RECOGNITION AT WORK: FROM FULFILMENT TO FRUSTRATION

Abstract

Our research focuses on the perceptions an employee could have when confronted with acts of recognition or non-recognition that they or their colleagues may experience. The social exchange theory assumes that recognised employees adopt the behaviour expected of them in return. Is this the case when they carry out social comparison processes and consider how their colleagues have been treated? Our research fills in a qualitative gap in the literature on non-monetary recognition and its possible negative effects. Based on messages addressed to staff and/or public recognition thank you walls within the company Telco_Plus, we mobilised the methodology of participant observation and used general inductive analysis. The analysis of the 26 interviews conducted with the issuers and beneficiaries of these tokens of attention, as well as with some of their colleagues who did not benefit from them, invites the manager to reconsider the idea of reciprocity that implies that their subordinates will react positively to the tokens of recognition they show them. While recognised employees feel fulfilment, they may also feel embarrassment or annoyance on behalf of their unrecognised colleagues. Our results encourage the manager to place their acts of recognition within a broader framework that integrates the perceptions developed by their team members. They also call for more research on the behaviours arising from such perceptions.