same competition is conducted within the organization
which enhances employee engagement. Deloitte has also
used gamification for knowledge sharing. A mobile app
similar to the location sharing app foursquare was created. It rewarded the employees for checking in and allowed them to share who they were with, what they
were doing and where they were. According to Deloitte
they have seen an increase in knowledge sharing, and
“Better alignment between the company and its employees”, hence reducing turnover.
Fig3
Deloitte Leadership
Academy – Simplified
Use Case.
Effectiveness and Issues:
According to Gartner, three objectives must be fulfilled in
order for gamification to be effective1. Clarity in Goals and Roles
2. Clarity in Narrative and Interface
3.
Accelerated Feedback
But not all employees have the same goals or roles. Motivation for each person is different and therein lies the
problem of acceptability of a gamified system. Any such
process in HR would most likely be viewed in negative
light rather than an engaging tool. Most business leaders
feel that translating the concept of gamification to employee’s business processes in a way that engages them,
and results in productivity still seems elusive despite existing implementations.
Geographies also play an important role in game design for
organisations. Hofstede’s dimensions rate India high on power
distance and collectivism, making
its games markedly different from
the games played in individualist
cultures like the US. Thus, for India, role based and hierarchy based access need to be incorporated into gamified
processes.
Another issue is that the current gamified systems are
considered superficial and are dubbed as ‘Pointsification’
systems. Merely points or rewards don’t result in enhanced output. Providing an in-product marketplace to
convert those points into goods and services is a great
way of motivating employees especially those in sales
jobs. The rewards should be in line with employees expectations as well as proportionate to the task that they
need to accomplish. The focus needs to be on employee
psychology and personality . More extreme critics also
term it as ‘Exploitationware’- A way to replace real rewards like money with fictional ones. Companies would
start using virtual techniques of motivation that result in
no tangible rewards. It would be akin to tricking employees and would undermine the employee-employer relationship, ultimately resulting in loss of productivity to
both sides. Hence, honesty and transparency is extremely
important while implementing these systems.
Conclusion:
While organisations have been slow in adopting gamification, especially in India, there are third party recruitment
agencies which are incorporating game elements into
their systems. Additionally, it has found increasing acceptance in the areas of learning and development as
illustrated by Deloitte Leadership Academy and also recruitment as illustrated by Mahindra War Room, L’Oreal
Brandstorm. The concept is equally applicable in other
areas of HR. However HR managers need to understand
that motivation is more than just points or badges and
ensure that ethics or labour laws are not compromised
when systems are gamified.
Figure 4 L’Oreal also uses gamification
for recruitment
17
October 2014 |CONSILIUM