Do Indian organizations use fear of punishment rather than rewarding achievement of extraordinary results, initiative, and enterprise? Have they so routinized employee rewards that they do not use this important instrument for influencing organizational behaviour and processes? Does this organizational choice of the bases of power emanate from our societal value system? Based on a questionnaire study of 250 employees of a large electronic equipment manufacturing public undertaking, Professors R P Singh and Janak Pandey raise these questions for our examination.