Factors influencing managers’ attitudes towards performance appraisal

Abstract

Orientation: Managers often have negative attitudes towards performance appraisal because of its problematic nature, which is influenced by political and social contextual factors. These negative attitudes lead to reduced employee support, inaccurate performance appraisal ratings and, consequently, negative employee perceptions of the performance appraisal process. This state of affairs necessitates a deeper understanding of the factors influencing managers’ attitudes towards performance appraisal.Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that influence managers’ attitudes towards performance appraisal.Motivation for the study: Previous research has confirmed the importance of performance appraisals in organisations. However, managers’ dislike of and aversion to performance appraisal impact negatively on the effectiveness of performance appraisal systems and ultimately the development and performance of employees.Research design, approach and method: An interpretivist qualitative study was adopted, utilising naïve sketches and in-depth interviews to collect data from eight managers, purposively selected. The data were analysed by using Tesch’s descriptive data analysis technique.Main findings: This study revealed that performance appraisal is fundamentally an uncomfortable and emotional process for managers, which results in their adopting defensive attitudes. Because of many uncertainties, managers do not always display the ability or readiness to conduct performance appraisals. The organisational context might place the individual manager in a position to distort employee ratings, which in turn negatively influences that manager’s attitude.Practical and managerial implications: This study provides insight into the present-day experience of managers in respect of performance appraisal and highlights the factors that influence their attitudes.Contribution: The insight gained from this research into the factors impacting on the attitude of managers towards performance appraisals can assist organisations to better support and empower such managers to be more effective in their approach when conducting performance appraisals.

How do the unintended consequences of performance evaluation systems manifest themselves?

“…It was also found that tension manifests itself when managers feel threatened by evaluation (Siverbo et al , 2019), or uncomfortable and defensive because they have to evaluate their subordinates, which could affect their relationships (Du Plessis and Van Niekerk, 2017). In other words, a feeling of tension is manifested both because managers are evaluated and because they evaluate their subordinates.…”

“…This analysis is relevant to groups with different interests, since the way in which each organisation member is affected differs on their different functions (Franco-Santos et al , 2012). Individual intentions must also be considered when analysing UCs (Du Plessis and Van Niekerk, 2017). That is, even if the consequences are unintentional from an organisational point of view, they can be intentional from the individual point of view, which is the case of conscious consequences.…”

“…Evaluating performance can cause discomfort for both the supervisor and the subordinate, as it involves self-esteem and the relationships between them (Schay, 1993), and can drive unwanted behaviours. In addition to the issue of repercussions for the relationship with an employee, the attitudes of managers have a strong effect on the entire PE, since they can distort the PE ratings (Du Plessis and Van Niekerk, 2017). This study was conducted from the perspective of the impact of UCs on individuals at both the managerial and the operational level.…”

What helps managers being fair? Predicting managers’ self-reported justice enactment during pay setting using the ability-motivation-opportunity framework

“…Thus, this aspect may rather fall into one of the extrinsic motivation categories. It has been shown that a more positive attitude towards the pay-setting system may increase managers' motivation to work with the pay setting (Du Plessis & van Niekerk, 2017). Based on the AMO framework, we argue that higher motivation leads to higher enacted justice in pay setting.…”

Political Behavior in Canadian University Deans' Reappointments

“…Despite their now widely spread use in Canadian universities, deans' reappointments POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR IN DEANS' REAPPOINTMENTS 4 have eluded research efforts to this point. Furthermore, research on performance appraisals, a field closely related to reappointments, has provided evidence of political interference in both employees' (Du Plessis & Van Niekerk, 2017;Longenecker, Sims, & Gioia, 1987;Rosen, Kacmar, Harris, Gavin, & Hochwarter, 2017;Swanepoel, Botha, & Mangonyane, 2014) and managers' (Gioia & Longenecker, 1994;Kanyangale & Zvarevashe, 2013;Longenecker, 1997) evaluations, confirming that raters' goals often shape their ratings to a greater extent than ratees' performance (Murphy, 2008;Murphy, Cleveland, Skattebo, & Kinney, 2004;Smith, Craig Wallace, & Jordan, 2016).…”