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To determine the role of status information conveyance in a negative reward allocation setting.

Using previously published experimental data, we test the relative effects of status information conveyed by expressive and indicative status cues on the allocation of a negative reward. Further, we construct an alternative graph theoretic model of expectation advantage which is also tested to determine its model fit relative to the classic model of Reward Expectations Theory.

Results provide strong support for the conclusion that status information conveyed by expressive status cues influences reward allocations more than information conveyed by indicative cues. We also find evidence that our alternative graph theoretic model of expectation advantage improves model fit.

This research is the first to test the relative impact of expressive versus indicative status cues on the allocation of negative rewards and shows that status characteristics can have differential impacts on these allocations contingent on how characteristics are conveyed. Furthermore, the research suggests a graph theoretic model that allows for this differentiation based on information conveyance and provides empirical support for its structure in a negative reward allocation environment.

Future research is required to validate the results in positive reward situations.

The results show that an individual’s expectations are altered by varying the manner in which status information is presented, thereby influencing the construction and maintenance of status hierarchies and the inequalities those structures generate. Thus, this research has implications for any group or evaluative task where status processes are relevant.

The ability to measure and assess “quality” is essential in building and maintaining a safe and effective transportation system. Attaining acceptable quality outcomes in transportation projects has been a reoccurring problem at both the federal and state levels, at least partially, as a result of poorly developed, inefficient or nonexistent quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) processes. The purpose of this paper is to develop and implement a new QA/QC process that focuses on a novel double-bounded performance-related specification (PRS) and corresponding pay factor policy that includes both lower and upper quality acceptance and payment reward boundaries for bridge concrete.

The authors use historical data to design different payment scenarios illustrating likely industry responses to the new PRS, and select the single scenario that best balances risk between the agency and industry. The authors then convert that payment scenario to a pay factor schedule using a search heuristic and determine statistical compliance with the PRS using percent-within-limits (PWL).

The methodology offers an innovative approach for developing an initial set of pay factors when lifecycle cost data are lacking and the PRS are new or modified. An important finding is that, with a double-bounded PRS, it is not possible to represent pay factors using the simplified table PWL currently employed in practice because each PWL value occupies two separate positions in the payment structure – one above the design target and one below it. Therefore, a more detailed set of pay factors must be employed which explicitly specify the mean sample value and the design target. The approach is demonstrated in practice for the Agency of Transportation in state of Vermont.

The authors demonstrate a novel approach for developing a double-bounded PRS and introduce a payment incentive/disincentive policy with the goal of improving total product quality. The new pay factor policy includes both a payment penalty below the contracted price for failing to meet a specified performance criterion as well as a payment premium above the contracted price that increases as the sample product specification approaches an “ideal” design value. The PRS includes both an upper and lower acceptance boundary for the finished product as opposed to only a lower tail acceptance boundary, which is the traditional approach.

The authors illustrate a research collaboration between academia and a state agency that highlights the role academic research can play in advancing quality management practices. The study involves the use of actual product performance data and is operational as opposed to conceptual in nature. Finally, the authors offer important practical insights and guidance by demonstrating how a new PRS and pay factor policy can be developed without the use of site-specific historical lifecycle cost (LCC) data that include detailed manufacturing, producing and placement cost data, as data related to product performance over time. This is an important contribution, as the development and implementation of pay factor policies typically involve the use of historical LCC data. However, in many cases, these data are not available or may be incomplete.

With the new PRS and pay factor schedule, the Agency expects shrinkage and cracking on bridge decks to decrease along with overall maintenance and rehabilitation costs. A major focus the new PRS is to actively involve industry partners in quality improvement efforts.

The authors focus on a major modification to an existing QA/QC process that involves the development of a new PRS and an associated pay factor policy undertaken by the Vermont Agency of Transportation. The authors use empirical data to develop a novel double bounded PRS and payment schedule for concrete and offer unique operational/practical insight and guidance by demonstrating how a new PRS and pay factor policy can be developed without the use of site-specific historical LCC. Typically, PRS for in-place concrete have only a lower tail acceptance boundary.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of reward structure on the customer's value perception of the program, loyalty to the program and loyalty to the firm.

A 2 (type of reward) x 2 (timing of redemption) between subjects experimental design was conducted. In addition, the indirect effect of the customer's value perception of the program on loyalty to the firm via loyalty to the program is tested with Hayes and Preacher's mediation procedure.

Study results indicated that type of reward has a positive impact on the perceived value of a loyalty program. Program loyalty mediates the relationship between the perceived value of the loyalty program and customer loyalty, as well as the relationship between type of reward and customer loyalty.

The findings of this study demonstrate the importance of the type and timing of loyalty program rewards on customer perceptions of the value of the loyalty program. In addition, this study is a step forward in providing a deep understanding of the impact of such perceptions on loyalty. These findings fill a number of research gaps and provide tangible guidance for practitioners.

