John Stredwick: PhD Performance Related Pay

John Stredwick

PhD Performance Related Pay, 2004

"I am the Head of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) studies at the University of Luton."

Dr John Stredwick joined the University in 1992 after 25 years as Human Resources practitioner in the publishing, contracting and service industries, including Head of Personnel at an RTZ subsidiary.

John's detailed experience in Pay and Rewards stimulated him to engage in research and publication in this area which has lead to his PhD award in 2004, for research and thesis 'Performance Related Pay - objectives, operations and outcomes'.

This was based on fieldwork in a Luton Telecommunications company over a period of years. The main outcome of the study was the identification of clusters of employee characteristics related to positive and negative attitudes to PRP. John was supervised by Dr Brian Mathews and Dr Frank Carr.

John said: "It was never going to be too easy to complete a PhD on a part-time basis and retain a 'proper life' but the University has put in place an excellent Supervisory system to give real help and encouragement."

"Professor Brian Mathews was superb in all the time and advice that he gave over five years and helping me overcome the obstacles. I am really grateful to him and the University for providing the opportunity to study deeply into a subject and become confident in my knowledge to the extent I am able to publish."

Since 1997 John has published five books on Human Resource Management, several articles and has spoken at conferences and engaged in consultancy in the UK and around the world, including Singapore and Dubai. His work has been translated into Chinese and Russian.

He is very active in the CIPD, having run a series of Reward courses and acted as a national moderator for the Employee Reward module. He has been Head of CIPD studies for the last ten years.

Interview took place in 2004.