“Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers” and the Principal-Agent Problem
Ephesians 6 says
5: Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
6: Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
7: With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
8: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
9: And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Verse 6 is, of course, a solution to the principal-agent problem. Verse 9 is interesting too, though. It seems to say that the principal should not design a contract that uses material incentives to induce the agent to work hard. Rather, he should rely on the agent’s honesty. Is this just in the context of Christian masters and servants? Is it to be taken literally? I have always thought it good to have some material incentives in place as an encouragement to agents to be honest. To not monitor is to put the agent under more temptation to sin by slacking. So I am reluctant to interpret verse 9 as to remove incentives.
On the other hand, there is a parallel here to faith versus works. The Law worked by command and punishments, and by so doing, it encouraged people to achieve the bare minimum necessary to avoid punishment. In Roman Catholicism, the nasty notion of necessary works versus “supererogatory works” arose in the same way. What we hope for, rather, is for works to be done out of love for the master—or for God— and not constrained by the incentives put in place.
March 7th, 2006 at 6:42 am
“Forbearing threatening” — I don’t think that eliminates the idea of material incentives, or monitoring. I always read it (without thinking much about it, it’s true) as referring to threats of physical punishment and verbal abuse, particularly when disproportionate to the offense. (Think of the kind of boss who strikes everyone as abusive and humiliating.)