Given the unique model of group performance pay rewards for teachers in the State of Arizona and considering the significant latitude that existed for developing and implementing individual district plans, the intent of this study was to determine through mixed research methods, how teachers and principals in two Southern Arizona school districts view themselves, and how they view their professional efforts in relation to the advent of performance pay.The specific areas the researcher looked at were financial incentives, improvement of teaching, perceived district support, principal understanding and commitment, allocation of resources, principal skill, and teacher teamwork and learning. These areas are taken from previous research by Carolyn Kelley, Sharon Conley, and Steve Kimball (2000). The survey component for this study was modeled directly from their study and modified minimally. The researcher conducted a Cronbach's Alpha Reliability test to address reliability factors related to survey modification. Survey responses by teachers and principals were compared as well as responses by elementary and middle level teachers, and between the two participating districts. A detailed description of each district's performance pay plan for teachers is also included for comparative purposes.Additionally four principals and four teachers were interviewed for the qualitative portion of this study to lend a greater degree of richness and understanding to the quantitative findings.The purpose of the study was to compare and contrast survey and interview responses to gain some degree of insight into how performance pay is perceived by the study participants. The overall objective of the study was to generate research data in the area of performance pay for teachers and share the final results with the two districts involved in the study.The findings suggested a general agreement between principals and teachers in four of the seven areas related to performance pay. There was disagreement between principals and teachers in the areas of district support, principal understanding/ commitment, and teacher teamwork and learning.The recommendations implied from this study are that future research in this area is needed and a larger population sample is desirable.

abstract: This research was focused on determining the relationship between student achievement, teacher evaluation scores, and performance pay for an Arizona school district. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Administration and Supervision 2014

This research focuses on the relationships between principal instructional leadership and the change process of teachers while a district is undergoing the implementation of a performance pay program. The researcher utilized a mixed methods approach. The Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (Porter, Murphy, Goldring, & Elliott, 2007) developed by researchers at Vanderbilt University and Penn State was one of the quantitative measures. This instrument is designed to measure instructional leadership from the perspective of teachers and the principal. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) (George, Hall, & Stiegelbauer, 2006), based on the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) (Hord, Rutherford, Huling-Austin, & Hall, 1987), is the quantitative instrument used to determine the stage of change of the participants or potential participants of the new performance pay program.Interviews of school district administrators and a review of relevant documents regarding the performance pay implementation serves as the data for the qualitative component of the study. A grounded theory approach was utilized in gathering and analyzing information. This approach allows for discoveries of themes and concepts that are not preconceived by the researcher.Results of the research indicate increased teacher collaboration and fidelity of implementation of the targeted instructional strategies and practices after a performance pay program funded by a United States Department of Education Teacher Incentive Fund Grant was implemented. The monetary incentive and the incentive of professional development may have had equal value to participants. Principals positively impacted the implementation when they were skilled communicators who advocated for teachers and held them to high standards for student performance and supported their efforts in implementation of new instructional strategies to produce higher levels of student achievement. The performance pay implementation was supported by layers of leadership which established and continues to sustain the project.

To meet the continued demand for educational reform, the state of Florida enacted legislation in 1998 that required school boards to base a portion of the salary for school administrators and instructional personnel on performance. Although ahead of the required statutory timeline, the School District of Lee County implemented a teacher performance pay plan during the 1998–1999 school year as a result of Florida's legislative direction. The problem of this study was to determine the perceptions of Southwest Florida school-based certified staff regarding the implementation of teacher performance pay in a school district where performance pay had been in operation for the five years prior to this study. The population of this study consisted of the certified school-based personnel employed by the School District of Lee County, Florida. A random sample of 1,000 members was selected from the instructional population. Additionally, this study included the entire population of 176 school-based administrators for an overall sample of 1,176 members. Participants were asked to complete the survey instrument, Teacher Performance Pay Attitudinal Survey designed by the researcher. This instrument was developed to fit the unique requirements and specific nature of this study. Although intended to motivate teachers, the teacher performance pay plan examined in this study was perceived by instructional staff and administrators as not motivating. Findings of this study also show that most teachers and other instructional respondents disagree that teacher performance pay provides an incentive to work harder toward improving student achievement. Additionally, a majority of the instructional respondents did not agree that performance pay encouraged them to participate in staff development or motivated them to change their instructional practice. Finally, most respondents, both instructional and administrative, did not agree that the current performance pay system was fair. These findings suggest that the performance pay program of the current study may have fallen short of its intended goal. This study also found many differences in perceptions of teacher performance pay among the demographic variables. These differences were particularly significant in several survey areas to include the respondent's years of experience, union status, and position. Findings in this study suggest that performance plan design should clearly connect the compensation reward to performance so that educators understand the performance level required. The findings of this study also suggest that improving the alignment between the performance pay plan and school goals should be a consideration in any future plan revision.

