Incentives in Organizations
Instructor: Ghazala Azmat (UPF and Barcelona GSE)
In this course we will study the methods that organizations use to improve the performance of individuals. These may involve explicit contractual incentives or incentives that are implicit in the organizational structure or practice of the organization.
The course analyzes the theoretical fundamentals of the problems faced by organizations to motivate individuals and shows empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the methods employed. We will analyse the underlying principles of the incentive schemes used and we will also consider how these schemes change when we have different organizational structures and environments, such as an educational setting or performance at the team level.
This is an applied course that should be of interest to graduate students or academics who want to expand their knowledge in the area and to practitioners interested in understanding the fundamentals of incentives in organizations.
Course Outline
- Rewarding Performance
- Tournaments and their effect on Performance
- Feedback Information and their effect on Performance
- Incentives in Teams
- Alternative Outcome Measures: Happiness/On-the-job
Ghazala Azmat is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Pompeu Fabra and an Affiliated Professor at the Barcelona GSE. She is also a Research Affiliate in the Centre for Economic Performance (LSE). Ghazala received her PhD from the London School of Economics in 2006, and she has already published her research in top international journals, such as
Journal of Labor Economics,
Rand Journal of Economics, and
Labour Economics. Her current research focuses on the implications and applications of regulation, as well as issues relating to competition, incentives and organizational structure.
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