Paper details
INSTRUCTIONS
From your readings and discussions of historical approaches to pay and work, it should be clear that great
efforts have been made to link performance and pay. But, from popular business news, we should also be
aware that the practical link of pay to work is not always set up in an equitable environment. Favoritism,
nepotism, and other human shortcomings can and do interfere with the implementation of the best plans.
How to prevent those shortcomings becomes a difficult challenge for HR managers.
If you were designing an incentive plan for a publicly traded company, whose voice do you think should
provide that ethical audit at the table of decision makers? The chairman? The board of directors? The
shareholders? The employees? The executive team or compensation committee? Outside consultants?
Internal HR director? A combination of all of these?
Who in your mind would be the best to ensure that the incentive plan does not cross the line and motivate
the wrong kind of behavior—the kind that turns a plan from motivating good behavior into motivating wrongdoing based on the potential for a high reward?In addition, provide at least one reference to a company you have worked for or read about where
someone, motivated by the potential gain from an incentive plan, went beyond the policy and the law,
breaking all the rules.
Consider articles from any of the popular business magazines you read regularly or conduct a quick search
for any articles that have been published currently. An easy search would include incentive pay,
shareholders, and pay policy.
Prepare a succinct opinion in two paragraphs or fewer and post it in this unit’s discussion area.
RESOURCES
Readings
Use your text to complete the following:
-Read Chapter 9, “Pay-for-Performance: Theory and Evidence,” in your text to review the theories of
motivating behavior in work environments. You will learn how companies have evolved to consider the
broader issues of organizational strategy and employee behavior, and how both of these factors link to a
total compensation strategy—especially one with incentive plans.
-Read Chapter 10, “Pay-for-Performance: Types of Plans,” in your text for definitions of pay plans in the
market. In this chapter, study the options for creating incentive plans. One of this course’s goals is for you
to become familiar with their existence and how they can target specific rewards to the actual quality of
work being performed. In most cases, the individual mechanics of any plan will be determined by the
companies, their goals, and their economic capability to pay. However, as a student of human resources
management, it is important to understand that options are available for designing a plan and to begin
imagining the future of incentive plans.