Strategic reward is the process of deciding what route to take in developing appropriate reward arrangements and dealing with the issues which arise in making that journey. Armstrong and Brown hold great faith in strategic reward and present here their 'new realism' philosophy and breadth of experience on the subject. They examine the essence and context of strategic reward and the processes involved in developing and implementing strategies, along with a clear overview of the opportunities and risks of pursuing a reward strategy, demonstrating how critical it is to the dual agenda of successful organizational performance and the motivation and engagement of staff.
Strategic reward is the process of deciding what route to take in developing appropriate reward arrangements and dealing with the issues which arise in making that journey.
This text draws together thinking and practice in reward management. It focuses on the relationship of reward policy and practice to strategy, while contributions illustrate the theoretical links between reward and other fields of interest, such as motivation, labour economics and economic policy.
This book is a summary in a readings format of what the author has learned about strategic-reward systems. The collected material draws heavily on empirical research to guide the author's conclusions. The book contains 26 articles, which are divided into 10 topical areas: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "Pay and the Changing Business Context"; (3) "Pay in New Business Environments"; (4) "Strategic Pay Issues"; (5) "From Job Evaluation to Work Evaluation"; (6) "Team Pay"; (7) "Merit Pay Revisited"; (8) "Competency Pay"; (9) "Pay System Evaluation"; and (10) "Conclusions & The Future of Strategic Rewards." In order for strategic-reward programs to be effective, they must be carefully managed. The design, implementation, and evaluation issues raised in this book need to be carefully considered. Plans need to be administered in a manner consistent with their intent. Reward systems are doomed to fail when they are taken off the shelf and simply "administered" rather than developed specifically to the needs of the organization and then managed. Research on these programs clearly shows the positive impact of these plans on organizational effectiveness when they are implemented well. In addition, strategic-reward management holds great promise as a method of compensation for nontraditional reward environments, such as public sector, not-for-profit, unionized organizations. An index concludes this book. (Each chapter contains references.) (RT)
