Stimulating_Productivity a Case of Incentive Conflicts

7/27/2019 Stimulating_Productivity a Case of Incentive Conflicts

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Stimulating Productivity: A Case of Incentive Conflicts

Author(s): Kirsten Olson and Mary Maureen BrownSource: Public Performance & Management Review, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Mar., 2003), pp. 302-305Published by: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3381290

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CASE AND COMMENTS

STIMULATING RODUCTIVITYA Case of IncentiveConflicts

KIRSTENOLSONMARYMAUREENBROWNUniversity f North Carolinaat ChapelHill

arah'scoworkers houghtshe was crazy when she decided to leaveherjob at thesoftware ompanyandstartworking orthecity. She was one of thetop groupmanag-ers at the software ompanyandwasfrequently ecruited y headhunters hotried olure heraway to rivalcompanies.Sarahwasa valuablecommodity o the ITindustryand her boss was sorryto see hergo. But Sarahknewthe timewas rightto make acareerchange,andshe hadalwaysfelt theurgeto work n thepublicsector.Whenthepositionof chief information fficeropenedupwiththecity,she umpedatthe chance.Thecitywas shocked hatsomeonewith so manystockoptionsandexperiencewantedto take thepaycut andmanage hecity's ITdepartment.Naturally,Sarahwashired;she was themost experienced andidateorthe job. Inherinterview, hewowed thesearchcommitteewithherdedication opublicservice,commitmento introducepri-vatesectorIT practices o thecity, and, most of all, herexuberanceover somethingcalled "riskmanagement."hecity managerwasnotsurewhatthismeant,buthe wasanxious oplacesomeone n thepositionwho wouldremoveanyelementof riskfromthecity's investment n technology.As Sarahcleaned out her office at the softwarecompany,she confidedto hercolleague,

Thisob sgoing obeachallenge,ut think nce getmybearings,twon'tbedifferentthanworkingere. know canworkwith eams nywhere.t's usta matter f motivat-ing hem ndhelpinghem nderstandhat team ffortmakesTsuccessful.My irstjobatthecity sto work na newreportingrogramor hepublicafetydepartment.can'twait oimplementomeof the eam trategies e'vebeenusinghere oryears.Sarah's irstmonthatthecitywas a whirlwind.Shespentmuchof hertimegettingto knoweveryoneon the executiveteam,as well as one-on-onemeetingswith the

Public Performance & Management Review, Vol. 26 No. 3, March 2003 302-305DOI: 10.1177/1530957602250237? 2003 Sage Publications302


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Olson, Brown / A CASEOF INCENTIVECONFLICTS 303

