solved 1. I actually work now at a company that I

1. I actually work now at a company that I love! Although I do have my eye on one of the management jobs that will open up in the next few years, the incentive plan I have now is the same incentive plan associated with that job. This question actually made me laugh because the incentive plan here has actually changed since I started here 10 years ago. Our quarterly incentive bonuses here are based on 3 things, financial performance, production, and safety. As far as what incentives are based on, individual, group, or organizational performance, I think the factor being measured makes a difference. In an industry, like I am in, when bonuses are based on finance, production, and safety, the financial and production areas can really only be measured by looking at the organization’s overall performance. For the safety portion though, it can, and in my opinion should be, individualized. When I started here, for the safety portion, if one person got hurt, it prevented the entire team from receiving that part of the bonus. Although we do work very safely, we did go through a period of time where we had 3 injuries in a row. Each time one of these injuries happened, some employees held a grudge toward the person who got hurt for ruining the bonus. The management team got together and decided that it really wasn’t fair to take away one person’s safety bonus who remained safe all quarter just because one person got hurt. So the incentive plan was restructured to say that. That being said, I like the plan much better now that it is restructured to focus on individual performance in that area. I don’t think something like incentives and bonuses should be judged by group performance for something like that, but in some cases, overall performance would really be the only way to measure certain aspects.
I think a major benefit of this pay strategy is that it will drive executives to always work hard and give their best in order to keep the company moving in the right direction. I think a risk could be overcompensating an executive because the stock price can vary based on so many factors, such as current demand. I think the risk can be addressed by taking the time to really sit down and talk about what all could affect the price of the stock and how it may not always be linked to executive performance. Find a system to keep in place that will monitor increases in stock price and figure out why it is happening.

2. My ideal job would have flexible work schedules, the ability to work remotely, an appropriate salary with the potential for a bonus, and a company that is not corporately running. I would be more specific with what type of industry or position I would like to be in but, I still haven’t figured that out yet. If my future ideal job offered incentive pay for performance, I would want it to be based off of my individual performance. If you asked me this before college I would probably say group performance because that would be more will power to help bring in more of an opportunity for a bonus. Now that I have experienced multiple group class projects I have learned that the only way to get things done is to do it yourself. I am not saying all of my group projects have been done by me but when you have to rely on others, sometimes you get let down. I feel as if I was only graded on my personal performance it would push me more to make myself stand out because I would be the only factor holding myself back from not getting a bonus.
I think the obvious major benefit of a company’s CEO being linked to the company’s stock price is to encourage the production and output of the company. I think it also hold the CEO to a higher accountability, if he is not running things properly and the company is losing stock value, he is the main one affected. The main risk is that even if the company is thriving and there is a stock market crash the CEO would take a major pay cut which could affect the company as a whole.  Overall there is major pay benefits and encouragement for the CEO.