Performance appraisal and performance management: 100 years of progress?

Abstract

We review 100 years of research on performance appraisal and performance management, highlighting the articles published in JAP, but including significant work from other journals as well. We discuss trends in eight substantive areas: (1) scale formats, (2) criteria for evaluating ratings, (3) training, (4) reactions to appraisal, (5) purpose of rating, (6) rating sources, (7) demographic differences in ratings, and (8) cognitive processes, and discuss what we have learned from research in each area. We also focus on trends during the heyday of performance appraisal research in JAP (1970-2000), noting which were more productive and which potentially hampered progress. Our overall conclusion is that JAP's role in this literature has not been to propose models and new ideas, but has been primarily to test ideas and models proposed elsewhere. Nonetheless, we conclude that the papers published in JAP made important contribution to the filed by addressing many of the critical questions raised by others. We also suggest several areas for future research, especially research focusing on performance management. (PsycINFO Database Record

Quantifying with words: An investigation of the validity of narrative‐derived performance scores

“…The measurement of employee performance (DeNisi & Murphy, ) is one of the most important components of human resource practices, and yet it is an area that has received considerable criticism in recent years. A quick review of organizational research leads one to conclude that performance management systems are broken (e.g., Pulakos & O'Leary, ; Pulakos, Hanson, Arad, & Moye, ).…”

Motivating and engaging frontline providers in measuring and improving team clinical performance

“…More recently, a randomised controlled trial demonstrated ProMES can be used effectively for stress prevention in primary care,24 and other work has shown effectiveness in sports settings 25. A recent review of the last 100 years of performance appraisal and performance management literature concluded ProMES was one of the few performance management systems with documented, empirical, peer-reviewed evidence of effectiveness 26. The alignment between performance and motivation helps individuals and teams to more clearly focus their effort on the most important aspects of their work resulting in greater productivity, reduced stress and less waste of effort.…”

How a powerful audience and audience feedback moderate the relationship between performance-approach orientation and exaggerated self-promotion

“…Goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990) as well as the performance management literature (e.g. Aguinis et al, 2011Aguinis et al, , 2012aDeNisi & Murphy, 2017) has indicated that feedback is a critical contextual factor that influences the behavior of employees, especially when that feedback comes from powerful others (Aguinis & Pierce, 2008). Therefore, feedback will be the second contextual factor I will focus on.…”

“…This pressure has trickled down to business units, departments, teams, and individual employees, and has led to an increasing interest in performance management (Aguinis, Joo, & Gottfredson, 2011), which is also reflected in academic interest (e.g. Aguinis, Joo, & Gottfredson, 2012;Aguinis & Pierce, 2008;DeNisi & Murphy, 2017).…”

“…The performance management literature (e.g. Aguinis, Gottfredson, & Joo, 2012;DeNisi & Murphy, 2017), as well as goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990), have indeed indicated that feedback is a critical contextual component that affects the behavior of employees, especially when that feedback comes from powerful others (Aguinis & Pierce, 2008). Therefore, in the current study the impact of the combined presence of a perceived powerful audience, and the salience of the feedback that this audience provides on the relationship between performance-approach orientation and exaggerated self-promotion, will be investigated.…”