There have been fundamental changes in renumeration practices in the UK over the last quarter century, with a substantial decline in collective bargaining as the major method of pay determination and the growth of more individualistic systems based on employee performance, skills or competency. While these changes have been charted by human resource management writers, consultants and academics, until now the various texts available have been largely descriptive and prescriptive in nature. This new text, which includes chapters by major UK academics and consultants who are specialists in the reward management field, is the first to adopt a critical and theoretical approach to these changes in reward systems. It covers the Institute of Personnel and Development's reward syllabus but, unlike other reward books, takes a thematic and theoretical approach to the material. The major strengths of this book are: * Each chapter is written by a separate reward management specialist with a thorough understanding of their respective subject - be it, for example, grading systems and equal value, financial participation schemes, or international reward management. * Each chapter approaches its subject from a critical perspective and places recent developments in a historical context. This enables the new pay concepts to be subjected to deeper theoretical analysis than has been attempted previously. * Each chapter also reviews the relevant academic literature covering its subject and draws its analysis from a critique of this material. This enables both HR practitioners and those studying reward management, such as IPD, MA Human Resource Management and MBA students, to become acquainted with the range of literature available and alternative approaches to the subject than those found in more prescriptive texts. In this respect, the book is a useful antidote to the 'how to do it' approach adopted by some reward authors. * Each chapter contains examples and case studies or reward practices to illustrate key points and is completely up-to-date in terms of relevant legal requirements, including new areas such as the national minimum wage and the requirement for minimum paid holiday entitlement. The book includes chapters on reward managment and the new employment relationship; grading systems and estimating value; changes in wages systems; salary systems and pay progression; determining pay levels; employee benefits, allowances and tax; financial participation schemes and international reward management.