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CHAPTER ONE
THE PAY MODEL
Overview
Part One, Introducing the Pay Model and Pay Strategy, contains chapters one and two and begins
by talking about what “pay” means and how paying people in different ways can influence them
and, in turn, organization success. The two chapters describe the compensation policies and
techniques that organizations use and the multiple objectives they hope to achieve by effectively
managing these compensation decisions. The aim of Part One is to understand how
compensation strategy decisions interact with the specific context of an organization (its business
and human resource strategies) to influence organization success. The authors emphasize that
good theory and research are fundamental to not only understanding compensation’s likely
effects, but also to developing that healthy skepticism needed toward simplistic claims about
what works and what does not.
Chapter one starts with a discussion on the role of poorly designed compensation plans in the
current economic situation. It provides an overview of the key components of a compensation
system. The definition of compensation is initially explored from the perspectives of the society,
stockholders, the organization, and the external environment. Next, the various forms of pay are
identified and defined. The major focus is presenting a pay model that provides a structure for
understanding compensation systems. The three main components of the model are (1)
compensation objectives, including the importance given to ethics; (2) policy decisions that
guide the way objectives will be achieved; and (3) techniques that make up the pay system. The
book plan is outlined at the end of chapter one. The remaining chapters examine each of the four
policy decisions—internal alignment, external competitiveness, employee performance, and
management—as well as the techniques, new directions, and related research.
Learning Objectives
 Compare the benefits of well-designed compensation systems to the detriments of poorly

designed compensation systems.
 Define compensation from the perspectives of society, stockholders, the organization,
and the external environment.
 Examine the various forms of pay including cash compensation, benefits, total earnings
opportunities, and relational returns from work.
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill
Education.
Chapter One: The Pay Model 1-2
 Understand the three components of the pay model: compensation objectives, policy
choices, and pay techniques.
Education.
Lecture Outline: Overview of Major Topics
I. Compensation: Does it Matter (or, “So What?”)

II. Compensation: Definition, Please
A. Society
B. Stockholders
C. Managers
D. Employees
E. Incentive and Sorting Effects of Pay on Employee Behaviors
F. Global Views – Vive la différence
III. Forms of Pay
A. Cash Compensation: Base
B. Cash Compensation: Merit Increases/Merit Bonuses/COLAs
C. Cash Compensation: Incentives
D. Long-Term Incentives
E. Benefits: Income Protection
F. Benefits: Work/Life Balance
G. Benefits: Allowances
H. Total Earnings Opportunities: Present Value of a Stream of Earnings
I. Relational Returns from Work
IV. A Pay Model
A. Compensation Objectives
B. Four Policy Choices
C. Pay Techniques
V. Book Plan
VI. Caveat Emptor—Be an Informed Consumer
A. Is the Research Useful?
B. Does the Study Separate Correlation from Causation?
C. Are There Alternative Explanations?
VII. Your Turn—The Role of Labor Costs in Retail Electronics
Education.
Lecture Outline: Summary of Key Chapter Points
I. Compensation: Does It Matter (Or, “So What?”)
 The role of poorly designed compensation plans in the recent economic downturn is
analyzed from different perspectives.
 Companies that failed in recent times had labor costs higher than competition without
the corresponding advantages in efficiency, quality, and customer service.
o Examples in the text include Chrysler and General Motors (GM).
 Successful companies had relatively high pay as well as higher productivity compared
to competitors. The example is the text is of Nucor Steel.
 Wall Street financial services firms and banks used incentive plans that rewarded
people for developing “innovative” new financial investment vehicles and for taking
risks to earn themselves and their firms a lot of money.
 When the markets discovered that many such risks had gone bad, the firms either had to
file for bankruptcy or wait for other companies to take them over.
 Congress and the President thought greater expertise in the design and execution of
compensation plans would have controlled excessive risk-taking and prevented other
problematic behaviors while promoting a positive culture.
 The resulting legislation was the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which
included restrictions on executive pay and discouraged executives from taking
“unnecessary and excessive risks.”
 How people are paid affects their behavior at work, which affects an organization’s
success.
o For most employers, compensation is a major part of total cost, and often it is the
single largest part of operating costs.
 Well-designed compensation systems can help an organization achieve and sustain
competitive advantage.
o Poorly designed compensation systems can play a major role in undermining
organization success.
II. Compensation: Definition, Please
 People’s view of compensation differs depending on whether they look at

compensation from the perspective of a member of society, a stockholder, a manager,
or an employee.
o Thus, the text analyzes the definition and importance of compensation from several
different perspectives.
A. Society
 Some people see pay as a measure of justice.
Education.
o For example: comparing earnings of women with those of men highlights

potential pay inequities.
o In 2016, among full-time workers in the United States, women earned 82%
of what men earned, up from 62% in 1979.
o If women had the same education, experience, and union coverage as men
and worked in the same industries and occupations, the ratio could increase
as high as 90%, still leaving a sizable gap.
 Society has taken interest in such earning differentials by introducing laws and
regulation aimed at eliminating the role of discrimination in causing them.
 Benefits given as a part of total compensation may also be seen as a reflection
of societal equity or justice.
 Civilian employers spend about 46 cents for benefits on top of every dollar paid
for wages and salaries. For state and local government employers, it is even
higher at 60 cents.
 Job losses or gains in a country over time are partly a function of relative labor
costs (and productivity) across countries.
 Exhibit 1.1 reveals that the hourly compensation (wages plus benefits) for
Mexican manufacturing work ($3.91) are about 10% of those paid in the U.S.
($36.34).
o However, the value of what is produced also needs to be considered.
Mexican worker productivity is 34% of the U.S. level.
 Some consumers know that pay increases often lead to price increases.
o They do not believe that higher labor costs benefit them.
o Other consumers lobby for higher wages.
B. Stockholders
 Stockholders differ on their views of whether employees should be given stock
options or not.
o Supporters of this thought believe that it creates a sense of ownership that
will improve performance and eventually increase stockholder wealth.
o Opponents argue that granting employees too much ownership dilutes
stockholder wealth.
 Stockholders have a particular interest in executive pay.
o To the degree that the interests of executives are aligned with those of
shareholders (e.g., by paying executives on the basis of company
performance measures such as shareholder return), the hope is that company
performance will be higher.
 In the absence of a linkage between executive pay and company performance,
concerns arise that the executives can somehow use their influence to obtain
high pay without necessarily performing well.
Education.
 Exhibit 1.2 provides data on CEO compensation.

o Note the large total annual compensation of $11.5 million and that the bulk
of compensation is connected to shareholder return or short-term
performance measures.
o As such, do not expect changes in CEO wealth and shareholder wealth to be
aligned.
o More on this topic in Chapter 14.
 Shareholders can influence executive compensation decisions through
shareholder proposals and election of directors in proxy votes.
 In addition, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
on 2010 has a provision of “say on pay,” requiring public companies to submit
their executive compensation plan to a nonbinding vote by shareholders.
C. Managers
 Managers view compensation as influencing their success in two ways.
o First, compensation is a major expense that needs managing.
 Competitive pressures force managers to consider the affordability of
compensation decisions since labor costs can account for more than 50%
of total costs. Some industries are even higher.
 Labor costs as a percent of total costs vary among individual firms.
 The neighborhood grocery, with labor costs between 15-18%, have
been run out of business by supermarkets with lower labor costs of
9-12%.
 Warehouse club stores enjoy even lower cost of labor at 4-6%.
 Now that Amazon has entered grocery sales it will cause further cost
reductions and disruption.
 Exhibit 1.3 compares the hourly pay rate for retail workers at Costco to
that at Walmart and Sam’s Club.
 Costco chose to pay higher wages to attract and retain a higher
quality workforce.
 As Exhibit 1.3 shows, Costco is quite successful in terms of
employee retention, customer satisfaction, and the efficiency with
which it generates sales.
o Second, it is a major determinant of employee attitudes and behaviors (and
thus, organization performance).
 A manager can use pay to influence employee behaviors and improve
the organization’s performance.
 High pay, if it brings high returns, is one strategy.
 Pay affects quality of employee’s work, their attitude toward customers,
their willingness to be flexible, learn new skills, or suggest innovations.
Education.
 Pay also may drive employees to unions or even legal action.
D. Employees
 For most employees, pay is a major source of financial security.
 Employees may view compensation as:
o a return in an exchange between their employer and themselves,
o as an entitlement for being an employee of the company,
o as an incentive to take/stay in a job and invest in performing well, or
o as a reward for having done so.
 Compensation can be all of these things.
E. Incentive and Sorting Effects of Pay on Employee Behaviors

 Pay influences employee motivation and behavior in two ways:
o Pay can affect the motivational intensity, direction, and persistence of
current employees.
 Motivation, together with employee ability and work/organizational
design, determines employee behaviors such as performance.
 This effect of pay is known as incentive effect, the degree to which pay
influences individual and aggregate motivation among the employees we
have at any point in time.
o Pay can also have an indirect, but important, influence via a sorting effect
on the composition of the workforce.
 That is, different types of pay strategies may cause different types of
people to apply to and stay with an organization.
 It is not only how much, but how an organization pays that can result in
a sorting effect.
 People differ regarding which type of pay arrangement they prefer.
o The question for organizations is simply this: Are you using the pay policy
that will attract and retain the types of employees you want?
 Focusing only on the incentive effects of pay can miss the other major
mechanism (sorting) by which pay decisions influence employee
behaviors.
 The pay model that comes later in this chapter includes compensation
policies and the objectives (efficiency, fairness, compliance) these are
meant to influence.
 Compensation policies work through employee incentive and sorting
effects to either achieve or not achieve the company’s objectives.
F. Global Views—Vive la différence

