The future is uncertain - no more so than in the area of managing and motivating people. The work is changing and so are the employees doing it. One of the common themes in this type of discussion is the idea of "knowledge work" and "knowledge workers." It used to be pretty easy to understand what a worker did. Put his screw here, move that paper there, type this line in this box.
However, business is moving faster, technology has enabled change to occur at light speed and people are now the competitive advantage. Everyone is a knowledge worker. Your employees' ability to leverage knowledge and apply it becomes your true differentiator. How do you engage and retain these folks when the things to measure and reward become more vague.
This post on The Future of Work Weblog discusses "what is a knowledge worker." The post is longish and the comment is as well. A lot of good points but the one thing I took from the discussion that affects program design the most was this...
The difficulty with generalizations about knowledge workers is that knowledge work is inherently diverse and varied.
The vagaries of knowledge work begets vagaries in measurement and reward as well. The days of the one-size-fits-all performance program is over. The programs of the future will focus on individual needs, goals, objectives as well as individual strengths and weaknesses. It may be that everyone has access to similar rewards with the ability to customize - but the rules by which those awards are earned may be as individual as the people participating.
More work for managers - but more results for the company.
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Marketing and Incentive Design Consultancy