Question 1 . Greed Can Have Negative And Positive Impacts

This paper will discuss the reasons why CEOs are not being overpaid. It will apply the utilitarian ethical principle to many a few aspects to CEO compensation and whether or not it is justifiable for such pay. The paper will look at whether or not their performance is justifiable for the pay because they play such a big role in the livelihood of the company along with the principle agency theory and how it is being addressed for the benefit of the shareholders and others involved with the company, the supply and demand of the CEOs, and the paper will describe the comparison of other professions to help link the idea of CEOs being fairly compensated.

Greed can be a powerful motivating force, evident through the positive impact it had on Industrialization in America during the Gilded Age. During this time new inventions became plentiful, but where there were new inventions there also had to be new businesses to back these inventions up and allow them to be successful. Wealthy business owners were able to help in this regard. They already had the capacity to help facilitate the creation of these new inventions, but it did not stop there. This is where greed came in. Greed is the intense and selfish desire for wealth, and it was this that empowered the rich during this time to expand upon their already successful businesses to become even more rich and powerful than they were before. This led to a surge of businesses in the country, and it was all due to greed. It was this desire for more that led to an increase in productivity in the country that helped with the spread of technology throughout it which made it more enticing for immigrants coming to America.

Compensation systems can take on many forms, all of which have positives and negatives related to it. However, certain components are noted to be determinants of solid compensation plans. One agreement of a solid compensation system is the use of incentives. “Clearly a successful companies set objectives that will provide incentives to increase profitability” (Needles & Powers, 2011). Incentive bonuses should be measures that the company finds important to long-term growth. According to Needles & Powers (2011) the most successful companies long term focused on profitability measures. For large for-profit firms, compensation programs should offer stock options. The interweaving between the market value of a company’s stock and company’s performance both motivate and increase compensation to employees As the market value of the stock goes up, the difference between the option price and the market price grows, which increases the amount of compensation” (Needles & Powers, 2011). Conclusively, a compensation plan should serve all stakeholders, be simple, group employees properly, reflect company culture and values, and be flexible (Davis & Hardy, 1999; The Basics of a Compensation Program).

Greed affects everybody one way or another. It changes how people act in important situations. Greed can force people into doing what is beneficial to them and not the masses who could have their lives changed for the better based off the decision made by one greedy individual. Greed takes over people's mind and turns them into savages who will stop at nothing to get what they want. Greed is alive and well in Lord Of the Flies by William Golding, Greed can be seen numerous times throughout this fantastic book where dozens of young boys get stranded on an island with no adults and only themselves to stay alive. Throughout the book the boys come to treat each other very harshly and become violent when something does not go their way. This

Greed negatively affects the world, including America. In America, greed is responsible for large chief executive officer salaries, outsourcing, and corruption inside police departments and government. Greed is defined a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed, like money or expensive items ( "Greed Definition”). Greed has caused outrageous corporate scandals that fill our newspapers and has produced rash tax cuts that have given money to the rich and in effect taken it away from the poor (Greeley). This is shown most importantly, by the insane ratio of a CEO salary to a worker's salary, companies outsourcing to other countries like China because it is cheaper, and lastly the money police and politicians taken because

Greed is a person who has a selfish and excessive desire for more than is needed. It is putting one’s own self-interest ahead while damaging another person (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). To be greedy can include anything from fame, money, status, power, and influence. Although greed has a negative connotation, there is a positive aspect to it. An example would be self-interest. In one’s perspective, they can view self-interest as a bad thing; on the other hand, a person can view self-interest as something good. Gordon Gekko made two speeches describing that greed is good and that it is not good. The endless debate of whether greed is good or bad forces people to evaluate to what end does greed take part in the Gilded Age and the Industrial Revolution. It makes people take in the perspective of the relationship between greed, technology, risk-taking, and the desire to get ahead.

