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Status in Organizations

Author

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  • LAM, W.

    (University of Liege)

Abstract

Firms can motivate workers by offering them social status (e.g. access to power and privileges) instead of higher pay. Much of the literature emphasizes that status raises work incentives, ignoring the impact of status on coordination. However, I show that when workers need to cooperate with each other and each of them has their own vested interests, too much status differences may exacerbate conflict over workers’ preferred actions, and hence distorts coordination. Moreover, it is likely to be profitable for firms to introduce status differential when promotions lead to a change in the roles of the workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Lam, W., 2015. "Status in Organizations," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2015033, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvco:2015033
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    File URL: https://sites.uclouvain.be/core/publications/coredp/coredp2015.html
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    status; coordination; promotion; authority; organization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

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