The vendettas against Fred Goodwin and executives’ pay

SIR – While I approve of the decision to strip Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, of his knighthood, it needs to be said that, to date, Mr Goodwin, in spite of his errors, appears to have committed no criminal offences. On the other hand, several members of the House of Lords have been actually convicted of criminal offences serious enough to warrant their being sent to prison.

No powers exist for the Honours Forfeiture Committee to remove the ennoblement from peers convicted of criminal offences. Until such time as they are removed – or even just capable of being removed – the honours system must be called into question.

The only honours that should be sacrosanct are those awarded for acts of gallantry, such as the Victoria Cross. Arthur Wright Rufford, Lancashire SIR – The honours system was not brought into disrepute by Fred Goodwin, but by the fawning politicians who recommended his knighthood and the posturing politicians who orchestrated its withdrawal to gain political advantage. David Saunders Sidmouth, Devon SIR – I disagree with Fred Goodwin losing his knighthood and being publicly pilloried by a sort of lynch mob. It all seems very petty. However, I do think that no banker should have an ego, particularly one which is out of control. Mr Goodwin’s ego was huge and out of control, and the chairman should have recognised this and taken action to rein him in. Christopher Gurr Lindfield, West Sussex SIR – Your leading article (January 29) suggested that only by paying high rates will the City of London attract the best talent. But research conducted in 1961 and since by Amitai Etzioni, the German-born Israeli-american sociologist, has established that there are three strands to motivation in the workplace: intrinsic, financial and social.

Most people are primarily motivated by wanting to do a good job (intrinsic motivation). Conversely, if you offer huge salaries you will attract people who are primarily motivated by financial reward. In refusing his bonus, Sir Philip Hampton demonstrated that he is primarily intrinsically motivated, not that he is talentless.

British management of the car industry in the Seventies showed what happens when intrinsic motivation is disregarded. But Japanese management in that industry succeeded, mainly because it recognised the importance of intrinsic over financial motivation. B H Sherrad Barton on Sea, Hampshire SIR – Can the lynch mob and the politicians, who this week successfully put pressure on Stephen Hester, the current chief executive of RBS, to turn down his bonus, not comprehend that Mr Hester represents part of the solution, not the problem? George Craigen Harpenden, Hertfordshire SIR – Ed Miliband, the Leader of the Opposition, is committed to the idea that rewards should reflect results. Can we therefore expect Ed Balls and Gordon Brown to be stripped of their pensions for getting us into the present dire economic mess?

After all, Mr Miliband appears to believe that previously agreed contractual arrangements are no longer relevant. Tony Walter Huddersfield, West Yorkshire