Same Balls: Same Pay
Some good news for Friday! From The NYT: Wimbledon Agrees to Even Out Its Prize Money.
The recent rationale for the difference in dollars was that the women played less games. However, they still train (and play) just as hard. If we followed that logic in the business world, we’d pay everyone by the hour and some version of Frederick Taylor’s time and motion studies would mandate how much and where (”Oops, sorry, Bob, you’re moving your arm too much typing that memo.” And, you’re under quota for producing corporate speak this week. That’ll be 200 bucks less on your paycheck.”)
It’s interesting to review Taylor’s four principles of scientific management:
1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each worker rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
3. Cooperate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.
These don’t play too well in 2007 - on a tennis court on in our knowledge worker economy. However, #4 should still be considered (with a not-so-slight variation on dividing the work). Put the CEO out there trying to hit a few balls and he/she might see customer service (and employee treatment) in a completely different light.
Related Post: What size are your balls?
Tags: management, tennis, Wimbledon
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February 23rd, 2007 at 10:20 am
“Put the CEO out there trying to hit a few balls and he/she might see customer service (and employee treatment) in a completely different light.”
That’s probably true … as long as somebody makes sure he/she is hitting the right balls.
February 26th, 2007 at 8:07 am
When I first heard this story on my local news (NOT the best place for In-depth reporting, so they left some things out) I made the same argument: women play 3 sets while men play 5.
Do women train as hard as men? I’m sure some do. And I’m positive that some of the men don’t train as hard as other men. Each athlete had different skills and varying tolerances for training.
So the question becomes, “How do the organizers decide prize money?”
If the answer is “number of games played” then the athletes required to win the best of five sets should be paid more. That’s only logical.
But if the answer is “popularity”, perhaps the winner should be paid a portion of gate receipts. Let’s apply good ‘ol “Supply and Demand.”
I doubt that the higher-ups would ever admit what many of us believe: that for years many sporting event organizers have suffered under the delusion that women’s sports are a lesser draw than men’s. Maybe this change is a reaction to the fact that, at least in tennis, women are out-shining the men in the arena of exciting competition and publicity.