“Project Team Rewards: Rewarding and Motivating your Project Team” by Joran Beel was originally his Master’s Thesis at Lancaster University Management School, UK.  In this Joran tackles the issue: how to motivate project team.  He points out that general project management literature usually ignores rewards and that is disappointing considering the fact that vast research has been done with respect to the psychological impact of the rewards on the individual as well as the team.  The author makes a good point that the psychology of reward system is mainly relegated to Organizational Behavior under General Management.  How to motivate and provide incentives to a project team member has never been a part of Project Management literature even though a strong correlation exists between the success in the executing a project and the incentives that motivates the team member.  

This book provides a good overview of Motivation Theory.  There is an  in-depth study of advantages and disadvantages of rewarding team vs. individuals, recognition vs. incentives and timing of rewards.   The author also examines the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the pros and cons about these motivations.

The extreme reward opponents criticize the whole concept of extrinsic motivation. They propose to focus on intrinsic motivation since intrinsic motivation is stronger and deeper in nature.  The author says that no research exists for proponents of extreme reward. I was surprised to read that only scant research is available by extreme reward proponents considering the fact that Adam Smith and his philosophy of capitalism is based on the allocation of ‘reward’ system. 

Second part of the book focuses on the author’s research and explains the question

1. What is the current role and use of rewards in project teams?
2. To what extent could the development of a ‘project team reward model’ increase project team motivation and project success? 
3. What could a ‘project team reward model’ look like?

In general this book is academic in nature.  Adding some practical tips would make the book interesting.  The author does a good job in covering the breadth of literature that exists related to motivations.  What’s missing is the latest trend towards peer production or global collaboration.  How and what motivation works in a world where new communication technologies are democratizing the creation of value?  I believe if the author attempts to answer this question, the value of the book will increase exponentially.    

If you manage a team and would like to understand different aspects of rewards/motivations, I urge you to read this book.  Click on the link, the online version of this book is free for the readers of TechItEasy.org!  You find more information about the book on its website www.project-team-rewards.com  

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