Human resource management practice I also available by michael armstrong

Critical evaluation of the concept 

of reward strategy

The problem with a strategic approach to reward is 

that it can promise more than it achieves. This con-

tradicts the main message delivered by US writers 

such  as  Lawler  (1990)  in  his  Strategic  Pay  and 

Schuster  and  Zingheim  (1992)  in  their  The  New 

Pay,  which  was  that  it  provides  a  powerful  lever 

for improving business performance. As Thompson 

(1998: 70) commented:

The most that companies can hope to do in their 

approach to reward is to make sure that it does 

not distort the relationship [between management 

and employees]. Managing reward is thus a job of 

damage limitation and perhaps not the ‘strategic 

---