Many public school districts around the nation have implemented performance pay programs to provide teachers the opportunity to earn additional pay based on measures of student achievement. These programs aim to improve student achievement and teacher effectiveness. Existing research on performance pay demonstrates no positive impact of such programs on student and teacher outcomes; however, little research assesses the impact of performance pay combined with addition supports and working condition improvements on student achievement and teacher effectiveness. This study empirically examined the impact of teacher performance pay combined with additional human capital improvements on student growth and teacher mobility in one Texas school district. The district implemented the program in only 15 of the district’s 144 schools. Nine schools implemented the full intervention, which included performance pay, teacher supports, and working condition improvements, while six schools partially implemented the program, offering teachers the opportunity to earn performance pay only. Results demonstrate that student growth was significantly, positively related to full program implementation in math and reading; yet, the magnitude of the results was small. Over time, teacher effectiveness increased on campuses that implemented the most comprehensive version of the program. Average teacher turnover rates increased on full program campuses the year before and the year after implementation; yet, the most effective teachers remained on campuses that provided performance pay and improved working conditions. Results suggest that financial incentives combined with additional human capital improvements, rather than financial incentives alone, could lead to small improvements in student achievement and teacher effectiveness in high need, urban public schools. These findings hold implications for policymakers and researchers, providing evidence on how to best design and implement school district human capital initiatives that show promise in improving student and teacher outcomes. / text

Under 1900-talets senare hälft har lönesättning via enskilda lönesamtal, så kallad individuell lönesättning blivit den rådande lönebildningen i offentlig verksamhet. Tidigare utgick den offentliga sektorns lönebildning från löneskalor och tarifflöner, så kallad lönetrappa efter ålder och erfarenhet. Den offentliga sektorn kan anses vara en komplex organisation på grund av dess krav på demokrati, hushållande med samhällets resurser och tillämpande av offentlighetsprincipen. Dessa kan ha en påverkande effekt på hur lönebildningen ser ut samt den individuella lönens funktion som belöningsincitament och styrmedel. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att genom en intervjustudie med fenomenografisk ansats undersöka vilka uppfattningar som fanns ute i den offentliga verksamheten kring den individuella lönen och dess effekter. Resultatet ledde till tvetydiga slutsatser. Det framgick att chefer i verksamheten uppfattar lön som ett styrmedel med vissa utmaningar. Framförallt kring förankring och tydlighet i lönekriterier samt återkoppling till medarbetare. Medarbetare var positivt inställda till att prestation ska leda till bättre lön men de flesta var missnöjda med hur bedömningen av prestation fungerade idag. Trots utbrett missnöje med den individuella lönesättningen så tycks lön inte vara den främsta anledningen till varför medarbetare fortsättningsvis ville göra ett bra jobb, utan det var omsorgen till kommunmedborgarna. Chefer och medarbetare upplevde att lön inte är en stor motivationsfaktor. Resultatet visade dock att lönefrågan var mest aktuell vid den årliga löneöversynen.

This study examined the effect of a score card¬-based performance pay plan in a professional services firm. The plan was implemented in response to a decreasing trend in productivity and a desire for a formal incentive compensation plan. Performance of manager and senior manager accountants were analyzed across two departments over a five year period. A definitive account of the effects of the intervention is limited by the case-¬study design, but the data does suggest that the performance pay plans used did not adversely affect performances. Design limitations of the plan and future research are also discussed.

<p> </p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to understand the opinions and potential effects of objective and subjective assessments of performance as a basis for performance pay for blue-collar workers.</p><p>The study takes a qualitative approach to find out how and why four companies - Trelleborg Forsheda, Finnveden Powertrain, Isaberg Rapid and Parker Hannifin- work with salaries, incentive system and performance assessment the way they do.</p><p>The concept of individual salary is central in this thesis, and individual salary is based on four criteria; capabilities, performance, work demand and formal competence. These can be divided in subjective or objective criteria. Individual salaries also contribute to salary divergence, which in many studies have indicated higher performance. Important to remember is that it has to exist a purpose to salary divergence and how salary is diverged in the company is related to the goals and strategy of the company. If the company chooses to have performance based salaries- which is salary divergence- another question arise; what is good performance?</p><p>In organizations that have performance salaries, a group or an individual (often the middle manager) have to decide if a certain group of personnel performs good or bad. This can mainly be done in two different ways; objective performance assessment or subjective performance assessment. Objective performance assessment is based on numerical calculation of measures, which will form the basis for rewarding employees using a salary system that reward performance. Subjective performance measurements are based on judgment. Instead of relying on numerical calculations, one evaluates if the results reflect good or bad performance.</p><p>For both methods it is essential that the personnel feels that the salaries are fair, and that the salary system is clear and easy to understand. Something else that is important to understand is that employer and employee have different views in what is a fair salary.</p><p>Objective assessments are based on numerical calculations of measures, and one important property such measures have is that they don’t leave any room for excuses. Research indicate that performance pay has important motivation enhancing effects, but the profitability doesn’t always benefit from it. When monitoring costs are high, or product quality or long term thinking is required, hourly wages may be preferable. Tasks which are measured, will naturally be prioritized by the organization. This means that the choice of measures is very important. The amount of measures mustn’t be too high, and they have to be carefully considered. Subjective assessments are the opposite to objective ones. The advantages with subjective performance assessments are, among other things, that additional information which have surfaced during the period of measurements can be taken into consideration, errors in the measurement process can be corrected and unlucky circumstances can be dealt with. However, problems exist in unfair assessments, which are based on prejudice.</p><p>Findings in this report shows that profitable companies have large differences in their salary systems. This is also supported by other research. The company Isaberg Rapid AB only uses objective criteria, focused on simplicity and group rewards. Finnveden Powertrain on the other hand, has a system focused on individuals and subjective assessments. Some conclusions could be drawn; one of the most important being that connections between the type of activities and the salary system is positive, and that salary systems have to be updated and revised continuously.</p><p> </p>

