The Rise in Pay for Performance Among Higher Managerial and Professional Occupations in Britain: Eroding or Enhancing the Service Relationship?

Williams, Mark; Zhou, Ying; Zou, Min

doi:10.1177/0950017019841552

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Along this line, one element of potential concern in our results is the positive association between computer use and productivity PFP. Although individual contingent pay schemes have been found to have positive effects on attitudes such as job satisfaction and commitment (Ogbonnaya et al., 2017), they also show negative effects on employee welfare through greater work intensification and job strain (Ogbonnaya et al., 2017; Williams et al., 2020). Therefore, in the adoption of PFP schemes associated with increased computer use, attention should be paid to design issues such as the definition of standards and the pay rate that guarantee a balance between the effort provided by the worker, the rewards received and the resources assigned to perform their tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Computer use and pay for performance

Bayo‐Moriones

Erro‐Garcés

Lera‐López

2021

Human Res Mgmt Journal

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Workplace digitalisation is a pervasive phenomenon associated to an increase in wage differentials between occupations. This paper analyses the relationship between computer use and pay for performance, whose incidence has also followed a positive growth pattern. More concretely, we examined three pay‐for‐performance schemes: productivity/piece rate, team and firm pay for performance. We also investigated the mediating role of job design in this relationship. The complementarity framework perspective and the economic theory of incentives were the theoretical approaches applied in the development of hypotheses. Data from four waves of the European Working Conditions Survey were used in the empirical analyses. A positive association was found between computer use and the three pay for performance schemes considered, particularly team and firm pay for performance. The results also indicated that this relationship was partially explained by changes in job design due to computerisation, such as higher job complexity, on‐the‐job training and teamwork.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Computer use and pay for performance

Bayo‐Moriones

Erro‐Garcés

Lera‐López

2021

Human Res Mgmt Journal

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“…More generally, occupational differentiation in PFP within organizations may result in unhelpful negative attitudes between groups that are treated differently (Marescaux et al , 2013) as employees' equity concerns may be more closely tied to their organizational than wider professional environment. Finally, it has been established that PFP jobs pay more (Williams et al , 2020). Given our research finds that PFP is more likely to be found in jobs in occupations where monitoring difficulty and requisite human asset specificity is high, which also are generally higher-paying occupations (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differentiation in pay for performance within organizations: an occupational perspective

Williams

Zhou

Zou

2020

IJM

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PurposeThis study aims to address the question of why organizations do not uniformly apply pay for performance (PFP) throughout the organization, focusing on the wider occupational structure in which they and the jobs they create are embedded. The authors propose a model of “occupational differentiation” whereby the probability of a job within a given organization having PFP increases with the levels of monitoring difficulty and requisite human asset specificity characterizing the occupation to which a job belongs, being highest in occupations characterized by high levels of both (generally managerial and professional occupations).Design/methodology/approachUsing the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (a nationally representative matched employer–employee dataset for Britain), this paper investigates this question for all 350 occupations delineated by the UK's Office for National Statistics using regression methods that adjust for other confounding factors such as demographic factors and workplace fixed effects.FindingsThe authors find organizations “occupationally differentiate” the use of PFP in ways consistent with the model, i.e. PFP is most likely to be found in occupations characterized by both high monitoring difficulty and high requisite human asset specificity (mainly managerial and professional occupations) and least likely in occupations scoring low in both. The finding holds across PFP types (individual, group, organizational), whether organizations are large or small, and hold across most industrial sectors.Research limitations/implicationsThe main implication of this study is that organizations appear to be taking into consideration whether the wider profession to which a job belongs when implementing PFP, irrespective of their own human resource management strategies and organizational context. There are a few limitations to this study, with the main one being that this model is mainly confined to empirical support is only found in the private sector. The public sector appears to be beyond the reach of the model, where PFP implementation is generally rarer. A second limitation is that the dataset is from 2011 and only covers a single country.Practical implicationsGiven organizations appear to be implementing PFP based on occupation, this may lead to equity concerns, as different groups are being treated differently within organizations based upon their occupational group.Social implicationsAs PFP jobs tend to pay more than non-PFP jobs and PFP prevalence has been growing, by being more likely to implement it for generally high-paid groups (generally higher managerial and professional occupations), PFP may contribute to wider pay differentials within and between organizations.Originality/valueBy introducing the occupational-level of analysis and the differential nature of tasks across occupational groups, the model offers a new midrange, sociological perspective to understanding intra-organizational dynamics in PFP use and potentially human resource practices more broadly.

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“…A second dimension of inequality in work highlighted by the literature is the nature of pay policies. The growth of human resource management led to a sharp rise in use of individual performance payment systems in the 1990s (McGovern et al, 2007; Williams et al, 2019), which reinforce inequalities between occupational classes. Performance‐related pay readily raises issues about fairness, given that supervisory judgements on relative performance may be difficult justify.…”

Section: Theoretical Issues and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Performance‐related pay readily raises issues about fairness, given that supervisory judgements on relative performance may be difficult justify. The benefits of performance‐related pay for overall pay levels, however, also differ substantially between occupational classes: while providing a bonus on top of base earnings for managers and professionals, it partially substitutes for base earnings in less skilled occupational classes, thereby increasing risks of pay loss (Williams et al, 2019).…”

Section: Theoretical Issues and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality at work and employees' perceptions of organisational fairness

Gallie¹,

Felstead

Green³

et al. 2021

Industrial Relations Journal

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The need to promote fairness at work, as a way of both enhancing employee well‐being and raising productivity, has become increasingly central to political discourse. There has been little research, however, on perceptions of fairness across the diverse spectrum of employees in the workforce—the extent to which they regard their organisations as fair and the work experiences that most strongly inform their judgements about fairness. The paper draws on a representative national sample of British employees to examine the distribution and potential determinants of their views about the overall fairness of their organisations and how these differ by occupational class and sex. As well as pointing to the central importance of employee voice and the quality of supervisory treatment, it shows that the level of work intensity and job security are strongly associated with evaluations of fairness. In contrast, the effects of pay policies are relatively modest.

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The Rise in Pay for Performance Among Higher Managerial and Professional Occupations in Britain: Eroding or Enhancing the Service Relationship?

Cited by 10 publications

References 36 publications

Computer use and pay for performance

Computer use and pay for performance

Differentiation in pay for performance within organizations: an occupational perspective

Inequality at work and employees' perceptions of organisational fairness

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