He is also the co-author of the best-selling books Managing For Dummies, which has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide, and Consulting For Dummies, as well as 15 other books on management and motivation.

Meet Bob Nelson, founder and president of Nelson Motivation, Inc, a management training and consulting firm based in San Diego. As a practicing manager and a best-selling author, Bob is an internationally recognised expert in the areas of employee recognition, rewards, motivation, morale, retention, productivity and management.

He received his PhD in management from the Peter F Drucker Graduate Management Center at Claremont Graduate University. His doctoral research was on 'Factors that encourage or inhibit the use of non-monetary Recognition by US Managers.' He received his MBA in organisational behaviour from the University of California at Berkeley.

Gopi Gopalan, director, Team Progress Inc, a US-based consulting company spoke to Bob, who he has invited for a workshop to be conducted in Chennai on December 3.

Bob, thanks for agreeing to this question answer session. I have been struggling about how to reward employees all my life. I have plenty of questions in this area. But let me start with some basic questions first. In olden times and even today with many companies, the annual raise is considered the only way to reward good work. Why is that not true now?

In the words of my former professor the late great Dr Peter F Drucker, "Economic incentives are becoming rights rather than rewards. Merit raises are always introduced as rewards for exceptional performance. In no time at all they become a right," an expectation or even an entitlement.

Money is important to employees, but money alone will not typically create a highly motivated worker. So many other things are of increasing importance to today's employees. It's too little, too late.

Today's employees have a greater expectation of being recognised when they do good work, and they expect that recognition to occur immediately or soon thereafter.

Is there a change in the way people think? When did this happen? Why did this happen?

In changing, dynamic times like those we are in, traditional incentives (raises, promotions, benefits) are both less available and less effective for motivating employees.

Increasingly, from my research, employees are looking for more intangible and interpersonal validation as to their own worth to the organisation as shown through their manager. For most employees, if you have a good boss, you have a good job and, ironically, those things that matter the most today to employees often have little or no cost: Recognition, information, involvement, support, learning, flexibility, visibility, etc.

Is this change a permanent one in this nothing-is-permanent world?

Motivation is a moving target, changing significantly with each new generation, which in and of themselves are getting shorter.

If it is going to be for the long haul, is it good for the company and people as a whole?

I happen to think it's for the good. To get today's employees motivated today you need to highly involve them in the work environment, how decisions are made, what ideas they have for improvements, etc. What you stand to gain is tremendous!

In general, what does today's employee want other than a raise and a congratulatory letter?

A say in how they do their job, praise and thanks for doing a good job, information to do their job better, involvement in decisions -- especially those that affect them, learning opportunities and visibility in the organisation, support -- even when they make a mistake, flexibility of working hours, and so on.

If we start rewarding people in ways other than annual raise, will it increase the cost to the company for doing business?

No, as any good investment the payback will far exceed any costs associated.

What is the good side of rewarding employees in different ways?

One size does not fit all, so you need to vary how you reward and recognise employees in alignment with their individual preferences. Also, variety helps to keep things fresh and exciting! If you do the same thing time after time, year after year, we have a word to describe that: BORING...

What are the pitfalls of rewarding them in other ways (people still work today since they need money to exist)?

For managers who have never done it, it can seem messy and irrelevant... a waste of time and not even something they think should be part of their job!

How do the older employees brought in a different system all these years view the new other rewarding system?

There are four different generations in the workplace today and each has differences in their motivation preferences. A good manager develops a skill for aligning rewards and recognition with the desires of his/her employees when they perform well. For example, a new employee might want to spend more time with their manager to learn and understand his/her priorities and how best to do the job; an older employee might want to be left alone to do the job as they see fit!

Will the new system drive people out of the company to other places?

Any time you change an organisation's culture, the mix of people in it will change as well. Those who are not comfortable with new changes and expectations will often leave of their own accord.

What are three things that senior executives can do to start rewarding the employees?