Organizational Behavior (Stephen Robbins)

Chapter 4Motivating Self and Others 131

Scholarships for Jocks: Skills or Smarts?

Should university athletes be awarded money just for their athletic abilities? Jack

Drover, athletic director at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick,

thinks not.10 4He objects to student-athlete awards that are often offered because of

what coaches and teams need rather than what the individual student needs.

Many university presidents react negatively to schools using financial rewards to

recruit athletes. Some high school athletes can get full-tuition scholarships to uni-

versity, even though they have not achieved high marks in school. While not every

university finds this problematic, others feel awarding scholarships that don’t rec-

ognize academic achievement or financial need is “an affront to the values of higher

education.”

Schools across the country interpret the rules for scholarships differently, which may

affect the quality of school sports teams. Universities in Ontario (which rarely give

scholarships to first-year students) have had particular difficulty competing with

schools across the country. For example, since 1995 only two football teams in

Ontario have won the Vanier Cup: the Ottawa Gee Gees (2000) and the Wilfrid

Laurier Golden Hawks (2005); the University of Ottawa is one of the few schools

in the province that gives many athletic scholarships. In contrast, the Saint Mary’s

Huskies of Halifax, Nova Scotia, has been in the Vanier Cup final four times since

1999, winning twice. Rivals claim that a reason for the team’s successes is its “plen-

tiful” athletic scholarships.10 5Some members of Canadian Interuniversity Sport

(CIS) suggest that a level playing field, with no scholarships granted to first-year ath-

letes except in cases of financial need and academic merit, would be fairer to all

teams. CIS president Marg MacGregor, however, argues that “We’re asking a lot of

our students when we say compete every weekend and practise all the time without

any support.”

EXHIBIT 4-11 Comparing Various Pay Programs

Approach Strengths Weaknesses

Variable pay

Team-based rewards

Skill-based pay

• Motivates for performance.


• Cost-effective.


• Clearly links organizational goals and
  individual rewards.


• Encourages individuals to work together
  effectively.


• Promotes goal of team-based work.


• Increases the skill levels of employees.


• Increases the flexibility of the workforce.


• Can reduce the number of
  employees needed.
  
  
  • Individuals do not always have control
    over factors that affect productivity.
  
  
  • Earnings vary from year to year.
  
  
  • Can cause unhealthy competition among
    employees.
  
  
  • Difficult to evaluate team performance
    sometimes.
  
  
  • Equity problems could arise if all
    members paid equally.
  
  
  • Employers may end up paying for
    unneeded skills.
  
  
  • Employees may not be able to learn some
    skills, and thus feel demotivated.
  
  
  
  

OB IN THE STREET