Employment and Strategic Compensation
Chapter 1 Setting the Stage for Strategic Compensation, Page 31 2. Presumably, five core job characteristics promote intrinsic compensation. Give examples of jobs that you believe rate highly on these core job characteristics. Explain your answer. Director of Daycare Facility * Skill Variety-Knowledge of upcoming changes in the facility, upcoming health and safety issues regarding children, knowing the many different disabilities that you serve as a daycare and how to handle them.
Task Identity- Knowing when and how to make the right decision on a child when an incident occurs, is a problem solver when teachers run out of ideas on handling children, and enforces all company rules for all staff members. * Task Significance- Making an impact on staff members and making them feel appreciated and that they are doing a good job, maintain the facility to the best of their ability, and enhance a warm and welcoming place for children to come. Autonomy- As a Director you have to hire and fire people that are not fitting the job description, you need to handle disciplinary action when needed and follow the guidebook, and approve and disapprove of budget decisions and pay increases/decreases. * Feedback-Being available for feedback from employees and being responsible for performance evaluations every year, being able to give employees feedback on their jobs and how to better improve themselves as an employee. 3. Identify two companies.
One that you believe pursues a lowest-cost strategy. Another that pursues a differentiation strategy. Relying on personal knowledge, company annual reports, /or articles in newspapers and business periodicals, discuss these companies’ competitive strategies. * Lowest-Cost Strategy-Aldi’s: They offer the same type of food as many other grocery stores just at low reasonable costs. They offer food, toys, and household items.
Simplicity, consistency and responsibility have always been our three defining core values.As an expanding discount retailer, there actions have international influence in different markets and along the supply chain. They are convinced that long-term business success can only be achieved if they are additionally assumed responsible for people, nature and the environment. * Differentiation Strategy-Abercrombie and Fitch- Offer the same items of clothing just more expensive because you are paying for the name brand. With all of their departments from merchandising to design collaborating on their products on campus, they are able to react to emerging trends faster than any other retailer.Cutting edge facilities, technology, and resources are available at your fingertips, making their Home Office a retail playground for the most talented in the industry to grow their careers.
4. Describe your reaction to the following statement: Compensation has no bearing on a company’s performance. * Personally I think it’s important to give a lot of consideration to your business’s compensation structure because it ultimately reflects how employees are valued. * Giving longevity bonuses for employees on the anniversaries of their employment with you says that you value employees who stay with the business.Throwing a party at the end of your business’s busy season lets the employees and their families know that you appreciate it when your people go the extra mile. No matter what compensation elements you use, they all carry a message.
* That message is important. Compensation packages can be linked to business structure, employee recruitment, retention, motivation, performance, feedback and satisfaction. * Compensation is typically among the first things potential employees consider when looking for employment.It is important, therefore, to give a lot of consideration to your business’s compensation structure. After all, for employees, compensation is the equivalent not to how they are paid but, ultimately, to how they are valued. 5.
Are the three main goals of compensation departments equally important, or do you believe that they differ in importance? Give your rational. * 1. To attract and retain the best possible work force considering the resources of the organization * 2. To motivate this work force to achieve a high level of performance * 3.To keep labor costs within the capabilities of the organization * To me the goals work hand in hand with each other and if you don’t have one of the goals then the department isn’t going to work right. You need them all to have a successful business no matter what order they are in.
Chapter 2 Strategic Compensation in Action, Page 65 1. Discuss what strategic compensation means to you. * Strategic compensation is the type of compensation scheme implemented to improve the motivation of your people to perform better. It must also have the potential of strengthening your image as a good employer.A good reward scheme has the potential of motivating employees if implemented with care.
But it can demotivate if poorly handled. There is nothing more immediate in affecting the behavior of employees than a salary scheme that is not designed well or badly implemented even if the scheme is good. 4. Describe why a company’s long-term prospects are an important consideration to compensation professionals. * As a company transitions from startup mode into the expansion stage, the corporate vision becomes clearer and less flexible and the corporate goals readjust and become more long-term focused.Consequently, the benefits of corporate stability increase as employee onboarding and training takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money.
Additionally, high employee turnover leads to significant productivity losses. Thus, it makes sense for maturing companies to start building long-term compensation and benefit incentives into their employee compensation plans as their corporate strategy and goals become more concrete and focused on multi-year horizons. 5. National culture is a more important influence on compensation systems than organizational culture. Discuss whether you agree or disagree with this statement.
Culture is shaped by an organization’s unique history and situational growth. It can be defined as the values, beliefs, and expectations shared by the organization’s members. * A nation’s culture, similar to that of an organization, is comprised of symbols, values, rituals, and traditions of the people living in a particular region. Language, food, and family traditions are all in that national culture. How people behave in public is the same as how they behave within their own home which is associated with the values and standards of their nation or culture. So I personally say that National culture is where we are at right now in society because it is now based more on how you were raised as a child and that is how you treat others and your relationships that you become involved in.
6. Identify three products or services, which you are familiar. Discuss whether these are in growth, maturity, or decline stages. * Android Cellphones- I would consider them to be in a growth stage because every year or two they are coming out with another gadget to add to them and make them faster and more convenient for their customers. Harley Davidson Motorcycles- I would consider them to be in a decline stage.
This is due to the fact that Harley is a differentiated product that a certain group of individuals like, however this group is moving towards retirement stage and are no longer able to ride like they use to. * Taverns- I would consider these to be in a mature stage. Most of them have been around for a while and have dedicated customers so they are not likely to close. While others are hesitant to build ones because of the current economy state.
