cies and practices differ widely across organizations and across employee groups within organizations. To some students of organizations this may be self evident. But to others, such as economists using human capital models to examine compensation differentials, differences in organizations’ compensation policies and practices are treated as random noise with little relevance. Anecdotal evidence and sporadic surveys of specific policies or practices report that differences do exist (The Conference Board, 1984; American Productivity Center, 1987). For example, some organizations claim to position their base pay to meet the market, while others follow it; some design incentive schemes to emphasize long-term performance, others short term. Some firms employ individual based incentives while others emphasize group or team based gain-sharing schemes. Some decentralize the administration of compensation, others do not. Some disclose very specific information about pay to employees, such as ranges and merit guide charts, while others communicate only the broad policies, such as fairness and competitiveness. So a strategy may be intended and formally articulated in some plan or document, or it may emerge through the patterns of decisions shown by the organization’s behaviors. Thus, strategies are both plans for the future and patterns from the past to make survival of the organization itself (Mintzberg, 1987). External competitiveness strategies are often expressed as leading, lagging, or matching the market (Milkovich & Newman, 2007). In practice, many organizations pursue more than one external competitiveness strategy (Mark, 2008). These organizations may vary their external competitiveness strategies for different groups of jobs. For instance, some organizations may lead for positions deemed critical, whereas for less significant positions they may match or lag the market (Milkovich & Newman, 2007).
从战略角度看待薪酬问题的重要性取决于三个基本原则。首先，不同组织和组织内员工群体的薪酬政策和做法差异很大。对于一些组织的学生来说，这可能是不言而喻的。但对其他人来说，比如经济学家使用人力资本模型来研究薪酬差异，组织薪酬政策和实践的差异被视为随机噪声，几乎没有相关性。轶事证据和对具体政策或做法的零星调查表明，确实存在差异。例如，一些组织声称其基本薪酬是为了满足市场需求，而另一些组织则紧随其后；一些人设计激励方案是为了强调长期绩效，另一些则是短期绩效。一些公司采用基于个人的激励措施，而另一些公司则强调基于群体或团队的收益分享计划。一些国家下放了补偿管理权，另一些则没有。一些公司向员工披露了非常具体的薪酬信息，如薪酬范围和绩效指导图，而另一些公司只传达了广泛的政策，如公平和竞争力。因此，战略可能是有意的，并在一些计划或文件中正式阐明，也可能是通过组织行为所显示的决策模式而出现的。因此，战略既是对未来的计划，也是过去使组织自身生存的模式。外部竞争力战略通常表现为领先、滞后或与市场匹配。在实践中，许多组织追求不止一种外部竞争力战略。这些组织可能会针对不同的工作群体而改变其外部竞争力战略。例如，一些组织可能会领先于被视为关键的职位，而对于不太重要的职位，它们可能会与市场相匹配或落后。
What can conclude about this topic?关于这个话题可以得出什么结论？
External competitiveness is but one part of an organization’s overall compensation strategy. In addition to external competitiveness considerations, issues of internal salary alignment, the design of pay for performance plans, and the administration of the overall pay system are also important. Of these areas, internal salary alignment seems a particularly pertinent area of consideration for those interested in further expanding their knowledge of compensation topics beyond external competitiveness.
外部竞争力只是组织整体薪酬战略的一部分。除了外部竞争力考虑外，内部薪酬调整、绩效薪酬计划的设计以及整体薪酬制度的管理等问题也很重要。在这些领域中，对于那些有兴趣在外部竞争力之外进一步扩大薪酬主题知识的人来说，内部薪酬调整似乎是一个特别相关的考虑领域。
Internal alignment considers pay relationships between employees inside an organization versus the external relationships considered by external competitiveness. Whereas external competitiveness considers salary comparisons across organizations for employees performing similar work, internal alignment considers salary comparisons inside organizations for employees doing different types of work. Moreover, just as external competitiveness has significant implications for individual and organizational performance, internal alignment has equally important implications.
内部一致性考虑了组织内部员工之间的薪酬关系与外部竞争力所考虑的外部关系。外部竞争力考虑的是从事类似工作的员工在组织内的薪酬比较，而内部一致性考虑的是不同工作类型员工在组织内部的薪酬比较。此外，正如外部竞争力对个人和组织绩效有重大影响一样，内部一致性也有同样重要的影响。
Recommendations 建议
The policy on external competitiveness is important if the organization is going to attract, retain, and motivate its
