ABSTRACT
Use of materials and services for personal ends, individual or group, is, officially forbidden, for in both plant theory and popular usage this is theft. This chapter considers the informal phases of administration where possible requires scrutiny of this generally known but taboo subject. Always there are genuine transitional nuances, with debatable margins, between covert internal theft and tacit inducement or reward. Distinguished executives and specialized students admit that the whole subject of reward is so dynamic that attempts either rigidly to define motivation or specifically to reward managers are both likely to go amiss. Between theft and informal reward is the gray-green practice of expense-accounting, which is also related to rank. Unofficial rewards are of course given for uncovering pure theft and misuse of materials. The Rambeau Mart, member of a state chain, was one of the most flourishing department stores in the Mobile Acres area, and probably owed much of its solidarity to its flexible unofficial incentives.
