to 2003/2004, improved and errors in communication decreased by 65%, a phenomenon was observed which I called ROLE AMBIGUO and which is explained below:
When an interpersonal conflict cannot be resolved between one or another individual belonging to different groups, whatever its causes, the individual will automatically seek the support of his or her belonging group. If the individual perceives the support of the group, he will affirm his own convictions that led to the conflict and will resolve it. Otherwise, it will reverse the conflict by affirming the convictions of the other party and directing the conflict towards the group that denied its support.
After creating a common space for discussion called the Board of Area Chiefs, many managers were sent to different departments for reorganization. After two months, the managers who had been sent to other groups to correct deviations specific to each sector, seemed to have imitated the affected sector and it was observed how they defended the dysfunctions that two months ago they intended to direct. For some very strong reason, they had lost their membership in their original group, blending in with the experiences of the intervened group. The popular saying "if you can't beat your enemy join him" was taking more and more weight on the minds of many managers.
After several interviews with each of them, I was able to determine what:
- They perceived a lack of support from the Board of Area Chiefs They perceived a lack of effectiveness in the task entrusted and a lack of resources They lacked a rigid leadership style in situations that warranted it In the absence of results, they received pressure from management General Your communication with the upper management. And the board had decreased (80%)
It is clear that these managers encountered a conflict when they stood in front of the group to be corrected. In the absence of results, senior management increased the pressure, perceived as a lack of support. The managers resolved the conflict with the group in question, directing their forces towards your home group and general management. In two months, they proclaimed as correct what they previously considered should be corrected. Conflict is one of the causes of limitations in communication. I call this concept the ambiguous role.
The ambiguous role in turn brought numerous problems in the way managers lowered the rules, the message and the General Management / Board discourse to their subordinates.
In the environment where the emotional, extroverted, little rational personalities predominate and the degree of communication is under the possibility of the emergence of the ambiguous role it will be greater. Lack of written guidelines encourages irrationality.
In organizations where the degree of communication is greater, the possibility of the emergence of the role called ambiguous role will be lower. The ambiguous role demands a duality in belonging.
After the analysis and elaboration of the corresponding theoretical framework, elements were taken from the four main premises which support this study to establish the following hypotheses in relation to what was investigated.
1- The ambiguous role function neutralizes the positive effects of the economic incentive on non-rational profiles.
2- Individual aspects not satisfied with the primary incentive must be satisfied with a non-material incentive.
3- The structural dysfunctions generated by the unlimited economic incentive are corrected through conflict.
4- If the group economic penalty encourages individualism while the individual penalty fosters group cohesion THEN the group incentive will promote individualism while the individual incentive will increase group cohesion.
Through field work through observation and tabulation of various case studies as well as comparisons with publications by various professionals, it was established that:
Case study - Technical data.
- Of a total of 40 people surveyed, 80% stated that they were against the reward and punishment system, while only 10% agreed. The other 10% did not issue an opinion. During the months of October, November, December and January the general penalties in relation to the invoiced level were:
- October $ 3,838 negative points against $ 7,51313.57 billed November $ 4,680 neg points against $ 975 178.78 billed December $ 4,059 neg pts against $ 1,587,734.40 billed January $ 5,385 black points against $ 1,182,921.48 billed
During the same months. The relationship between positive points and negative points were:
- October $ 7804 positive points against $ 3838 negative November $ 6692 positive points against $ 4680 negative December $ 7502 positive points against $ 4059 negative January $ 7298 positive points against $ 5385 negative.
The comparison of errors with respect to productivity expressed in percentages is:
October 49.17%
November 69.93%
December 54.10%
January 64.89%
- 95% of the members of the system have a positive incentive to collect translated into Argentine pesos. Out of a total of 20 cases observed over 20 penalties imposed on the group, the conflicts were:
A- individual versus individual conflict. 15 cases
B- showed no conflict: 5 cases
- Out of a total of 30 cases where the penalty was applied to the individual, the results were:
A- Discontent of the group and its supervisor: 25 cases
B- No evidence of conflict: 5 cases.
- All the members of the study group work from 10 to 12 hours a day plus an additional 6 hours on a holiday of their choice, when the 6 managers of each department were interviewed. What they do to the operational area all stated:
A- Their dissatisfaction with the working hours they had
B- Their dissatisfaction with the basic salary they received
C- The lack of support they received from General Management
D- They compared their basic salary with other colleagues of less seniority.
- When the same 6 managers were asked about their maximum satisfaction in the workplace, they all stated:
A- The support of their subordinates.
B- Their performance in the daily task they perform.
- In the 3 months where the system had no penalties, it was observed:
A- A higher degree of individual self-improvement to perceive more incentive 70%
B- A lower degree of individual self-improvement to perceive more incentive 30%
- In the months where the incentive was disproportionate among the individuals in the group, it was observed that:
A- They protested as a group against the award system: 50%
B- They individually protested against the award system: 10%
C- They copied the work guidelines of the most rewarded individuals: 40%
- After the imputation of various penalties after receiving the notification, the response was:
A- Aggressive: 90%
B- Thanking: 5%
C- Indifference: 5%
- Upon receiving the corresponding releases after the application of a penalty, it was observed in 70 cases that:
A- They lacked a logical argument to claim the discount (75%)
B- They had a logical argument to claim the discount (25%)
- The highest degrees of conflict with the reward system were observed when:
A- The General Manager decided to modify the system without prior notice (high)
B- The discount notifications were received at the end of the month (low)
C- The discount system was applied the first month: (medium)
- Only two managers regularly reported errors from their subordinates and therefore received the pre-established incentive. When penalties were applied that were considered unfair, the members responded:
A- Taking examples from the past: 68%
B- Not taking examples from the past: 32%
conclusion
The role of the ambiguous role establishes a double membership where efficacy and license come into tension. Any material incentive in environments where the function is present will result in conflicting results.
In the same way, the material incentive reduces its positive effects in this kind of environment. Through the contagion effect and the accumulation of individual experiences, the trial group will activate a collective memory mechanism to respond to the stimulus, which will determine the intensity of the response.
In the face of unsatisfied variables of the individual, any additional incentive generates a dysfunction in perception which generates an organic whole conceived as the fixed primary and secondary variable incentive. In these circumstances, any variation or aspect that modifies the secondary incentive will result in a negative response to the stimulus.
When the economic incentive has no natural limitation, the conflict acts as a balancing agent between the personal ambition arising from the micro environment, and the limitation of resources derived from the macro environment.
Both spheres: regulation and license meet again, and it is the conflict that keeps its forces in balance.
Also in the cases under study, when additional value is created, the penalty and the incentive seem to trigger an inverse cross effect on the object of application.
Therefore we could say that the system is related to its environment through stimulation in an inversely proportional way under certain conditions.
The stimulus-response relationship is indirect. The determining factor for this phenomenon to be fulfilled is the application of a material stimulus. The sum of the elements involved in this theory seems to explain the causes that generate the observed responses.
Explanatory scheme:
On the one hand, perceptual dysfunction between primary and secondary incentives + the penalty results = a negative response.
On the other hand, the ambiguity of the role + the collective memory results in = a higher degree of intensity.
A negative response + a higher degree of intensity = aggressiveness.
In the face of a cross effect, aggressiveness manifests individually or in groups depending on the object on which the penalty falls. Whereas, when aggressiveness collides with a change in the external scenario, the response is disinterest, and contempt for regulations.
Among one of the possible consequences derived from the contempt of the imposed regulations is the creation of a parallel regulation (standard for deviation) which with the passing of time can even eliminate the official regulation and establish itself as a new regulation to follow.