 In English, compensation means something that counterbalances, offsets, or
makes up for something else.
Education.
 In China, the traditional characters for the word “compensation” are based on
the symbols for logs and water; meaning that compensation provides the
necessities in life.
o In the recent past, compensation was viewed as an entitlement.
o Today, a new word, dai yu, is used; it refers to how one is treated with
respect to wages, benefits, training opportunities, and so on.
o The contemporary meaning of compensation includes returns as well as
entitlement.
 “Compensation” in Japanese is kyuyo which means “giving something.”
o Traditionally, compensation was viewed as something given by one’s
superior.
o Today the word hou-syu, which means “reward,” is used; it has no
association with notions of superiors.
o Teate, which means “taking caring of something,” is regarded as
compensation that takes care of employees’ financial needs.
o It includes the many allowances (family, housing, and commuting
allowances) still used in many Japanese companies.
 Contrasting ideas about compensation—multiple views and multiple
meanings—add richness to the topic.
o To minimize confusion, the following definition of “compensation” or
“pay” is provided:
Definition: Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible

services and benefits employees receive as part of an employment relationship.
III. Forms of Pay
 Exhibit 1.4 shows the variety of returns people receive from work. They are categorized
as:
o Total compensation—these returns are transactional in nature and include pay
received directly as cash (e.g., base, merit, incentives, cost-of-living adjustments)
and indirectly as benefits (e.g., pensions, medical insurance, programs to help
balance work and life demands).
o Relational returns—these are psychological and include recognition and status,
employment security, learning opportunities, challenging work and so on.
A. Cash Compensation: Base

 Base wage is the cash compensation an employer pays for work performed; it
reflects value of work or skills and generally ignores differences attributable to
individual employees.
 In the U.S., salary refers to pay given to employees who are exempt from
Education.
regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and are exempt from overtime pay.
o Nonexempts have their pay calculated on an hourly wage. Salary is calculated
at an annual or monthly rate.
 Rather than dividing employees into separate categories of salaried and wage
earners, some organizations (IBM and Walmart) believe an “all-salaried” workforce
reinforces an organizational culture where all employees are part of the same team.
B. Cash Compensation: Merit Increases/Merit Bonuses/COLAs

 A cost of living adjustment (COLA) to base wages may be based on changes in what
other employers are paying for the same work, changes in living costs, or changes
in experience or skill.
 Merit increases are given as increments to the base pay and are based on
performance.
 Companies increasingly use merit bonuses.
o These are based on performance rating but are paid in the form of a lump sum
rather than becoming (a permanent) part of the base salary.
C. Cash Compensation: Incentives

 Incentives also tie pay increases to performance. However, incentives differ from
merit adjustments:
o An incentive program relies on an objective measure of performance (e.g. sales)
usually in a formula-based way, whereas a merit increase program typically
relies on a subjective rating of performance.
o They do not increase base wage and must be re-earned each pay period.
o The potential size of incentive payment will be known (formula) beforehand.
 Whereas merit pay programs evaluate past performance of an individual and
then decide on the size of the increase, what must happen in order to receive
the incentive payment is called out very specifically ahead of time.
 For example, a Toyota salesperson knows the commission on a Land
Cruiser versus a Prius prior to making the sale.
o While both merit pay and incentives try to influence performance, incentives
explicitly try to influence future behavior whereas merit recognizes (rewards)
past behavior, which is hoped to influence future behavior.
 The incentive-reward distinction is a matter of timing.
 Incentives can be tied to the performance of an individual employee, a team of
employees, a total business unit, or some combination of individual, team, and unit.
 The performance objective may be expense reduction, volume increases, customer
satisfaction, revenue growth, return on investments, and increase in stock value—
the possibilities are endless.
 Because incentives are one-time payment, they do not permanently increase labor
costs.
Education.
Chapter One: The Pay Model 1 - 10
o When performance declines, incentive pay automatically declines, too.

o Consequently, incentives (and sometimes merit bonuses also) are frequently
referred to as variable pay.
D. Long-Term Incentives
 Incentives may be short- or long-term.
 Long-term incentives are intended to focus employee efforts on multiyear results
and are in the form of stock ownership or options to buy stock at a fixed price.
 The belief is that employees with a financial stake in the organization will focus on
long-term financial objectives: return on investment, market share, return on net
assets, and the like.
E. Benefits: Income Protection

 Exhibit 1.4 showed that benefits, including income protection, work/life services,
and allowances, are also part of total compensation.
 Some income protection programs are legally required in the United States;
employers must pay into a fund that provides income replacement for workers who
become disabled or unemployed.
 Employers make half the contributions to Social Security.
 Medical insurance, retirement programs, life insurance, and savings plans are
common benefits. They help protect employees from financial risks inherent in
daily life.
F. Benefits: Work/Life Balance

 Programs that help employees integrate their work and life responsibilities include:
o time away from work (vacations, jury duty);
o access to services to meet specific needs (drug counseling, financial planning);
and
o flexible work arrangements (telecommuting, nontraditional schedules, nonpaid
time off).
G. Benefits: Allowances
 Allowances often grow out of whatever is in short supply; for example, housing and
transportation allowances are frequently part of the pay package in China.
H. Total Earnings Opportunities: Present Value of a Stream of Earnings

 Up to this point compensation has been treated as something paid or received at a
moment in time.
o But a firm’s compensation decisions have a temporal effect.
 A present-value perspective shifts the comparison of today’s initial offers to
consideration of future bonuses, merit increases, and promotions.
Education.
1 - 11 Compensation – Thirteenth Edition Gerhart │Newman │Milkovich
I. Relational Returns from Work

 Non-financial returns from work have a substantial effect on employees’ behavior.
 Exhibit 1.3 includes such relational returns from work as recognition and status,
employment security, challenging work, and opportunities to learn.
o Other forms of relational return might include personal satisfaction from
successfully facing new challenges, teaming with great co-workers, and
receiving new uniforms.
 Such factors are part of the total return, which is a broader umbrella than total
compensation.
The Organization as a Network of Returns

o It is useful to view an organization as a network of returns created by all the
different forms of pay, including total compensation and relational returns.
o The challenge is to design this network so that it helps the organization to
succeed.
IV. A Pay Model
 Exhibit 1.5 shows a pay model.

o This pay model serves as both a framework for examining current pay systems and a
guide for most of this textbook.
o It contains three basic building blocks:
1. the compensation objectives,
2. the policies that form the foundation of the compensation system, and
3. the techniques that make up the compensation system.
A. Compensation Objectives
 Pay systems are designed to achieve certain objectives.
o The basic objectives, shown at the right side of the model, include efficiency,
fairness, ethics, and compliance with laws and regulations.
 Efficiency—can be stated more specifically: (1) improving performance,
increasing quality, delighting customers and stockholders and (2)
controlling labor costs.
 Compensation objectives at Medtronic and Whole Foods are
contrasted in Exhibit 1.6.
 Medtronic, pacemaker pioneer, emphasizes performance, business
success, minimized fixed costs, and attracting and energizing top
talent.
 Whole Foods first compensation objective is committed to increasing
shareholder value.
 Fairness— is a fundamental objective of pay systems.
Education.
 It attempts to ensure fair treatment for all the employees, by

recognizing both employee contributions, and employee needs.
 Procedural fairness refers to the process used to make pay decisions.
 Compliance with laws and regulations—compliance as a pay objective
means conforming to various federal and state compensation laws and
regulations.
 Ethics – means the organization cares about how its results are achieved.
 Exhibit 1.7 shows one company’s code of conduct.
 Because it is so important, it is inevitable that managing pay
sometimes creates ethical dilemmas.
 Some compensation professionals and consultants remain silent during
ethical misconduct and outright malfeasance.
 Pay objectives guide the design of the pay system and serve as the
standards for judging the success of the pay system.
B. Four Policy Choices

 Every employer must address the policy decisions shown on the left side of the
pay model: (1) internal alignment, (2) external competitiveness, (3) employee
contributions, and (4) management of the pay system.
 These are the foundations on which pay systems are built and they serve as
guidelines for managing pay in ways that accomplish the system’s objectives.
Internal Alignment
o Internal alignment refers to comparisons among jobs or skill levels inside a
single organization.
o Jobs and people’s skills are compared in terms of their relative contributions
to the organization’s business objectives.
o Internal alignment pertains to the pay rates both for employees doing equal
work and for those doing dissimilar work.
 Whole Foods tries to manage differences with a salary cap that limits the
total cash compensation of any executive to 19 times the average cash
compensation of all full-time employees.
 However, the cap originally started at 8 times the average and it does not
include stock options.
o Pay relationships within the organization affect all three compensation
objectives:
 By motivating employees to choose increased training and greater
responsibility in dealing with customers, internal pay relationships
indirectly affect the capabilities of the workforce and hence the efficiency
of the entire organization.
 Fairness is affected through employees’ comparisons of their pay to the
Education.
pay of others in the organization.

 Compliance is affected by the basis used to make internal comparisons.
External Competitiveness
o External competitiveness refers to pay comparisons with competitors.
o Many organizations claim their pay systems are market-driven, that is, based
almost exclusively on what competitors pay.
 “Market driven” gets translated into practice in different ways.
o External competitiveness decisions—both how much and what forms—have a
twofold effect on objectives:
1. To ensure that the pay is sufficient to attract and retain employees—if
employees do not perceive their pay as competitive in comparison to what
other organizations are offering for similar work, they may be more likely
to leave.
2. To control labor costs so that the organization’s prices of products or
services can remain competitive in a global economy.
Employee Contributions
o How much emphasis should there be on paying for performance?
 Should one programmer be paid differently from another if one has better
performance and/or greater seniority?
 Or should there be a flat rate for programmers?
 Should the company share any profits with employees?
 Share with all employees, part-time as well as full-time?
o Emphasis placed on employee contributions (or nature of pay mix) is a key
policy decision since it directly affects employees’ attitudes and work
behaviors.
o Performance-based pay affects fairness in that employees need to understand
the basis for judging performance in order to believe that their pay is fair.
o Some companies combines base pay and team incentives to offer higher pay
if team performance warrants.
o The external competiveness and employee contribution decisions should be
made jointly.
 Clearly, an above-market compensation level is most effective and
sustainable when it exists together with above-market employee
contributions to productivity, quality, customer service, or other important
strategic objectives.
Management
o Management means ensuring that the right people get the right pay for
achieving the right objectives in the right way.
Education.
o The ground under compensation management has shifted.

