你是否想过，那些看似平凡的奖金背后，可能隐藏着一场不见血的“战争”？这不是一场刀光剑影的战争，而是人际关系的微妙变化。设置绩效奖金的初衷无疑是积极的，它为员工的辛勤工作和卓越表现提供了经济上的奖励，从而激发了员工的工作热情和创造力。然而，当我们将目光转向其潜在的负面影响时，却发现了一个复杂且多面的现象。
在一项新研究中，BI挪威商学院教授Suzanne van Gils和她的研究同事Daniel Gläser，以及Niels Van Quaquebeke围绕员工绩效付薪、竞争力和人际偏差之间的关系展开了研究。他们发现，员工的绩效以奖金形式评价，虽然增加了他们的动力，也可能引发一系列负面效应。
想象一下，当奖金成为衡量价值的唯一标准，人们会不自觉地将同事视为竞争对手。这种竞争心态一旦被激活，那些原本友好的同事关系可能会变得紧张，甚至出现人际偏差行为，其中可能包括粗鲁、职场霸凌、暴力、性骚扰等有害行为。是什么触发了这种变化？为什么奖金反而成了破坏团队合作的元凶之一？
研究人员进行了一系列相互关联的研究，通过在线科学服务平台招募参与者，探索绩效工资、竞争力和人际偏差之间的关系。他们发现，接受奖金的参与者表现出了对同事更高程度的人际偏差和更高的个人竞争性。员工们之间因奖金的设置变得更加具有攻击性，并可能将彼此视为竞争对手。而工作中的攻击性会导致人们感受到更大的压力、更高的离职率、降低的心理福祉和工作满意度。
在竞争激烈的职场环境中，人们很容易将工作视为一场“比赛”。为了取得胜利，有时会采取一些不利于团队和谐的行为。除了人际偏差的问题外，绩效奖金还可能导致团队合作的削弱。当员工将彼此视为竞争对手时，合作和知识共享的动力可能会被削弱，而这种削弱为企业带来的经济损失是超出想象的。据估计，由于团队内部的不和谐，每年给企业带来的损失高达200亿美元。
不可否认的是，奖金作为一种激励机制有其存在的价值，但在实施过程中需要谨慎权衡其正反两面影响。为表现良好的人提供奖金作为奖励并不总是一个坏主意，竞争也未必是坏事。但是，为员工的绩效付薪会不断使员工面临衡量和比较，这是组织机构和雇主在发放基于绩效的工资和奖金之前应该考虑的重要方面。
组织机构和雇主应深入了解绩效工资对员工表现的影响，并采取相应的措施来降低其负面影响。通过合理设定评估标准、强化团队合作、培养良好的企业文化、提供必要的培训和支持以及建立有效的沟通机制等措施，可以更好地平衡奖励与竞争的关系，激发员工的积极性和创造力，同时避免人际偏差行为和团队合作的削弱。只有这样，组织才能真正实现绩效工资的初衷，提高员工的整体表现和工作满意度。
在这个充满挑战和机遇的时代，如何平衡激励与团队和谐成为每个组织必须面对的课题。只有打破奖金背后的“战争”，才能真正实现个人与团队的共赢。
原文标题：The dark side of paid bonuses，来自BI Business Review，作者Suzanne van Gils，Professor，BI Norwegian Business School。
At first hand, paying employees bonuses to promote excellent performance may seem like a great idea, but is it really?
In many organizations there seems to be the ingrained idea that all hard work and commitment should be provided for by some sort of reward, oftentimes through financial rewards.
This is good, because providing bonuses for employees' performance makes people work harder, right?
Well, yes, many studies have shown that if you pay your workers for how well they perform, it will indeed increase their motivation. However, some studies suggest that paying workers for their performance may have understudied negative effects.
Performance-based pay plans ingrained in many companies
Most companies use performance-based pay plans in some form or another. These plans either increase the salaries of the employees permanently in form of merit pay, or they may reward performance by paying their employees financial bonuses.
Previous studies have shown that paying employees for their performance increases their motivation as means of competitive processes. However, such competitive processes can also have their downsides, which are oftentimes overlooked.
In a new study, Suzanne van Gils and her research colleagues Daniel Gläser and Niels Van Quaquebeke set out to explore the relationship between paying employees for their performance, competitiveness, and interpersonal deviance. The latter is voluntary, aggressive behaviour towards co-workers, which can consist of incivility, workplace bullying, violence, sexual or ethnic harassment, and other harmful behaviours.
Providing bonuses may activate aggressive competitiveness
The researchers conducted three studies that build on each other, and recruited participants, via an online-based service for scientific studies.
They wanted to examine if paying employees for their performance: activates their aggressive competitiveness, manifests itself in the form of interpersonal deviance against colleagues at the workplace because of activated competitiveness in the work context.
What did they find? The participants who received a bonus, self-reported higher interpersonal deviance towards their co-workers, and higher degree of individual competitiveness.
In other words, the study indicated that performance-based bonuses can have significant negative consequences. The employees may become more aggressive, and potentially see one another as competitors. Hence, aggressiveness at work can lead to people experiencing increased stress, higher job withdrawal, and reduced psychological well-being and work satisfaction.
Reduction of work performance
Unhappiness among employees as a result of a culture of interpersonal deviance can be destructive for the individuals, but also for the company. Lower work satisfaction can lead to lower performance. In fact, some estimates place the organizational cost of such deviant behaviour at more than $20 billion per year.
Furthermore, performance-based bonuses can inspire not only comparison, but also associations of competitiveness. That can make employees see their work tasks as “competitions”, sometimes leading them to act in a way that can give them a competitive advantage.
When working in a company or an organization, one is part of a team. Therefore, cooperation and knowledge sharing is essential. However, when workers look at each other as competitors, it may lead to the opposite.
Be mindful of potential negative effects
Providing bonuses as a reward for those who perform well is not always a bad idea, and competition is not necessarily a negative thing. But paying employees for performance will constantly confront employees with the expectation and message that performance is measured and compared. This is something that organizations and employers should consider before integrating performance-based wages and bonuses.
References：
Daniel Gläser, Suzanne van Gils & Niels Van Quaquebeke (2022) With or against others? Pay-for-Performance activates aggressive aspects of competitiveness, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/1359432X.2022.2039125
Robinson, S. L., & Bennett, R. J. (1995). A typology of deviant workplace behaviors: A multidimensional scaling study. Academy of Management Journal, 38(2), 555–572. https://doi.org/10.5465/256693
Litzky, B. E., Eddleston, K. A., & Kidder, D. L. (2006). The good, the bad, and the misguided: How managers inadvertently encourage deviant behaviors. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(1), 91–103. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2006.19873411
