Re: Pay for Knowledge Schemes LO273

Michael McMaster (
Tue, 28 Feb 1995 07:09:02 GMT

Replying to LO263 --

Many years ago, I worked on the North Slope of Alaska consulting those who
worked on the oil platform for ARCO. When the platform started up, the
consortium who owned it had invented a "pay for knowledge" system. The
knowledge they paid for was a multi-skilling approach and each time that a
skill was learned, the pay went up.

I was there five years into the scheme to consider the motivation problems
of staff who had learned all of the available "paying skills" and who were
now too highly paid to quit and had no (external) incentive to learn.

Watch out what you pay for. And think about the end of the scheme - or at
least its extension possibilities. Remember, its all part of a complex
system and none of learning, work nor pay is an isolated matter - and they
all communicate far more than they intend.

Mike McMaster      <>
    "Postmodern society is the society of computers, information, scientific
knowledge, advanced technology, and rapid change due to new advances in
science and technology."          Postmodern Theory, Best & Kellner