ABSTRACT
The experience in local public education in the United States is illustrative. It shows not only the range of potential performance pay schemes but also the instability of such schemes, a more general theme returned to in the country chapters. Performance pay has emerged from the curtains to take center stage in academic debates, in firm strategy, and in government policies. The importance attached to pay systems in each of the disciplines derives from the role they are seen to play in affecting employee and, subsequently, organizational performance. Performance pay can be seen as a generic term that covers any system that seeks to link pay to some measure of individual, group or organizational level performance. Performance payments can be nonaccumulating in that the worker is required to reearn the payments each evaluation cycle. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
