Why pay falls short of the promise

In the past pay was simply a necessary cost of doing business. Today pay is viewed as an inducement model; it is the carrot, not the stick. However Dr Jonathan Trevor, Lecturer in Human Resources & Organisations at Cambridge Judge Business School, explains that this practice of using pay as a strategic management tool has been over embellished by HR departments. The resulting imbalance between top executives pay and that of all employees is in fact counter-productive, fostering an unintended climate of negative employee relations. Dr Trevor explains why the “art” of management science needs to be re-dressed and why pay won’t motivate people to work harder.