REWARDS:
Exploring human innovation driven by rewards.
by: Edimek Ekarika
For: The Ikó Essay Competition.
I was 5.
I still remember my elder brother promising to buy me grilled fish if I emerged tops of my Nursery class. Of course, there was no possible way he, a teenager from a middle-class family could afford grilled fish in 2005.
But I was naive and gullible, so I believed him readily; my innocence clutching to every promise and the little honor he had.
At the end of the term, I came out tops. Not top per se, but I came third. A massive feat considering how low I had been on the rungs of the academic ladder the previous terms.
I had kept my part of the bargain. But I was shattered when my brother announced that there would be no grilled fish. That there was no money for grilled fish.
During my early teenage years, mom - a befuddled and smart African mother who concluded that modern problems require modern solutions - came up with a brilliant idea and announced it to her excited daughters over dinner of pounded cocoyam and soup.
"Anybody who does chores without being asked, coerced, or cajoled each day will be given 5 naira", she declared vibrantly, a smug, knowing smile on her tired face.
As children who had never been privileged nor encouraged to hold money or own money, we jumped at the opportunity. Of course,5 naira was a ridiculously small amount of money but if judiciously saved by diligent and enterprising children, was capable of being used for mighty things.
Mighty things like giving us a faux sense of financial freedom and independence. And being able to afford necessities like sweets, bubble gums, and other teenage-related paraphernalia.
So, we rolled up our sleeves and put on our best behavior. For a week and some days, no dirty plates were lying around, no leftover food festering somewhere, no pots allowed to soak for ages, and no shoes strewn carelessly in the corridor.
Every chore was hastily carried out without squabble.
My mother kept to her end of the bargain on some days when she had spare change lying about in her handbag. On other days, she would say resignedly, "Add it to tomorrow's money. I'm owing you and you will be paid".
I hated a course in school and according to the brilliant kids, to pass a course, you had to love it. Or pretend to and feign affection for it and the person teaching it.
I'm not a fan of carryovers. My self-pride would balk vehemently at the thought of it and my parents would go into a fit if they heard anything of the sort.
So, to pass the course, I set up a reward system for myself. I bribed myself.
I said, "If you read a chapter of this course every day or in two days; you can buy Ring Choco biscuits, and I, your conscience, will not judge you".
Considering my love for Ring Choco, this sounded like a fair deal to me. So, each day, I'd pore over voluminous law textbooks while waiting for my timer to go off so that I could skip to the good part - my precious biscuits.
Did this reward system help me escape a carryover thereby boosting my self-esteem? Absolutely.
From the above scenarios, we can deduce the importance of rewards in encouraging human innovation and effecting action.
Rewards have been succinctly defined by Google as a thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement.
Innovation on the other hand is the introduction of new things, ideas, or ways of doing something.
We can see that rewards, when utilized positively can engineer not just individual action but also global change and creativity.
There are 2 types of rewards as we would have noted from the above case studies. There is the Extrinsic reward composed of financial benefits, bonuses, and promotions, etc and the Intrinsic reward which is portrayed through internal feelings of satisfaction, action, and fulfillment.
Just like everything worthwhile that comes with its pros and cons, the rewards system has its attendant advantages and disadvantages.
Some advantages of using rewards to boost human innovation include:
Increased motivation and productivity.
It goes a long way to encourage friendly competition. In the corporate world, it boosts employee retention. The rewards system also provides a conducive atmosphere for ideas to be birthed and implemented. Encourages individuals to solve problems and provide indispensable solutions.
The benefits are numerous but on the flip side, the disadvantages cannot be overlooked and the system must be structured properly to maximize its positive benefits.
A rewards system can create resentment, strife, and envy on the part of individuals or workers. These incentives can negatively influence the actions of workers and must be checked to prevent this.
Another disadvantage is that it can stifle and snuff out genuine creativity not based on merely what compensation can come out from a given activity. In a bid to be rewarded, individuals may resort to doing shoddy jobs or under-delivering as long as they know they will be rewarded for just carrying out an activity. This inhibits the flow of creativity and invention.
It can also cause emotional damage. For example, when I emerged top of my Nursery class my brother did not keep his part of the bargain. I felt lied to and cheated. Thankfully, I was still young and naive therefore it didn't leave much impact or cause severe damage.
A rewards system can also negatively impact a person or society by causing unhealthy competition, favoritism, and resentment if not curtailed and its excesses curbed.
No matter how numerous the disadvantages are bound to seem, there are ways they can be structured positively and harnessed for positive change.
These healthy approaches include:
More emphasis should be placed on intrinsic motivation and allowing individuals to genuinely find joy in participating in an innovative activity without any assurance or drive that comes from the promise of a reward.
Also, rewards should be given out moderately and adjusted from time to time to avoid addiction and dependence.
Rewards, right from inception have motivated individuals and groups to either bring about positive or negative innovations. I think the underlying and important factor is not only the rewards themselves but the person or group being rewarded.
Every groundbreaking feat achieved and recorded in history, whether laudable or odious, was done in anticipation of a reward. Men in history went to war because they were promised women and riches if they came out victorious. Christians live a life of piety and holiness because they are promised in the Holy Bible that by doing so, they would escape hell and secure a slot in Paradise, where there would be no more tears or corruption. Muslim fanatics dedicate their lives to purging and wiping out infidels with the belief that seven virgins await them in heaven when they pass.
These and many more are testaments of how powerful a rewards system is and how it can engineer a total revolution and bring about incredible change and human innovation.
Thank you!
Edimek Ekarika
08100511431
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