Organizations that focus too much on blame frequently miss the opportunity to reflect on whether there are some systemic factors that encourage individuals to act in certain ways that are counterproductive. Steve Kerr, a veteran business executive wrote an article in 1975 for the Academy of Management Executive titled On the Folly of Rewarding ‘A’ While Hoping for ‘B,’ which has become a classic since then. The author argues that most problems organizations face culminate from faulty incentives and flawed reward systems that are aimed at accomplishing certain thing but actually motivate people to do the opposite, or even another.
Example of these follies that Kerr describes is where a doctor diagnoses a healthy person as being sick in order to avoid potentiality of being blamed for missing an illness. I once experienced this once when I had a fever and decided to visit a health facility for a checkup. The nurse on duty diagnosed me for typhoid and gave me medication for the same. However, the following day, my condition had not improved so I decided to visit another facility. While at the facility, the doctor I found there conducted some tests on blood and urine sample and it was then that he told me that I had stomach infection and not typhoid to which he gave me medication and I recovered within two days. This folly can be prevented by encouraging doctors and nurses to maintain professionalism in their duties.
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Another example is when I was in high school and plaid football. I was the best defender in our school team, but each time our school won the cup, it is our striker who received all the praise neglecting my efforts to ensure that the opponents did not score in our goal. This folly can be corrected by letting the teachers know that sports is team work and everyone in the field has a role to play and success of the team comes from each player.
Reference
Kerr, S. (December 01, 1975). On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B. Academy of Management Journal, 18, 4, 769-783.
