Incentives Get Academic

Meetings & Conventions: Incentive News

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY TO HOUSE CENTER FOR PERFORMANCE STUDIES Incentives Get Academic

Don Shultz Dozens of studies and surveys of the incentive and performance improvement industry have been conducted over the years, but the industry has not had a single clearinghouse to coordinate and compile the various findings until now.

The Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement has been established at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, based in Evanston, Ill., under the aegis of the school’s Integrated Marketing Communications Department.

According to Don Schultz, professor emeritus in the IMC department and one of three faculty members who will oversee the program, the center will develop financial models to determine values of motivation and incentives, develop a graduate-level course curriculum for motivation strategies (Northwestern will offer the course next year) and publish a textbook on the topic, in addition to being an academic center for industry research.

The forum is an initiative of the Incentive Performance Center, a nonprofit organization that was formed to promote professional use of incentives.

Funding for the center was provided by the IPC and several industry associations, including the Naperville, Ill.-based Incentive Marketing Association and the New York City-based Society of Incentive & Travel Executives’ Foundation, as well as performance improvement firms such as Minneapolis-based Carlson Marketing Group; New York City-based EGR International; West Des Moines, Iowa-based ITA Group; and Atlanta-based USMotivation.

For its part, Northwestern lends the expertise of its faculty to the effort, along with the space to host seminars and conferences on campus, said Schultz.