 The traditional focus on how to administer various techniques is long
gone, replaced by more strategic thinking—managing pay as part of the
business.
C. Pay Techniques
 The remaining portion of the pay model in Exhibit 1.5 shows the techniques that
make up the pay system.
o The techniques are discussed throughout this book.
 Techniques tie the four basic policies to the pay objectives.
 Uncounted variations in pay techniques exist.
V. Book Plan
 The focus of this book is on the design and management of compensation systems.
 Part One, Chapters 1 – 2, introduces the pay model which provides the structure for
much of this book.
o Chapter 2 discusses how to formulate and execute a compensation strategy.
 The pay model plays a central role in formulating and implementing an organization’s
pay strategy.
o The model identifies four basic policy choices that are at the core of the pay
strategy.
 Part Two, Chapters 3 – 6, focuses on internal alignment and examines pay
relationships within a single organization.
 Part Three, Chapters 7 – 8, examines external competitiveness – the pay relationships
among competing organizations – and analyzes the influence of market-driven forces.
 Part Four, Chapters 9 – 11, focuses on employee contributions, the third building
block in the model, examining issues related to how much to pay each employee, how
much and how often should an employee’s pay be increased and on what basis, etc.
 Part Five, Chapters 12 – 13, covers employee services and benefits.
 Part Six, Chapters 14 – 16, covers systems tailored for special groups (sales
representatives, executives, contract workers, and unions) and provides more detail on
global compensation systems.
 Part Seven, Chapters 17 – 18, discusses critical issues related to managing the
compensation system, including the government’s role in compensation as well as
understanding, communicating, budgeting, and evaluating the results of managing a
compensation system.
 Even through the book is divided into sections that reflect the pay model, pay decisions
are not discrete. All of them are interrelated.
 The intent throughout the book is to examine alternative approaches.
Education.
o There is rarely a single correct approach, alternative approaches exist or can be

designed.
VI. Caveat Emptor – Be an Informed Consumer
 Students and future managers need to be informed consumers of compensation

research.
o They must be able to understand the state of knowledge—what is and isn’t known.
o It pays to read research.
o Some studies are irrelevant and poorly performed, but not reading research
literature might turn one into a prey for the latest business self-help fad.
 A consumer’s guide, that includes three questions, is provided to evaluate research
studies.
o Is the Research Useful?
 How useful are the variables in the study?
 How well are they measured?
 Does the research measure anything useful?
o Does the Study Separate Correlation From Causation?
 Once we are confident that the variables are useful and accurately measured, we
must be sure that they are actually related.
 Most often this is addressed through the use of statistical analysis.
 The correlation coefficient is a common measure of association and indicates
how changes in one variable are related to changes in another.
 Many research studies use a statistical analysis known as regression analysis.
 One output from a regression analysis is the R2. The R2 is a squared correlation
that tells us what percentage of the variation is accounted for by the variables
we are using to predict or explain.
 For example, just because a manufacturing plant initiates a new incentive plan
and the facility’s performance improves, we cannot conclude that the incentive
plan caused the improved performance.
 Perhaps new technology, reengineering, improved marketing, or the general
expansion of the local economy underlies the results. The two changes are
associated or related, but causation is a tough link to make.
o Are There Alternative Explanations?
 The best way to establish causation is to account for competing explanations,
either statistically or through control groups.
 The point is alternative explanations often exist. And if they do, they need to be
accounted for to establish causality.
 It is very difficult to disentangle the effects of pay plans to clearly establish
causality. However, it is possible to look at the overall pattern of evidence to
make judgments about the effects of pay.
Education.
VII. Your Turn: The Role of Labor Costs in Retail Electronics
Summary of Case
The case discusses Circuit City’s decision in 1997, to replace some of its highest-paid
employees with lower-paid workers. Some commentators attributed the loss it suffered in the
following quarter to this decision. The company was forced to liquidate later. The case also
talks about Best Buy, who started aggressively cutting down costs by demoting employees,
closing down its stores and eliminating corporate job positions. It faces slower sales of
expensive items and increased competition from Amazon, Walmart and Target. Students are
expected to analyze the possible impact of these moves on the in-store customer experience
and the effect on the company’s performance.
Learning Objective
Understand the impact of the change in Circuit City and Best Buy’s compensation strategy on
the companies’ performance.
Discussion of Case Issues
Evaluate whether the replacement of highly paid workers with lower-paid workers did or did
not cause Circuit City to perform so poorly. Will Best Buy face the same fate as Circuit City
because of its cost cutting measures and low sales of expensive items? How confident are you
in your evaluation? Why? What other data or information would be helpful in assessing
Circuit City change in compensation strategy.
Teaching Guidelines
Use this case to stimulate a discussion on restructuring and analyze the impact of replacement
of highly paid workers with lower-paid workers on the performance of Circuit City and the
effect the cost cutting measures taken by Best Buy on its sales and competitive edge.
Student opinion on this topic may vary. While some students may favor the argument that the
replacement of workers resulted in poor performance of the company, some may take a
neutral stand and believe that the cause and effect relationship between the two variables can
be proved only if additional data is provided. The following inputs can be considered to guide
the discussion.
Exhibit 1.8: Data on stock prices and customer satisfaction for Circuit City, Best Buy, and
two other competitors, Amazon and Walmart.
 In the case of Circuit City, the customer service index had dropped in 2007, when the layoff
announcement was made. On the other hand, Best Buy’s customer satisfaction index hit a
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high in the same year.

 If you plot a graph, it will show a dip in the stock price of Circuit City during the periods of
2001 and 2003. Further research shows that the company had undergone similar restructuring
in 2003, when it announced that 3,900 commissioned sales staff were being replaced with
less expensive new employees (Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2003).
Discussion of Case Questions
1. Thinking back to our discussion in the chapter section, Caveat Emptor—Be An

Informed Consumer, evaluate whether the replacement of highly paid workers with
lower-paid workers did or did not cause Circuit City to perform so poorly. How
confident are you in your evaluation? Why?
Student answers will vary. There are several reasons why Circuit City went bankrupt. Though
the replacement of highly paid workers with lower paid workers was one of the reasons, it
might not have been the main cause of the consumer-electronics retailer’s downfall. It all
started with the sales declining at Circuit City, as it started losing its market share to
Minnesota based specialty electronics retailer Best Buy, the world’s largest retailer Walmart,
discount club stores like Costco and online retailers. Slow sales led to suppliers who cut off
credit and demanded cash up front for supplies. This situation coupled with the economic
downturn led Circuit City to try and negotiate sale of the retail chain, but the effort was futile.
In an effort to cut costs Circuit City started firing higher paid workers and opening smaller
stores. When all these measures did not help, Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection
under Chapter 11. On further study it seems the retail giant could have saved its position by
focusing on unique selling proposition (USP) of its competitors. Greater variety of inventory
(Best Buy), cheaper prices (Walmart and Costco) would have helped Circuit City to sustain its
position of the market leader.
Sources:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMuM9XCHkNeo
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-28241493/eight-reasons-why-circuit-city-went-
bankrupt/
2. How is Best Buy doing? Did its cuts to labor costs work?
Answer: Best Buy’s stock price has rebounded dramatically. Its cuts to labor costs has
probably contributed to this improvement. However, there are likely many other factors at
play besides compensation and labor costs. For example, perhaps Best Buy is doing a better
job of meeting customer preferences than in the past. In this vein, ask students to compare
the Best Buy website with those of Amazon and Walmart. Which websites do the students
like best?
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3. Why are Walmart and Amazon doing better than Best Buy (and Circuit City)? Do
they have high pay?
Each of the three has their own Unique Selling Propositions (USP).
Walmart is one of the most well renowned global retail giant brands. Walmart has a large
customer base and the scale gives it the ability to negotiate sharp prices from its vendors,
which in turn results in substantial savings for its customers.
Amazon is a trusted brand providing online shopping experiences for customers. Amazon is
positioned as a global online market place which facilitates shopping through a customized
user shopping experience.
Best Buy has a customer centric style. They target the young population and corporate level
individuals. Best Buy has a youthful and well informed sales force, which can help customers
make informed purchase decisions.
The reason the other two are giving stiff competition to Best Buy is because of their ability to
offer low prices to the customers. However, Best Buy’s USP lies in its employees, if they start
cutting costs and laying off their employees, it will take the edge off their business.
Entry level positions for Walmart start at $9/hour for cashiers and sales associates. Amazon
pays $13/hour for entry level warehouse associates. Best Buy pays $10/hour for sales
associates and $11/hour for sales consultants. According to a PayScale survey comparing the
companies on the Fortune 500 list to see how median employee tenure varies, Amazon is next
to dead-last in median tenure length with one year. Best Buy does a bit better with median
tenure length of 2.6 years. Walmart actually has the longest median employee tenure length at
3.3 years.
Sources:
https://www.mbaskool.com/
https://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm
https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/employee-loyalty/full-list
4. Are there larger problems in the competitive landscape for Best Buy that cannot be
solved by compensation strategy changes alone? When customers look to buy
electronics, what options do they have other than Best Buy and why would they
choose these options over Best Buy? Where do customers “test drive” the product and
where do they buy it? Can compensation changes address these challenges? Explain.
Best Buy faces very strong competition from Walmart, as the latter has a large customer base
and it sells everything from groceries, to apparels and electronics. Also Walmart offers a wide
range of products at lower prices. This is possible for Walmart to achieve because of its scale
that allows it to negotiate the best prices with the suppliers and dealers. So when customers
buy electronics they might go to a Best Buy store, where the sales force can help answer their
questions related to the product and educate them about the features to look for. These
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customers with the knowledge in hand might head for a Walmart and buy the selected product
at a cheaper price. However, this is not a common thing to happen and can be resolved. Best
Buy can appoint a highly skilled workforce, who can not only educate the customers about the
products, but also create good customer relationship, which will ensure customer loyalty and
make sure that potential customers become actual customers.
Source:
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2191
5. Is Best Buy focusing too much or too little on cost reduction? Explain.
Answers will vary depending on student’s attitude. If customer satisfaction is the determining
factor, Best Buy is doing the reductions correctly, customer satisfaction has not gone down,
but gone up slightly and holding. While stock price did dip slightly, it is now at an all-time
high.
6. If you had answered these questions about Best Buy in 2013 (when its stock price was at
13), what would you have expected to happen to Best Buy? Are you surprised by their
performance since 2013? What lesson, if any, do you take away from their reversal of
fortune?
Answer: One presumes that as of 2013, many did not expect Best Buy survive and that it
would follow the same path as Circuit City. Might ask students to search for newspaper
articles or investment analyst opinions on Best Buy from the 2013 era to see what
conventional wisdom on Best Buy’s prospects were back then. One lesson is that even
companies that seems similar (e.g., Best Buy and Circuit City) can have different levels of
success, even when facing the same industry headwinds. Compensating people in a way that
supports attraction, motivation, and retention of top talent, while controlling costs is part of
the recipe for success. However, that compensation system has to also focus employees on
how to identify and respond to evolving customer preferences over time.
Answers to Review Questions
1. How do differing perspectives affect our views of compensation?
From a societal perspective, compensation may be viewed as:

