The Weekly Reflektion 21/2025

When the team has done a good job, the management may want to recognize the achievement and reward the people in the team. It is not long before the dilemma of who to include, and what the reward should be arises. After a while the dilemma develops into a major crisis and soon the organisation is up in arms. The success of the project is forgotten and the controversy of who has been rewarded and who has not, dominates the discussions. The responsible manager starts to regret the initiative and experiences what he/she intended as a celebration turning into a nightmare.

Did you get a jacket?

We at Reflekt have participated in successful projects and have experienced the dilemma of recognition and who to reward and with what. On one project the management decided that the people involved in the project should receive a jacket with the name of the project and a message of appreciation. A walking advertisement for success and recognition of the individual’s contribution. A groupwas established to identify the people that should be included.

The first point that needed to be addressed was how much participation was required to qualify. People full time on the project were a given, however what about 50%, 20%, 10%? Should there be a distinction between company staff and contractors. Should there be a distinction between offshore and onshore? Should everyone receive the same jacket? What is the budget and how much is the management willing to pay? In this particular case there was a realization that significantly more people had been involved than the management realized and consequently the budget per jacketwas relatively low.

The group, consisting of onshore staff, deliberated over the various dilemmas and finally reached their recommendation that was accepted by the relevant manager.

Offshore staff that had worked 50% or more on the project and contractors full-time on the project received a fleece jacket of questionable quality, i.e. cheap with a ‘thank you for contributing to our success’ motive. Onshore staff working 50% or more on the project received a Gore-Tex jacket with the same motive. 

There was an initial reaction of mild disappointment when the boxes of jackets arrived offshore, and the ‘poor quality’ products were distributed to the lucky recipients. There was even more disappointment when many people, who thought they qualified for a jacket, did not receive one. The disappointment turned nasty when two of the offshore personnel turned up in the office wearing their fleece jackets and met an onshore colleague strutting around in a new Gore-Tex jacket. A delegation was quickly assembled and made its way to the manager’s office. We can’t remember whether there were placards and chanting involved, but there was a commotion. We do remember the look of disbelief and regret on the managers face when the delegation left. It said, ‘Never Again’, in bold expressions.

Recognition of a job well done is an essential part of being a manager and finding an appropriate way to reward people is important. Rewards tend to be appreciated in the short term and generally forgotten about pretty quickly. On the other hand, an experience of being treated unfairly will last for a long time and may not be easily reconciled. If you can’t find a fair way, then it may be better to just express your thanks to everyone involved.