I-deals are idiosyncratic “deals” that managers make with individual employees. They’re hard to stop, but it’s worth trying, says Greene, who is CEO of Reward $ystems Inc., in Glenview IL. Greene’s remarks came at the recent 2011 World at Work Conference in San Diego.
Idiosyncratic “Deals” With Individuals/Groups
Competitive talent markets increase the pressure to make “deals” with individuals or occupational groups, Green says. However, without a decision structure, managers will often make inconsistent deals that will cause trouble over time.
Deciding On Making “Deals”
This chart can often help with making better decisions, says Greene.
|
|
Organization |
Benefit? |
|
Employee Benefit? |
No |
Yes |
|
Yes |
Depends |
DEAL |
|
No |
NO DEAL |
Depends |
What does the decision depend on?
- Criticality of the employee’s skills/knowledge
- Employee’s expertise/performance
- Impact of the decision on employee (satisfaction; turnover; performance)
- Impact of the decision on other employees
- Whether the deal is fixed sum (someone else loses)
- Potential legal liability
- Visibility and impact of making the deal
- Existence/strength of unions or third parties
- Local culture (do no harm)
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Factors Impacting the Effectiveness of “I-Deals”
Greene offers the following factors that may impact the effectiveness of an I-Deal:
- Organization culture
- Organization strategy
- Organization core competencies
- Workforce culture
- Workforce demographics
- Competitive practice
- Legal/regulatory environment
- Socio-economic environment
- HR Policies
Most deals, Greene says:
- Are made as independent entities—one-offs
- Are made in the heat of the moment
- Vary across individual managers
- Vary across time by same manager
- Vary across employees
- Are not made after formal review/approval
- Do not impact policies going forward
If we cannot stop deals we can at least attempt to make them better, Greene says. Training managers to use models with defined decision making criteria can help.
Evaluating Idiosyncratic Deals
Green suggests answering the following questions in making a decision about whether or not to approve a deal:
- HR Policies. What is the policy? How clear is it? How much does deal vary from the policy?
- Culture/Values. Is the culture more person- or task-based? What are the norms about consistency?
- Deal History. What has been done in similar situations? (Managers often don’t know, says Greene.)
- Deal Visibility. Who will know about the deal? (Assume everybody, says Greene.)
- Employee History. Is this a first request? Is the requester a candidate or an employee?
- Nature of Deal. Is the deal controversial? Is it based on need or preference? Does it raise legal issues?
- Co-Worker Reaction. What will be the impact on co-workers? Is the deal “better” than theirs? (There’s a natural tendency to forget that coworkers might understand, says Greene.)
- Impact on Performance. Can the employee be as productive and effective under the new deal? (For example, as a telecommuter.)
- Employee Criticality. What would be the impact of losing the person?
- Employee Needs. What is the nature of the need? What is the legitimacy of the need?
- Competitive Environment. How common is this in other organizations? How tight is the market? (It may be hard not to go along, Greene says.)
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