 a measure of the inherent equity and justice in a society (examine the wages of similarly
situated men versus women, blacks versus whites, etc.).
 a cause of tax increases (public employee wages) or cost-push inflation (increased wages
cause higher production costs, which may be passed on as price increases for goods and
services).
 a reason for U.S. difficulties in competing in international markets.
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From a stockholder perspective, compensation may be viewed as:

 a mechanism to increase stockholders’ wealth.
 a key method to link executive pays to company performance.
From a managerial perspective, compensation may be viewed as:

 a major expense to be managed.
 a means to influence employee work attitudes and behavior, which affect productivity.
From an employee perspective, compensation may be viewed as:

 a return for services rendered.
 a reward for meritorious performance.
 an indicator of the worth of an individual’s skills or training.
 a major determinant of economic and social well-being.
From a global perspective, compensation may be used to convey more contemporary

meanings:
 Countries like China and Japan have replaced traditional words associated with pay to
words that capture the more contemporary and comprehensive meanings associated with
pay. These include ‘dai yu,’ in Chinese, which refers to how the employee is being treated,
and ‘teate’, in Japanese, which means taking care of something.
2. What is your definition of compensation? Which meaning of compensation seems most

appropriate from an employee’s view: return, reward, or entitlement? Compare your
ideas with someone with more experience, someone from another country, someone from
another field of study.
“Traditional” college students will most likely focus on direct compensation only, since most
students in this category will have expenses beyond their present earning capacity. “Non-
traditional” students are more likely to focus on the total returns from work—cash
compensation, benefits, and relational returns. When students compare their definition of
compensation with others, it is hopeful they will gain a broader view of compensation. Be
sure to emphasize that people’s perspectives will vary; the differences in perspectives are
likely to differ based on a combination of various factors such as age, occupation, family
status, etc.
3. What is the “network of returns” that your college offers your instructor? What returns
do you believe make a difference in teaching effectiveness? What “returns” would you
change or add to increase the teaching effectiveness?
The “network of returns” an instructor receives will depend on the type of college or
university (example—research versus teaching orientation) he/she attends. Potential examples
are provided below. Relational returns, moving beyond compensation and benefits are
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stressed upon.
If an instructor attends a research university, the most appropriate network is the probability to
explore the chosen field of academics in detail, along with the ability to receive appropriate
grants, scholarships, and be able to publish papers with ease. Laboratory facilities,
opportunities to conduct case studies and organizational research should be available easily. In
case the instructor is working within a team, it is essential that the university provide the team
with advanced technologies to be able to communicate and carry out research. However, if an
instructor attends a college whose mission is focused on teaching (e.g. small, liberal arts
colleges), the most appropriate network would probably include extensive facilities that allow
the instructor to access the latest studies, so as to be able to correlate the knowledge with the
syllabi. Access to libraries, the Internet and attendance at seminars and conferences related to
the instructors’ subject should be encouraged and the instructor must ideally be given a free
hand in being able to explore various academic avenues within the scope of the syllabus and
expanding and encouraging the spirit of questioning and understanding within the students.
If the network is changed, teaching effectiveness could be affected. Academia typically
provides higher pay for research effectiveness when compared to teaching effectiveness.
Student recommendations will vary depending on the type of college or university attended.
4. What are the four policy issues in the pay model? What purposes do the objectives in the
pay model serve?
The four policy issues in the pay model are: (1) internal alignment; (2) external
competitiveness; (3) employee contribution; and (4) management of the pay system.
The basic objectives include efficiency, fairness, ethics, and compliance with laws and
regulations. Efficiency can be correlated to improving performance, increasing quality,
delighting customers, and stockholders, and also to controlling labor costs. Fairness is a
fundamental objective that ensures fair treatment of all the employees by recognizing both
employee contributions. Compliance as a pay objective means conforming to federal and state
compensation laws and regulations. Ethics means the organization cares about how its results
are achieved.
5. List all the forms of pay you receive from work. Compare your list to someone else’s list.
Explain any differences.
The different forms of pay will definitely depend on the types of jobs a student has held and
the nature of his/her work experience. The various types of pay include: (1) pay received
directly as cash, including base, merit, incentives, and cost-of-living adjustments; (2) pay
received indirectly (benefits), including retirement, medical insurance, paid time off, and
programs to help balance work and life demands; and (3) relational returns, including the
psychological, non-financial returns (e.g. recognition and status, employment security,
challenging work, opportunities to learn, personal satisfaction from successfully facing new
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challenges, and teaming with great co-workers).

Comparisons of the types of pay will depend on the student’s current and prior work
experiences and the comparison person’s work experiences. For example, students could
compare financial incentives, such as piece rate production for a manufacturing position or
commission pay for a sales position. Indirect pay benefits may include health insurance, life
insurance, dental insurance, optical insurance, and prescription drug plans.
6. Answer the three questions in the Caveat Emptor—Be An Informed Consumer section for
any study or business article that tells you how to pay people.
Note: Student responses will vary depending on the type of compensation article the student
selects for analysis. To gain the maximum benefit from discussing this question, the instructor
may want to assign a specific article for analysis. The following response to the three
questions is based on research studies referenced in Chapter 1.
(1) Is the research useful?
Many studies use managers’ opinions as measures of success. For example, Rynes, Colbert,
and Brown (2002; see footnote #54) conducted a study that surveyed 5000 HR managers and
compared their beliefs to the research evidence in several areas and identifies seven common
and important misconceptions held by managers. The study authors concluded that being
unaware of the key research finding may prove costly to organizations.
The types of variables used in research studies and how they are measured significantly
impact the quality of the research results. For example, many studies purport to measure
organization performance. However, there is a lack of agreement on which variable(s) to use
to measure performance. This is evidenced by the many variables used to assess performance:
accounting measures (return on assets or cash flow), financial measures (earnings per share or
total shareholder return), operational measures (scrap rates or defect indicators), qualitative
measures (customer satisfaction), and opinions of managers (i.e. how effective is your gain-
sharing plan?).
Thus, answering the question, “is the research useful?” requires separating opinions from facts
as well as assessing the value of the variables and how they are measured. Opinion data is just
that—data about opinions. It demonstrates what people think or believe is occurring but may
not indicate what is actually going on. Studies conducted on a compensation survey data
showed HR executives reporting that their respective firms’ target pay level was well above
the median.
(2) Does the study separate correlation from causation?
Empirical research studies typically employ statistical analysis techniques to analyze the
variables of interest. The correlation coefficient is a common measure of association and
indicates how changes in one variable are related to changes in another. A study conducted to
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explore the extent to which employee participation in the job evaluation process during the
implementation of a compensation system influenced pay satisfaction, showed that increasing
the involvement of employees in implementing a pay plan would increase their satisfaction
with pay. The results indicated the level of employee participation in the job evaluation
project did not correlate significantly with any aspect of pay satisfaction. Thus, a relationship
did not exist between employee participation and satisfaction.
On the other hand, even if the results had indicated a relationship existed between increased
levels of employee participation and satisfaction with pay, this relationship (measured by the
correlation coefficient) does not ensure causation. For example, just because an organization
involves its employees in a job evaluation program and their satisfaction with pay increases, it
cannot be concluded that employee involvement caused an improvement in their satisfaction
with pay. Other explanations—length of time since last pay increase, percentage of last pay
increase, and pay grade level of the employee’s job—may lie beneath the results. While the
increased levels of employee participation and satisfaction with pay are associated, causation
is a tough link to make.
Research on compensation often attempts to answer questions that do not involve causality.
For example, the results of the study by Rynes, Colbert, and Brown (2002; see footnote #54)
indicate a discrepancy between academic research findings and the beliefs of HR executives
in several content areas of HR. This is a descriptive study, focused on providing
benchmarking information; causation is not suggested.
(3) Are there alternative explanations?
Research studies focused on compensation often examine the impact of a certain type of pay
program (i.e. merit or performance-based pay, team-based pay, gain-sharing) on a measure of
organizational performance (i.e. customer satisfaction, company performance, productivity,
quality) over a period of time. Researchers typically want to demonstrate that the introduction
of a pay program will improve performance. Consider a hypothetical study with the following
research question—if the performance measure improves during the time frame covered by
the study, was the pay program responsible? Assuming performance improves, was the pay
program responsible? Or, was some other variable responsible for the increased performance
(i.e. change in leadership, use of new supplier vendors, and change in operating procedures)?
The best way to establish causation is to explore competing explanations for the improved
performance results, either statistically or through the use of control variables. Research
methodology emphasizes or “requires” that alternative explanations need to be accounted for
to establish causality. It is often difficult to disentangle the effects of a pay program to clearly
establish causality. However, it is essential to examine the overall pattern of evidence to make
judgments about the effects of a pay program.
For example, it was found in a study of seven organizational characteristics, that the one that
best predicted simulated organizational choice was pay for individual (versus team-based)
productivity.
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CHAPITRE IV
DE L’INSTRUCTION : QUELQUES LACUNES
Les langages secrets. — La constitution. — Soi-même. — « Self-defence ». —

