Knowledge that Transforms

T his note presents some findings from the early stages of research into the effectiveness of company pay structures. 1 The use of the Lorenz curve as a measure of inequality of distribution of a firm's payroll is described. Values for L , the Lorenz coefficient, are presented for the total payroll of a chemical processing firm and for the earnings of manual workers in a medium‐heavy engineering company. The use of the Pareto distribution for management salary structuring is demonstrated. Values for α, the Pareto coefficient, are presented for two chemical companies and two engineering firms. Some possible practical uses for such Lorenz and Pareto values are suggested.

T he relationship between personal values and job success was investigated in a sample of 92 South African managers. The correlation between scores on a specially developed key of the Personal Values Questionnaire and relative salary per age (index of success) was significantly positive ( r = 0.36, P < 0.001). More successful managers had dynamic and pragmatic values while less successful managers had more passive and static values. The results offer further cross‐cultural support for the close relationship between personal values and managerial success.