Managing through Incentives: How to Develop a More Collaborative, Productive, and Profitable Organization - Hardcover

McKenzie, Richard B.; Lee, Dwight R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195119010 ISBN 13: 9780195119015

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Incentives are the most powerful tools executives can use to improve worker performance. This is particularly true in today's empowered workplace, where incentives can ensure that workers apply their initiative toward company goals. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Richard McKenzie and Dwight Lee show how to select the right incentives and how to use them for best results.
Generously illustrated with examples from business, industry, government, academia, and professional sports, this superb volume offers a comprehensive overview of incentives, both in theory and in practice, providing a wealth of ideas managers can use to get employees to work harder, smarter, and more cooperatively. Much of the book is quite eye-opening. For instance, while McKenzie and Lee recognize that money is the prime motivator, they urge managers not to overlook the power of non-monetary incentives, carefully evaluating such motivators as fringe benefits, psychological incentives, education, and training. And they examine a host of other issues, including how to take advantage of executive "overpayment" to increase profits; the limits of piece-rate and other pay-for-performance schemes; finding the right balance between current pay and a more generous pension plan; the value of tough bosses; and hostile takeovers as a form of managerial incentive.
How workers are rewarded is often more important than how much they are rewarded, say the authors. The job of good managers is getting the incentives right. Managing Through Incentives shows managers how to apply proven motivators to help any size firm energize the work force, increase its profits, and meet the awesome challenges of today's fiercely competitive global economy.

About this title

About the Author

Richard B. McKenzie is Walter B. Gerken Professor of Enterprise and Society in the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Irvine. He lives in Irvine. Dwight R. Lee is Ramsey Professor of Political Economy in the College of Business, University of Georgia. He lives in Bogart, Georgia.

Reviews

McKenzie is a professor at the Graduate School of Management, University of California at Irvine, and Lee is a professor at the Graduate School of Business, University of Georgia. In well-written and detailed prose, they articulate their main concern?"the crucial role incentives play in the control and development of any successful firm." They present the pros and cons of incentives as well as why and how they work and discuss in detail incentives for executives and workers and those used for marketing to consumers (frequent-flyer plans, discounts on new autos, etc.). They also investigate the importance of incentives in the global marketplace and methods for providing them. Many anecdotes and examples from the worlds of industry, academe, and sports (where incentives and bonuses play an increasingly heavy role) demonstrate how management uses incentives for profit and success. A good choice for large public and academic libraries.?Steven J. Mayover, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195119010
• ISBN 13: 9780195119015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352