The Carrot Principle: A book review

I read this book recently and thought of doing a book review on the Carrot Principle. Success in a business undoubtedly involves and is determined by many variables. Indeed for a business to be successful, it would involve sheer hard work on the part of the employees (Fina, 2009). The employer also needs to be visionary. This is in the sense that he or she should possess the ability to recognize opportunities that could make a significant contribution to the further success of the business (Karmakar, 2011). In addition, the employer should show the capability of acknowledging the potential of the company as well as the employees in the orientation of the company’s success (Marciano, 2010). In this respect, the success of a business more often than not centralizes itself on the concept of business management ( Holbeche & Matthews, 2012). A well managed business is often successful. The reason for the research paper is to draw an attempt to find out the role employee recognition plays within a company as a variable that directly influence the success of a business. In this respect the paper will give detailed analysis of the works of Elton and Gostick in their book “The carrot principle” which further tries to illustrate the power behind employee recognition in work done.

Summary of the Book

“The Carrot Principle” basically involves the results of a ten year period research aimed at identifying management concepts and knowledge that back the success of many business enterprises (Gostick & Elton, 2009). The book talks of a missing ingredient which is relevantly analogized with an “accelerator” that a company needs to boost productivity and overall efficiency of the operations that increase the company’s success. This missing ingredient is therefore employee recognition on work done (Pearson, 2008). The research taken illustrated that, all well-off companies and businesses had an element in common and this is that the employees were constantly given often and effective recognition in their work done within their occupational jobs. This is therefore an ideology of purpose-based recognition which effectively goes a long way in encouraging employees in undertaking various tasks (Marciano, 2010).

I was moreover sensitized on the need to have a “carrot” culture, a rare environment where employees’ contributions are frequently recognized and as a ripple effect to this, the employees’ drive to passionately undertake their tasks is further accelerated. In this respect a consequent increase in efficiency and productivity is significantly seen in the company (Karmakar, 2011).

The ability of an employer to recognize the efforts of the worker is seen at a different perspective by the employee. An employee would see it as an activity the employer takes time to carry out hence showing them that the managers have them in their thoughts. This therefore creates a connection between the managers and the employees (Gostick & Elton, 2010). The employees gain a sense of appreciation of their work done every day. We are also given the backbone of a “Carrot” Culture that is based on two forms of recognition. These forms include, day to day recognition and above and beyond recognition. The day to day recognition basically involves the appreciation of employees on a daily basis carefully recommending the technique of singling out an employee from the rest (Marciano, 2010). This would create a culture characterized of healthy competition to be recognized amongst the employees. On the other hand, above and beyond recognitions entails a rather formal approach to this whereby the employee is given far much more than what is required. The book widely covers the concept of good management skills and what better way to achieve this than to increase the morale of the employees. The carrot principle thus offers a solution to this.

References

Fina, M. A. (2009). Perspectives on Managing Employees. New York: Cengage Learning.

Gostick, A., Elton, C. (2009). The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Gostick, A., Elton, C. (2010). The Invisible Employee: Using Carrots to See the Hidden Potential in Everyone. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Holbeche, L., Matthews, G. (2012). Engaged: Unleashing Your Organization's Potential Through Employee Engagement. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Karmakar, A. (2011). Principles and Practices of Management and Business Communication. New York: Pearson Education.

Marciano, P. (2010). Carrots and Sticks Don't Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles of RESPECT. New York: McGraw Hill Professional.

Pearson, J. (2008). Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-Profit. New York: Gospel Light Publications.