Planter un clou. — Les « applications ».
Les langages secrets.
On jargonne autour de nous des langues qui sont aussi

différentes du français, aussi mystérieuses que les langues
étrangères, mortes et vivantes. Or, le programme des études fait une
place importante au latin, voire au grec, qui sont des fleurs de luxe et
de haute culture. Il consacre un temps moindre à l’anglais et à
l’allemand, qui ne sont qu’utiles. Et il dédaigne absolument ces
langages à la fois usuels et secrets dont on aura toujours besoin
dans la vie actuelle.
Quels sont donc ces idiomes hermétiques, qu’on n’apprend pas
et qu’il faut comprendre ? Mais tout d’abord celui qu’on parle au pays
de Finance. Nous en ignorons, au moment d’entrer dans la lutte, les
plus élémentaires rudiments. Qui donc nous apprit la simple
différence entre une action et une obligation ? Entre le dividende et
l’intérêt ? Qui nous initia au mystère de l’hypothèque, du marché à
terme et au comptant, du change et de l’escompte, du report et de la
couverture ? Qui nous révéla l’énigme alléchante de l’action de
jouissance et celle, angoissante, du chèque barré ? Et tant de mots
détournés de leur sens originel, le parquet, la coulisse, la
liquidation…
Les cours de comptabilité jettent bien là-dessus quelque lumière.
Mais ils ne figurent qu’au programme d’une instruction déjà
spécialisée. Tout le monde ne les suit pas. Et tout le monde aura
besoin de connaître ces notions. Tout le monde se heurtera, tôt ou
tard, à ces mots impénétrables. Dans ce pays où le sens de
l’épargne est si vif, où chacun s’efforce, aux dépens de son bien-être
présent, d’amasser pour l’avenir une petite liasse de titres, n’est-il
pas surprenant qu’on n’enseigne pas le moyen de s’en servir ?
L’argent circule dans le corps social comme le sang dans un
organisme. Les phénomènes financiers mènent le monde actuel. Ils
font la paix et la guerre. Il y a là, au point de vue des rapports
internationaux, une géographie qui en vaut bien une autre. Or, par
une hypocrisie pareille à l’hypocrisie sexuelle, on garde, sur ces
questions qu’on sait pourtant vitales, un silence absolu.
On rétorquera que, là-dessus, chacun fait son apprentissage, le
moment venu, tant bien que mal, sous la pression du besoin.
Fâcheuse méthode. D’abord, c’est risquer d’être pris de court dans
une circonstance imprévue. Et puis, ce ne serait pas la peine de
consacrer à l’instruction dix des plus charmantes années de la vie, si
l’on n’acquérait pas à ce prix l’A B C des connaissances utiles, si l’on
devait tout apprendre plus tard, dans l’urgence et sous le joug de la
nécessité.
Pourquoi ne pas inculquer ces simples notions à l’âge où l’on
admet que la mémoire est spécialement sensible, tendre et fidèle ?
Encore une fois, il ne s’agit pas de faire de nos adolescents
autant de petits financiers. Il n’est question que d’un enseignement
très élémentaire, qui n’exigerait guère de temps dans l’énorme total
des heures de classe. Et si cet enseignement ne figure à aucun
degré du programme des études générales, c’est sans doute que ce
plan a été conçu dans un esprit déjà ancien, à une époque où la
nécessité de ces connaissances ne se fût justifiée ni par la
prodigieuse extension des affaires, ni par la non moins stupéfiante
diffusion des fortunes.
Il existe encore un autre langage aussi nécessaire et aussi
fermé. C’est celui que parlent les notaires et les avoués. C’est la
langue du Palais.
Là, encore, nul ne peut dire qu’il ne se heurtera pas quelque jour
à un jargon incompréhensible et dont il aurait pourtant besoin de
pénétrer le sens. Pour conclure en connaissance de cause un acte
d’association, industrielle ou conjugale, il nous faudrait des clartés
qu’on ne nous a pas données.
Quels fiancés ont saisi un mot à la lecture de leur contrat de
mariage ? O subtilités de la communauté réduite aux acquêts,
lourdes entraves du régime dotal, rigueurs du remploi, vous restez
lettre close pour les tendres amoureux. Et quand ils vous
découvrent, il est trop tard. Que de drames seraient évités, en trois
leçons !
Et combien d’industriels, de commerçants, ont dû maudire leur
ignorance lorsqu’ils se sont sentis prisonniers de leur acte de
société, faute d’avoir pu éventer les pièges tendus à chaque ligne ?
Actuellement, pour se marier, pour s’établir, pour mourir même —
car on ne sait pas rédiger son testament — il faut avoir fait son droit.
Mais, dira-t-on, il y a le notaire. Je sais bien. D’abord, il ne peut
pas s’intéresser à chacun de nous aussi étroitement que nous-
même. Puis, on ne peut pas se faire accompagner toute sa vie par
un notaire. On signe des actes hors de sa présence. Et, en tout cas,
ce n’est point une ambition démesurée, ni une précaution superflue,
que de vouloir comprendre un peu le langage qu’il nous parle…
Voilà bien l’effet — et peut-être aussi la cause — de notre
ignorance : elle justifie le notaire. Elle le rend indispensable, même
en des circonstances où l’on conçoit qu’on pourrait se passer de lui.
Que d’actes pourraient être signés sans gros frais, non dans une
étude, mais dans un bureau qu’on ouvrirait dans les mairies, si nous
avions quelques connaissances en droit usuel !
En parlant un langage obscur et qu’on nous laisse ignorer, le
tabellion obéit peut-être à une sorte d’instinct de conservation. Tous
les hommes de robe — les médecins qui professent s’en affublent
encore en cérémonie — ont besoin, pour garder leur pouvoir, de
s’envelopper de mystère, comme ils s’entourent les deux jambes
dans un unique fourreau. Notre ignorance fait piédestal à leur
science.
Enseignons donc à nos enfants les quelques éléments essentiels
de ces deux langages, celui de la Bourse et celui du Palais, comme
on apprend d’avance les mots principaux d’une langue vivante, afin
de ne pas être tout à fait désemparé sur la terre étrangère.
La Constitution.
On ne sait guère comment marche la machine à gouverner. Qui

s’avise de la distinction entre le législatif et l’exécutif, du rôle du
Président, de ses ministres et du parlement, du jeu de la vie
administrative ?
En France, on méprise volontiers la politique. Certes, on peut
étayer cette attitude de forts arguments. Quand, jetant les yeux sur
le fourmillement parlementaire, on aperçoit les servitudes et les
appétits, la terreur des responsabilités, les intrigues et les
compromissions, les rivalités et les palinodies, je conçois qu’on en
détourne le regard.
Mais ce n’est là qu’une vue partielle, donc injuste. Du logis qu’on
visite, on n’explore pas uniquement l’office. Les politiciens, n’étant
que des hommes, en ont les passions et les défaillances. Nous les
apercevons d’autant mieux qu’ils sont en vedette et que leur vie
nous appartient. Mais ils ne commettent pas que des turpitudes.
Cette agitation cache des efforts, produit du travail, engendre des
lois… Les séances du Parlement donnent une idée inexacte des
parlementaires. Elles laissent ignorer le labeur réel des
Commissions.
La politique est une fonction nécessaire du corps social. Et tous
les organismes ont leurs basses servitudes.
Quiconque étudie l’épopée napoléonienne ou l’œuvre de la
première Révolution, ne s’arrête pas à la trivialité des héros. Il juge
d’ensemble. Efforçons-nous d’apporter cette harmonieuse
impartialité dans notre appréciation du présent. Un étrange instinct
nous pousse à croire que le temps où nous vivons est inférieur à
toutes les époques passées. Qui sait ? L’histoire de ce régime
naissant, de sa résistance aux assauts, de la défense obstinée de
son idéal à travers les crises suprêmes, inspirera peut-être à nos
descendants une curiosité recueillie.
Pour ma part, je déplore ce divorce entre la politique et le pays.
Je crois qu’il est né de malentendus, servi par les légendes que
laisse flotter dans l’air l’éclatement des scandales, qu’il fut surtout
nourri de faciles couplets de revue, excité par d’âpres journaux de
parti, entretenu par le snobisme. Je crois qu’il y aurait grand
bénéfice à ce qu’on suivît passionnément le spectacle de la vie
publique.
Il y a là un cercle vicieux. Se désintéresser de la politique, la tenir
en mésestime, c’est autoriser les défaillances, permettre
l’affaissement des consciences. Garder le contact avec les élus, ce
serait stimuler leur zèle, exercer sur eux le meilleur contrôle. Les
gens qui se savent regardés conservent toujours une grande dignité
d’attitude.
Souvent, on voit des hommes se plaindre que le Parlement
n’agisse pas selon le programme des candidats. Mais se donnent-ils
la peine de rappeler à leur député ses promesses ? Lui font-ils
connaître leurs vues, leurs désirs ? Lui donnent-ils un mandat précis,
renouvelé, vivant, se modelant sur les circonstances, sur la vie ?
Non. Précisément parce qu’ils le dédaignent, parce qu’ils l’ignorent,
après l’avoir nommé. Ils ne se rappellent à lui que pour le charger de
démarches et de commissions. Ils lui donnent leurs voix, mais
ensuite ils ne le chargent pas d’exprimer leur pensée…
Je déplore encore ce détachement dédaigneux pour une autre
cause : tous, plus ou moins, nous dépendons de la politique… En
effet, il faut bien se rendre compte qu’une douzaine de ministères se
partagent toute l’activité du pays. Chacun d’eux jette sur la France
— et c’est une géographie qu’on n’apprend guère — un réseau
administratif, une trame plus ou moins serrée. La Justice la partage
en Cours d’appel, l’instruction Publique en Universités, la Guerre en
Corps d’armée, etc. Les Chambres de Commerce, les Trésoreries
générales, les régions minières et agricoles constituent des divisions
analogues. Et nous sommes toujours pris dans les mailles d’un de
ces filets lancés sur le territoire national.
Quelque métier qu’on exerce, on est tributaire d’un de ces
départements. L’artiste dépend des Beaux-Arts, le cultivateur de
l’Agriculture, l’ouvrier du Travail, le négociant du Commerce. Celui
qui convoite une juste faveur — le plus souvent de couleur rouge ou
violette — ou celui qui réclame même l’exercice d’un droit, se voit
contraint de s’adresser au ministère dont il est justiciable. Malgré lui,
il fait de la politique.
Le simple fait d’être citoyen français, de payer l’impôt, d’obéir à la
police, de servir, de voter, nous contraint de reconnaître plusieurs de
ces pouvoirs dont, soit dit en passant, nous subissons le prestige,
tout en les méprisant. Leurs décisions, leurs décrets nous touchent.
Le moindre changement dans la loi fiscale ou militaire réagit sur
notre vie ou sur celle des nôtres. Entre nous et le régime accepté,
s’est fatalement établie une solidarité nécessaire.
Alors, puisque nous sommes contraints d’obéir aux lois, puisque
nous ne pouvons pas les ignorer, pourquoi feindre à leur égard un
détachement puéril ? Puisque nous en subissons les effets, pourquoi
se désintéresser de leurs causes ? Pourquoi ne pas en suivre la
genèse, tout le travail d’élaboration ?
Là, encore, l’enseignement officiel est le grand coupable. Sur ce
terrain, cependant, il aurait dû marcher de l’avant, donner le goût du
régime. Mais non. Il donne l’exemple de l’indifférence. Au lieu d’en
démonter les rouages, d’en montrer les grands mouvements, il
laisse pour ainsi dire ignorer tout le machinisme de la Constitution.
Il ne s’agissait pourtant pas pour lui de prendre parti. Au
contraire, il eût favorisé l’esprit critique. Comment, par exemple,
discuter l’existence de ces grands corps comme le Conseil d’État, la
Cour des Comptes, dont nous ignorons le rôle ? Comment
condamner celle des sous-préfets, du moment qu’on nous en a
caché soigneusement les services ?
Si l’adolescent connaissait le fonctionnement de la machine
politique, il ne s’en désintéresserait peut-être pas dans la vie.
Convaincu qu’il participe à son mouvement et qu’il en subit les
effets, il continuerait d’en suivre le travail. Au surplus, le spectacle
n’est pas si morose que semblent croire ceux qui en détournent les
yeux. Toujours instructif, souvent savoureux, il est parfois brillant et
pathétique. Il y a de la beauté dans la passion.
Sourds aux plaisanteries et aux préjugés, étudions donc un peu
cette planche d’anatomie politique qui s’appelle la Constitution. En
un temps où volontiers on cocardise, ce n’est pas la moins
intelligente façon d’aimer son pays que de savoir comment il vit.
Soi-même.
Tout le monde sait la place de la Serbie. Peu de gens savent la

