Full Text(Pdf 673

Business Management Dynamics Vol.9, No.04, Oct 2019, pp.15-27 An Exploration of the Contrasting Social Class and Workplace Expectations for Determining Chief Executive Officers in the United States vs the United Kingdom Scott Kenneth Campbell, Ph.D.1 Abstract Key words: Workplace Culture; This paper sought to improve upon the understanding of the social class and Social Class; Ivy League and workplace cultural expectations for the determination of Chief Executive CEO Promotion Officers in the United States vs the United Kingdom. The author found that workplace cultural expectations were very different for aspiring executives in the United States vs the United Kingdom. In addition, the author found strong indications of a potential social class barrier for aspiring executives in the Available online United Kingdom that was not evident in the United States. Workplace culture www.bmdynamics.com was determined by weekly hours worked by CEO’s vs typical executives in the ISSN: 2047-7031 United States and the United Kingdom. Social class was determined by the exploration of undergraduate alma maters and consideration of whether these schools would be considered “Ivy League” or not. INTRODUCTION Public and academic fascination with CEO compensation, company performance, perceptions of excessive compensation and even considerations of CEO vs average worker compensation have existed for decades. However, this article will seek to address two considerations that are often overlooked in academic research, much less completely ignored in general publication articles. This article will consider the years of effort, possible excessive effort needed for individuals to work their way into the top offices of the largest corporations. In addition, this article will seek to compare the social and potential class barriers that successful CEO’s must strive to overcome. The author will explore the work expectations and social barriers the successful CEO’s of the 100 largest companies based in the United States of America have had to address. The author will then seek to compare and contrast the social and work expectations that the CEO’s of the 100 largest companies located in the United Kingdom have had to contend with during their climb to the top spot. It is anticipated that differences in working expectations as well as potential social and class barriers might be found between these two similar countries. Research for decades has focused on CEO compensation and looked at the corollary analysis with company performance. In general, these studies have found modest relationships between compensation and company performance. In addition, it is very easy to find articles and political figures railing against and condemning the often large compensation packages for American CEO’s. However, what is often overlooked amongst all the vindictive is the sheer amount of hard work that CEO’s do and have had to commit to for decades to reach the top of their fields. UNITED STATES VS UNITED KINGDOM WORKING EXPECTATIONS Employees and executive officers from different countries have varying working cultural expectations that tend to vary depending on societal likes and dislikes. In addition, government laws and regulations, especially concerning non-exempt employees (those eligible for over-time pay), also play a significant role in the determination of workplace cultural expectations. Workers and managers are exposed to, and often develop these characteristics of working expectations during their early schooling years. In addition, managers especially are exposed to these expectations during their years of higher education. The differing cultural expectations between the United States and the United Kingdom are evident in the work expectations to obtain a 4-year college degree. In the United States, the course load expectations have increased in the past decades to such an extent that only 36% of students attending top-rated 1 The School of Arts and Sciences, Division of Business, History and Social Sciences, Gordon State College, 419 College Drive, Barnesville, Georgia 30204, United States of America ©Society for Business and Management Dynamics Business Management Dynamics Vol.9, No.04, Oct 2019, pp.15-27 colleges complete their degree in 4 years. That figure drops to only 19% when one is looking at 4-year graduation rates from lower-tier universities, with a more working-class student body. (Anschuetz, 2015). For students in the United States, a 4-year college degree generally takes 5 years to complete (NCES, 2019). In contrast, educational expectations are significantly less demanding not only in the United Kingdom, but across the European Union as well. In 1999, 29 countries in the European Union signed the Bologna Declaration restricting course requirements to allow for the awarding of a bachelor’s degree in three years. Therefore, even for students attending Oxford or Cambridge, a “4-year” degree only requires 3 years of study (Belasco, 2019). The cultural expectations for working hours in