The work performance of employees remains a vital factor both in an organization's viability as well as in the prosperity of its employees. Merit pay can influence employee performance and is one of the most frequently used monetary reward incentives for motivating employees to achieve a higher level of performance. The problem is the limited knowledge on how state employees in a southern state perceive merit pay and how those perceptions may influence employee work performance. Using a conceptual framework built from elements of various motivational theories including Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's 2 factor theory, the purpose of this case study was to understand how fifteen employees at a state department in the southern part of the United States perceived how merit pay influenced their work performance. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and transcribed, coded, and subjected to a thematic analysis procedure using NVivo10. A key theme emerging from this study suggesting that participants were not motivated to perform based on merit pay; rather, performance was viewed to be the result of personal determination. This determination sets the stage for state agency leadership to initiate action toward enhancing and implementing a formal recognition program to motivate and engage employees. Findings of the study revealed that the 15 workers were motivated by their current individual personal need level, as Maslow delineated in his hierarchy of needs theory. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to policymakers and state department leaders to consider nonmonetary rewards for employee recognition as a motivational tool in order to improve or maintain work performance.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the opinions and potential effects of objective and subjective assessments of performance as a basis for performance pay for blue-collar workers. The study takes a qualitative approach to find out how and why four companies - Trelleborg Forsheda, Finnveden Powertrain, Isaberg Rapid and Parker Hannifin- work with salaries, incentive system and performance assessment the way they do. The concept of individual salary is central in this thesis, and individual salary is based on four criteria; capabilities, performance, work demand and formal competence. These can be divided in subjective or objective criteria. Individual salaries also contribute to salary divergence, which in many studies have indicated higher performance. Important to remember is that it has to exist a purpose to salary divergence and how salary is diverged in the company is related to the goals and strategy of the company. If the company chooses to have performance based salaries- which is salary divergence- another question arise; what is good performance? In organizations that have performance salaries, a group or an individual (often the middle manager) have to decide if a certain group of personnel performs good or bad. This can mainly be done in two different ways; objective performance assessment or subjective performance assessment. Objective performance assessment is based on numerical calculation of measures, which will form the basis for rewarding employees using a salary system that reward performance. Subjective performance measurements are based on judgment. Instead of relying on numerical calculations, one evaluates if the results reflect good or bad performance. For both methods it is essential that the personnel feels that the salaries are fair, and that the salary system is clear and easy to understand. Something else that is important to understand is that employer and employee have different views in what is a fair salary. Objective assessments are based on numerical calculations of measures, and one important property such measures have is that they don’t leave any room for excuses. Research indicate that performance pay has important motivation enhancing effects, but the profitability doesn’t always benefit from it. When monitoring costs are high, or product quality or long term thinking is required, hourly wages may be preferable. Tasks which are measured, will naturally be prioritized by the organization. This means that the choice of measures is very important. The amount of measures mustn’t be too high, and they have to be carefully considered. Subjective assessments are the opposite to objective ones. The advantages with subjective performance assessments are, among other things, that additional information which have surfaced during the period of measurements can be taken into consideration, errors in the measurement process can be corrected and unlucky circumstances can be dealt with. However, problems exist in unfair assessments, which are based on prejudice. Findings in this report shows that profitable companies have large differences in their salary systems. This is also supported by other research. The company Isaberg Rapid AB only uses objective criteria, focused on simplicity and group rewards. Finnveden Powertrain on the other hand, has a system focused on individuals and subjective assessments. Some conclusions could be drawn; one of the most important being that connections between the type of activities and the salary system is positive, and that salary systems have to be updated and revised continuously.