Greed is the excessive desire to acquire or possess more, and it is also one of the biggest creators of tragedy. This is so vividly shown in both the novel The Sun Also Rises and in the play Macbeth. In The Sun Also Rises, this greed is directed toward a person, Lady Brett Ashley. Five men; Mike, Jake, Pedro, Bill, and the Count, are fighting to be with her throughout the book. In Macbeth, this greed is directed toward power as Macbeth wanted to become King, and what he does to become it. However, this greed led to the collapse of each character. Lady Ashley left all five men, leaving them devastated, while in Macbeth; an opposing army overthrew Macbeth. In both stories, greed drives the main character to do something, which is then

This paper provides an overview of the current debate and the theories that attempt to explain executive remuneration disclosure. Attention is given to underlying accounting theories such as Positive Accounting Theory, Normative Accounting Theory, Stakeholder Theory, Legitimacy Theory, Institutional Theory, Public Interest Theory, Capture Theory and Economic Interest Group Theory.

Throughout life, greed has always played a role in people’s actions whether they are aware of it or not. Greed is a very powerful thing that can affect someone in a negative way. No one realizes how much it affects them until something bad happens and it’s too late. People will do whatever it takes just to get their wants fulfilled. They don’t think about the outcome or care what happens just as long as they get what they want. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, greed corrupts Macbeth which then creates his downfall.

However, there have been many cases where the CEO and executive officers receive outrageous compensation even when the companies suffer. Overall, there is a wide disconnect between the incentive of the executives and the financial performance of their company, which needs to be fixed. By passing regulations and rules such as the Dodd-Frank Act, there is hope of shedding light on the connection between the company’s performance and the executives pay. Although it will provide a clear insight, it will not be able to set a strict regulated compensation or define what an executive should earn. Instead regulations will allow for more transparency for the shareholders regarding corporate governance issues such as executive pay. Along with that, it will force companies to take accountability for their actions. If they do poorly, then the executives should be paid less, and vice versa. Overall, there should be a direct alignment between executive pay and the company’s

Greed is what drives everything in society, whether that be thousands of years ago or today. The reason we have advancements in our world is greed. People want to live forever, have a legacy that lives forever, or they want to have the most money. People have a natural desire to have the most stuff, whether that be money or physical good, and they will go to the ends of the earth to get it. And because this is human nature, unfortunately, it isn’t stopping anytime soon.

Directors have awarded compensation packages that go well beyond what is required to attract and hold on to executives and have rewarded even poorly performing executives. These executive pay excesses come at the expense of shareholders as well as the company and its employees. Furthermore, a poorly designed executive compensation package can reward decisions that are not in the long-term interests of a company. Excessive CEO pay is essentially a corporate governance problem. When CEOs have too much power in the boardroom, they are able to extract what economists' call "economic rents" from shareholders (Economic rent is distinct from economic profit, which is the difference between a firm's revenues and the opportunity cost of its inputs). The board of directors is supposed to protect shareholder interests and minimize these costs. At approximately two-thirds of US companies, the CEO sits as the board's chair. When one single person serves as both chair and CEO, it is impossible to objectively monitor and evaluate his or her own performance.

As Murphy (1998) rightly points out, CEO compensation has become one of the most debated issues in the recent past. A lot of research in this field has been conducted to determine the relationship between CEO pay levels with the corporate performance, firm size, board vigilance, CEO’s human capital, tenure & age. But the results of these researches are not very hopeful and have yielded conflicting results. This review aims at understanding these relationships and also tries to provide an ethical perspective on CEO compensation.

Read the discussion case "Executive Compensation" on pages 190-192 then answer/discuss questions 1-7 that follow.

What is greed? Greed, in my opinion, is an act strictly to serve his or her wants. For example, if someone won a million dollars, a greedy person would think only of what he/she would buy themselves with that money, new clothes or a new car. They are not thinking about bettering their daily lives or helping those in need for a greater cause. This greed or self-serving attitude has also driven civilization to some advances and achievements. The million dollars does go to a car and new clothes but those purchases drive a work force and create jobs. Peoples need for money drive certain individuals to go to college for a better education because without it they would not have the same opportunities to make more than minimum wage in order to have a better life.