Managers say they want people who challenge the system, who tell them what they think and who give candid, honest feedback. But instead, they frequently reward brown-nosers without meaning to. That's because unintentionally, CIOs create environments where people learn that sucking up works. The unconscious effect is that people become preoccupied with the wrong thing. Rather than doing their job, they focus on making their manager happy. To stop rewarding this behavior, rank your direct reports by asking them:

• (1) how much they like you
• (2) how much they are like you
• (3) what their contribution is to the company and its customers
• (4) how much positive personal recognition you give them

If 4 is more highly correlated with 1 and 2 than with 3, that means you're teaching other people to suck up to you.

Read more on employees sucking up:
- read the article at ComputerWorld