place de leur glande thyroïde. Cette ignorance de soi-même, du site,
du rôle et du jeu des principaux organes humains, apparaît
prodigieuse, inconcevable, quand on l’oppose au prix et à
l’importance que chacun attache à sa vie, à sa santé et aussi à la
santé et à la vie de ceux qui lui sont chers.
Je m’en étonnai un jour devant un homme qui a donné des
marques éclatantes d’intelligence générale. Il répondit avec un geste
de pudique dégoût :
— Cela ne m’intéresse pas.
Notez que ce même homme sait parfaitement qu’une migraine le
fauche, qu’il est à la merci de ce corps méprisé. Et il pousse à
l’extrême le souci de ne pas vieillir avant l’âge. Il fait analyser ses…
résidus à courts intervalles. Il veille au grain de sable. Conçoit-on
pareilles contradictions dans un maître cerveau ? On devrait pouvoir
parler de son corps comme on parle de son cœur.
Il serait curieux de rechercher dans le passé les origines de cet
étrange mépris pour notre « guenille ». Mais il importe surtout de le
constater dans le présent. Le programme des études secondaires
comporte bien quelques leçons de sciences naturelles. Mais elles
s’étendent volontiers sur les généralités et passent rapidement sur le
chapitre de l’Homme. La preuve que cet enseignement est trop
sommaire ? Mais c’est que nul ne s’en souvient… Je le répète, il
suffit de s’interroger pour reconnaître qu’on ne sait rien de soi, rien
de ce qui se passe en soi.
Quant aux effets de cette ignorance, ils se manifestent même à
l’état de santé. Cette santé, nous ne savons pas la défendre. Nous
ne savons pas prendre pour elle ces simples, ces instinctives
mesures de précaution qui nous font conserver, brillante, entre nos
mains en coquille, la lueur d’une allumette. Nous ne savons pas
nous mettre en garde contre les risques, contre les suites d’une
imprudence, des excès, du surmenage. Rien ne nous avertit des
sourdes alertes du mal, dans sa période d’incubation, alors qu’il
serait temps de l’enrayer et qu’on ne songe point encore à appeler le
médecin. Où donc aurions-nous appris tout cela ?
Nous ne savons pas nous nourrir. La notion des aliments
vraiment nutritifs, de ceux qui ne le sont pas, est totalement ignorée
de la ménagère qui dresse le menu. Cependant, le principe est
simple, la liste est courte. Il y aurait grand intérêt à ce qu’ils fussent
répandus, aussi bien pour notre économie vitale que pour
l’économie de notre budget.
Nous ne savons même pas dormir ! En ce sens que nous ne
savons pas favoriser par des moyens naturels notre sommeil, où
pourtant se régénère notre vie. On ne nous enseigne pas le régime
qui lui soit le plus propice. Et nous ne savons rien de l’influence de
ces courants magnétiques qui, dirigeant l’aiguille de la boussole du
nord au sud, agissent sans doute sur notre organisme au repos,
peut-être sur notre organisme en action, et devraient tout au moins
décider de l’orientation de notre lit.
Et cette précieuse intégrité de nous-même, nous ne savons
guère plus l’entretenir et la développer que la protéger. La plupart
des gens ignorent leurs ressources physiques, le parti merveilleux
qu’ils pourraient tirer d’eux-mêmes, les résultats stupéfiants, extra-
rapides de simples exercices gymnastiques…
Il suffit pourtant, le matin, de quelques mouvements réguliers,
pour amplifier le jeu de la respiration — nous ne savons pas respirer,
nous n’utilisons pas pleinement nos poumons — pour renforcer les
muscles en retard, pour retoucher la statue.
Avec une échelle, une simple échelle, on accoutume un enfant
au vertige. En l’escaladant à l’endroit, à l’envers, en s’y suspendant,
il se développe harmonieusement.
Il faudrait encore choisir parmi les sports, les adapter aux
complexions, en éviter les excès. Si le canotage est excellent pour
tous, parce qu’il exige l’exercice complet des muscles en même
temps qu’il aiguise la présence d’esprit, la bicyclette est néfaste à
quelques-uns. Mais là encore, nous allons à tâtons.
Cette ignorance de la machine humaine est encore plus
fâcheuse quand nous nous trouvons en présence d’un accident ou
des premiers symptômes d’une maladie déclarée. Notre bon vouloir
est désarmé. Il peut même être néfaste. Car nous risquons, par
exemple, de placer un asphyxié dans une mauvaise position ou de
prendre au sujet d’un malade des décisions contre-indiquées. Et
qu’on ne prétende pas, dans ces deux cas, qu’on a toujours un
médecin sous la main. Il peut être éloigné, occupé, absent. Bref, il y
a toujours une période d’attente, où notre ignorance peut être
mortelle, faute de quelques connaissances médicales.
Elle est fatale encore quand elle nous masque toute la vie
sexuelle, qui joue un rôle si important dans l’économie humaine. Je
l’ai dit : de courageuses initiatives ont soulevé un coin du voile,
protesté contre le mystère honteux qui aggravait les maux
vénériens. Mais l’histoire de la génération ne se borne pas au
chapitre de la maladie, heureusement. Et c’est l’ensemble de cette
histoire que l’on tient secret.
J’ai entendu le propriétaire d’une roseraie fameuse s’assurer,
l’œil inquiet, avant d’expliquer le mariage des roses : « Il n’y a pas de
jeunes filles ? » De pareilles pudibonderies ne sont-elles pas
indécentes ?
Mais c’est justement grâce à l’exemple des fleurs, des bêtes
domestiques, qu’on parvient à jeter, sur ces grandes lois vitales,
quelques clartés dans l’âme enfantine, sans la choquer ni la
décevoir. Et cela sans solennité, je le répète une fois de plus, tout
simplement, tout naturellement, au hasard des occasions et des
causeries. Point n’est besoin d’aller vite. La prudence n’est pas de la
pruderie. Et alors l’initiation perdra ce vilain attrait de fruit défendu
qui lui donne actuellement son caractère de louche obscénité.
Alors seront évitées bien des blessures morales, chez la femme
qu’une révélation trop brutale a froissée à jamais.
Et ce ne seront pas seulement des blessures morales qui seront
évitées, mais aussi les blessures physiques. Ce mépris, cette honte
qu’on s’inspire à soi-même, retiennent des malheureux des deux
sexes d’avouer même au médecin leur intime misère, quelle qu’en
soit l’origine. Ayant mis un bandeau sur les yeux, on a mis du même
coup un bâillon sur les lèvres. Et il y en a qui se laissent mourir
plutôt que de parler, s’immolant ainsi volontairement aux exigences
farouches de la pudeur convenue.
Enfin, même silence sur les choses de la maternité. N’est-il pas
prodigieux qu’on améliore toutes les autres espèces animales, qu’on
étudie pour elles les lois de la reproduction et de la sélection, et
qu’on abandonne encore au pur hasard la procréation humaine ?
Combien d’époux, faute d’en connaître les prémisses — où donc en
auraient-ils connu ? — arrivent au jour de la délivrance sans savoir si
elle s’annonce et se présente normalement, si elle est précédée de
ses signes nécessaires, et alors, ce sont des catastrophes, —
aisément évitables — où le petit enfant perd souvent la vie.
Tels sont, à grands traits, les ravages de l’ignorance de soi-
même. Tels sont les fruits du dédain et de la honte que nous inspire
notre corps. Je ne sais pas de préjugé qui fasse plus de victimes ni
qui mérite d’être plus obstinément dénoncé.
Self-defence.
Un jour, un bon bourgeois passait aux environs de la gare Saint-
Lazare, quand il sentit une main s’abattre durement sur son épaule.
Tournant la tête, il vit un homme sombre et furieux qui lui ordonna de
le suivre.
— Où donc ?
— Au poste.
On n’est jamais tout à fait innocent. Arrêté sans cause connue,
on a vite fait soi-même d’en découvrir une dans son passé. Bref,
sans plus regimber, notre promeneur se laissa conduire au
commissariat voisin. Et là, il s’aperçut qu’il avait été arrêté par un
fou…
Oui, c’était un vrai fou, qui, sans doute atteint de la manie des
grandeurs, se croyait policier. L’anecdote est authentique. A notre
époque, un fou peut arrêter un passant et le conduire au
commissariat. Comment pareille aventure est-elle possible ?
L’explication est fort simple : le passant ignore ses droits. Il ne sait
pas les garanties qu’il doit exiger de l’homme qui veut l’arrêter.
Démuni d’armes légales, il ne peut pas se défendre.
Que chacun s’interroge sincèrement et se place dans un cas
semblable. Certes, selon sa nature, il se cabrera plus ou moins haut.
Mais, en vérité, il ne saura pas au juste les catégories d’individus qui
ont le droit d’arrêter les autres. Il ignorera les moyens de vérifier leur
identité. Il ne saura pas dans quelles conditions d’heure et de lieu, ni
sur la présentation de quels mandats cette arrestation est légale.
Pour les perquisitions, même histoire. Nous ne sommes pas
mieux armés pour la défense de notre foyer que pour celle de notre
personne. Là, encore, les faits-divers nous apportent leurs
témoignages. Que de fois la femme, restée seule au logis, laisse
fouiller les meubles et crocheter les tiroirs — quand elle n’en livre
pas elle-même les clefs — par de faux policiers, qu’elle a crus sur
leur arrogance et leur mauvaise mine ! Elle ne savait pas. Elle
ignorait sur quel « Sésame » nous devons ouvrir notre porte à la loi.
Et nous ne savons pas plus dans quelles conditions nous devons
l’ouvrir à la réquisition militaire en temps de manœuvre, à
l’inquisition fiscale en matière de fraudes. Quand un « rat de cave »,
flairant un petit délit, se présente chez un viticulteur soupçonné ou
dénoncé, il se nomme à peine. Il entre, il est chez lui. Seul, son
sans-gêne est garant de son autorité. Le propriétaire se tait et se
tient coi. Et pour cause. Sait-il seulement les références qu’il peut
exiger de l’inquisiteur ?
Ce sont là, dira-t-on, des cas exceptionnels. Soit. Mais tout le
monde paie l’impôt, et tout le monde passe à l’octroi. Or, sommes-
nous mieux armés pour exiger le respect de nos biens que pour
défendre celui de notre personne et de notre logis ?
Chacun paie aveuglément ses contributions. Qui donc en pourrait
vérifier l’exactitude ? Nul ne sait, nul ne se soucie de savoir sur
quelles bases elles sont calculées.
Quand la main du gabelou s’abat sur nos bagages, sur notre
auto, connaissons-nous exactement nos droits ? Pouvons-nous
simplement donner au sbire la clef de notre malle et le laisser à sa
basse besogne, ou peut-il nous contraindre à déboucler et à
reboucler ? Quand nous lui affirmons que nous n’avons rien à
déclarer, peut-il nonobstant exiger la fouille ?
Ainsi, qu’il s’agisse de nous ou de notre propriété, nous ne
savons pas nous défendre. Nous avons négligé les armes que nous
tendait la loi. Mais elles existent, ces armes, elles reposent à l’ombre
de l’épaisse forêt du Code. Il nous serait relativement aisé de les
ramasser.
A-t-on déjà tenté en ce sens quelque effort officiel ? J’ai consulté
le programme actuel des lycées de France. J’ai vu que, dans une
classe de troisième, on consacrait une heure par semaine à l’étude
du droit usuel. Et encore on ne fait du droit usuel que dans la
division B où l’on n’apprend pas le latin. Si bien que le latiniste est
condamné à ignorer toute notion de droit. Mais tranquillisez-vous :
ces notions de droit usuel ne descendent pas jusqu’à ces
applications pratiques dont on aurait besoin dans la vie. En fait,
latinistes et modernes restent également ignorants, également
désarmés dans l’art de se défendre contre les abus de l’autorité.
Planter un clou.
Un dimanche matin, Monsieur, pris d’un beau zèle, décide de se

