ABSTRACT
In an era when U.S. firms are seeking ways to increase their productivity and competitiveness in a global economy, managers are more closely scrutinizing how business is conducted. A crucial concern is how well employees work to advance the goals of the firm. Often, compensation has been viewed as an important means of promoting employee vigilance to and compliance with desired objectives. However, changes in employee interests and values, the nature of work, and organizational goals threaten to make traditional compensation systems less effective. As a result, alternative reward strategies have been developed as a way to complement or extend the kinds of incentives available for motivating employee performance.
