Corporate America prides itself in being a cut throat meritocracy. In this system, subordinates are to be rewarded based on the quantity and quality of their work. Any capitalist at heart would agree that this compensation model is indeed the most effective way to maximize output, push efficiency, and persuade innovation.
However, in practice Corporations are rarely able to achieve this modus operandi. The problem: it is very hard to track the amount and worth of work produced by an employee. The end result is that most companies end up following a more conservative reward system influenced by factors such as the amount of time an employee has been with the company, rapport with manager, or other forms of visibility such as the completion of an online MBA.
In fact, there is such a lack of meritocracy, that employees need to dedicate some of their working time to advertise the work they have created. This kind of broadcasting could be done using Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs, Tweeter, and Wiki entries; by walking around the office and personally sharing what one has been working on; or by Spamming people with emails at late hours of the night.
Furthermore, it seems to be that many of the employees perceived as “rising stars” actually spend more time promoting their work than doing it. I am not saying this is an unethical behavior. It might very well be that the success of a corporation is more dependent on the ability to share information than on the creation itself. Maybe this is a virtuous circle, where short periods of innovation are interrupted by extensive periods of public exposure and resource gathering (venture capital, talent recruiting, etc).
The bizarre part, is that our family values, our academic institutions, and our work ethics, dictate that “hard work” should be the legitimate pursuit, while games and politics should be left to phonies. Maybe there is a social equilibrium, where most dedicate their lives to output-producing work, while a few are able to cross the chasm and live a more dynamic lifestyle.
Clearly, there exists a contradiction between theory and practice, and there is a trade off between the production and the advertisement of one’s work. But at the end of the day, the choice is yours. So what will you do?
