Cranfield School of Management

Qualifications

BA Politics / Economics Newcastle
MBA Henley Management College

Background

Jonathan has over 15 years experience in the financial services industry, having worked for the FSA as a banking and securities regulator, risk manager and more recently as a member of the FSA’s senior management team as Head of Organisational Development, Reward and Industry Training and Head of Financial Capability.

Prior to this he worked for the Bank of England and for HSBC Investment Bank. After two years working Cranfield School of Management conducting research into reward strategies in the financial services industry and delivering a range of executive education programmes, he now works for PWC providing a wide range of HR consulting support .

Research Topic

An examination of the influences on reward mix determination in the Financial Services sector

Research Issue

During 2007-2010 significant dislocation occurred in the banking sector across the world, with governments having to come to the aid of large numbers of financial institutions to protect the ongoing integrity of the financial system.

Throughout this crisis much political, media and practitioner interest has been given to reward structures and, in particular, the proportions, or mix, of different rewards provided in overall compensation, in this sector.

My research examines influences on the determination of this reward mix in the UK financial services sector.

Three theoretical perspectives are examined - agency, institutional and resource dependency– as potential explanations for reward mix determination. Data was collected through interviews with reward executives (REs) from 30 financial services firms, alongside perspectives gathered from ten reward consultants (RCs) and a number of financial services trade associations, followed by a range of different member checking sessions. Data analysis showed the strength of institutional pressures on firms to conform to an adopted reward mix norm derived from embedded historical reward patterns and reinforced by strong employee expectations. However, a number of REs still saw firms as having the ability to take a more strategic approach. The desire and capability to resist these institutional pressures and operate a reward mix away from the industry norm was found to be influenced by eight factors. These factors determined the firm’s propensity to diverge from the industry norm position. The resulting reward mix determination model developed can be used to predict which firms are more likely to differentiate their reward mix from that established in the sector.

Sector

Financial Services

Research Methods

Qualitative interviews.

Theoretical Perspective

Agency; institutional and resource dependency theories.

Why I Chose Cranfield

First class faculty, teaching and research.

Published Papers

• ‘Chapman, J., Kelliher, C., Influences on reward mix determination: Reward consultants’ perspectives. Employee Relations, forthcoming.

• Chapman, J., Kelliher, C., Reward mix conceptualisation and determination: A review of the literature. Chapter in ‘Pay and Reward Systems in Organizations - Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Outcomes’, Pabst Science, edited by Prof. Dr. Conny Herbert Antoni, Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Trier. Forthcoming.

• Managing reward risks: 2010 Reward Risks Survey CIPD research report Sept 2010

• Managing reward risks: an integrated approach CIPD research report Oct 2009

• Taking a risk Pay & Benefits Magazine Nov 2009

• Rewards in the U.K.: Top ten risks WorldatWork Workspan Jan 2010

• Worth the risk People Management Feb 2010

• A systematic approach to reward risk identification Strategic HR Review Mar 2010