Monetary incentives have gotten a bad rap lately. In a recent New York Times opinion, wellknown author Alfie Kohn boldly proclaims “science has confirmed” that monetary rewards amount to “bribes” that don’t work. If that’s true, why do virtually all modern business organizations provide employees monetary incentives for performance? It turns out that the truth about the effectiveness of monetary rewards in business settings is more nuanced than Kohn suggests.

An award winning researcher, Dr. Karen Sedatole is an expert in the areas of reward systems and employee performance measures. Her research specifically focuses on the design and effectiveness of performance measurement and reward systems, the role of forecasting and budgetary systems within organizations, and control in interorganizational collaborations. Her most recent research on bias in employee evaluations can be read in the Harvard Business Review.

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