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Corporate executives are often regarded by the media and public as overpaid, underworked, and overly powerful. Their salaries indicate they cannot relate to the average employee. However, the truth remains that these executives' pay packets are paid as incentives. In the banking industry, job security for them has disappeared and almost 60% of their earning is available only through bonuses and incentives.

Pay-for-knowledge can increase productivity while providing workers with a more interesting and challenging work environment. Pay-for-knowledge compensates employees for adding value to the enterprise. Under a pay-for-knowledge system, workers receive [...]

When federal deregulation of the trucking industry occurred in the 1980s, Viking Freight System Inc., headquartered in San Jose, CA, suddenly faced a fiercely competitive market. To find a way […]

Bank trust departments are increasingly turning to incentive programs to further improve their bankwide referrals. Under such systems, officers who bring in profitable accounts are rewarded with financial incentives. One company that has greatly benefitted from an incentive compensation program is Cambridge Trust Co. According to its vice-president, the trust company amassed $84 million in new business from 1990 to 1993, translating to more than $400,000 in business. In return, it gave out a total of $40,000 as bonuses to trust officers, banking officers and a director who were responsible for generating the new accounts for the aforementioned period. The vice-president emphasizes the importance of internal communication in publicizing the incentive-for-referral program among employees. National Bank and Trust Co., First Community Bank, Bank of Oklahoma and Northrim Bank have also implemented their own incentive systems., Increasingly, bankers are challenged to boost fee income while streamlining expenses. Given these stringent parameters, incentive programs are achieving heightened importance as a means to retain and reward stellar producers. [...]

The "Summit Conference' was a tiered incentive travel program put together by the Graham Marketing Group of St. Paul, Minn., for a multinational computer company. ft is excerpted here from […]

The installation of a gainsharing plan as a possible gauge of intervening effects brings about immediately observable positive changes in communication behaviors of a work group. A Fortune Service 500 firm in the priority parcel delivery business adopted a self-constructed program using a quasi-experimental field study with pre-tests, post-tests, and control groups. The first 6 month of a successful program result in a positive increase in idea and work-related communication among the participants. Gainsharing is illustrated using an integrated model that commences with a stimulus for change that brings about a decision from management to formulate mechanisms for employee participation with a formula for group bonus. Future research in gainsharing should focus on its effects on organizational communications.

Success Through a Quality-Based Sales Incentive Program Most companies that sell personal computers and other 'high tech' products pay commissions or bonuses to their salespeople based on either gross sales [...]

Georgia-Pacific Corp (G-P), in 1990, launched a successful two-front marketing program to increase sales of its A-C pine plywood. G-P first sent 10,000 promotional pamphlets and samples of its product to lumber and construction materials companies across the US. G-P gave incentives to its sales personnel in the form of merchandise prizes for increases in sales generated. The program increased product volume by 35%.

Mazda Motor of America Inc rewards its parts managers for demonstrating a commitment to genuine Mazda parts by awarding travel and merchandise prizes. Mazda promotes the program to counter tendencies by its dealers to sell cheaper but inferior parts from Brazil and Taiwan. The program encourages managers' commitment to selling genuine Mazda parts by awarding points according to the dollar value of parts sold.

U.S. Information Systems, a leading technology services company, has announced a new incentive program that pays rewards to anyone who refers new business to the company. The USIS Network Associate [...]

The Big Island is nearly twice as large as the others combined, and it is still growing. Since 1983, the Kilauea volcano has spewed lava and has added more than [...]

To take a group to the islands of Hawaii is to experience all the beauty, history, and romance of the South Seas. Beyond giving clients, agents, or employees a memorable [...]

Centocor shatters the myth that small groups should never choose a mega-resort. With 2,400 guest rooms, 38 restaurants and lounges, 11 pools, and mega-attractions including an 8 million-gallon marine habitat, [...]

To celebrate winning a three-year, $5.7 million contract, Noah Chase told his seven salespeople and three support staffers to take their spouses or partners out to dinner. "Pick your favorite […]

If Chinese astrology is accurate, anticipate friendly competition and journeys to distant lands because 2002 is the Year of the Horse. According to ancient beliefs, the beloved stallion represents strength [...]

Incentives Make Builders Square Staff 'Think Shrink' Everyone's on the loss prevention team at Builders Square. Thanks to solid communications and a nationally-recognized incentive program that provides cash rewards, all [...]

E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company Inc's fiber department has developed a program which enables employees to have a stake in whether the firm achieves profit goals. Put into effect in January 1989, 900 of the department's 20,00 workers decided to make part of their compensation dependent on company profits. Aspects of the program include: it is based on the performances achieved by the department's 25 businesses; every February employees are paid on a sliding percentage scale based on whether the department has achieved its goals; and it includes all employes at all levels. Du Pont utilized an extensive education/communication program to educate employees about profit-sharing, and the firm has realized that other companies that are interested in developing such a program need to make sure it reflects organizational values.