Basic science, sometimes called “curiosity-driven research” at the National Science Foundation and other places, starts with a question that somehow stays in the mind, nagging for an answer. Such questions really are “puzzles”; they arise in an intellectual field or context, asking someone to fit pieces to an improving but incomplete picture of the social world. What makes a worthwhile puzzle is a missing part in understanding the picture, or a new piece of knowledge that does not seem to fit among other parts. Sometimes creative theorists can imagine a solution to one of the holes in the puzzle. If they are also empirical scientists, they devise ways to get evidence bearing on their ideas, and some of those ideas survive to give more complete and detailed pictures of the world. This chapter is the story of puzzles and provisional solutions to them, developed by dozens of men and women investigating status processes and status structures, using a coherent perspective, for over half a century.¹

Considers the relationship between the types of targets or benchmarks used and reward structures adopted in two contrasting performance improvement strategies – continuous improvement and radical change. Hypothesises that the process of target setting and the reward structures adopted will be different between the two strategies. The propositions are that organisations involved in continuous improvement of a process will base their performance targets on past performance and internal benchmarking, arrived at through consultation and with a mixture of financial and non‐financial rewards for achieving targets. For processes involving radical change, targets will be based on external benchmarks imposed by senior management, with financial rewards for their achievement. The findings from a semi‐structured questionnaire conducted in 40 UK service organisations reveal that most continuous improvement targets were based on past performance and that processes undergoing radical change made limited use of external benchmarks. In the majority of cases, targets were imposed by managers without consultation, with rewards linked to theachievement of those targets. Financial rewards, particularly financial bonuses, predominated in both improvement strategies. The implications are that the potential benefits of adopting process changes are being constrained. In continuous improvement the lack of participation in target setting could be undermining the team‐based empowerment philosophy of the strategy. The aim of radical change is to achieve a paradigm shift involving revolutionary rather than evolutionary change which is less likely to be fulfilled with targets based on past performance.

The use of routines in the decision-making process of individuals, groups and organizations is a well accepted yet taken for granted phenomenon. One goal of organizations is to develop group routines that are efficient, but at the same time flexible. However, this presents a paradox because routines that are efficient at one point in time, or for a particular task, may persist, be unquestioned, and become increasingly inefficient for the group and the organization. This chapter develops a formal theory that describes the processes by which the legitimation of particular group structures impacts the development and use of group routines. The theory presented draws from theories of legitimation, expectation states theory, and institutional theory. The theory formally depicts three sources of legitimation: a referential belief structure (set of cultural beliefs) about expertise and leadership, authorization or superordinate support of a leader, and endorsement (support by group) of a leader. Specifically, the theory addresses: (1) how different sources of legitimation make groups more or less hierarchical; and (2) how the different sources of legitimation make group routines more or less flexible.

The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative quality improvement intervention developed in Morocco and discuss its implementation. Until 2004, the Moroccan Ministry of Health (MoH) encouraged pilots of quality improvement approaches but none of them were revealed to be sustainable. Internal assessments pinpointed factors such as lack of recognition of the participating team’s efforts and lack of pressure on managers to become more accountable. In 2005, Morocco opted for an intervention called “Quality Contest” (QC) targeting health centres, hospitals and health district offices and combining quality measurement with structures ranking, performance disclosure and reward system.

The QC is organized every 18 months. After the self-assessment and external audit step, the participating structures are ranked according to their scores. Their performances are then disseminated and the highest performing structures are rewarded.

The results showed an improvement in performance among participating structures, constructive exchange of successful experiences between structures, as well as communication of constraints, needs and expectations between MoH managers at central and local levels; the use of peer-auditors was appreciated as it enabled an exchange of best practices between auditors and audited teams but this was mitigated by the difficulty of ensuring their neutrality; and the recognition of efforts was appreciated but seemed insufficient to ensure a sense of justice and maintain motivation.

This intervention is an example of MoH leadership that has succeeded in introducing transparency and accountability mechanisms (ranking and performance disclosure) as leverage to change the management culture of the public health services; setting up a reward system to reinforce motivation and adapting continuously the intervention to enhance its sustainability and acceptability.

Examines the relationship between business process re‐engineering (BPR) and human resource management. A number of propositions relating to aspects of human resource management are derived from the literature, and examined by interviewing senior managers in UK organisations where business process re‐engineering projects had either been completed or were still in progress. The propositions are analysed under four major headings: structure and culture, the role of managers, team working, and reward system. The conclusion is that BPR principles on the management of human resources as stated in the literature seem to find a full application in most of the organisations investigated. However, there were two exceptions to the expectations in the literature. The first was that there would be a change to a process‐based structure; a change is seen in the majority of cases, but to a matrix style of organisation. The second was the implication that team‐based reward systems would appear; this has only happened in a minority of cases. Overall, for the organisations studied which have undergone BPR, a very clear pattern emerges with respect to human resource management practices.

Changing the way that career and salary progression decisions are made can be highly emotive. Chris Riley, head of HR at the National Crime Squad, explains how communication and feedback helped the organization implement a competency‐based pay structure that also rewards exceptional performers.