passer des services toujours onéreux du tapissier et d’accrocher lui-
même quelques tableaux. Il se munit de clous, s’arme d’un marteau,
prend d’assaut l’escabelle. Il frappe. L’opération semble aisée. Or,
elle est rarement couronnée de succès. Le marteau ne veut rien
savoir pour tomber sur le clou. Il marque le mur d’une empreinte
ineffaçable ou il meurtrit les doigts de Monsieur. Cependant, parmi
tant de coups, certains parviennent à destination. A force de
persévérance, la pointe s’enfonce. Mais la malice des choses n’a
pas dit son dernier mot. Tantôt le clou s’enfonce trop bien dans un
joint de plâtre et Monsieur le cueille comme un fruit mûr. Tantôt le
clou rencontre de la brique et, sous les coups qui l’atteignent, il se
tord.
Comme il a raison de se tordre ! N’est-ce pas comique, qu’un
homme cultivé ne soit pas capable de planter un clou ? Mais qui
donc le lui aurait appris ? C’est l’éternelle question. Dans la
bourgeoisie qui destine son fils aux carrières libérales, le collège
prend l’enfant dès sa première culotte, ne le lâche que pour le
confier aux écoles spéciales. Elles le passent à la caserne, qui le
jette enfin dans la vie. Il y tombe tout à fait gauche, tout à fait
inadapté, puisqu’on s’est bien gardé, au cours de ces stages
successifs, de lui donner cette dextérité pratique dont l’art de planter
un clou n’était qu’un modeste symbole.
D’ailleurs, c’est dès le berceau qu’on a négligé d’apprendre à
l’enfant l’usage de ses mains. En réalité, nous n’avons qu’une main.
Nous nous privons du bénéfice d’en avoir deux. Nous n’avons pas
de main gauche. Nous agissons comme si nous n’en avions pas.
Nous nous imposons d’étonnantes gymnastiques pour laisser à la
main gauche son rôle de reine fainéante. L’art de jongler à table
avec sa fourchette et son couteau est aussi curieux à observer que
difficile à exercer. Seule, la main droite règne. La mère dit à son
enfant sans réfléchir : « Ta main droite ! » A la campagne, on dit :
« Ta belle main ! » Pourquoi n’utilisons-nous pas les deux ? Pourquoi
n’entraîne-t-on pas l’enfant à les employer tour à tour à la même
besogne afin d’acquérir, par une habitude égale, une égale
habileté ?
Il y a bien d’autres traits de cette inaptitude à se servir de ses
mains et des outils qui les prolongent. On n’est pas adroit, chez les
privilégiés de la vie. Le serait-on, qu’on l’ignorerait. Comment s’en
serait-on aperçu ? Cette gaucherie nous rend pour ainsi dire
étrangers à notre propre logis et tributaires, au moindre accroc, de
tous les corps de métier. Pour poser une sonnerie, pour changer une
lampe électrique, pour remplacer un plomb qui saute, pour remonter
l’horloge, bien vite il faut faire venir un spécialiste. Le plus modeste
emballage décourage les meilleures volontés. Scier une planche,
c’est encore plus difficile que de planter un clou.
Loin de donner aux enfants le goût de l’habileté manuelle, il
semble qu’on les en ait dégoûtés. Tirer parti de ses mains, c’est une
sorte de déchéance. C’est effrayant ce que la serrurerie de Louis
XVI lui a fait du tort devant l’histoire. Quand on a dit d’un particulier
qu’il bâtit des petits ouvrages en bois découpé ou qu’il tourne des
ronds de serviette, on l’a marqué d’un signe indélébile de médiocrité.
Cela vaut pourtant mieux que de cartonner.
Et ce mépris du travail manuel ne rend pas seulement l’homme
inapte aux besognes familières. Il le prive de l’agréable en même
temps que de l’utile. Il lui défend les petits plaisirs inépuisables du
« bricolage », la joie de mettre son empreinte sur les objets qui
l’entourent. Il lui interdit la pratique de ces arts charmants qui lui
permettraient de décorer, d’embellir à peu de frais son logis et par
conséquent de s’y attacher.
Cette inaptitude, ce défaut de préparation à la vie pratique, il en
souffre dans toutes sortes de directions. Sait-il, par exemple, le prix
des choses ? J’entends le prix approximatif des choses qui ont un
cours. Savons-nous le prix moyen d’un kilo de beurre, d’un kilo de
bœuf, d’un kilo de fer ? Pourrions-nous établir le prix, même
vaguement approché, du mètre courant d’une maçonnerie
déterminée ? Cela pourrait cependant servir pour dresser un devis,
préparer un budget, ou tout simplement pour n’être pas dupe devant
une facture. Il y aurait là une vingtaine de chiffres à savoir. Ce ne
serait pas plus inutile qu’une vingtaine de dates de bataille.
On n’apprend pas à « se servir de la vie ». J’entends par là que
les enfants, dont la cervelle est bourrée, en vue des examens, de
notions dont ils n’auront jamais besoin, ne sont pas initiés à toutes
sortes de petites connaissances utiles qui rendraient la vie d’un
usage plus commode.
Ainsi, pour préciser par un exemple, entraîne-t-on un adolescent
à se servir de la poste ? A l’envoi des mandats, des différents
mandats ? A quel moment lui apprend-on les diverses manières
d’expédier un paquet, par colis postal, messageries, etc. ?
Mais, dira-t-on, il l’apprendra bien à l’user. D’abord, mieux vaut le
lui enseigner au moment où, au dire même des pédagogues, il a la
mémoire facile. Puis, dans la vie, plus tard, on n’a pas le temps.
On n’apprend pas à écrire une lettre, un télégramme, à les
composer d’avance dans sa tête, à être clair, précis, à faire tenir en
peu de mots l’essentiel, à mettre chaque chose à sa place. Les
lettres ? Nous ne savons même pas les lire. Faites l’expérience. Ou
nous sautons des mots, ou nous faussons leur sens.
On n’apprend pas à parler au téléphone, à y dire d’abord
l’important, sans bavardage préliminaire, pour le cas où la
communication viendrait à être coupée. Et toujours à être exact,
limpide, à y verser une parole dépouillée.
Ce sont de petits arts nécessaires.
En somme, qu’il s’agisse de manier le bois, de manier le fer, de
manier la plume, ou de manier l’argent, tout exige un apprentissage.
Ni l’instruction, ni l’éducation ne nous le donnent.
Les « Applications ».
L’enseignement officiel se flatte de donner une culture générale.