mayor andcouncil members.Ontheexecutiveteam,shequicklyrecognizedthatthecity manager, inancedirector,andpublicaffairsdirectorwereespeciallytroubledbytheIT department ecause of some of thecostoverrunsnthepastandhow theseover-runswere perceivedby thepublic.She made amentalnote to communicate hedepart-ment's successesdirectlyto the executiveteam on aweeklybasis so theywouldbeginto understandhesignificanceof theITdepartment.And she also saw thatthemayorandcouncil did notunderstand ow technologyfit into their ives as electedofficials,andthat their ack of experienceusingcomputersmadethechief informationofficerrole undefined n theireyes.Afterfamiliarizingherself with thecity bureaucracy, arah ocused herenergyonthetechnologydepartment.Thedevelopment eam wasgettingthedepartment'sworkdone, but with significantcost overrunsanda lingeringsense of animosityandself-doubtamong manyof the teammembers.Everyoneshe talked to in the departmentwas pronetopettysquabblingandplacingblame forpast problems.Groupedaccord-ing to specialization,each division tended to think that the other divisions in thedepartmentwere the enemy. Sarahnoticed, however,that the tension seemed to bebasedin the worksituationanddepartment's rganization,and notfrom a badmix ofpersonalitiesortraits.On theplusside,she also notedthat heteammemberswere wellqualified with strongtrainingand technicalskills.In her secondmonthon the ob, Sarah ookthe ITdepartment naweeklong retreat.Thefinance directorraisedhis eyebrowsat thecost, butSarahknew he would see thevaluewhenthe teamcame in underbudgeton the publicsafetyreporting oftware.Attheretreat, heexplained o the teamher deas for thedepartment ndthewholenotionof building eams.Althoughsomeof the memberswereskepticalabouthowmanage-ment would perceive her new laid-backstyle, the majorityof the departmentwasincrediblyresponsiveand the retreatwas a success.Mostof all, they liked to hearthattheirnewboss wanted hemtoworkasateamandthatshewould notcriticizeorpenal-ize individualswhenproblemsarosewithdevelopmentprojects.The last chief infor-mationofficer seemedto beworkingwiththethreatof theadministrationoomingoverhim, andthe resultwas ateamthatwas underalotof stresstoperform,hencefracturedandproneto blamingandhidingmistakes.Among the manysuggestions thatcamefromtheretreat,Sarahrealizedtheimportance f focusing on (a)relaxingsomeof themore restrictivenormsin favorof stimulatingcreativeenergies and (b) promotingopendialogueamongthe variousmembersof thedepartment.Mostof thedepartmenthadreadabouthow varioussoftware irmsencouraged reativityandcommunication,andtheyhadheardabout thesuccess of Sarah's ormercompany n employingtheseapproaches.Itwasnotlong afterrelaxingsomeof theproceduresandopeningthedialogue thatSarah noticed thatthe team started o act and behavemuch morecohesively. Eachweek,shesent ane-mailupdateon theproject othe executive eam,and sheinvited hemayorandcouncil tovisit thedepartment o see firsthand heheadway heyweremak-ing. Waynewasthe leadprogrammer.He likedworking n thepublicsector,and eversince Sarahwas hired,his job hadgottena lot easier:

Before,I had to constantlyadvocateformy team of programmers. f I wasn'tdefendingtheir work to the engineers,I was defendingit to the chief informationofficer,or the


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304 PPMRMarch 003

administration. ut now, we'reworkingwith the whole IT department s a team. Sure,someof those engineersareprettydry,buttheirperspectivesmakemy guysworka heckof a lot moreefficiently.Now, insteadof waitinguntilwe've completedanentirestage ofthe project o get the inputof theengineeringdepartment, e just walkoverto theirdesksand see whatthey think.Plus, it'smadethe mood of the office a lot better.Whenwe getstuckon a problem,we takea breakandplayNerfbasketball nthe hoop Sarah nstalledon her office door.There'snothing ike a slam-dunkover the team fromtestingto helpyou refocus and get the bugs outof the program.At first I was uncomfortablealkingabout programming roblems,but I've come to realize that it's the only way to findsolutions.Oneday, hemayorand wocouncilmembers toppedby theITdepartmentn their

way to lunch.As Waynewent up forajump shot on the Nerf net, he almost collidedwith themayor.After apologizing,Wayneand the programmersoldthe mayorthattheywere ust "lettingoff some steam"beforethey tackled he reportingystem soft-ware,and thattheyhad almost successfully fixed a majorproblem hey had with theuser nterface.Becausethemayorandcouncilmembersdid notknowwhatthis argonmeant, hey efttheITdepartment iththeknowledge hat herewas a majorproblemin thesoftwareand theimageof the basketball amefresh on theirminds.

GivenOfficerGeorgeSmith'sproclivity owardechnology-he had hreecomput-ers athome he was alwaystinkeringwith-he was thepolice department'siaison tothecityITdepartment.nthepast,he wasconstantlyrustrated ith the nabilityof thedepartmento "get tright."Theyneverseemedtolistentohim,andon the lastreport-ing software hey developed,they waited untilthelast minuteto get George's com-mentson thefunctionality f theprogram.Ofcourse, t wasunusableby anyoneontheforce,and t did notcapturehalf of the informationhe chief needed.So it wentback othedrawingboardandwas 6 months ate ndevelopment.Butnow thatSarahwasat thehelm, thingsweredifferent:

