10 Commandments:

1. Theories of motivation clearly indicate that involvement is a success factor. This should be a combination of a top-down and a bottom-up process. It is on the one hand important to involve employees at an early stage; on the other hand the rewarding programme must be embedded in the company's management, e.g. through strategic plan(s).

2. The distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation should be reflected upon. Extrinsic motivators can have powerful effects, but it would not necessarily last long. Intrinsic motivators, on the other hand, are likely to have a deeper and longer-term effects because they are not imposed from outside. An extrinsic reward is external to the person, e.g. financial rewards. Intrinsic rewards, on the other hand, are internal to the person. By being internal it refers to such aspects as satisfaction and accomplishment.

3. There is no universalistic rewarding scheme. Therefore there must be defined a local image of the problem, and there must be a mutual understanding of the problem(s). This is what Armstrong (2007) calls contextual and culture fit: The design of reward processes should be governed by the contexts. “Best fit is more important than best practice.” A reward must be conceived as a reward if it is to have any effect. And what is conceived as a reward depends of course of the context.

4. Be prepared of implementation-challenges! Although the literature argues that contribution based rewards are preferable, it must be guided by thoroughly consideration of the conditions for implementation. Be consistent in the way you weight justice vs. complexity cost and continual adjustments and changes.

5. The rewarding and recognition scheme must take into account the cultural differences identified by Geert Hofsteede. This regards especially the indexes of masculinity and uncertainty avoidance.

6. The rewarding process should include both distributive justice and procedural justice (Armstrong 2007). Distributive justice refers to how rewards are provided to people, and procedural justice refers to ways in which managerial decisions are made and reward policies are put into practice, e.g. that the viewpoints of employees is given consideration.

7. The rewarding process should be characterized by equity, consistency and transparency (Armstrong 2007) Equity means that people are rewarded appropriately in relation to others within the organization consistency implies that decisions do not vary arbitrarily transparency exists when people understand how reward processes function and how they are affected by them.

8. Be aware of the tasks’ characteristics. If the task needs close and intimate coordination with others, a low reward differential is preferable. If the tasks don’t require coordination and cooperation it can be preferable with high rewarding differentials (Kaufmann & Kaufmann 1998).

9. Non-monetary rewards might be difficult to evaluate. There is also a considerable challenge according to taxation - which is different from country to country.

10. The results from a preliminary study show that economic rewards are considered to be most suitable for the RECODRIVE companies. However it is a clear tendency that bonus-systems are more appropriate than result based wages.

The following table shows an evaluation of the measures: