Universities Can Learn New Tricks

In the backdrop of the current financial crisis and all the criticism about ridiculously oversized bonuses for bankers, an American university decided to conduct an experiment to check the impact the size of the bonus had on performance. So they decided to give 3 different bonuses: a small bonus (equal to one day’s pay of the participant), a medium sized bonus (2 weeks’ pay) and an extra-large bonus (5 months pay).

Obviously such an experiment would require a huge budget. Definitely way beyond the amount given for a university study. So the university decided to conduct the experiment in India: after all, what could be cheaper? I didn’t even know they outsource even such studies these days. I used to associate outsourcing with IT, BPO’s, KPO’s, pharma and call centers!

I’d have happily signed on for such a study but the university was smart: they decided to conduct their study in rural India, where costs would be even lower than in, say, Bangalore. Who says universities can’t learn from (and even better) companies?


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