Responsible rewarding systems – the first step to explore the research area

Abstract

SXPPDr\� This article deals with the question how to shape a compensation system which will promote socially responsible behaviors towards both internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders are understood as shareholders, managers, employees, whereas external stakeholders are perceived especially as customers and suppliers. As the problem seems to be complex, there is a need for a multilevel analysis that will concentrate on the intra-organizational relations between managers and employees’ obligations to achieving organizational goals. It is also important to examine the impact of a compensation system, performance standards and assessment criteria on the fulfillment of external stakeholders’ expectations for the value provided by a company. We face two perspectives on the process of rewarding employees: from HRM (human resources management) and CSR (corporate social responsibility) view. The first one concentrates on the policies, procedures and effective practices due to high performance results, whereas the second on stakeholder’s expectations, ethical behavior and sustainability of outcomes. Both CSR as well as HRM stress the importance of the integrity between employee’s needs and organizational goals. Therefore, we extend the view by analyzing the instruments that are components of the total reward due to the impact they might have on the fulfillment of shareholders’ and stakeholders’ expectations for organizational outcomes.