Performance management: Creating high performance, not high anxiety

Abstract

Anxiety about the evaluation of performance in the Australian Public Service (APS) affects both supervisors and those being assessed. We will explore some of the reasons for this anxiety, how it affects these organisations and the gap between the ideal of performance management and the more complex reality of practice. Our research suggests that we need a substantial change in the way we think about performance management conceptually and the way in which it should be implemented across the APS.We believe that performance management systems could be reoriented to enable high performance across individual, group, organisation and system levels, rather than following a more typical focus on underperformance. The preoccupation with underperformance in practice has, we argue, contributed to performance management being used as a pejorative term-something that is 'done to me', something I am going to 'do' to people, which leads to higher levels of anxiety in both employees and managers (see Kahneman and Tversky 1979 in Alford

Managing Expectations to Create High Performance Government

“…More effective practice would include conservations regarding what enhanced work opportunities would be most meaningful and intrinsically rewarding for individuals. This increased level of ownership will, we argue, reduce the anxiety frequently found around public sector performance management (Blackman, West, O’Flynn, Buick, & O’Donnell, 2015; O’Donnell & O’Brien, 2000), thereby improving potential outcomes.…”

“…Enhancement of government performance has been the focus of public administration and management research, policy, and reform for many years (Cho & Lee, 2012; de Waal, 2010, 2012). Recent literature has focused on developing “high performing organizations” (HPOs) to support the productive capacity of public sector organizations to deliver on desired outcomes (Blackman, Buick, O’Donnell, O’Flynn, & West, 2012; McBride, 2008; Pickering, 2008; Price, Mores, & Elliotte, 2011). What distinguishes HPOs from other organizations is their implementation of high performance work practices (HPWPs) in an integrated and complementary way to develop the competencies and characteristics necessary to support an organization’s strategy (Blackman et al, 2012; Gephart & Van Buren, 1996; Huselid, 1995; Kehoe & Wright, 2013).…”

“…Recent literature has focused on developing “high performing organizations” (HPOs) to support the productive capacity of public sector organizations to deliver on desired outcomes (Blackman, Buick, O’Donnell, O’Flynn, & West, 2012; McBride, 2008; Pickering, 2008; Price, Mores, & Elliotte, 2011). What distinguishes HPOs from other organizations is their implementation of high performance work practices (HPWPs) in an integrated and complementary way to develop the competencies and characteristics necessary to support an organization’s strategy (Blackman et al, 2012; Gephart & Van Buren, 1996; Huselid, 1995; Kehoe & Wright, 2013). One of the core HPWPs is employee performance management, which can facilitate high organizational performance through shaping and enabling the behavior, skills, motivation, and performance of individual employees in ways that improve their job performance (Huselid, 1995).…”

Why Performance Management Should Not Be Like Dieting*

“…Yet, despite the plethora of processes on the market, there is an ongoing perception that employee performance management is not delivering the expected organisational benefits (Blackman et al. ). This could be due to the emphasis on compliance where the completion of performance agreements is the primary focus (see Blackman et al.…”

“…This could be due to the emphasis on compliance where the completion of performance agreements is the primary focus (see Blackman et al. ; West and Blackman ), rather than the habitual practices required for sustained high performance. In parallel, with many dieters ending up gaining weight, the constant changing of systems increasingly reduces any trust in both the processes and concept of performance management itself, thus undermining the ability to achieve desired performance levels.…”