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Joined: Jan 2001
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 20 |
Just a note on the continuing decline of the English language in corporate America.
In my company, executives have been groping for years for a word that means 'to encourage by use of incentives.' In other words, a verb to fill in the blank in a sentence like, "We want to [***] our employees to achieve our goals."
But 'encourage' is too weak, since the connotation they're going for is that we're giving people things (key rings, t-shirts, etc.) for doing good work; and 'encourage' seems like a vague pat on the back or a few words.
So 'incent' was tried out for a while, accent on that second syllable, please. "We incent our employees with bonus pay." But the backlash was felt, and the neologism was discarded.
I got a memo yesterday, though, from a manager who was pleased that a particular program was 'incentifying' his employees.
I really dislike both words, but does anyone have an established word that can fill the breach?
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Joined: Jan 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Incentivize is one I've heard in common use. "Incentify" sounds like it belongs back on the Don King thread... 
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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i'd probably have simply used "motivate".
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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My husband's employer also insisted upon "incenting" his employees. Sigh.
How about "motivate?"
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Anonymous
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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In reply to:
LOL... beat ya!!
 
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 163
member
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member
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 163 |
How about inspire?
Perhaps the problem with the management is that they spend so much time twisting the meanings of words they can't recognise a perfectly good and appropriate word when they see it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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I don't agree. This is the well-trodden road of the noun becoming a verb, with a more specific meaning than the existing alternatives.
The noun of an 'incentive' article (gift or other inducement) therefore becomes to incentivize, meaning quite specifically to reward by means of giving this article. IMHO it's not a pretty word. But then few such ~ize formations are! They do seem to serve a need - and that's what surely counts in how language adapts?
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
R-plussed
from the R+ concept (positive reinforcement)
::sigh::
-joe (nonplussed) friday
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old hand
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old hand
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