Background

Jeff Hyman, Chief Talent Officer of Strong Suit Executive Search, in his 2016 opinion piece in 

Entrepreneur, titled ‘Why paying your team members the way Tesla pays Elon Musk will improve

their performance’, suggests the following: 

 Top performers should earn outsized bonuses and raises as compared to poor

performers. 

 Consider using stock or stock options in addition to cash to reward exceptional people

who are vital to organisation’s success. 

 The peanut butter approach (spreading bonus money around so that everyone gets

something and no one gets too much) does not encourage superior performance. 

 Compensation plan must support a culture that allows rock stars to flourish and weeds

out poor performers. 

In light of the above, critically evaluate the current compensation practices in your organisation

or an organisation you know well. Address the following tasks in your assignment using relevant

concepts and principles outlined in this subject. 

Task

You are required to: 

 Provide a brief description of the organisation and the current compensation/pay and

benefits offered in your chosen organisation. 

 Briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of variable compensation pay policies

and practices in an organisation. 

 Analyse some of the variable compensation pay/benefits used in the chosen organisation

to motivate or encourage superior performance by applying relevant motivational

theories. Evaluate the pros and cons of ‘peanut butter approach’ in rewarding and

motivating the employees. 

 Apply relevant pay and remuneration concepts in the subject to recommend a suitable

compensation plan that builds a high-performance culture in your organisation. 

 State the benefits your organisation will achieve when the recommendations are

implemented in the chosen organisation. 

Reference

Hyman, J 2016, Why paying your team members the way Tesla pays Elon Musk will improve 

their performance. Retrieved from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/309038.

Important assignment instructions 

 The required word length for this assignment is 3000 words (plus or minus 10%).

 In terms of structure, presentation and style you are normally required to use: 

ABS preferred Microsoft Word settings

 Author-date style referencing (which includes in-text citations plus a reference list).

 Reference lists for this assignment should contain 6-12 relevant references from different 

sources.

 All references must be from credible sources such as books, industry related journals, 

magazines, company documents and recent academic articles.

 Your grade will be adversely affected if your assignment contains no/poor citations 

and/or reference list and if your assignment word length is beyond the allowed

tolerance level.