A Field Study of an Individual Incentive System for Production Workers

An individual monetary incentive system was implemented in four shops at a Naval Air Rework Facility. Performance data were analyzed across baseline and incentive periods for four incentive shops and six other shops used as a comparison group. One of the four incentive shops showed a substantial improvement in performance while the other three showed none. The lack of performance improvement in three of the four incentive shops was attributed to such factors as insufficient workload and inadequate assistance from support groups. These problems were reported to be much less severe in the incentive shop showing performance improvement. There were no significant changes in any of the incentive shops in product quality, the amount of time a piece of equipment spent in a shop, indirect time usage, or worker attitudes. It was concluded that monetary incentives can improve performance in Naval Air Rework Facility production shops, but only if the necessary work conditions are present to support system. Keywords: Performance, Motivation, Productivity, Efficiency, Action Research.