Discretion In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

In the hierarchical caricature of employment, we have supposed that the employer retains the bulk of authority to determine the terms of trade in the employment relationship as events unfold; the employee can trust the employer not to abuse that authority despite the lack of market-based discipline because of goodwill, a balance of power, or the employer's desire to protect her reputation.

This - the boss demands and the worker accedes - is the standard caricature image of employment; why else use the term boss? Yet although it is the standard caricature, in other employment relationships, custom and law dictate other decision-making procedures or what, in the jargon of economics, is called governance. There are cases, for example, in which the employee has most of the discretion. One example of this is the relationship between the CEO and the board of directors; the CEO is the employee of the Board, (in large part) it is the CEO who determines what to do on a day-to-day basis. A second example is the relationship between client (employer) and lawyer or physician (employee); the latter will in many, if not most, instances decide what tasks to perform and even what fees to charge. leia todo o artigo