IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July 2015 - 75

successful and unsuccessful game deployments focused on
crowdsourcing employee efforts.

SKILL TYPES
CORE WORK SKILLS
Core skills are skills that everyone uses regularly as part of their
day-to-day tasks. Examples may include the ability to type, the
ability to speak a language, or maybe industry-specific skills
such as the ability to program a computer or drive a truck.

SkillsBehaviors
Matrix

Core
Work Skills

Unique
Work Skills

Expanding
Work Skills

In-Role
Behaviors
Organizational
Citizenship
Behaviors

UNIQUE WORK SKILLS
Unique skills are specific to an individual or set of individuals and
are generally the reason that the employees are paid. Examples of
unique skills include deep technical knowledge of an area, the
relationship with a given customer or client, the ability to drive a
certain type of vehicle, or the achievement of a specific trade
license or certification. These unique skills differentiate employees
and are often the basis for rewards from the organization.

EXPANDING WORK SKILLS
Expanding skills are skills that employees can learn to differentiate themselves, improve their performance, and be able to
take on new tasks.

BEHAVIOR TYPES
IN-ROLE BEHAVIORS
In-role behaviors are things that an employee does every day as part
of his/her job. Examples include showing up for work, logging onto
a computer, performing a certain test, and checking the status of a
machine. The completion of these tasks or behaviors is rewarded by
the organization with a paycheck, bonus, or promotion.

ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS
Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are individual discretionary behaviors, not directly or explicitly recognized by the
formal reward system, that in the aggregate promote the effective functioning of the organization [2]. There are a number of
different models that identify different types of citizenship
behaviors, but, in general, they cover behaviors such as altruism,
conscientiousness, doing the right thing, good sportsmanship,
and civic duty. There is research showing that the existence of
citizenship behaviors has a direct relationship to the health of the
organization as well as its productivity and profitability [3].
Also, while these behaviors are not specifically rewarded by an
organization, employees who exhibit citizenship behaviors generally fare better in their careers in the long run.

WHERE GAMES WORK AND WHERE THEY DON'T:
THE SKILLS-BEHAVIORS MATRIX
Game mechanics may increase short-term performance, but they
can also have damaging effects on employee satisfaction and
motivation if deployed incorrectly. The idea of a "do more
work" badge is how many companies use gamification techniques. The assumption that adding a game on top of regular

FIGURE 1. A skills-behaviors matrix.

work will motivate employees to work harder and longer is not
as true as it may seem. This will result in a situation where
employees are confused between the extrinsic rewards of the
game and the extrinsic rewards of the organization and the
intrinsic rewards that bring them to work. Consider the fact that
an employee who does poorly in a game designed around the
skills in his/her job can be humiliated by losing to others or confused about whether winning means a promotion or a salary
increase. For instance, the "Do Dan's Job" game would be a
strange one for Dan to place fifth on the leaderboard or be
unable to move past a basic level. Many companies will deploy
off-the-shelf game mechanics such as badges, points, and leaderboards and then be surprised at either the employee pushback or
the short-term increase in productivity followed by a large dropoff in satisfaction and motivation.
The completed skills-behaviors matrix in Figure 1 illustrates
where games in the workplace can be successful. The green
check marks indicate the intersection of desired skills and
behaviors where games can be successful in the workplace. All
of the red Xs indicate the combinations of skills and behaviors
where games can either be unsuccessful or damaging.
The two areas where games are successful in the workplace
are helping to expand the skills used in everyday in-role behaviors
and applying core skills to citizenship behaviors. Helping employees grow their skills through learning is an easy place to apply
games in the workplace. Language-learning software such as
Rosetta Stone or Duo Lingo are great examples of the application
of game mechanics and learning. The rewards in these games do
not conflict with the rewards of the organization, but the skills are
immediately applicable. Another interesting area in which to

TABLE 1. U.S. gamification statistics [1].
A characterization of the American gamer:
▼ 59% of Americans play games.
▼ The average age of a gamer is 31.
▼ 74% of K-8 classrooms use digital games.
▼ 48% of gamers are women.
▼ YouTube gaming channels generate more than 3.5 billion
views a month.

july 2015

IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July 2015