The Predictable Outrage over Outrageous Executive Pay
By Michelle Malay Carter on June 16, 2009
The following is part one of a three-part post on Felt Fair Compensation.?
This Felt Fair Pay series was authored by my colleague, Barry Deane of PeopleFit Australasia.? My hat is off to him for addressing the topic so thoroughly and for backing it with historical data and research citations.
Paying Executives More For Less?
Interest in what is seen as excessive executive pay, has been gathering over a number of years now ? at least ten years. The current financial melt-down provides emphasis as attempts are made to reconcile excesses of pay with business results.
Could We Ever Agree on Fair Pay?
Watching this game of executive justification for excess (e.g. ?My job is really, really big, and I deserve as much as I can get.?) being met by public anxiety (?It sure seems a lot, but then maybe I couldn?t do such a really big job, or maybe I?m just envious?), one could be forgiven for thinking that the question, ?What is fair pay?? cannot possibly be answered.
We Already Have
The ?fact? is that work to address this question has already been done – and the key determinants of ?felt fair pay? have been identified. At the very least one might say that there is compelling science-based evidence that this question has been answered substantially.
An Evidence-Based Way to Pay?
The more troubling question to me is why it is that in all of the current public debate on this subject, there appears to be no expectation that board directors, legislators and policy makers must find and use an objective, evidence-based link between the work being done and the assignment of pay for that work?
Can We PROVE Executive Pay is Excessive?
The presence of significant and persistent community outrage about executive pay is predicted by the substantial, science-based field work that has already been done. The work also suggests that such (predictable) outrage is founded in deep feelings about fairness and justice. Surely it is important (now more than ever) for us to know whether such feelings are justified and, if they are, what might underpin them? It is a fact that the work that has been done points decisively to such a community-based idea about fair pay and to the key determinants for achieving that.
More on this tomorrow…
Come back tomorrow and Thursday for Parts?2 and 3 of this guest series written by Barry Deane.
Filed Under Executive Leadership, Felt Fair Compensation, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Strategy, Talent Management, Work Levels
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