The Dewey Plan, Part 1

Let’s say we have a fictional company called Gibralter Cups, Inc. This fictional small company, which produces custom printed cups, is fairly small, but they have had a profitable year. The company has 25 employees, and all have been at the company for at least one year, and have done well on their annual performance reviews. The monthly payroll at present is $100,000/month and works out as you see below.

Now, let’s say that, as the company has been profitable, the leadership decides to reward its staff by increasing the payroll by 3%. That is, the payroll in going to increase from $100,000.00 to $103,000.00. This is a raise not given on individual merit, but rather based on company-wide performance. Traditionally, such raises would be applied as you see below.

That’s the traditional breakdown, but is it the only way to divide the 3% payroll increase equitably and fairly?

The Dewey Plan

I want to describe an alternate concept; I call it “The Dewey Plan”, named after the guy from whom I heard the idea. I have no idea if he heard it from someone else or thought of it himself. For all I know, there is a formal name for the distribution I’m about to describe, but I don’t know it. I take no credit for this idea at all; I'm just putting the ideas out there.

First, a metaphor:

When an NFL team wins the Superbowl (e.g. the 2015 Denver Broncos), an MVP is chosen (e.g. Von Miller). The MVP gets an individual trophy and usually a car. (Von Miller didn’t get one.) This is an individual accolade for an individual who performed outstandingly.

The team members, however, each get a Superbowl ring. It doesn’t matter who the individual is; each player gets the same ring. Von Miller doesn’t get more or bigger diamonds because he was the MVP. The player who played one minute of the Superbowl gets the same ring as a player that played every minute of offense (or defense). The player on injured reserve who did not play in a single playoff game will get the same ring as the player that played every game. It's recognition that every player had a role to play in successfully getting the team through the season, the playoffs, and the Superbowl.

Back to our company:

If a company is going to reward the entire staff by increasing payroll by 3%, why does each person need to make 3% more? Couldn’t each member of the staff be rewarded with a raise of equal amount rather than an equal percentage? Why couldn’t the post-raise increase use this formula: $3000 / 25 = $120? Why couldn’t the new salary schedule look like this instead?

Is there anything objectionable about this? Are there any benefits to such a plan? I'll cover a few of those in the next post. For now, muse on the information as it is.

What we assume that just ain't so (not always, anyway)

What cultural assumption inform your reaction to this photo?

I find it interesting that my workplace is among the most diverse in Arkansas. I don't have statistics to prove this, but the fact that I have colleagues from four different countries (EXcluding the US) and that most of the teaching staff has lived for varying amounts of time out of the US, I think I can safely make that assumption. In addition, everyday we work with only international students, so we have a pretty international worldview as far as US workplaces are concerned.

Yet, I'm often amused (and occasionally disappointed) by how Western and distinctly American is our advice to students. Many a time I've sat in my office listening to an instructor give life advice to a student that has caused me to think, "But that's so outside what they would see as cultural accurate or appropriate!" In any culture, we are often blind to the assumptions that we have about life, about what is most valuable and desirable. Evidently, even those with cross-cultural experience often fail to note it.

 Yesterday I was reading the Minnesota Council of Churches Refugee Services Refugee Co-sponsorship Guide. In it was this list of characteristic descriptors of US culture. I thought it was a good, accurate list.

• A belief in rugged individualism where people see themselves as independent and autonomous, rather than integrally related to a family unit or ethnic group

• A system whereby positions and material resources are given as rewards for personal achievement, not based on need

• A concern for efficiency and for solving problems in a pragmatic way, regardless of personal feelings

• A limited need for privacy, other than physical privacy

• A preference for separation of the elderly from the rest of society

• An acceptance of displays of affection in public

• An expectation that families will often be separated by long distances

• A lack of acceptance of the world as it is and strong efforts to change it

• A view that mental, managerial, and scientific labor is inherently superior to manual and service-oriented labor

• A rational worldview where events can be explained and reasons for particular occurrences can be determined, rather than a belief in fate

• A confidence that people with opposing viewpoints can be faced directly and intentionally confronted

• A social order where the primary motivation is competition rather than cooperation

Your thoughts?