工作表現不佳爲“老虎伍茲效應”在作怪

A brilliant employee should – in theory – be an inspiration to colleagues.

But rather than raising their game, workmates put in a worse performance when in the presence of a high-flier, experts say.

They have called this phenomenon the Tiger Woods Effect after analysing the performances of golfers from 1999 to 2010 while Woods was far and away the world number one.

When he was at the peak of his powers, other top players shot worse scores in tournaments in which he participated than they did in similar events if he was absent, as if his presence inhibited them.

And because of this, Woods earned around £4million more from these contests than he would have done if his rivals had played their normal game, economists found.

The remarkable effect on golfers could apply just as much in a workplace, according to the researchers at Chicago’s Northwestern University.

In particular, the Tiger factor could affect offices where one worker keeps winning ‘employee of the month’ or regular bonuses for making the most sales.

Instead of trying to compete, other staff – like Tiger’s opponents – simply stop trying as hard because they don’t think they are going to win.

The report, published in the Journal of Political Economy, said: 'His superstar status hobbles the competition.'

Northwestern economist Jennifer Brown said the same could apply in certain, competitive, office environments.

Her study added: 'For example, a company may reward its top monthly salesperson with some extra money or a prize - the idea being that competition increases everybody's effort.

'But what if one salesperson seems to win every month? The others might slack off, knowing they have little chance to take the prize.'理論上說，一名出色的員工應該能夠激勵同事。

但專家認爲，在有高手在場時，其他員工不僅無法表現得更好，反而會表現更差。

研究人員在分析了1999年到2010年老虎伍茲毫無疑問佔據全球第一這段時期的高爾夫球手們的表現之後，把這種現象稱之爲“老虎伍茲效應”。

老虎伍茲處於巔峯時，其他頂級選手在有他參加的錦標賽中得分低於沒有他參加的類似賽事，就好像他的出現妨礙了球手的發揮。

經濟學家發現，正因如此，和對手發揮正常時相比，老虎伍茲從比賽中多掙了400萬美元。

芝加哥西北大學的研究人員稱，這種情況對高爾夫球手的顯著影響在工作場所同樣適用。

如果某位員工連續獲評“本月最佳員工”或者經常因爲銷售額最高獲得獎金，“老虎伍茲效應”對辦公室的影響尤其顯著。

其它員工，就像老虎伍茲的對手一樣，不會奮力競爭，而是不再一如既往地努力，因爲他們認爲自己不會勝出。

《政治經濟學雜誌》發佈的這份報告稱：“老虎伍茲的巨星地位阻礙了競爭。”

西北大學經濟學家詹妮弗•布朗稱，這種效應同樣適用於特定的競爭性辦公環境。

她的研究補充道：“例如，公司也許會獎勵月度銷售冠軍獎金或者獎品，認爲競爭會激勵每位員工。”

“但是如果某位員工每個月都得獎呢？其他人知道自己幾乎沒機會獲獎，就會懈怠下來。”