The disconnect of being rewarded for compliance is fairly standard in industry. They may stress the importance of teamwork and having a common goal but in the end everything is business and everything is means to an end. This means that the person that who can put forth their best work that benefits the company, if recognized, might be considered for some kind of reward in the form of more money or a higher position. A lot of times the person rewarded may keep to themselves so that others do not see it as favoritism and strain the team dynamic. It is rare to see a company fully back up and reward a team but it is necessary to reward individual performance too. The people who are able to listen to the rules and show that they can handle the most should have the opportunity to advance in a company. That being said, it would be best for everyone on the team to have the opportunity to be rewarded individually if it is deserved and that reward should stay private between the person and the company. Team projects should always have some incentive other than to make numbers or produce results to keep morale high.

I think there should be different levels of rewarding motivation, so team motivation should be rewarded separately from individual motivation. For example, teamwork is encouraged, but it makes sense that each individual would get rewarded differently because each person contributed a different amount to the project. However, I think there should be a separate reward for a motivated team that each person on the team receives. Also, when a company exceeds its sales numbers, everyone should receive an overachievement bonus. Rewards like this are nice and help keep employees motivated.

I think there is another very important aspect to this topic that I would like to bring up. I think it is important that managers recognize what type of work motivates their employees, and give them more opportunities to do that type of work. For example, if an employee really likes technical work, the manager should give that person opportunities to solve complex technical problems. By challenging your employees with work that is motivating to them, you will get the most out of your team.

I have seen the opposite actually in industry so far in regards to rewarding "individual effort". There were a few rather big milestones hit upon my time at my company and generally the entire project team got recognition rather than individual recognition. I think it is based up to the managers discretion and the theme in the company I work for is reward the team first. In regards to making the numbers I agree however, metrics are huge within most companies and a lot of people are very concerned with hitting those metrics at all costs, whether that be NCs, performing certain number of audits, or completing ECOs. These are the things that are seen at a high level from upper management so it makes sense why there is so much emphasis on these items.

In my opinion, this issue is quite common in the workplace. It occurs due to the lack of leadership role from the upper management end. Workers have their projects and reports given to their superior management. From there, it is on the supervisor management role to keep a note of the hard worker employee and their achievements. When the person who is least deserving gets rewards, it is poorly done by upper management. I believe it is their responsibility to awards the best deserving employee.

This is a good point you bring up, however I do not fully agree with the skepticism disconnect in how the industry rewards motivation. While this is definitely an issue within any industry, based off my experience it is in the minority of cases and heavily dependent on the company’s culture. In addition, it can be attributed to the lack of leadership. Companies with a good work culture will recognize that it is better to listen to employees when faults are found in order to better mitigate future risk and this can benefit the employer and employee financially. In addition, teams (instead of individuals) are rewarded for the efforts of completing a project.

I believe that the disconnect was a larger issue in the past. I feel that companies (at least in my limited experience) actually are actively removing that disconnect. It's a big issue to have. Rewarding teamwork and speaking your (helpful) opinion is a necessity. Doing a lot of solo work and keeping quiet to not step on any toes is more harmful to a company's workflow. Speaking up with good ideas and why something may/may not work may cause a shift in thinking for the better saving a company time and money wasted on a bad idea. Ensuring people work well together is better for a project, and keeps a team flexible to deal with problems. One thing I hear at work is to speak up and "don't be a hero". Rely on others and be someone others can rely on. Individuals are thanked for doing more than what they're asked, but they are still part of the team. A good balance between both is what's needed. People like to be recognized for the good work they do, and teams need to be cohesive to work properly.

I am not surprised by this disconnect since I understand why management would focus on positive reinforcement that differs from the employees' needs. Management often rewards individual work and employees that surpass the quota. It is also easy for the boss take a liking to employees who agree with him/her. There isn't anything wrong with this, but management can often neglect the team players who don't immediately or directly increase the company profit. Some overlooked employees can play a major role in facilitating a task or ensuring group communication is sufficient. To address this issue, management can make sure all employees are appreciated for their work if they complete their tasks in a timely manner and meet/surpass expectations of their roles. The bosses/leaders can encourage employees to share their thoughts, even if they offer criticisms or opposing views, as long as they have merit to them. Building an environment where all employees feel that their advice and concerns matter, can keep employees engaged and satisfied.

A great part of a companies success is its employees. If a company only rewarded teams and not individuals, then all an employee has to do is seek to be in a very strong team. Essentially that employee wouldn't have to do any work. That's just one thought. It's also important to reward individuals in order to create this sense of competition, even if its a minor one. Because competition across employees brings forth a successful company. There is a disconnect here though and this can bring unseen consequences. For example, if there's too much competition within teams, work life is going to suck. Everyone would be out to get everyone else. A way my company tackles this issue is that they give each employee a rating at the end of the year based on their performance compared to other employees in their level. So an associate engineer can only be compared to other associate engineers. Also, there can't be more than one or two associate engineers within the same team. This helps bring down competition on a team level and allows management at the end of the year to pick. Each manager has a variety of levels of engineers that they're in charge of, so that when the end of the year comes, managers are the ones 'fighting' for their engineers to get a better ranking against other managers.