Berman, Bowman, West, & Wart, Human Resource Management in Public Service, Sixth Edition
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Study Questions
Chapter 7: Compensation: Vital, Visible, and Vicious
1. Explain why compensation is controversial. (236)
2. Define equity theory? (237)
3. Identify three tenets of expectancy theory? (237) What does expectancy theory
assume?
4. What factors determine compensation? (238)
5. What does Herzberg say about job context versus job content? (239)
6. Explain flextime (240).
7. What did the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 mandate? (243)
8. What is ROWE? (241–242).
9. How effective is the Pay Reform Act? Why? (243)
10. What is meant by a wage-lead approach, wage-competitive approach, and wage-
follower pay plan? (243–245)
11. Discuss the “perennial pay debate.” (245–246).
12. Explain this claim: “the compensation debate is a proxy fight for what the role
government should play in society.” (248)
13. What are the various federal pay schedules? (249)
14. Where is the pay gap most severe? (250)
15. Historically, why have policy makers increased benefits rather than salaries? (250)
16. What is the average cost of benefits? (250)
17. Identify the paradox of benefits? (250)
18. What are some reasons employees may be discontented with benefit plans? (251)
19. What does internal equity mean? (252)
20. What is pay banding? How widespread is it? (253)
Pay banding attempts to make the salary structure more flexible, separate job levels are
21. Define comparable worth? (255)
22. Summarize the contentions of supporters and opponents of comparable worth? (255)
23. What is the wage gap between men and women? (255–256)
24. What is the attractiveness of seniority systems and inflation adjustments? (259)
25. List some preconditions of merit pay? (264)
26. What are some perverse effects of merit pay? (264)
27. According to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (2006), what
factors need to be present for an effective pay for performance system
to work? (262)
28. Under what conditions does pay for performance work well? (260)
29. What assumptions about human nature and motivation are key to pay for
performance plans? (260)
30. What is the general conclusion of Exhibit 7.8? (261)
31. What is pay compression? Why does it occur? (265)
32. Define skill-based pay? (267)
33. Why isn’t it a panacea? (268)
34. What is gain sharing? (270)
35. Why is differential pay used? (271). Identify different types of this kind of pay.
36. What is the lesson from the Florida Department of Revenue’s experience regarding
bonuses? (269)
37. What is the “real” compensation issue? (272)
38. What is the consequence of noncompetitive pay? (273)
39. What do you think about the issue of contractors and compensation in
government? (275–276)
40. What are some recommendations for pay systems? (276277)