A case study is made of a Soviet incentive plan that has various limitations in the effort to resolve incentive compatibility problems. The Soviet plan is defective because it will require that significant conditions be met for the desired results. Though the overall output of the company may improve upon adoption of the Soviet incentive plan, the result will be problematic since it depends on specific advantages.

A brief comparison of a Honda and an AMC plant (detailing the efficiencies of Honda and noting the old-fashioned operations at AMC) demonstrates why the Department of Defense has initiated its Industrial Modernization Incentive Program (IMIP). IMIP encourages U.S. manufacturing firms that are defense contractors to make capital investments for the improvement of productivity, which over the long term will reduce national defense expenses. The projects undertaken by the Air Force (100 industrial projects), the Navy (15 projects) and the Army (3 projects completed; no active projects) as part of IMIP are described. For the most part, IMIP projects focus on factory modernization. IBM's factory that produces PC convertibles is an ideal example of modernization; at the IBM plant, computers are built entirely by robots and the flexible manufacturing system handles work load fluctuations and design changes with ease.

NO STRANGERS TO PARADISE Even though some of the dealers have been coming to the Big Island of Hawaii each of the nine years that Southeast Toyota Distributors has chosen […]

At Air Products and Chemicals Inc., a Pennsylvania producer of industrial gases, the human resources staff works closely with the company's financial and operations planners. In order to maintain a work force that contributes to the company's long-range goals, the personnel directors at Air Products and Chemicals keep themselves informed of emerging technologies and maintain close contact with line supervisors. Air Products and Chemicals has a flexible career development program that encourages college recruits to accept temporary assignments in several departments. The company has also developed a succession planning program, which identifies 600 workers in 300 key job positions, and provides detailed information on the incumbents and their possible replacements.

An employee incentive program developed by Puget Sound National Bank in Tacoma, Washington, has increased employee productivity and employee morale and, in one recent campaign, increased travelers check sales 54 percent, new corporate accounts 75 percent, and new 'Quickbank' cards 77 percent. The incentive program, APPLE, A Program for Personal Learning and Effectiveness, was designed to generate referrals and cross service, and is applicable to every employee in the bank. A monthly merchandise program provides product knowledge and motivation through a number of contests; an ongoing recognition program culminates in an annual awards banquet, and specific product promotions with incentives take place only as needed. The key to the success of the APPLE program is the monitoring of employee referrals and cross-sales by a computerized tracking and measurement system.

INCENTIVES PAY OFF FOR DOLAN & BULLOCK In 1988, Dolan & Bullock manufactured more than 5,000 pieces of gold and overlay jewelry in an average week. Two years earlier, a [...]

A multifactor productivity gain sharing program at Volvo's Kalmar manufacturing plant is examined. Under the program, all employees share in the financial benefits of improved factory productivity. The goals of the plan are to increase employee identification with the interests of the company, increase employee participation in the decision making process, promote equity within the company, and improve managerial competence. In general, the program has produced favorable results; 70 percent of the employees rated the wage system either fair or very fair.

BORDEN GETS THE BEST OUT OF CATALOGUES Until recently, the incentive programs Borden sponsored for broker sales representatives and retailers were at best sporadic. Within each district of the Columbus, […]

DETROIT DIESEL ALLISON SAILS ON A QUALITY CRUISE When the Detroit Diesel Allison (DDA) parts division of GM decided to sponsor an incentive travel program last spring, executives had more […]

WHY CUSTOMERS LOVE TREASURE ISLE Faced with an assortment of shrimp, could you tell them apart? Purchasing agents at many restaurants and other foodservice operations think you couldn't--and say they […]

BARBADOS OR BUST! The soft Barbadian breeze swept across the waters of the Caribbean, carrying the faint beat of calypso music from down the beach to the two men reclining […]

MISSISSIPPI MOTIVATORS 'We're number one. Not number two. We're gonna beat the WHOOP out of you.' --MMI cheerleaders 'WE WON. WE SMEARED 'EM,' SAYS Avanell Hurst, member of the winning [...]

GROWING UP AS A CEO By any standard measure, G.O.D. (Guaranteed Overnight Delivery) Inc. has always been a star. During its first six years of life it grew more than [...]

Hardee's: One Step Ahead In the Race for Employees In the fast-food industry, the battle for customers has never been more intense. Yet, as formidable as that struggle is, it [...]

Keeping the sales staff motivated is one of the biggest challenges sales managers face. And while most sales incentive programs are designed to keep the staff raring to go, many--because […]