HR, Rewards and KM

There are some awards being doled out by the org. for individual excellence as well as team-performances. That got me thinking about the impact of rewarding individuals Vis a Vis teams.

What damage does rewarding individuals do to the attitude of team-work, collaboration and collective-thinking? It might certainly provoke some amount of greediness to grab the limelight and make oneself look great and outstanding. It pampers one's reflection of oneself and contributes to individual recognition as against attitudes of caring and sharing. It arouses, in others, a competitive spirit (that's precisely why these awards are given out I guess).

Whereas, awards given out to teams make the team as a whole feel great and celebrate. But there might be problems here as well - every team-member might, for lack of wisdom, think that he/she deserves the award more than anyone else and it was because of his/her contribution that the team made it big. But a wise team (a rarity) would understand that everyone is important and so is everyone's contribution.

This could probably be handled well if individual recognition were to focus on caring and sharing rather than performance per se. That is, recognize individuals who help others and nurture others. Recognize individuals who share and contribute to the team's success rather than just their own tasks. An individual who is rewarded just for the way in which he carried out his task is bound to continue doing so rather than contribute to the higher goal/purpose. Continue to give out rewards for individual excellence as well as team-performance. But individual excellence should be based on collaboration and contribution to bigger goals. This would get everyone to vie for such an award rather than just take care of their own interests.

Does this mean that we are being manipulative? No! Ultimately, the organization has a higher purpose and an organization that works in harmony achieves much more than one where there is a lot of internal competition. And when the organization does well, it flows down to its employees anyways. And anyway, are we all here just to help ourselves or fight for higher purposes and make the world a better place to live in? Focusing on just individual accomplishment will leave the world in the hands of the power-hungry and that will not help make the world a better place to be in! Will it? Where would the world be like if not for people that decided to look beyond themselves? This philosophy holds good not just as in social causes but also in organizational causes. Owww....there I go again....philosophyyyyyyy! Screeeeeeeeeeech.