Measures of performance are always affected by outside factors (contamination) and/or only measure part of the employee’s performance (deficient). All too often we end up choosing a measure of performance that is not going to measure what we really want or need to measure, but measure something else that is convenient. Discuss a concrete example of a performance measure and how it might be contaminated or deficient.
As discussed in Kerr’s “Folly” article, various systems reward behaviors that we didn’t really want. Think about an example of a performance measure or reward system that led to the wrong behaviors being rewarded. Don’t just use one of Kerr’s examples—but you can critique Kerr’s examples as well.
What is right and/or wrong with merit pay grids, in terms of motivating employees to higher performance while balancing affordability of the system?