Is Peer Pressure Stronger Than Rewards? You Bet It Is.
Organizational MO for behavioral change generally goes like this:
 1.   Assemble team.
2. Â Â Establish behavioral objectives.
3. Â Â Determine attendant sanctions or rewards.
4. Â Â Write policy.
5. Â Â Inform the troops.
Often, these efforts are met with short-lived changes in behavior. In some cases, they can even produce the opposite of what is desired. Why?
If an organizationâs informal culture and formal policies and systems arenât aligned, the informal is going to win every time.
Findings in a study by HBS assistant professor, Susanna Gallani, which were published in a working paper and the subject of a recent Harvard Business Review article, support this. In this study conducted in a California hospital, professor Gallani wanted to determine which would produce more lasting increases in hand hygiene performance: rewards or peer pressure?
What were the findings? Monetary incentives generated a more pronounced improvement in the short term, but many participants dropped back to previous levels or even worse when the program ended. Peer pressure techniques, however, generated a change in behavior that persisted well beyond the termination of the initiative.
These findings echo decades of behavioral research demonstrating that culture trumps formal systems. âHow things are really done around here" wins every time. Â So why donât more organizations pay attention to this? Rewards and punishments are easy. Culture is hard work.
So start the hard work of understanding your culture today. Ask tough questions of your organization. What behavior does your culture incentivize? What gets rewarded? What gets people promoted? What pressures do people feel? What group or department actually runs this place?
This process may reveal some uncomfortable facts about your organization, but this is the price you must payâthe feedstock of lasting, positive change.
Brad Weaver Chicago, IL LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/brad-weaver







