Re:The Least Stressful Job for 2013? A Real Look at Being a ...
by lmkg on Sunday January 06, 2013 @01:07PM
(#5017039)
And I think the point that zimbu668 is making, is that such situations are still not unique to academia. Perverse or misaligned incentives are the norm in quite a few industries.
For example, sales guys are compensated based on sticker price, not profit margin, which means that the guy who sells $2MM of work for $1MM (i.e. at a loss) gets more commission than the guy who sells $0.5MM worth of work for $0.75MM. For another example, grading programmers by lines of code... 'nuf said ;). Another totally ubiquitous example: grading office workers by ass-in-seat time rather than value produced. Another also ubiquitous example: Departments in a company encouraged to spend as much money as they can at the end of the quarter, so their next budget doesn't get cut.
I could go on, but I'll stop here. The point is, even if "publish or perish" refers to misaligned incentives, that still means it's basically the same as 90% of other jobs out there.
For example, sales guys are compensated based on sticker price, not profit margin, which means that the guy who sells $2MM of work for $1MM (i.e. at a loss) gets more commission than the guy who sells $0.5MM worth of work for $0.75MM. For another example, grading programmers by lines of code... 'nuf said ;). Another totally ubiquitous example: grading office workers by ass-in-seat time rather than value produced. Another also ubiquitous example: Departments in a company encouraged to spend as much money as they can at the end of the quarter, so their next budget doesn't get cut.
I could go on, but I'll stop here. The point is, even if "publish or perish" refers to misaligned incentives, that still means it's basically the same as 90% of other jobs out there.