Description

Before beginning work on this week’s discussion forum, please review the link Doing Discussion Questions Right, the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this week’s topic.

Determining appropriate compensation and benefits represents one of the many challenges in HRM.

Select any one of the following starter bullet point sections. Review the important themes within the sub questions of each bullet point. The sub questions are designed to get you thinking about some of the important issues. Your response should provide a succinct synthesis of the key themes in a way that articulates a clear point, position, or conclusion supported by research.

Select a different bullet point section than what your classmates have already posted so that we can engage several discussions on relevant topics. If all of the bullet points have been addressed, then you may begin to re-use the bullet points with the expectation that varied responses continue.

  • Two important factors in determining pay for any given position are the position’s pay in relation to the marketplace (external equity) and the position’s pay relative to others within the organization (internal equity).
    • Evaluate potential pros and cons of using either external or internal equity but not the other.
    • Assess how the Equal Pay Act (EPA) of 1963 and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 might impact the use of external and internal equity to determine pay.
    • What action steps should HRM consider?
  • Multiple publications regularly report on CEO compensation. The themes in those reports are usually similar including (a) CEO pay rates tended to grow more rapidly than other executives during the last three decades, (b) CEOs are often paid 250 times (or more!) than their average employee, and (c) CEO pay may not be dependent upon company performance.
    • Evaluate executive compensation. Is it too much? Is it justified? Is it equitable?
    • What are the potential factors that contribute to how executives are compensated?
  • Although the health benefit landscape for organizations has changed as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), assessing the potential strategic value of health benefits remains an important leadership question.
    • For example, are health benefits primarily a cost issue to manage or eliminate?
    • Are health benefits primarily an attraction and retention tool? Or, do they affect productivity and can be considered a potential business advantage?
    • Evaluate the role of health care benefits in organizations.
  • Lawler (2008) proposed that organizations shift their compensation policies to focus on the person rather than the job. In other words, pay should be based on the quality of performance as tied to strategic objectives rather than job categories or industry pay rates.
    • Evaluate the pros and cons of Lawler’s position.
    • Assess the leadership issues that are embedded in Lawler’s view.
  • Consider the following reflection questions:
    • Why do people choose their jobs or careers?
    • What causes people to be satisfied with their jobs or careers?
    • What causes them to leave their jobs or careers?
    • Assess the critical factors pertaining to job selection, satisfaction, retention, and performance. In other words, what can HRM do to attract, satisfy, retain, and stimulate high performance in workers?

Lawler, E. E., III. (2008). Rewarding excellence: Pay strategies for the new economy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

Your posting should be the equivalent of 1 to 2 single-spaced pages (500–1000 words) in length.