Performance Management

Chapter 18 of Human Resource Management in a Business Context (2nd Edition) by Alan Price - published by Thomson Learning

Contents

Objectives

The purpose of this chapter is to:
- Determine the criteria that distinguish 'good' from less acceptable performance.
- Evaluate the most common techniques for measuring performance.
- Investigate how performance management can be used to reinforce an organization's human resource strategies.
- Consider whether or not performance management really encourages desirable work behaviour.

Performance assessment

The environmental context

The organization and effective performance

Performance strategies

Performance management systems

The assessment process

Objectivity and subjectivity in assessment

Competences

360-degree performance assessment

Counselling interviews

Achievers and non-achievers

Summary

HRM is associated with sophisticated and intensive performance assessment, typically involving performance-related pay. The assessment of performance can be beneficial to personal development. We considered performance management as an integrated system. Theoretical descriptions of such systems emphasise their value to the link between individual employee performance and the achievement of strategic goals. However, there are philosophical issues of what precisely represents 'good' performance, and further technical problems of measurement. We completed the chapter with a critique of appraisal methods and a discussion of recent attempts to objectify their use.

Further reading

Performance Management: The New Realities by Michael Armstrong and Angela Baron (1998) is a wide-ranging text which conveys the full flavour of the subject. Performance Appraisal: State of the Art in Practice (Siop Professional Practice Series) edited by James W. Smither (published by Jossey-Bass, 1998) takes a practical approach. Performance Management by Robert Bacal (published by McGraw-Hill Education, 1998) is particularly reader-friendly. Kevin R. Murphy and Jeanette N. Cleveland's Understanding Performance Appraisal: Social, Organizational and Goal-Based Perspectives (1995) provides a detailed analysis of research on the performance assessment process over three decades. Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire and What to Do Instead by Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins (published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2000) takes an original but positive approach to the process of assessment.

Review questions

Problem for discussion and analysis

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