the United States are more than the working hours expected for employees in the United Kingdom. Employees in both countries report to work at approximately the same time. However, the amount of time spent at work is dramatically different between the two countries. A recent study by Sarah Berger in the Harvard Business Review has found that American executives will work an average of 44 hours per week. However, this same study also concluded that the average American CEO will work an average of 62.5 hours per week (Berger, 2018). In the United Kingdom, the average work week for an executive is very similar to their American counterparts at just 42.7 hours a week (Henrich, 2017). However, there is a significant difference in the working hours of British CEOs. In the United Kingdom, the average work week for a CEO is just 44.7 hours (Taneja, 2013). An even more telling difference, as if an extra 20 hours a week were not enough, is the times and hours spent working by CEOs of both countries. In the United Kingdom, just 13% of CEOs reported working some or regular hours over the weekends (Cartwright, 2010). This contrasts with the 79% of American CEOs who reported they worked an average of 3.9 hours a day for Saturday and Sunday (Berger, 2018). Even the length and utilization of vacation days are significantly different for American CEOs vs their counterparts in the United Kingdom. On average, American executives will take 16.2 days of vacation during the year. However, American CEOs generally take 5 days of vacation or less each year (Kelly, 2016). Even on vacation, American CEOs will typically spend 2.4 hours a day working (Berger, 2018). Unlike the United States which has no government required paid vacation leave, full-time employees in the United Kingdom are guaranteed 28 days of paid vacation per year. In sharp contrast to their American counterparts, executives in the United Kingdom, including the CEOs typically take most if not all of their allotted 28 days of vacation time (Taneja, 2013). In addition, coworkers in the United Kingdom have a cultural expectation of both encouraging and supporting those who are on their vacations (Tetlow, 2017). Even the expectations of behaviors during the typical working day contrasts between the United States and the United Kingdom. A recent study indicates that most employees in the United Kingdom report to work at 10:30 am and leave at 4:30 pm. Therefore, by 5 pm, everyone in the United Kingdom has left work and one can easily hear a pin drop to the floor (Jackson, & Sundaram, 2015). In contrast, executives in United States arrive at work early in the morning and generally leave after 5 pm (Davis, 2016). The schedule of work between executives working in the United Kingdom and those in the United States are also different. Executives in the United Kingdom have several breaks, both cultural and government mandated during the working hours. For instance, British employees are entitled to tea breaks at specific times as scheduled by the management and government regulations (Jackson, & Sundaram, 2015). In contrast, although non-exempt workers in the United States have government mandated breaks during the workday, American executives have no such cultural or government mandated breaks (Henrich, 2017). A prime example of the differences between executive work expectations between the United States and the United Kingdom would be the differences in lunch breaks. The American workers and aspiring executives in companies often have their lunch at their desks instead of going out for lunch. A standard fixture in many American corporate offices is the lunch service. Instead of going to eat at a restaurant, aspiring executives in the United States will order a sandwich, or similar meal that can be quickly consumed at their desk (Le Blanc, 2017). In contrast, aspiring executives in the United Kingdom tend to ©Society for Business and Management Dynamics Business Management Dynamics Vol.9, No.04, Oct 2019, pp.15-27 go for lunch outside the company (Bond, 2014). Instead of the service providers bringing the meals to the British executive’s desks, they tend to leave and have their food in desired places. In addition to having lunch at one’s desk as opposed to having lunch outside the company, executives in the United States that do leave work for lunch also behave very differently than their counterparts in the United Kingdom. In the United States, workers and executives are often allotted an hour, and often only a half hour for their lunch breaks (Le Blanc, 2017). In addition, the consumption of alcohol during lunch breaks is discouraged if not outright forbidden. In contrast, workers and executives in the United Kingdom are guaranteed an hour for lunch, and executives often have lunches that extend closer to two hours. In addition, having lunch at a local pup, a restaurant or even a private club with the consumption of modest amounts of alcohol during the meal is frequently the norm for workers and executives in the United Kingdom (Bond, 2014).

Load more