The Equity Dilemma
Mr Ayomide is an Information and PR Analyst at Bazep Limited, a major Real Estate company in the country. On a Monday morning, after what he’d term ‘’a rather short weekend’’ Ayomide walks into his office prepared for the week’s activities. He discovers that his office looks rather different today. Titi, the office cleaner, has done an excellent Job which has a positive effect on the mental state of Ayomide.
Behind his computer, motivated Ayomide begins with his goal for the day, to project the company in the most professional style to the public. He finally comes up with a detailed article about the company’s offerings, which he then publishes on the Harvard Business Review website.
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Comrade Majekodunmi is a Nigerian-American medical doctor based in Boston, US. He’s been looking for an opportunity to secure a property in his home country Nigeria in preparation for his retirement. He therefore runs into Ayomide’s write-up on the HBR and afterwards makes effort to know more about the company via the Google search engine. Having typed the keyword on the Google search engine, Comrade is referred to the company’s website which is managed by Mr Isaac, the company’s IT manager.
Comrade Majekodunmi is really impressed with the online presence of the company. So he decides he needs to check up what other people’s perception and remarks about the brand looks like. He goes to the company’s social media page which he thinks is no less interesting. ‘’The level of people’s engagement on the company’s social media is out of this world’’ he remarks.
Thus, in the course of his interaction with Abdu, the company’s head of digital marketing, Comrade reveals his interest to acquire one of the company’s products. With great delight and alacrity, Abdu hands the Comrade to Mss Fiyinsade, the company’s business executive who with panache and impressive rendition of product knowledge, talks him into buying.
After a long walk through the system, Comrade Majekodunmi is closed. But then, the dilemma is; who should the successful conversion count for among the above named employees of Bazep Limited?
Usually, many organizations are subtly caught in equity dilemma regarding employee ranking and rewards. Organizations invariably rely on key performance index to rank their employees. However, some job roles have more determinable KPIs than the others –for example, research and development Vs sales and marketing— and this usually leads to comparison bias.
It has been observed that organizations that focus too much on the end results usually record high turnover. These organizations have many unsung heroes who feel their efforts are not being appreciated enough and decide to leave for other places where they hope their values will be better appreciated. It has also been observed that companies that overcome comparison bias and equity dilemma and are able to retain talents are mostly adept at system thinking.
What is system thinking?
System thinking is a quintessential element of strategic leadership and corporate management. It is a model of thought that puts to perspective all aspects of a system as well as their interaction. In other words, system thinking is a corporate management strategy in which the organization measures its progress through the efficiency of a unit in terms of the performance of other units, rather than the differences among the units.
System thinking is predicated on the awareness that the organization itself comprises distinct but interdependent components. Hence, inefficiencies in one unit will result in problems for the organization which will in turn trickle down to every other unit of the organization. For instance, applying system thinking in a football team management, the manager will not attribute the team’s success merely to the number of goals scored by the strikers but also to the number of complete passes made by the midfielder, the strength of the defense and the number of saves by the goal keeper.
This method of analysis and approach to management directs attention to every detail and nuance of the system, and easily exposes the weak links that need urgent attention.
When system thinking is incorporated in the management structure of an organization, unfounded or misplaced comparison of employees which give rise to licensing can be minimized.
Resource:
Ismail Ayotunde Tiamiyu. Nov. 2020. Moral Licensing Syndrome: How Your Category-Best Employees Can Endanger Your System. Kindle Publishing. https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Licensing-Syndrome-Category-Best-Employees-ebook/dp/B08P3S9NH7