Mais c’est une culture sans fruit. Avec elle, on ne récolte pas. On
pioche dans le sol aride, on l’abandonne dès qu’il devient fécond.
Aussitôt que la leçon menace de devenir intéressante, de s’appliquer
à la vie, au point précis où apparaîtrait son utilité, elle s’arrête.
Cet enseignement a ses raisons de planer sur les hauteurs, de
dédaigner la terre. Il entend découvrir à l’esprit des vues plus
étendues, l’élargir et l’assouplir. Certes, une telle gymnastique doit
permettre de descendre ensuite aisément aux vulgaires
contingences. Mais le détour est singulier. On rirait d’un quidam qui
monterait en ballon pour apprendre à marcher.
Qu’arrive-t-il, en effet ? L’écolier devient étudiant, soldat, il entre
enfin dans la vie normale. Or, il n’a jamais eu le temps de prolonger
son instruction, de la compléter au point de vue pratique. Sa
mémoire a vomi les matières indigestes dont on l’avait chargée. De
tout ce qu’il apprit, rien ne lui reste.
En faut-il des exemples ? On apprend beaucoup de physique, au
lycée. Évidemment, puisqu’on en demande aux examens. On
s’étend avec complaisance sur les lois, les théories, sèchement
illustrées d’expériences classiques. Mais voici notre bachelier dans
la vie. N’eût-il, par un miracle unique, rien oublié de sa science, il
restera comme un simple sot, incapable d’une explication, d’une
clarté, devant tant de phénomènes familiers qui sont cependant de
la physique.
Sait-il pourquoi la cheminée tire mal, pourquoi la lampe file ?
Non. Il ignore même qu’il faut percer un tonneau de deux trous pour
que le liquide s’en écoule. Il ignore le fonctionnement de son
radiateur, de son ascenseur, de son chauffe-bain, qui contiennent
pourtant des menaces de danger. Bien qu’il ait la cervelle farcie des
lois d’Ampère et de Faraday, il ne sait rien de l’appareillage
électrique, sonnerie, lumière et téléphone. Bref, il ignore tout de la
physique du logis.
S’il descend dans la rue, il n’y brille pas davantage. Je le mets au
défi d’expliquer comment fonctionnent le métro, le tramway, l’horloge
électrique. Et je ne suis pas bien sûr que le capot d’une limousine ne
recèle pas pour lui du mystère. Pourquoi ? Parce que la science
officielle, dans je ne sais quel antique esprit de renoncement, de
mépris pour la vie vraie, s’est résolument arrêtée devant les
applications. Et il en est ainsi pour chaque branche de
l’enseignement. On la coupe au moment où l’on va cueillir, à son
extrémité, la fleur ou le fruit.
S’agit-il de géographie ? On s’est bourré la mémoire de
nomenclatures de fleuves, de montagnes. On a appris les noms des
comtés, duchés, principautés, de tous ces petits lambeaux de sol
que s’arrache l’ambition humaine. Bref, on est très « calé » en
géographie. Seulement, on n’a pas appris à lire la carte… J’entends
la lire pratiquement, savoir se débrouiller, s’orienter, venir en aide au
pilote, au chauffeur assis à ses côtés.
En histoire, on possède à fond les civilisations abolies, les âges
disparus. Mais on connaît fort mal son propre siècle. On sait mieux
le successeur de Louis XIV que celui de Sadi-Carnot. Je veux dire
par là qu’on ne le connaît pas d’une manière intime, familière, qui
permette de juger les événements actuels et de les relier à ceux de
la veille.
Notons en passant que dans l’éducation familiale, on tombe dans
le même travers. On va à ce qui est loin dans l’espace et le temps.
Et on ignore ce qui est proche. On ignore sa famille au-dessus de
ses grands-parents. On apprend la filiation des rois et on ne sait pas
la sienne. On ne sait pas le nom de son bisaïeul et encore moins
son métier, son œuvre sur la terre. On ignore l’histoire et le plan de
la ville qu’on habite. Et on apprend des dates de batailles et les
affluents du Danube…
On pioche l’histoire littéraire en vue des examens, mais on
n’apprend pas les noms de ces héros de Balzac, de Daudet, de
Zola, d’Anatole France, qui sont devenus, par la puissance du génie,
des entités vivantes. On apprend à peu près les noms des artistes
de la Renaissance, mais on ignore les noms de ces peintres récents
qui fondèrent des écoles et dont les toiles deviennent cependant
classiques. On n’est point apte à saisir toutes les allusions que roule
l’entretien, lorsqu’elles s’inspirent d’œuvres contemporaines. Car
c’est la dernière fleur de l’histoire et l’enseignement ne la connaît
pas.
En dessin, même chanson. Pour les concours, on apprend à
reproduire tant bien que mal les traits d’un morne Romain de plâtre,
à grand renfort d’effets d’estompe. Mais veut-on montrer à un
menuisier, à un maçon, le petit projet qu’on rêve de réaliser ?
Impossible. On ne sait pas se servir de ses doigts. On ne peut pas
les contraindre à exprimer par des traits sa pensée. Ils se dérobent.
Ils refusent. Ils trahissent. C’est toujours le résultat de
l’enseignement. Appliquer des notions de dessin à la pratique ? Fi
donc !
On devrait enseigner aux enfants un peu de modelage, leur
mettre aux mains la boulette de glaise ou de plastiline. Rien
n’accoutume mieux à pénétrer le secret des formes, des reliefs et
des contours. Mais on ne demande pas de modelage aux examens !
Tous ces reproches doivent se retourner contre ceux qui
élaborent les programmes scolaires. Pourquoi en écartent-ils ces
applications qui en apparaissent le couronnement logique ?
Pourquoi cette cassure entre l’enseignement et la vie ? Il suffirait de
jeter du lest par ailleurs, d’éliminer de vaines connaissances dont
notre mémoire fait justice.
Pour en finir avec ces lacunes des programmes officiels, notons
encore qu’on n’apprend pas l’ethnographie. Elle nous enseigne
pourtant ce merveilleux échange d’effluves entre le ciel et la terre,
qui crée les races, les faunes, les flores. Elle devrait être la préface
souriante de la géographie.
On ne donne point aux enfants, parmi les connaissances à la
base, quelques notions d’architecture. Elles leur permettraient
cependant de comprendre et de goûter ces sages leçons d’équilibre
et d’harmonie qui sont inscrites dans les lignes d’un beau
monument. Elles leur permettraient aussi de discerner le style d’un
édifice ancien, de donner un âge à ces témoins émouvants du
passé, qui nous entourent et que pourtant nous ne savons pas voir.
Enfin, on n’apprend guère d’astronomie, dans les notions
générales. Et cependant ce devrait être une connaissance à la base.
Elle est, de toutes les sciences, la plus étroitement mêlée à notre
existence. C’est elle qui règle le pendule et le calendrier. C’est elle
qui fait le jour et la nuit, la pluie et le beau temps, elle qui entraîne
autour de la terre la ronde des saisons. Les spectacles
astronomiques nous entourent : le rayon de soleil qui nous verse la
vie, le clair de lune qui nous verse la paix, les constellations qui sont
la parure de la nuit, tous les phénomènes qui frappent l’imagination,
éclipses, étoiles filantes, comètes.
Et cependant les notions acquises sur l’univers sont peu
répandues. Elles ne sont pas descendues dans les couches
profondes. Elles ne nous sont pas familières.
Il y a sans doute dans cette ignorance l’effet d’un instinct
religieux. L’astronomie ne représente pas le ciel tel que le
catholicisme l’avait organisé.
De plus, l’astronomie ouvre à l’esprit des vues dangereuses pour
l’ordre établi. Elle nous ramène à notre taille, qui est petite. Elle nous
montre combien sont mesquines nos luttes, combien sont brefs les
empires, devant l’infini de l’espace et du temps. Et c’est là le péril.
Car, prêtres et chefs d’État, pour garder leur pouvoir et mener les
foules, ont besoin d’entretenir un fanatisme, haine des peuples et
crainte de Dieu, que dissiperait, si nous réfléchissions, le clair regard
d’une étoile.
TABLE DES MATIÈRES
Préambule. — Le But et le Plan 1

PREMIÈRE PARTIE
OPINIONS
Chapitre Ier. — Le Bonheur 5
Chapitre II. — Le Temps 17
La Foi dans l’Avenir. — La Connaissance de l’Avenir. — Le
Présent vaut le Passé. — L’Héritage du Passé.
Chapitre III. — La Vie 43
La Vie en souplesse. — La Vie est complexe. — La Vie est
précaire. — L’Inutile Tristesse. — L’Harmonie dans la
Vie. — Le Plan du Réel.
Chapitre IV. — Vues Morales 67
Les Mains propres. — Le Déterminisme. — La Loi
d’Équilibre. — Le Contrôle. — La Bravoure. — La Mort.
— La Religion.
Chapitre V. — Vues Sociales 99
Altruisme. — Solidarité. — Quelques iniquités. — L’idée de
Patrie.
DEUXIÈME PARTIE
ADAPTATIONS

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 Compare the benefits of well-designed compensation systems to the detriments of poorly

Lecture Outline: Overview of Major Topics

I. Compensation: Does it Matter (or, “So What?”)

Lecture Outline: Summary of Key Chapter Points

I. Compensation: Does It Matter (Or, “So What?”)

II. Compensation: Definition, Please

 People’s view of compensation differs depending on whether they look at

o For example: comparing earnings of women with those of men highlights

 Exhibit 1.2 provides data on CEO compensation.

 Pay also may drive employees to unions or even legal action.

E. Incentive and Sorting Effects of Pay on Employee Behaviors

F. Global Views—Vive la différence

Definition: Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible

III. Forms of Pay

A. Cash Compensation: Base

B. Cash Compensation: Merit Increases/Merit Bonuses/COLAs

C. Cash Compensation: Incentives

o When performance declines, incentive pay automatically declines, too.

E. Benefits: Income Protection

F. Benefits: Work/Life Balance

H. Total Earnings Opportunities: Present Value of a Stream of Earnings

I. Relational Returns from Work

The Organization as a Network of Returns

IV. A Pay Model

 Exhibit 1.5 shows a pay model.

 It attempts to ensure fair treatment for all the employees, by

B. Four Policy Choices

pay of others in the organization.

o The ground under compensation management has shifted.

o There is rarely a single correct approach, alternative approaches exist or can be

VI. Caveat Emptor – Be an Informed Consumer

 Students and future managers need to be informed consumers of compensation

VII. Your Turn: The Role of Labor Costs in Retail Electronics

Discussion of Case Issues

high in the same year.

Discussion of Case Questions

1. Thinking back to our discussion in the chapter section, Caveat Emptor—Be An

Answers to Review Questions

1. How do differing perspectives affect our views of compensation?

From a societal perspective, compensation may be viewed as:

From a stockholder perspective, compensation may be viewed as:

From a managerial perspective, compensation may be viewed as:

From an employee perspective, compensation may be viewed as:

From a global perspective, compensation may be used to convey more contemporary

2. What is your definition of compensation? Which meaning of compensation seems most

challenges, and teaming with great co-workers).

(1) Is the research useful?

(2) Does the study separate correlation from causation?

(3) Are there alternative explanations?