I can talk to theITteam withoutworryingaboutoffendinganyone,becausewe're all inthistogether.nfact, t'sgotten o thepointwherewe'reallso insyncwiththeproject,hetechguyscanalmostanticipatewhatI'll saywhenIreview heprogram.And noonegetstheir eelingshurtwhenItell them hatsomething ustwon't work.Beforewe opened helinesof communication,he softwareproblemswentunnoticeduntil t wastoolate.Now,Ijusttell the teamwhensomethings headeddown thewrongpath.Sarah ncouragesusto sharepotentialproblemsbecause n theend,it'sbetter o beproactive venif itmeansshootingdown someone'swork.Butwe can all take t;we're all adults. toldWayne heotherdaythattherewasn'ta chancein theworldthatpolice officers would understandhow to usethe F-Controlkeyswhentheywereinputtingheirdaily reports.He'sgothisteamworkingon this so thesoftware s easierto use and moremanageableor the offi-cers. It's thatkindof opennessthatwe havenow,and I like it.Theprojectwas movingaheadat record peed,andalthough herewere some set-backsnow andthen,theITdepartmentwason target o finish thesoftwareproject nthe nextmonth.Sarahhad not heardmuchfromthe executive eam,butshe chalked tuptotheiruncertaintybout echnologyand heircomfortwithher eadership.A weeklater,she overheard heated conversationn the staff lunchroom.The IT team wasdebatingabouttheappearance f thesoftwareon thescreen.She heard heprogram-mersvoicing disagreementwith how theengineerswishedto proceed.Andmanyof


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Olson, Brown / A CASE OF INCENTIVECONFLICTS 305

them werechallengingthepolice representative bouttheirusercapacity.It was stan-dardbanter or thedepartment, nd Sarahknew therewas notany anger n theprocess;it was justpartof the opendialoguethatwas neededto fleshoutthe details of thesoft-waredesign. But as she walked toward he lunchroom o get a betterhandleon whattheywerediscussing,she came face toface with thecitymanager,inancedirector, ndpublic affairs director.They had stoppedby for a visit and could hear the raucousdebate fromthe hallway.

Sarahwas summoned he nextdaytoameetingwith the executiveteam,mayor,andcouncil. She anxiouslyawaitedthe chance to tell themthatthe softwarewas close tofinal design, and thatthe projectwas on time, to specification,andwould likely beunderbudget.When she arrived t themeeting,the facesaroundhe tablewere stem."We're oncernedaboutyour progresson thepublicsafetysoftware,"hecity man-ager began."Wehear that the softwarehas a numberof problemsandthatthe team has a ten-

dencyto procrastinate,"ontinuedthefinance director.The public affairsdirectorchimedin, "Plus,thewhole city is talkingaboutthe dis-agreementsamong yourstaff and nowI havereporters allingmeaskingme forstate-ments on 'theproblems'associated with the new system!"Themayor said,"What'sgoing on, Sarah?Youhave us veryworried.We'veseentheanticsof thedepartment, nd heard hearguing hat s goingon. We can't havethattype of image projected;we're workingfor the taxpayershere and it's not seemly tohave one department oofing off andairingdisagreementswhenthey're supposedtobe working-especially a departmenthateats up so much of ourbudgetas yours."The citymanagergaveSarahafirmdirective,"Idon't knowwhat'sgoing on, butweneedyourdepartmento shape up-act moreresponsibly.There'stoo much financialandpublicriskinvolved;you need to keep thedepartment n task.Keepa lid on thefighting, and for God's sake, Sarah-your department needs to act moreprofessionally."Sarah eft the meetingwith a sinkingfeeling. Hadthe skepticsat the retreatbeenright?Despite theprogressherdepartmenthadmade,theadministrationust did notunderstandhe type of culture she neededto establishto make her teamproductive.Andif shenowclampeddown on herteam,whatwouldthatdo fordelivering hepro-ject on time and on budget?

KirstenOlson is a researchassistantand a masterofpublicadministration egreecandi-date at the Universityof NorthCarolinaat Chapel Hill. Her research nterests ncludeintergovernmentalollaborationand local governmentssues. Contact:[email protected] s an associateprofessorof publicadministration t UniversityofNorthCarolinaat ChapelHill.Her research, eaching,and serviceinterestsocus on theadoptionandimplementation f informationechnology oadvancepublicsector opera-tions. Contact:[email protected]

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Stimulating_Productivity a Case of Incentive Conflicts