Does Higher Pay Make Executives Meaner?
System
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New paper "When Executives Rake in Millions: Meanness in Organizations," says that the more leaders make the worse they treat those lower down the ladder.
[url]http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1612486[/url]
Here's an article about the paper from Harvard Business Review.
[url]http://blogs.hbr.org/research/2010/06/executive-compensation-the-mor.html[/url]
I'm curious to hear your own experience on this since many of you HR types are often the mediator between the C-suite and non-executive employees.
I've seen great bosses and I've seen tyrants and sometimes they made the same amount of money. How they chose to treat people before they were promoted into leadership positions seemed to be magnified the higher they rose up the ladder. Those who were considerate and fair to start with continued that way. Those who were mean from the get go just got meaner as they were promoted.
[url]http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1612486[/url]
Here's an article about the paper from Harvard Business Review.
[url]http://blogs.hbr.org/research/2010/06/executive-compensation-the-mor.html[/url]
I'm curious to hear your own experience on this since many of you HR types are often the mediator between the C-suite and non-executive employees.
I've seen great bosses and I've seen tyrants and sometimes they made the same amount of money. How they chose to treat people before they were promoted into leadership positions seemed to be magnified the higher they rose up the ladder. Those who were considerate and fair to start with continued that way. Those who were mean from the get go just got meaner as they were promoted.
Comments
My personal experience is that it depends.
Another factor may be more about who gets promoted. We always want competitive go-getters, and not necessarily good leaders. Many go-getters do fantastic in the short run, but perhaps not on a continuing basis in the leadership area. However, their success in the short run keeps getting them promoted or they move on before enough time has set in for them to discover their weaknesses. Once they get to the top they have never learned to behave any differently.
Our review processes need to include more than following rules, being on time and meeting work expectations. We should find a way to look for leadership qualities in hiring, training and promoting. A good leader knows when to lead and when to follow others. A good leader knows that kindness and tactfulness are important qualities to have in their arsenal.
I am very fortunate to have a boss who is a great leader. She is younger than me, but for over 20 years I have learned from her how to deal with people and get things done while still inspiring others to work harder. I wish there were more leaders like her. We would all be better off.
I didn't reply yet because I wanted to take more time to read the paper itself. After doing that, I have no real issue with the research, but I [B]do[/B] have an issue with the conclusion of the HBR author - particularly, the 'headline'. It's a classic case of correlation vs. causation... or, as some might say, chicken-or-the-egg. I didn't see anything that supported a conclusion that higher salary makes you meaner. An alternate - and just as likely - take would be "Mean People Are More Likely to be Promoted".
I hate junk conclusions.
Have a great week-end!
Dasher, glad to know I wasn't alone in this. I was just afraid I had broken some forum rule or code of conduct I didn't know about.
Not sure what happens -- it has happened to me before and our IT staff has not been able to figure it out.