Employee recognition

Employee recognition is the timely, informal or formal acknowledgement of a person's behavior, effort, or business result that supports the organization's goals and values, and exceeds their superior's normal expectations. Recognition has been held to be a constructive response and a judgment made about a person's contribution, reflecting not just work performance but also personal dedication and engagement on a regular or ad hoc basis, and expressed formally or informally, individually or collectively, privately or publicly, and monetarily or non-monetarily (Brun & Dugas, 2008). The track of scientific research around employee recognition and motivation was constructed on the foundation of early theories of behavioral science and psychology. The earliest scientific papers on employee recognition have tended to draw upon a combination of needs-based motivation (for example, Hertzberg 1966; Maslow 1943) theories and reinforcement theory (Mainly Pavlov 1902; B.F. Skinner 1938) as a foundation for the effects of employee recognition. Needs-based motivation theories are based on the argument that humans have basic drives that motivate them to behave in ways that help them fulfill those needs. Maslow's hierarchy of human needs: Maslow's model identifies five categories of needs: physiological, safety, belonging and love, esteem and self-actualization. These 'levels' of needs are arranged on the hierarchy in order of immediate effect on human development and subsequently, potency for influencing behavior. According to Maslow, individuals are never fully satisfied on any need level but once a class of needs is substantially met, it is no longer motivating for the individual. Human behavior is therefore presented as a rational activity directed at the satisfaction of successive levels of needs. Recognition schemes are based on the notion that individuals aim at the satisfaction of the esteem needs after fulfilling previous needs on the hierarchy. The esteem needs can be broken down into the need for self-esteem and the need for the esteem of others.