Recognition and Reward System in the Project Management

I am sure every project manager now-a-days uses a lot of tool and techniques to execute the work within the timeframe or within the estimated cost with the desired quality. The main thing is to complete the work on time. And it is possible only through true, motivated, successful manpower. They are the resources who are working on the projects. Do you think it is always possible to get the motivated personnel? No, not at all. It is the project manager’s responsibility and accountability to keep the project team fully motivated towards project objectives. How to do it? Introduce some reward and recognition system for each performer. Introduce some reward and recognition system which is highly achievable. It should not be like no one can get it. An integral part of any organization today is its rewards and recognition system.

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Remember that whenever you are going to introduce any reward and recognition system in your project, it should be like everyone will get something out of it. It should not be like the top three performers will get some reward and recognition and rest will not. It should be like everyone will get this reward based on their performance in the projects. One more thing need to be remembered for the project manager is the incremental cost for the reward and recognition system should not exceed the project cost and it should be added while estimating the cost. Be sure that you are getting more work (more revenue) from the project team who are eligible for reward and recognition. The incremental cost for reward and recognition should be nearly equal to incremental revenue.

As per your organization’s Human Resource policy it can be in the form of incentives, bonuses, separate cubicle places, separate parking places, medical facilities and other perks and perquisites. And it can be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, and annually. It depends really on the nature of the projects and human resources policies in your working organization.

The main objective of introducing rewards and recognition system is to ensure that the employee feels appreciated and that his or her work has not gone unnoticed. It also serves as a great way of pushing people to do better and better over project life cycle. One important point is that each and every project team members should be aware of this reward and recognition system so that they can religiously try for achieving the same. In this way, they can be more motivated towards the ultimate project goal.

It can be distributed or managed in so many ways and you should look out the options from your organizations’ Human Resource policies. Few of the reward systems are as follows:

Distributing bonus:

A prefixed bonus amount will be paid to the project team members who meet their targets and project objectives. This is aimed to improve their performance over project life cycle.

Giving award for extra time working:

If you think an individual has to stay for a longer period for the project delivery; you can provide the extra money for that extra hour. It will motivate them. Take care of quality issue in that regard.

Performance based reward:

This is typically paid to employees who have met or exceeded their project targets. This method of reward can be measured at either team or department level.

Remember that the money can’t motivate to all project team members. There are some team members who need recognition instead of reward. Below are some recognition systems:

• The same work repeatedly daily can be a monotonous for some team members. Make that work little bit challenging. Do some changes. Make it interesting. This is known as job enrichment.
• Shift rotation is an example through which an individual feel satisfaction on the working platform. You can apply this as well in your project. The team can feel a bit flexible while working.
• You can provide special training to the team so that they feel motivated and through this type of training they can expect a promotion in the organization.

The conclusion is a project manager should apply best rewards and recognition system in the project to get the project objectives ultimately keeping team motivated with a high morale.

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