Week 9 Discussion

Salaries and Wages: Direct Financial Compensation

The system of salaries and wages, or direct financial compensation, provided by an organization vitally impacts its ability to attract and retain talented employees. The design of an organization's pay system is not a simple matter but one that balances many forces: equity issues, labor markets, an organization's financial health, and federal laws to name a few. Knowing how to weigh these issues to arrive at a balanced plan appropriate for your particular organization is the mark of a manager well-versed in the skills of human resource management.

For this Discussion, review this week’s Resources.Review Chapter 7 of Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. Pay particular attention to the factors that influence compensation policies. Focus on how the pay system issues and concepts may affect government and non-profit organizations differently. For example, you may wish to discuss the issue of external equity and local government pay systems.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 a brief description of a compensation issue in a government or non-profit organization. Explain how the issue might impact the pay system of the government or non-profit organization you selected.

Note: Identify the compensation issue on the first line of your post. You will respond to a colleague who discussed a compensation issue that you did not.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the resources.

Week 9 Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of this week's assigned Learning Resources.

Required Resources

Readings

• Pynes, J. E. (2013). Human resources management for public and nonprofit organizations: A strategic approach (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  • Chapter 7, "Compensation" (pp. 211–241)
  • Chapter 11, "Labor-Management Relations: Collective Bargaining in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors" (pp. 341–367)
• Chandler, T. D., & Gely, R. (2011). Card-check laws and public-sector union membership in the states. Labor Studies Journal, 36(4), 445–459.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Jost, K. (2011). Public-employee unions. CQ Researcher, 21(14), 313–336.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Kearney, R. C. (2010). Public sector labor – management relations: Change or status quo? Review of Public Personnel Administration, 30(1), 89–111.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Kniffin, K. M. (2011). Organizing to organize: The case of a successful long-haul campaign for collective bargaining rights. Labor Studies Journal, 36(3), 333–362.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Kochan, T. A. (2011). Transforming public sector labor management relations: A call to action. MIT Sloan School of Management: Institute for Work and Employment Research. Retrieved from http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/programs/s...
  Kochan, T.A. (2011). Transforming Public Sector Labor Management Relations: A Call to Action. MIT Sloan School of Management: Institute for Work and Employment Research. Retrieved from: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/programs/s...
• Pynes, J. (2009). Exercise 12.1: No union-related e-mail. In Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Strategic Approach (p. 370). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  Human resources management for Public and nonprofit organizations: a strategic approach (4th ed.) by Pynes, J. Copyright 2009 by John Wiley and Sons. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley and Sons via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Please proceed to the Discussion.